The Victims of Jack the Ripper

The Victims of Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is remembered as one of history's most famous serial killers. His technique of getting his victims to lay down before he slashed their throats, then disemboweling them in a matter of a minute or two with as little blood flow as possible distinguishes him as one of the most methodical, ruthless killers to ever live. He even performed some of his gruesome murders right in the street and left his victims to be found minutes later by people or policemen passing by. This demonstrates what extremes he would actually go to fulfill his desire for killing. Through my report I will create a brief profile of Jack's victims as well as explore the methodical and horrendous ways they were murdered.

Mary Anne "Polly" Nichols Mary Anne Nichols was found dead on Aug. 31, 1888 between 3:30 and 4:00 A.M. by a porter on his way to work. At first, it appeared to the porter that the woman was just laying down in the street unconscious. Police officer John Neil was summoned to the scene minutes after the body was found. The light from his lamp revealed that the woman was in fact dead with a slashed throat. Dr. Rees Ralph Llewellyn was performing a surgery when he was called to make an official examination of the body. After the examination was complete he pronounced the woman dead by means of a slashed throat. He also took special note that the body was still warm, indicating that the victim had been dead perhaps only minutes before being discovered.

The body was removed to the mortuary shed at the Old Montague Street Workhouse Infirmary to be autopsied. Only then was the unusually large puddle of blood that had collected beneath the body seen. Once at the mortuary, Dr. Llewellyn performed a full autopsy, which revealed more about the manner of the murder that was not acknowledged during the street examination. Not only was her throat slashed, but also her abdominal area and sexual organs had been brutally sliced and mutilated, which explained the large puddle of blood beneath the body. Furthermore, there were many bruises on the sides of her face, which indicated that she had been knocked unconscious before being mutilated. The murder was believed to have been committed with a stout-handled blade of six to eight inches long (Geary, p.7).

Mary Anne Nichols was the first victim of Jack the Ripper who was deliberately mutilated. She was known as "Polly" by her friends, and was a drunken street prostitute in her early forties. She married at the age of nineteen to a printer named William Nichols. They had five children together. The two eventually separated shortly after Mary Anne developed a drinking problem. William took custody of all of their children, except for the oldest, Edward, and paid Mary a weekly allowance of $5.25 until he learned of her lifestyle as a street prostitute. Mary Anne was last seen by a friend named Ellen Holland at 2:30 a.m. on the corner of Osborn Street and White chapel High Street. It was noted that she was drunk and staggering at the time. After a weekend of investigation, the Metropolitan Police Force was unable to come up with much useful information regarding the murder of Mary Anne Nichols.

On Sept. 8, 1888, a little before 6:00A.M.; Annie Chapman was found laying dead at the foot of steps at the back of a lodging house by a lodger named John Davis. The first sight of the dead body sent Davis screaming down his street, alarming the whole neighborhood. Inspector Joseph Luniss Chandler of the Commercial Street station arrived with his men to seal off the scene and the building from the large crowd that had already gathered before their arrival. Dr. Wynne Baxter-Phillips was summoned to the scene to examine the body. His brief examination revealed that the woman's throat was cut with two deep slashes, so deep, that the woman was almost beheaded. A scarf had been tied around her neck as if to hide the slashed throat. Her skirt was lifted just above her knees and her legs were bent up and cut. After her skirt was lifted up, it revealed that her entire body cavity was opened up, with the entrails entirely scooped out and placed over her right shoulder. This was an even worse mutilation than the previous victim. The body was brought to the same mortuary as before, where Dr. Baxter-Phillips performed a full autopsy. He discovered something that surprisingly had not been noticed at the scene of the crime; her sexual organs were completely missing. She had bruises on her face and chest, which implied that there had been a struggle, and like Polly Nichols, she was probably knocked unconscious before being mutilated. Again, it was believed that the murder was committed with a stout- handled knife with a blade of six to eight inches.

Annie Chapman was another drunken street prostitute. She was short, stout, and in her mid-forties. At the age of twenty-eight, she married John Chapman in London and moved to Windsor. They had two daughters, although one died, and a crippled son. She abandoned her family shortly before her daughter died and returned to London. She received sporadic allowances from her husband until he died. It was allegedly her alcoholism and immorality that broke up their marriage. She made a living by selling flowers and matches, soliciting as a prostitute, and living off of male friends.

Inspector Frederick Aberline of the Great Scotland Yard was assigned to supervise the investigation, which involved hundreds of policemen. Little information was found though, due to the lack of cooperation of citizens of the neighborhood. 3. Elizabeth Stride, 4. Catherine Eddows Elizabeth Stride was found dead in a dark alley off of Berener Street on Sept. 30, 1888. At 1:00 a.m., Mr. Louis Diemschutz was driving a horse cart when he turned into the dark alley to see a figure laying on the ground in his path. As he looked closer, he saw that it was a woman on her back, either dead or just merely drunken. As a few men arrived on the scene from down the court, the light revealed her slashed throat and the large puddle of blood around her. Police arrived to the scene quickly and sealed it off. Dr. William P. Blackwell, a physician in the neighborhood, was first to examine the body, and was later joined by Dr. Baxter-Phillips. They observed that the body was still warm, with a single slash to the throat. But surprisingly, no other mutilations were found. This gave them the idea that the murderer had been interrupted in his process of mutilating the woman by the entrance of Mr. Diemschutz's cart into the alley. Since the alley was very dark, it would have made it easy for the killer to flee the scene. The body was removed to the same mortuary where Dr. Baxter-Phillips, this