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Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1340
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 2:58 pm: |       |
We often read in press reports complaints that the police were not sufficiently forthcoming with evidence. However I have found a press report, attached below, which says that the (unnamed) reporter was allowed in to view the body of Stride in the mortuary and examine the wounds on the body. The article also implies he did the same with Eddowes' body as he compares the two. However he does not explicitly say he was allowed access to Eddowes'body.
Was this usual? Exactly who would be allowed in to view the body, officially?
The article is from the Fitchburg Sentinel, of 1 October 1888.
Any help will be welcome
Chris
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Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 2888
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 4:08 pm: | |
Hi Chris
Great find. I don't know what the policy was on journalists in morgues, though a reporter from the "Pall Mall Gazette" seems to have accompanied the inquest jury on their trip to see Kelly's remains.
Also, I suppose an enterprising journalist could
always pretend to be a possible witness - claiming to have seen one of the victims in company with a man just before she was killed (without revealing his profession of course). All he would have needed to do would be to say "Different woman", then leave and write up his story.
Robert |
Glenn L Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 2086
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 4:25 pm: | |
Hi Chris,
I don't know about the approach on this in Britain, but I can tell you that i Scandinavia -- during the same time period -- this would be considered highly unusual.
During my diggings through the annals of Swedish crimes at the beginning of the 20th century, the press is constantly complaining about the police's unwillingness to cooperate and reveal any kind of information (I would assume the song sounds in many ways the same today). I have never encountered a tale, describing a reporter being allowed in to see the dead body of a murder victim.
So all in all, an interesting article.
All the best
Glenn Gustaf Lauritz Andersson
Crime historian, Sweden |
R.J. Palmer
Inspector
Username: Rjpalmer
Post Number: 455
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 4:35 pm: | |
I'm a little skeptical...does the reporter's description really jive with Dr. Phillips' post mortem? Phillip's statements don't describe a cut deep enough to have left a "notch" on the vertabrae. He clearly states that the wound trailed off. This seems to be more like something cribbed from the descriptions of the Chapman murder.
(Message edited by rjpalmer on August 28, 2004) |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 1310
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 5:19 pm: | |
Personally I believe that anyone involved in the mortuary business during the LVP would have been selling tickets to view bodies of dastardly murder. It was that sort of age.
I would have imagined that the press of the day had easy access to such sensational events and materials merely due to their financial powers, particularly in such a deprived and depraved area where four pence could buy you a bed - or a whore - for the night. |
Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1343
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 5:36 pm: | |
Hi AP
you may well be right - for some reason your comments reminded me of the scene in The Elephant Man where a porter at the London Hospital smuggled people in for a fee to see Merrick. How true this is I do not know but knowing the insatiable demand for info on the murders, it would not surprise me if there was a trade as you suggest. I do not know if the mortuaries where the victims lay would have had a police guard during the time they were there but I have seen nothing to suggest this
Chris |
Glenn L Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 2088
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 5:49 pm: | |
Well, if what AP says is possible, then that just shows the differences between countries.
In Sweden we had mortuaries at this time (except for maybe the capital and some other large city). We only had temporary sheds and those were usually heavily guarded by police men, and the authopsy in itself was supervised by the actual officer that investigated the case.
So there would hardly be any chance for a reporter to come close.
Apparently things were different in England.
And why not? Come to think of it, we didn't have coroner inquests either.
All the best
Glenn Gustaf Lauritz Andersson
Crime historian, Sweden |
Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1345
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 8:55 am: | |
I have now transcribed the full article, which is below:
Fitchburg Sentinel
1 October 1888
Repetition of the Whitechapel Atrocities in London
THE POLICE PARALYZED
London, Oct. 1.
The two women found murdered Saturday night near the scene of the former butcheries in Whitechapel have beem recognized as dissolute characters who have long frequented that vicinity. One of them was found in Berner street with her throat cut from ear to ear. The other was discovered lying in Mitre square. She, like the first mentioned victim, had her throat cut, but in additon she had been disembowelled and her nose had been cut off. The murderer had evidently been disturbed in his work in Berner street and had no time to lutilate the body of his victim. The discovery of the bodies completely paralyzed the police, and Gen. Sir Charles Warren, chief commissioner, was at once called out of bed. He repaired immediately to the scene of the murder and gave orders to have the police force in that district strongly reinforced. The inhabitants of Whitechapel are dismayed. The vigilance committees, which were formed after the first crimes were committed, had relaxed their efforts to capture the murderer. At several meetings held in Whitechapel last night, it was resolved to resume the work of patrolling the streets in the district in which the murders have occurred.
The first murder occurred shortly after midnight in a narrow court leading from the street, and directly beneath the windows of a socialist club, composed of foreigners. A concert was in progress in the clubroom at the time, at which a large number of persons were present. The second murder occurred three hours later in Mitre square, five minutes walk from the scene of the first tragedy.
The Berner street victim was Elisabeth Stride, a native of Stockholm, who resided in a common lodging house. The name of the other victim is not known.
