Manchester Guardian
12 October 1888
"THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS -- The Mitre Square Inquest and
Verdict"
The adjourned inquest on the body of Catherine Eddowes,
alias Kelly, aged 43, who was found murdered in Mitre
Square on September 30, was resumed yesterday morning, at the
city mortuary, Golden Lane, before Mr. S. F. Lanham, city
coroner. Colonel Sir James Fraser, Major Smith,
Superintendent Foster, and Detective Sergeant Outram
represented the police authorities; and Mr. Crawford, the
city solicitor, appeared for the London Corporation.
Dr. Sequira was the first witness called. He said he resided
at 30, Jury-street, Aldgate. He was called to Mitre Square
on the 30th of September, and was the first medical man to
arrive. He reached the place about five minutes to two
o'clock. He agreed with the medical evidence already given
by Dr. Goodwin Brown and by Mr. Crawford. The place where
the deceased was found was the darkest place in the locality;
but there would be plenty of light for the murderer to see to
inflict the injuries. He did not think that the murderer had
any anatomical skill. Death must have been instantaneous
after the severance of the neck and windpipe.
Dr. Saunders, medical officer of health and public analyst
for the City of London, said he had received the stomach of
the deceased for analysis, and had carefully examined its
contents, more particularly for poisons of the narcotic
class, with negative results. There was not the faintest
trace of these or any other poisons. The witness added that
he was present at the post-mortem examination of the
body, and he had formed the opinion that the wounds were
inflicted by some one who possessed no great amount of
anatomical skill.
Annie Phillips, of Dilston Grove, Southwark, the wife of a
lampblack packer, said she was a daughter of the deceased,
who had always told her she was married to her father. Her
father was Thomas Conway, a hawker. He left her mother
suddenly, and she did not know what had become of him. They
were not on very good terms; but he did not say they would
never see him again when he left. She had never seen or
heard of him since. He was a teetotaller, and he left her
mother because she took to drink. The witness had not the
slightest idea where he was now. He had never used any
threats to the deceased. Her father had been in the 18th
Royal Irish Regiment and was a pensioner. He left home
between seven and eight years ago. The deceased often
applied to the witness for money. She last applied to her
about two years ago at a house in King-street, Bermondsey.
She was not certain that her father was in the 18th Royal
Irish; he might have been in the Connaught Regiment. She had
never had a letter from her mother. She had seen Kelly in a
lodging-house with the deceased, and they were living
together as man and wife. She believed her father was living
with her two brothers; but she did not know where they were.
She saw her brothers from five to eighteen months ago, and
she could not give the police the slightest clue to find
them. She was not aware that her mother had lived with some
one else recently. She saw nothing of the deceased on the
day previous to her death.
Detective Sergeant Baxter Hunt said he had discovered a
pensioner named Conway, of the 18th Royal Irish. Two of the
deceased's sisters had seen him, and they had failed to
recognise him as the man who used to live with the deceased.
The witness had made every endeavour to trace the father and
brothers of the last witness. The deceased's daughter had
not seen Conway. Conway had received his pension in October
last.
Dr. Brown, re-called, said he had no doubt the woman was
murdered in the square.
Police Constable Roberts deposed that on the Saturday night
previous to the murder the deceased was lying on the footway
in High-street, Aldgate, drunk, surrounded by a crowd of
people. He set her up against the shutters, yet she fell
down again. He obtained assistance and conveyed her to the
Bishops-gate police station, where she was asked what her
name was. She replied, "Nothing." She was wearing an apron,
which he identified as the one produced, a portion of which
was found on the body, another portion being found in
Gouldstone-street after the murder.
Police Sergeant James Bifield said he remembered the deceased
being brought to the station on Saturday at about quarter to
nine drunk. She remained at the station till 1 a.m., and
gave her name as Mary Ann Kelly, of Fashion-street. She said
she had be (sic) hopping in Kent.
George James Morris, watchman to Messrs. Kearley and Tonge,
tea dealers, Mitre Square, was the next witness. He said
that he went on duty at seven o'clock on Saturday evening,
the 29th of September. At a quarter-past or quarter to two
on the following morning Police Constable Watkins went to him
and in a most agitated manner said, "Oh dear, here is another
woman murdered in the corner." He had heard the description
already given of the finding of the body, and he agreed with
it. When the body was found he ran up Mitre-street into
Aldgate and blew his whistle for police assistance. He did
not see any suspicious person about at the time. He told two
constables that there had been another terrible murder in
Mitre Square.
The Coroner: Had you heard any noise in the square before you
were called by Police Constable Watkins? No.--Had there been
any cry of distress, would you have heard it? Yes.
George Clapp, 5, Mitre-street, Aldgate, caretaker, deposed
that the part of the premises in which he slept looked into
Mitre Square. During the night of Saturday, September 29,
and until six o'clock the following morning, he heard no
sounds in the square.
Police Constable Pierce (922, City), who resides at No. 3
Mitre Square, said he could from his bedroom window see
plainly the spot where the body was found. He went to bed
about twelve o'clock on Saturday, the 29th ult., and neither
he nor any of his family heard any noise or disturbance. At
2.20 a.m. he was called to the scene by a constable.
Joseph Lawende, of 45, Norfolk Road, Dalston, a traveller,
stated that on the Saturday night he and some friends stayed
until 1.30 a.m. at the Imperial Club in Duke-street, Aldgate.
The witness and his friends while on the way home saw a man
and a woman standing at the corner of Church Passage. The
witness only saw the man's back. He was taller than the
woman. She wore a black dress and hat. The police had shown
him the clothes of the deceased, and he believed they were
the same. The man was wearing a cloth cap with a cloth peak.
By Mr. Crawford: The distance from the club to the spot where
they saw the two persons was about ten yards. The man and
woman were talking quietly, and there were no sounds of
quarrelling.
Police Constable Alfred Long deposed to finding a portion of
the deceased's apron in Gouldstone-street with smears of
blood upon it. On a wall in the same street was written,
"The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing."
The witness reported the fact to the inspector on duty at
Commercial-street station.
Detective Halse, of the city police force, said that on
hearing that a woman had been murdered in Mitre Square, he
gave instructions to have the neighbourhood searched, and
every one examined. It was decided to have the writing about
the Jews rubbed out for fear of a riot. The writing was in
chalk. It had the appearance of having been recently
written. The witness protested against rubbing out the
writing.
A juryman complained that the police, after finding the piece
of apron in Gouldstone-street, had not prosecuted their
inquiries by searching the model dwellings. The clue had
been kept up to that time, and then it was lost.
Mr. Crawford said that he could call witnesses to prove that
a vigilant search was made in all the dwelling-houses in and
around Gouldstone-street.
Police Constable Long having returned with his pocket-book,
which contained a copy of the writing from the wall, said his
attention was afterwards called to the fact that the word
"Jews" was spelt "Juews." After he found the piece of apron
he searched the staircase leading into the buildings, but he
made no inquiries from the tenants. The writing was rubbed
out about five o'clock in the morning.
The Jury returned a verdict that the deceased was murdered by
some person or persons unknown.