Source A
Name: Catherine Eddows
Age: 44
Profession: Prostitute
Date of Murder: 30th September 1888
Location of Murder: Mitre Square
Information: Catherine Eddows was born
on April 14, 1842 in Wolverhampton. At the
time of her death she was 5 feet tall, had
hazel eyes and dark auburn hair. She had
a tattoo in blue ink on her left forearm
"TC."
At the time of her death, Catherine Eddows
was suffering from a kidney disease.
Friends spoke of Catherine as an
intelligent woman but who possessed a
fierce temper.
Report of the discovery of the body:
"The body was on its back, the head turned to left shoulder. The
arms by the side of the body as if they had fallen there. Both palms
upwards, the fingers slightly bent. The abdomen was exposed. The
throat cut across. The intestines were pulled out from the body and
placed over the right shoulder. A piece of intestine about two feet
long was cut from the body and placed between the body and the left
arm.
The face was very much mutilated. There was a cut about a quarter
of an inch through the lower left eyelid, cutting completely through
the eye. The upper eyelid on that side, there was a scratch through
the skin on the left upper eyelid, near to the angle of the nose. The
right eyelid was cut through to about half an inch. The throat was cut
across about six or seven inches. We examined the abdomen, which
had been cut open deeply in many places.
I feel sure that there was no struggle, and believe it was the act of
one person. The throat had been so deeply cut that no noise could
have been made. I do not expect much blood to have been found on
the person who had inflicted these wounds. The wounds could not
have been self-inflicted.”
Source B
Name: Annie Chapman
Age: 47
Profession: Prostitute
Date of Murder: 8th September 1888
Location of Murder: 29 Hanbury Street
Information:
5' tall, with a pale complexion. She had blue
eyes and dark brown wavy hair. Annie had
excellent teeth (possibly two missing in lower
jaw), was strongly built (stout) with a thick nose.
She was under nourished and suffering from a
chronic disease of the lungs (tuberculosis) and
brain tissue. It is said that she was dying. These
could also be symptoms of syphilis. Although
she has a drinking problem she is not described
as an alcoholic.
Annie had been married in 1869 and had three
children, but separated in 1884. A police report says it was because of
her "drunken and immoral ways." John Chapman semi-regularly paid
his wife 10 shillings per week until his death on Christmas day in 1886.
Annie didn't take to prostitution until after her husband’s death. Prior to
that she lived off the money he sent her and worked doing crochet work
and selling flowers.
Dr. George Bagster Phillips describes the body of Annie Chapman
as he saw at 6:30am
“The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue stuck
out between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was
evidently much swollen. The body was terribly mutilated. The throat was
cut deeply; that the incision through the skin were jagged and reached
right round the neck... Between the yard (where found) in question and
the next, smears of blood, relating to where the head of the deceased
lay, were to be seen. The instrument used to cut the throat and
abdomen was the same. It must have been a very sharp knife with a
thin narrow blade, and must have been at least 6 inches to 8 inches in
length, probably longer. They could have been done by such an
instrument as a medical man would use. Those knives used by the
slaughter men, might have caused these injuries. There was no
evidence of a struggle having taken place.”
 Source C Source D
Name: Elizabeth Stride Name: Mary Jane Kelly
Age: 44 Age: 25
Profession: Prostitute Profession: Prostitute
Date of Murder: 20th September 1888 Date of Murder: 9th November 1888
Location of Murder: Berner Street Information:
Location of Murder: Miller’s Court
Information:
Elizabeth Stride was born Elisabeth Gustafsdotter on November She was 5' 7" tall and stout. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and a
27 1843 on a farm north of Gothenburg, Sweden. At the time of fair complexion. Said to have been “possessed of considerable
her death she had a pale complexion, light grey eyes and had personal attractions."
curly dark brown hair. All the teeth in her lower left jaw were
missing and she stood five foot five inches tall. Mrs. Ann Miller, a Dr. Thomas Bond produced the official post-mortem
bed maker at the lodging house says that Stride would work when
she could find work and that a "better hearted, more good natured "The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed. The breasts
cleaner woman never lived." She made money were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds and
by sewing and cleaning, received money from the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The muscles
Michael Kidney and was an occasional and blood vessels of the neck were severed all round down to the
prostitute. bone.