Both victims are women of the same class as in the former crimes, and there is no doubt that the murderer is the same. His handiwork is not to be mistaken. The murderer is safe, gloating somewhere over his cleverness, and enjoying the peculiar sensations of delight which the indulgence of his horrible love of killing must undoubtedly cause him. Not the least thing is known, or even legitimately suspected, as to his identity. Scores of women are hysterical. Tens of thousands could not possibly be induced to step out alone. Every one, of course, expects fresh atrocities, and that is how things stand at present. It is not flattering to the police, nor comforting to Londoners, who imagined themselves well protected.
This theory that the murderer, whether a maniac or not, must possess some knowledge of surgery, is accepted as proven. The attempt to connect the crime with some American medical student, who is supposed to have offered large sums to various hospitals for a certain anatomical specimen which was missing in a recent victim, has been given up as ridiculous. The anatomical specimens in question can easily be obtained for a few shillings. It is suggested that the murderer must be a respectable looking individual, as in the present state of terror the most degraded Whitechapel women would not dare trust themselves with a rough, But that is rubbish, for every social law in Whitechapel is based on want and hunger, and the lowest brute on earth with means to procure gin would quickly find a Whitechapel woman eager to help him drink it. The murderer must be very strong, since he appears to have been able in each case to have overcome his victim with ease, and to stifle any loud outcry. Besides being strong, the murderer must have had a terribly sharp knife, for I have just come from the mortuary, where the first of Saturday night's victims lies. The gaping wound in the throat shows plainly the division of the jugular vein and the windpipe and the notch caused by the knife coming in contact with the vertebrae. The wounds on the throat of the Mitre square victim are almost identical. It is evident that the police here are not going to do much, and if the legendary instinct which sniffs out crime out crime still exists in America, its owner had better come over here, humiliate Scotland Yard, earn the thanks of all England and also ear the £300 reward, which would pay for his expenses. A detective leaving New York now might arrive just in time for the next batch of murders.
In consequence of the refusal of Home Secretary Matthews to offer a reward for the arrest of the Whitechapel murderer, the people of the East End on Saturday petitioned the Queen herself to authorize the offering of a reward.
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Glenn L Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 2091
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 9:19 am: | |
This is really an interesting article, Chris.
One can't help react to some of the ordinary journalistic exaggerations of the facts, like the murderer possessing surgical knowledge (I don't think this was ever "accepted as proven"), and also the fact that there according to the article is "no doubt" that Stride and Eddowes were killed by the same man.
Likewise, we also find the usual factual errors; Stride was originating from the countryside outside Gothenburg, not Stockholm.
But there are also good points in there, like "It is suggested that the murderer must be a respectable looking individual, as in the present state of terror the most degraded Whitechapel women would not dare trust themselves with a rough, But that is rubbish, for every social law in Whitechapel is based on want and hunger, and the lowest brute on earth with means to procure gin would quickly find a Whitechapel woman eager to help him drink it."
Quite true, in my mind.
All the best
Glenn Gustaf Lauritz Andersson
Crime historian, Sweden |
Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 193
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 9:21 am: | |
Actually Chris, and all, the type of access you describe is not unusual. Right from the start with Nichols body we have reporters describing the body, the wounds and the scene in the dead-house, the position of the coffin, the body wrapped in a white sheet covered by a blanket, etc.
From reading through all the news reports I get the impression there was no strict limits imposed on the press with respect to viewing the body or murder site.
The comments concerning police not sharing info appears to be limited only to the police inquiries with respect to investigation of suspects, etc.
Regards, Jon |
Glenn L Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 2092
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 9:32 am: | |
That is probably true, Jon.
As I said, things worked completely different over here (apparently), and I guess my observations sometimes are very much based on the circumstances I've been studying on my hom,e turf, while my insights in the British procedures are not that great.
Quite interesting nevertheless, to notice those differences in how one country handled such matters in comparison to others.
All the best
Glenn Gustaf Lauritz Andersson
Crime historian, Sweden |
Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 195
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 10:08 am: | |
With respect to one instance, we find a news article in the Star of Aug 31st describing the wounds on the body of Nichols and describes details of evidence at the mortuary.
The article commences by stating, "Writing at half-past eleven a.m., our reporter says.."
This I suspect is surely before Insptr Spratling filed his report for the day.
I initially assumed the reporter was copying from the Insptr's report, but likely not.
Spratling was on duty from at least 4:00 a.m. until after 12:00 noon, it was either an 8 hr shift or possibly a 12 hr shift but we might suspect he penned his report at the termination of his shift which would have been after the reporter was penning his article at 11:00 a.m. therefore I conclude the reporter describes what he saw himself.
I don't recall ever reading of police restricting the activities of the press with respect to viewing the body, mortuary or murder site.
Regards, Jon
There is always the acknowledged caveat, we might find it difficult to separate what the reporter actually saw from a bit of creative licence, yes?.
And we can argue about that till the cows come home  |
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