Jack the Ripper - "The Whitechapel Murders of London" ---
Uploader: forthedishwasher ---
One of the first problems you encounter when you attempt to write a history of the Jack the Ripper crimes is establishing just how many of the Whitechapel Murders were, in fact, carried out by the killer who became known as Jack the Ripper.
Although the exact number of victims most frequently bandied around is five, it should be remembered that this is based upon a later statement made in 1894 by Melville Macnaghten and this is not, by any means, a definitive number.
Indeed, the Whitechapel Murders file, which is the generic file that encompasses the actual Jack the Ripper crimes has the names of eleven victims on it, some of whom were victims of Jack the Ripper, some of whom may have been, and several of whom most certainly weren't.
THE CANONICAL FIVE VICTIMS
The five aforementioned names most often put forward - and often referred to as the canonical five victims - as having been murdered by the ripper are:-
Mary Nichols - Murdered on 31st August 1888
Annie Chapman - Murdered on 8th September 1888
Elizabeth Stride - Murdered on 30th September 1888
Catherine Eddowes - Murdered on 30th September 1888
Mary Kelly - Murdered on 9th November 1888
EMMA SMITH - THE FIRST WHITECHAPEL MURDERS VICTIM
However, the file also contains the names of two victims who were murdered before Mary Nichols, whose body was found on August 31st 1888.
A press clipping showing the death of Emma Smith.
The first of these victims was Emma Smith, who was attacked in the early hours of the 3rd April 1888.
She later died of her injuries in the London Hospital and, as a result, hers became the first name to appear on the Whitechapel Murders file.
Emma Smith was, almost certainly, not a victim of Jack the Ripper. Indeed, before she died, she was able to tell the doctor who treated her at the London Hospital that she had been attacked by a local gang.
MARTHA TABRAM - JACK THE RIPPER'S FIRST VICTIM?
A few months later, on the 7th August 1888, the body of Martha Tabram was found in George Yard, a sordid thoroughfare that led, and for that matter still leads, off Whitechapel High Street. She had been subjected to an horrendous and very violent attack in the course of which she had suffered 39 frenzied stab wounds to her throat, chest and abdomen
Martha Tabram Whitechapel Murder Victim.
Martha Tabram (also referred to as Martha Turner) may, or may not, have been a victim of the criminal who later became known as Jack the Ripper.
The case against her having being a victim is that her throat hadn't been cut and she had not been disembowelled, injuries that almost all the canonical five victims would later endure.
Evidence that suggests she was a victim is that her killer had targeted her throat and abdomen, just as Jack the ripper would do with the five canonical victims.
It is, therefore, safe to say that the jury is, most certainly, still out on whether or not Martha was a ripper victim.
THE JACK THE RIPPER MURDERS
We move into more certain territory with the murder of Mary Nichols on August 31st 1888
Mary Nichols first victim of Jack the Ripper.
Again, this was a savage and brutal attack. This time, however, the killer demonstrated the modus operandi of cutting her throat and disembowelling her.
Blessed as we are with the gift of hindsight, we can now look back on the murder of Mary Nichols and pinpoint this crime as the start of Jack the Ripper's so called "reign of terror", the police at the time lacked the luxury of such certainty.
They certainly connected Mary Nichols murder with that of Martha Tabram, and many of the officers who worked on the case believed that Martha was indeed the first of Jack the Ripper's six victims.
In addition, they were also, in the early days at least, influenced by Emma Smith's claim that she had been attacked by a local gang, into believing that the crimes were, in fact, gang related.
INSPECTOR ABBERLINE TAKES CHARGE
As a result, it was decided that the investigation needed to be headed by an officer who had a good working knowledge of the East End criminal underworld.
Inspector Abberline
Thus it was that, in early September 1888, Inspector Frederick George Abberline - a man who, prior to his promotion out of the area the previous year, had spent the best part of fourteen years as a detective in the district where the crimes were occurring - was brought in to take overall charge of the on the ground investigation.
Abberline would become one of the most important of the investigating officers and, on the whole, he was able to avoid the general press criticism and ridicule that other, more senior officers, were subjected to.
Indeed, it seems that Abberline was universally respected, not just by his fellow police officers and superiors, but also by the press and the public at large.