The official post-mortem report stated: The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, and
on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about two feet
“The body had a silk handkerchief round her square. The wall by the right side of the bed and in a line with the
neck, and it appeared to be slightly torn. I have neck was marked by blood which had struck it in a number of
since discovered it was cut. This corresponded separate splashes.
with the right angle of the jaw. There was a deep, clear-cut
incision on the neck. It was six inches in length and started two The neck was cut through
and a half inches in a straight line below the angle of the jaw, one the skin and other tissues
half inch in over an undivided muscle, and then becoming deeper, right down to the
dividing the sheath. The cut was very clean and strayed a little vertebrae, the fifth and
downwards. The arteries and other vessels contained in the neck sixth being deeply
were all cut through.” notched. The blood was
produced by the cutting
The day after the murder, a citizen mob formed outside of the through of the cartoid
Berner Street murder scene protesting the continuation of the artery, which was the
murders and the seemingly slow work of the police to catch the cause of death. The injury
Ripper. From here on in, the Ripper is public enemy number one, was inflicted while the
and Home Office begins to consider offering awards for his deceased was lying at the right side of the bedstead."
capture and arrest.
 Source E
Source F – Letter to police on 27th September 1888
Name: Mary Ann Nichols
Age: 42
Profession: Prostitute
Date of Murder: 31st August 1888
Location of Murder: Berner Street Dear Boss,
Information:
Born Mary Ann Walker on August 26, 1845 in I keep on hearing the police have caught me
London. At the time of her death the East London
but they haven’t. I have laughed when they
Observer guessed her age at 30-35. At the inquest
her father said "she was nearly 44 years of age, but look so clever and talk about being on the
it must be admitted that she looked ten years right track. I am down on whores and I shant
younger." quit ripping them till I get caught. The last job
5'2" tall; brown eyes; dark complexion; brown hair was grand work. I gave the lady no time to
turning grey; five front teeth missing; two bottom-one top front, her teeth
squeal. How can they catch me now? I love my
are slightly discoloured. She is described as having small, delicate
features with high cheekbones and grey eyes. work and want to start again. You will soon
She is described by Emily Holland as "a very clean woman who always hear of me with my funny little games. I saved
seemed to keep to herself." She is also an alcoholic. some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer
The Times reported: bottle over the last job to write with but it
“Five teeth were missing, and there was a slight laceration of the went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink
tongue. There was a bruise running along the lower part of the jaw on is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I
the right side of the face. That might have been caused by a blow from
shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the
a fist or pressure from a thumb. There was a circular bruise on the left
side of the face which also might have been inflicted by the pressure of police officers just for fun. My knife's so nice
the fingers. On the left side of the neck, about 1 inch below the jaw, and sharp I want to get to work right away if I
there was a cut about 4 inches in length, and ran from a point get a chance. Good Luck.
immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below, and
commencing about 1 in. in front of it, was a circular incision, which Yours truly
terminated at a point about 3 in. below the right jaw. That incision
completely severed all the tissues down to the vertebrae. The large Jack the Ripper
vessels of the neck on both sides were severed. The cut was about 8
inches in length. The cuts must have been caused by a long-bladed
knife, moderately sharp, and used with great violence. No blood was Dont mind me giving the nickname
found on the breast, either of the body or the clothes. There were no
injuries about the body until just about the lower part of the abdomen. PS They say I'm a doctor now. ha ha
Two or three inches from the left side was a wound running in a jagged
manner. The wound was a very deep one, and the tissues were cut
through. There were several incisions running across the abdomen. The
injuries were form left to right and might have been done by a left
handed person. All the injuries had been caused by the same
instrument."
 Source G

