Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser
Friday, 14 September, 1888
The fearful epidemic of crime which has broken out in the East End of London
seems to have afforded an opportunity for sentimental and gushing writers to
pour the vials of their wrath on the unfortunate heads of the constabulary,
and to charge the Metropolitan police with having allowed the first city of
the world to lapse into primeval savagery. The frightful murders in Whitechapel
indicate an assassin with the cunning of a madman and the heart of a brute, and
reveal a nature so foul and so dominated by animalism that we can only hope for
the sake of humanity the fiendish crimes may be traced to one irresponsible for
his actions. A London journal is accountable for the statement - which we find
rather a big pill to swallow - that a police official told a representative of
the Press quite coolly that the police would never detect such crimes as the
Whitechapel murders, and that the only thing to do was to let the man-monster
go on murdering people till his homicidal mania wore off or wore him out. The
same authority, in the most serious manner possible, expresses its regret that
this individual only too faithfully reflects the spirit of fatalism and
pessimism that is demoralising the detective department. Surely it may be
safely assumed that the police authorities are doing their utmost to find the
author of the ghastly murders, and it is a pity that they should be hampered
by the vapid nonsense indulged in by writers who seem ever ready to turn their
pen in whichever direction the tide turns. They would have been the first,
doubtless, had the murderer been caught, to load the captors with fulsome
flattery.
THE WHITECHAPEL TRAGEDY.
The inquest on the body of Annie Chapman, 47, the victim of the latest Whitechapel
tragedy, was resumed to-day at the Working Lads’ Institute, Whitechapel, before Mr.
Wynne Baxter, the district coroner. - Inspector Chandler described the position in
which he found Chapman’s body when called in on Saturday morning, confirming the
statements of previous witnesses as to the state of the clothing, and adding that
a portion of the intestines still connected with the body was lying over the left
shoulder, while some loose pieces of skin were lying near the head. After the
removal of the body he found lying near where the feet had been a piece of muslin,
a tooth-comb, and a pocket-comb while near by was part of an envelope containing
pills. On the flap of the envelope were embossed with the words "Sussex Regiment"
and on the front were written the letters "M" and "Sp," the rest of the words being
"London, August, 1888." A wet leather apron was also lying near by. - Inspt. Chandler
proceeding, said there were no indications of a struggle, and none of the palings
were broken, though they bore blood stains, as did the ground in the immediate
vicinity of the body, none, however, being traceable outside the yard. Most of the
clothes were more or less soiled with blood. Richardson informed the police early
on Saturday that a body was not there at five o’clock, but anyone who only went to
the top of the steps might have failed to see it. The foreman of the jury asked
whether any steps had been taken to produce Ted Stanley who was said to have been
much in the deceased’s company, as he was a pensioner, and the envelope which was
found bore a regimental name. It was specially desirable that he should be forthcoming.
Witness replied that the police had not been able to find Stanley, and the coroner
observed that if he was well advised he would come forward. Adverting to a further
remark from the jury as to the desirability of offering a reward, the Coroner said
he believed the Government had given up making such offers. - Doctor Phillips,
divisional police surgeon, corroborated Chandler’s evidence as to the position in
which the body lay when he was called in. He added that the face and tongue were
much swollen, and that a portion of the small intestines and of the abdomen was
lying on the ground over the right shoulder, but still attached to the body. Two
other parts of the wall of the stomach were lying in a pool of blood above the left
shoulder. There were other mutilations, evidently inflicted after death, which were
of such a nature that he preferred, if possible, not to discuss them. For cutting
the throat and for mutilating the body, a sharp, thin, narrow blade six or eight
inches long must have been used, and the manner of its employment indicated
anatomical knowledge, which was perhaps not more fully displayed in consequence
of haste.
No fresh facts of importance have transpired today in connection with the Whitechapel
murder, beyond the evidence given at the inquest to-day. Mr. Phillips’ positive
opinion that the woman had been dead quite two hours when he first saw the body at
half-past six throws serious doubt upon the accuracy on at least two important
witnesses, and considerably adds to the prevailing confusion. There have been no
further arrests, but some important information respecting the two lunatics under
surveillance has been obtained.
