George Cullen
George Cullen, alias Squibby, was a 25 year old muscular tattooed street gambler, he was charged with assaulting a young child after a stone he threw at a policeman missed it's intended target and hit the young girl. Squibby subsequently went into hiding, though was spotted on the day of the Hanbury Street murder by Detective Walter Dew and Detective Thomas Stacey, a chase ensured, with Squibby diving between the legs of a horse and running as fast as his legs would carry him along Commercial Street, in the direction of Aldgate.
The sight of a man running from the police at great speed on the day of a Ripper murder soon attracted a crowd of hundreds, who followed hot on the trial of the man the police were pursuing, the cry quickly went up, 'Jack the Ripper, Jack the Ripper, lynch him'. Squibby, never one to hand himself over to the police quietly, was trembling and terrified of the howling mob, when the police finally apprehended him. The presence of police reinforcements only appeared to confirm to the crowd that the man the police had apprehended was none other than Jack the Ripper. The crowd turned ugly, and even when Squibby was safely delivered to Commercial Street police station, the mob proceeded to attack the police station repeatedly, in a desperate attempt to get their hands on him. The brave officers stood their ground, and eventually, after what must have seemed like an age, the crowd dispersed. Squibby, much to his relief, was subsequently given a three month prison sentence, believing he would be safer in Pentonville.