Suspect Name: Dr Thomas Cream Source H

An American doctor who had been Suspect Name: Severin Klosowski

arrested for poisoning prostitutes and
writing false letters to the police. He Suspected by police at the time of
was hanged in 1892 for murdering the murders. He had poisoned his
prostitutes. His last words were ‘I am two wives in the past. He had
Jack…’ However, he was in prison at trained as a doctor, but was working
the time of the last ripper murders. as a doctor near Whitechapel

Source I
Source K
Suspect Name: M J Druitt
Suspect: Alexander
A lawyer and a teacher, he had Pedachenko
trained as a doctor in the past. His Name
own family believed that he could
be Jack the Ripper. He committed A Russian doctor who was
suicide in December 1888, after working in a women’s hospital in
which there were no more London. He left London for
murders. Russia shortly after the last
murder. He was sent to a mental
Source J hospital in Russia for the murder
Suspect of a woman in St. Petersburg.
Prince Albert Victor
Name:

The Grandson of Queen Victoria, he

was known to hang around in gay bars
in Whitechapel. Albert was a keen
hunter, but suffered from a brain
disease. He discreetly married a woman
that his family disapproved of. Mary
Kelly had worked for him for a while. Did
she know his secrets?
 Near Which
Witness Name Time Appearance of Suspect Source L
Murder?
Annie
Emily Walter 2:00 A.M. • Foreigner aged 37, dark beard and moustache. Wearing short dark jacket, dark vest and trousers, black scarf and black felt hat.
Chapman

Elizabeth Annie • Dark complexion, brown deerstalker hat, possibly a dark overcoat. Aged over 40, somewhat taller than the victim. A foreigner of "shabby genteel" (i.e. good
5:30 A.M.
Long Chapman clothes, but worn out)

• 5'5" tall, English, black moustache, sandy eyelashes, weak, wearing a morning suit and a hat.
J. Best and John Elizabeth Stride
11:00 P.M. • They saw the man kissing Stride in a doorway: “... they did not appear willing to go out. He was hugging and kissing her, and as he seemed a respectably
Gardner
dressed man, we were rather astonished at the way he was going on with the woman”

• Small, black coat, dark trousers, middle aged, round cap with a small sailor-like peak. 5'6", stout, appearance of a clerk. No moustache, no gloves, with a
Elizabeth Stride cutaway coat.
William Marshall 11:45 P.M.
• Both the man and the woman he was with seemed sober and were kissing. Marshall heard the man remark to the woman, “You would say anything but your
prayers.”

• Aged 25-30, 5'7", long black coat buttoned up, soft felt hat, broad shoulders. Maybe a young clerk, frock coat, no gloves. Well spoken and dressed (“… I am
12:00 - certain that he wasn’t what I should call a working man or anything like us folks that live around here.”).
Matthew Packer Elizabeth Stride
12:30 P.M. • Came up to Packer, a fruit seller, with a woman resembling Stride and said, 'I say, old man, how do you sell your grapes?”. Turning to the woman, the man
asked, 'Which will you have, my dear, black or white? You shall have whichever you like best”

P.C. William Smith Elizabeth Stride 12:30 A.M. • Aged 28, cleanshaven and respectable appearance, 5'7", hard dark felt deerstalker hat, dark clothes. Carrying a newspaper parcel 18 x 7 inches.

Elizabeth
James Brown 12.45 A.M. • 5'7", stout, long black diagonal coat which reached almost to his heels.
Stride

• First man: Aged 30, 5'5", brown haired, fair complexion, small brown moustache, full face, broad shoulders, dark jacket and trousers, black cap with peak.
Second man: Aged 35, 5'11", fresh complexion, light brown hair, dark overcoat, old black hard felt hat with a wide brim, clay pipe.
Israel Schwartz Elizabeth Stride 12:45 A.M
• Schwartz believed he was witnessing a domestic attack on the woman by the first man, while the second was an accomplice. 15 minutes after he passed by,
Stride was found dead in the same spot.

