New York Times
October 3, 1888
LONDON'S RECORD OF CRIME
"Another Mysterious Murder Brought to Light"
from our own correspondent.
London, Oct.2.-- The carnival of blood continues. It is an extremely
strange state of affairs altogether, because before the Whitechapel murders
began several papers called attention to the fact that there have been more
sanguinary crimes committed in London and its vicinity this Summer than ever
before known in this city in the same space of time. The Whitechapel assassin
has now murdered six victims and crimes occur daily, but pass unnoticed in
view of the master murderer's work in the East End.
Last Friday a man in Pimlico sharpened a knife in the presence of his
wife, threatening her all the time, and then cut off her head with it. This
rather dramatic crime passed off without particular notice, the papers giving
it only a brief paragraph. This afternoon, however, a discovery was made
which was even more horrible than any of the recent deeds.
A few days ago the right arm of a woman was found by some boys in the
Thames near Waterloo Bridge. It belonged to a young woman, was plump,
shapely, and graceful, and had been rudely hacked from the shoulder. It was
believed at first to be evidence of another murder, but as no young woman had
been murdered, so far as known, the theory that it was a specimen from a
dissecting room was generally adopted. Last week, however, another arm,
corresponding to it, was found in a yard behind the asylum in Southwark, half
a mile from Waterloo Bridge. The police took immediate possession of it, and
refused absolutely either to give any information concerning its appearance,
or to say whether it pointed to a fresh crime. The boys who found it said it
was a well-preserved human arm, but scarred and excoriated in many places, as
if from the action of quicklime. The police refused to say yes or no to this,
but hinted or said that it was all a mistake, and that the thing found was
merely the old skeleton of an arm with no flesh on it.
This afternoon, however, a discovery was made in Pimlico, a mile up the
river from where the arm was found, which throws some light on the mystery.
There are some old buildings on the embankment, close to the Parliment
Houses, and almost in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, and workmen are
engaged in tearing these down to prepare a site for the new police station.
As they destroyed an old vault to-day they came upon a shapeless mass, which,
upon closer inspection, proved to be the trunk of the body of a young woman,
perhaps 30 years old. The horribly mutilated head, arms, and legs had been
cut off and carried away, only the trunk being left. The body was not ripped,
however, as in the Whitechapel cases. It was very much decomposed, and in
fact must have been there many weeks. The police removed it to a mortuary,
and to-morrow morning the doctors will adjust the arms beside it, to see if
they fit. It is now admitted by the police that the second arm found matched
the first one. Should the arms belong to the body they may serve as a clue.
They seem in a much better state of preservation than the body, however, and,
should they not fit, they will stand as evidence of a second horrible crime
yet unrevealed. There is no clue to the identity of the murdered woman; in
fact so many people disappear daily in this great city that the record of
disappearances will not be of much assistance.
This crime, single or double as it may be, has no connection with the
Whitechapel murders. Its method is different in every possible respect, and
should it prove to be two murders instead of one it will show an independent
operation of the Whitechapel nature. Pimlico is two miles from Whitechapel.
The master murderer of the latter district has done all his work in one small
area, and there is no clue whatever to him. To-night a crazy man, with blood
stains on his coat, who was flourishing surgical knives and making a general
spectacle of himself in Milk-street in the city, was arrested, but he proves
to be innocent. Another suspect was arrested at Chingford, (Efiling?) Forest,
to-day, but he easily proved an alibi. No one suspected is at present in
custody, though all Scotland Yard is at work on the case.
Associated Press Dispatch.
London, Oct. 2.-- An inquest was held today on the body of the woman
found murdered in a narrow court off Berners-street Sunday morning. A sister
of the victim was called, and deposed that she was awoke at 1:20 o'clock
Sunday morning and heard a sound which she thought was made by a person
falling to the ground. She was convinced that her sister was dead, and after
reading the accounts of the murder in the newspapers, went to the morgue and
recognized the body of the murdered woman as that of her sister. The house in
which the witness resides is several miles from Berner-street. The murder is
believed to have been committed at about 12:50 o'clock Sunday morning.
