Abraham Heshburg, described as a "young fellow" living at 28 Berner Street, was one of the first witnesses to come across the body of Elizabeth Stride on the morning of 30 September 1888. He is named in the press as both Heshburg (Daily News, East London Observer, Liverpool Daily Post), Hoshburg (Evening News) and Heahbury (Yorkshire Post). Paul Daniel has suggested his real surname was in fact Ashbrigh.

Interviewed by the Daily News, Heshburg stated:

Yes; I was one of those who first saw the murdered woman. It was about a quarter to one o'clock, I should think, when I heard a policeman's whistle blown, and came down to see what was the matter. In the gateway two or three people had collected, and when I got there I saw a short dark young woman lying on the ground with a gash between four and five inches long in her throat. I should say she was from 25 to 28 years of age. Her head was towards the north wall, against which she was lying. She had a black dress on, with a bunch of flowers pinned on the breast. In her hand there was a little piece of paper containing five or six cachous. The body was found by a man whose name I do not know - a man who goes out with a pony and barrow, and lives up the archway, where he was going, I believe, to put up his barrow on coming home from market. He thought it was his wife at first, but when he found her safe at home he got a candle and found this woman. He never touched it till the doctors had been sent for. The little gate is always open, or at all events always unfastened. There are some stables up there-Messrs. Duncan, Woollatt, and Co.'s, I believe - and there is a place to which a lot of girls take home sacks which they have been engaged in making. None of them would be there, though, after about one on Saturday afternoon. None of us recognised the woman and I do not think she belongs to this neighbourhood. She was dressed very respectably. There seemed to be no wounds on the body. (Daily News, 1 October 1888)

Other newspapers, such as the Irish Times and the Liverpool Daily Post, carried the same interview but offered slightly more detail on who Heshburg believed to have discovered Stride's body. Said Heshburg, "The body was not found by Koster, but by a man whose name I do not know." Heshburg also elaborated on the International Workingman's Club:

Oh, yes, it would be open till 2 or 3 this morning. I suppose it is a Socialist club, and there are generally rows there. Both men and women go there. They have demonstrations up there, and concerts, for which they have a stage and plane. There was a row there last Sunday night. It went on till about 2 in the morning, and in the end two people were arrested. (Irish Times, 1 October 1888)

Contemporary Sources

Daily News (London) - 1 October 1888
Evening News (London) - 1 October 1888
Liverpool Daily Post - 1 October 1888
Yorkshire Post - 1 October 1888
Irish Times - 1 October 1888

Secondary Sources

Begg, Paul. Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts. Robson, 1988.
Daniel, Paul. "The Streets of Whitechapel". Ripperologist. Issue No. 7, September 1996.