Catharine
Joseph Lawende 1:30 A.M. • Aged 30, 5'7", fair complexion, brown moustache, salt-and-pepper coat, red neckerchief, grey peaked cloth cap. Sailorlike.
Eddows

Mary Jane • Short, stout man, shabbily dressed. Billycock hat, blotchy face, carroty moustache, holding quart can of beer
Mary Ann Cox 11:45 P.M.
Kelly • She saw Mary Kelly entering Kelly’s room with the man. Mrs Cox called out “good night Mary Jane,” but Kelly, who was “very drunk,” could scarcely
answer, although she did manage to say “good night.”

• Aged 34-35, 5'6", pale complexion, dark hair, slight moustached curled at each end, long dark coat, collar cuffs of astrakhan, dark jacket underneath. Light
waistcoat, thick gold chain with a red stone seal, dark trousers and button boots, gaiters, white buttons. White shirt, black tie fastened with a horseshoe pin.
Dark hat, turned down in middle. Red kerchief. Jewish and respectable in appearance. Seemed surprising that such a man was with Mary Kelly.
Mary Jane 2:00 A.M. • In his statement to the police he said: “Kelly said to me: ‘Hutchinson, will you lend me sixpence?’ When I refused, she said: ‘I must go and find some
George Hutchinson
Kelly money’ and headed off. A man coming in the opposite direction tapped her on the shoulder and said something to her. They both burst out laughing. I heard
her say: ‘All right’ to him and the man said: ‘You will be alright for what I have told you’. He then placed his right hand around her shoulder. He also had a
kind of small parcel in his left hand with a kind of strap around it. She said: ‘All right, my dear. Come along. You will be comfortable’. He then placed his
arm on her shoulder and she gave him a kiss. They both went to her room”

• “I was going along Bethnal Green Road with another female and a Gentleman passed us he turned back & spoke to us, he asked us to follow him, and said
if we would follow him he would treat us – he asked us to go down a passage – he had a bag he put it down saying what are you frightened of – he then
Mary Jane Previous
Sarah Lewis undid his coat and felt for something and we ran away – He was short, pale faced, with a black small moustache, about forty years of age – the bag he had
Kelly Day
was about a foot or nine inches long – he had on a round high hat – he had a brownish long overcoat and a short black coat underneath – and pepper & salt
trousers”.
SOURCE N: Part of an article in the East End Observer
describing the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls
The two murders which have so startled London within the last
month are singular for the reason that the victims have been of the
poorest of the poor, and no adequate motive in the shape of
plunder can be traced. The excess of effort that has been apparent
in each murder suggests the idea that both crimes are the work of a
demented being, as the extraordinary violence used is the peculiar
feature in each instance.
SOURCE O: Part of the Coroner’s report of the death of Polly
Nicholls
The body has not been dissected, but the injuries have been made
by someone who had considerable anatomical skill and knowledge.
There are no meaningless cuts (like in the Tabram murder). It was
done by one who knew where to find what he wanted, what
difficulties he would have to contend with, and how he should use
the knife. No unskilled person could have know where to find the
organs, or to have recognised them when they were found. No
mere slaughterer of animals could have carried out these
operations.
SOURCE P: The report of Dr Frederick Blackwell on the body
of Elizabeth Stride
The deceased was lying on her left side across the passage, her
face was looking towards the right wall. Her legs were drawn up,
her feet close against the wall of the right side of the passage.
The neck and chest were quite warm, as were also the legs, and
the face was slightly warm. The hands were cold. The right hand
was open and on the chest. It was smeared with blood. The left
hand, lying on the ground, was partially closed, and contained a
small packet of cachous [breath fresheners] wrapped in tissue
paper. There was no money on the body.
The appearance of the face was quite placid. The mouth was
slightly opened. In the neck there was a long incision which
commenced on the left side, two and a half inches below the angle
of the jaw, cutting the windpipe completely in two.
SOURCE Q: The evidence of Elizabeth Long at the inquest into
the death of Annie Chapman; she was describing the man
seen talking to Annie before she was killed
He was dark complexioned and was wearing a deerstalker hat. I
think he was wearing a dark coat but I cannot be sure. He was a
man over forty, as far as I could tell. He seemed to be a little taller
than the deceased. He looked to me like a foreigner, as well as I
could make out. He looked what I should call shabby genteel.
SOURCE R: Part of an article published in a local newspaper
after the murders of Polly Nicholls and Annie Chapman
My informant demanded at that time that the police force on the
spot should be strengthened and some kind of order created on the
streets by night. He warned that murder would ensue if matters
were left as they were. He was referred from one police office to
another, but without making any impression. Then came the first
murder. He went again to the police and warned them that there
would be more mischief unless they could clear the streets of the
open and defiant ruffianism, which continued to make night
hideous. Then came another murder.
The main thoroughfares of Whitechapel are connected by a
network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes. Every one apparently
containing some headquarters of infamy. The sights and sounds
are an apocalypse of evil.
SOURCE S: A police leaflet published after the murders of
Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes
POLICE NOTICE
TO THE OCUPIER
On the morning of Friday, 31st August, Saturday 8th, and Sunday,
30th of September, 1888, women were murdered in or near
Whitechapel, supposed by someone residing in the immediate
neighbourhood. Should you know of any person to whom suspicion
is attached, you are earnestly requested to communicate at once
with the nearest Police Station Metropolitan Police Office, 30th
September 1888.
SOURCE T: Part of a letter from the Home Secretary to the Mile
End Vigilance Committee on 17 September 1888
The practice of offering reward for the discovery of criminals was
discontinued some years ago because experience showed that
such offers of reward tended to produce more harm than good. The
Secretary of State is satisfied that there is nothing in the
circumstances of the present case to justify a departure from this
rule.

