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n On Friday November 9th 1888, he strucknagain. She was another prostitute, Mary Jane Kelly, in her mid-twenties andndescribed as a ‘pretty, buxom girl’, who had moved from her native Ireland tonWales as a child, married a miner at sixteen, was widowed when he was killed inna mining accident and had moved to London, where she entered a West Endnbrothel.
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| Mary Jane Kelly in Miller’s Court |
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nHer situation worsened and by 1887 she had moved to the East End,nwhere she lived with Joseph Barnett, a market porter. In 1888, they were livingnin a twelve-foot square single room in Miller’s Court, Whitechapel, rented fromnJohn McCarthy.
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| Location of Mary Jane Kelly’s Murder |
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nKelly owed McCarthy twenty-nine shillings for six weeks backnrent, and he sent his assistant, Thomas Bowyer, to collect the debt. He knockednon the door but did not get a reply, so he reached in through a broken window,npushed a coat that was being used as a curtain to one side and peered into thenroom. The severely mutilated body was lying on the bed, and a distraught Bowyernwent and told McCarthy, who went for the police. Inspector Walter Beck was thenfirst to arrive, joined by Sgt Edward Badham, but they didn’t go into the roomnas Sir Charles Warren, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had givennorders that if there was another murder, the scene should remain undisturbednuntil her arrived to take charge. Warren wanted to use bloodhounds to try andnscent the killer out, but what Beck and Badham didn’t know was that Warren hadnresigned his position on the previous day and was not on his way, so there wasna two hour delay before the police went into Number 13, Miller’s Court. Unlikenthe other killings, which had occurred in the streets, this one had taken placenin a room, where the Ripper had been undisturbed, and he had had time to gonabout his terrible business. He had not so much ‘ripped’ Mary Jane Kelly asndismantled her.
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| Police Photograph – Murder Scene – Mary Jane Kelly |
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nDeath occurred by the severing of her carotid artery as hernthroat was cut, but her abdomen had been torn apart, the front part removed andnplaced, together with the flesh from the thighs, on a table. Her liver wasnplaced between her feet, the uterus, kidneys and one breast under her head, thenother breast by the right foot, the intestines by the right side of the bodynand the spleen by the right side. The throat had been hacked down to thenvertebrae, which was deeply notched, and the face had been mutilated beyondnrecognition, with slashes to the eyes, ears, nose and cheeks. The right lungnhad been torn, the pericardium was open and the heart was absent. Both thighsnhad been denuded of skin and muscle down to the bones; both arms and forearmsnbore deep, jagged wounds. The bed on which the body was lying was soaked innblood. There were burnt clothes in the fireplace, which had probably lit tonprovide illumination, as the only other light source in the room was anhalfpenny candle. Mary Jane’s clothes were neatly folded and her boots werenplaced beside the fireplace, suggesting that she had undressed and lain on thenbed, as she knew the killer.
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| Haymarket – Midnight |
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nSeveral men had been seen in her company on thenprevious evening and Mary had been heard singing by a neighbour at about 1 am.nShe had been seen on Flower and Dean Street at 2 am, talking to a man of aboutn35 or 36, around 5 feet 5 inches tall, wearing a long, dark coat and a soft,nfelt hat pulled down low. He wore a white collar and a black necktie, with anheavy gold watch chain, button over boots and spats, and he was carrying anparcel. Mary was seen kissing this man at the entrance to Miller’s Court justnbefore 3 am, before going into the court. She was not seen alive again,nalthough some neighbours say they saw her in the morning, even after the timenof death.
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| London Drinking Den |
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nAnd that was that. There were other murders in Whitechapel, but thesenwere the recognised ‘Ripper’ murders. Why he stopped killing will remainnunknown – he could have moved elsewhere, been imprisoned for some other crimenor institutionalised, perhaps he even died. It is all speculation. As is muchn‘Ripperology’, the subsequent study of the crimes, where there is as muchnbarminess and crazed guesswork as you could ever wish for. For every measured,nconsidered theory about the possible identity or motive of the Ripper, there isnanother that is certain he was a time-travelling alien. The popular conceptionnof Jack the Ripper is of a tall, dark, Victorian gentleman in a top hat andnopera cloak, descending into the rookeries of Whitechapel with his silverntopped cane and leather Gladstone bag containing his collection of cutlery. Henhas some connection with the medical profession; maybe he is even a surgeon. Henmay have links to the aristocracy; he may even have royal connections. He is anmonster, but he demands a certain grudging admiration from us, in the samenmanner that we admire the elegant efficiency of a King cobra or black panther.nHe is a killer, but he has class. He is the Prince of Killers; a talented,nskilled, calculating assassin, a ghoulish brother of Count Dracula.
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| Punch – Sept 29 1888 – The Nemesis of Neglect |
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nBut, as Insay, this is all speculation. He could, just as easily, have been a cockneynhorse butcher. Even at the time, the medical profession denied his supposednanatomical proficiency and had him marked down as an amateurish hacker ofnflesh. The memories of the anatomists and their dealings with the resurrection men were still active in the popular imagination, and there remained a vigorousnmistrust of surgeons that fuelled the conception of the Ripper as Doctor Death.nThe plain facts are that an unknown serial killer murdered five prostitutes innWhitechapel between the end of August and the beginning of November 1888. Therenare a couple of other possible murders that he may or may not have committed,nbut that’s it. Five killings in six weeks.
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| Supposed Murderer? |
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nThe them-and-us mentality was justnas strong in the past as it is today – the rich took whatever they wanted forntheir own nefarious purposes, they fed, sometimes literally, on the blood ofnthe poor. The tabloid media today still carries stories of the lurid doings ofnthe privileged and wealthy, perpetuating the myth of evil plutocrats, fat catsnand celebrities that operate beyond the reach of the law. Go ahead, buy a paperntomorrow and prove me wrong.
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