SOURCE M: Part of an article published in The Times after the

murder of Mary Kelly
The murders, so cunningly continued, are carried out with a
complete ruthlessness which altogether baffles investigators. Not a
trace is left of the murderer, and there is no purpose in the crime to
afford the slightest clue. All the police can hope is that some
accidental circumstance will lead to a trace which may be followed Source V – Typical Street in
to a successful conclusion. the East End of London, 188

Source U – Police discover the body of Mary

Ann Nichols, from newspaper at the time.

Source W – Typical alley in

the East End of London, 188
 Glossary
Abdomen: area between the chest and the hips that contains the
stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, gallbladder,
pancreas, and spleen.
Carotid artery: the major blood vessels in the neck that supply
blood to the brain.
Complexion: the colouring of a person's face
Crochet: A kind of needlework made with a hooked needle and
thread or yarn
Immoral: someone who does not follow the idea of right and
wrong.
Incision: Another word for cut
Mutilated: to cut up, destroy, or alter radically.
Post-mortem: a thorough examination of a corpse to find out the
cause and manner of death
Saturated: Completely filled with a liquid of some kind.
Stout: heavily built, not thin.
Syphilis: A sexually transmitted disease that, left untreated, can
cause damage to the nervous system, heart, or brain and ultimately
death.
Tuberculosis: An infectious bacterial disease transmitted through
the air that mainly affects the lungs. A major killer in the 19th
Century.
Vertebrae: The bones that form the spine.
Glossary
Abdomen: area between the chest and the hips that contains the
stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, gallbladder,
pancreas, and spleen.
Carotid artery: the major blood vessels in the neck that supply
blood to the brain.
Complexion: the colouring of a person's face
Crochet: A kind of needlework made with a hooked needle and
thread or yarn
Immoral: someone who does not follow the idea of right and
wrong.
Incision: Another word for cut
Mutilated: to cut up, destroy, or alter radically.
Post-mortem: a thorough examination of a corpse to find out the
cause and manner of death
Saturated: Completely filled with a liquid of some kind.
Stout: heavily built, not thin.
Syphilis: A sexually transmitted disease that, left untreated, can
cause damage to the nervous system, heart, or brain and ultimately
death.
Tuberculosis: An infectious bacterial disease transmitted through
the air that mainly affects the lungs. A major killer in the 19th
Century.
Vertebrae: The bones that form the spine.