Jack the Ripper: The Killer from Hell “Dear Boss,
Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little
games...My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck. Yours truly,
Jack the Ripper” Those were extracts from a letter that London’s
Central News Agency received on September 27, 1888. It was then forwarded to Scotland Yard who
were in the middle of investigating, perhaps, the most notorious killing spree of all time. Someone was attacking women in Whitechapel,
murdering them and then cutting up their bodies in gruesome fashion. The killer went by many names - the Whitechapel
Murderer, Leather Apron, Saucy Jacky, and, of course, Jack the Ripper. He remains unidentified to this day so we
will focus on his grim body of work - the murders, the suspects, the investigations. Few, if any other killers in history have
inspired so many studies, books, and hypotheses courtesy of police officers, historians, writers,
and crime buffs who are collectively known as ripperologists. Today we explore the life of Jack the Ripper. The Autumn of Terror Begins - Mary Ann Nichols
In 1888, the Whitechapel parish in the East End of London was a place rife with crime. It was an overcrowded low-income area with
terrible housing and working conditions. There was a brothel on every corner and a
bar next to every brothel so the residents may indulge their vices and forget about their
poverty-stricken lives. But even for such an area, nobody was prepared
for what they were about to discover one early morning on August 31. A man named Charles Cross was on his way to
his job on Buck’s Row. On the way, he found a woman lying prone in
the street, with her skirt raised above her waist. Cross and another man named Robert Paul approached
her and touched her head and hands, unable to decide if she was dead or merely unconscious. The two concluded that they should pull down
her skirt and that they would alert the first police officer they encountered but, otherwise,
they had jobs to get to. The streets of Whitechapel were poorly lit
and it was still night outside. In the darkness, even up-close, neither man
noticed that the woman’s throat had been slit and her abdomen mutilated. A police constable named John Neil came upon
the body, followed closely by Constable Mizen who had been alerted by Cross. A third constable went to fetch the doctor. The physician pronounced the woman dead and
concluded that she had been killed about half an hour prior. This meant that the killer was, likely, still
in the area when Charles Cross walked by. The victim was Mary Ann Nichols, a prostitute
who also went by “Polly”. At first, her murder was linked to a few other
killings which we will talk about a bit later. While some blamed a violent gang, the newspapers
ran with the story of one deranged killer preying on these women. In the weeks that followed, street gossip
created the belief that the killer was a local Jewish man known as “Leather Apron.” Whitechapel had a large Jewish population
so resentment against them was high. Of course, the newspapers were more than happy
to fuel this sensationalism. Whether it was due to frustration, incompetence,
or outside pressure to do something, the police decided to arrest John Pizer in September. He was a Polish Jew who worked as a shoemaker
and some said that he was sometimes called “Leather Apron.” He also had a prior conviction for a stabbing
attack. This was all the police had against Pizer
but, fortunately for him, he had a solid alibi that exculpated him. Pizer even won a libel case against a newspaper
that declared him to be the killer. The Second Murder - Annie Chapman
On September 8, the Whitechapel Murderer struck again when the body of Annie Chapman was found
in the backyard of Danbury Street by an elderly resident. He flagged down some passing workmen who alerted
the police. Chapman’s throat had a deep cut and her
body had been mutilated with multiple stab wounds, immediately suggesting a connection
with the murder of Mary Nichols. She had been disemboweled and her intestines
had been severed, lifted out of the body and placed on her shoulder. A later post-mortem examination revealed that
the killer had removed and taken Chapman’s uterus. Dr. George Bagster Phillips examined the wounds
and ascertained that they were caused by a very sharp knife with a long, thin, and narrow
blade. It could have been the surgical instrument
that a doctor might use for a post-mortem. Phillips also said in his testimony that the
murderer showed “indications of anatomical knowledge.” These conclusions gave birth to the idea that
the killer might be someone with a medical background, a notion that is still pervasive
today. The murders caused a huge sensation in London
and were discussed in every newspaper in the city. Meanwhile, the police had to contend with
an unexpected problem that significantly impeded their already-plodding investigation. They had to look into hundreds of letters
received from the public. Broadly, these missives could be placed into
two categories: letters from people offering suggestions or information on how to catch
the culprit and letters alleged to be from the killer himself. The police received upwards of 700 letters
from the public. Hundreds were purportedly from the Whitechapel
Murderer, either taunting or expressing remorse for his actions. You might imagine how this made it almost
impossible for the police to ascertain which of the letters, if any, were useful or genuine. That being said, there are a few which are
believed by many investigators to have some merit. The first one we mentioned in the intro of
the video. It was sent to the Central News Agency almost
20 days after the murder of Annie Chapman. It starts with the words “Dear Boss” and
ends with the murderer giving himself a name. From now on, he is known as Jack the Ripper. The Double Event - Catherine Eddowes and Elizabeth
Stride At first, the “Dear Boss” letter was dismissed
as a hoax like all the others. However, one particular phrase garnered the
interest of the police. When talking about his next job, Jack said
that he will “clip the ladys ears off.” This became relevant when, just a few days
later, the killer did just that. On September 30, two women fell victim to
the Ripper: Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. First off was Elizabeth Stride, also known
as “Long Liz”. She was last seen around midnight in the company
of an unidentified man. She was killed soon after that and her body
had already been discovered by 1 a.m. at Dutfield’s Yard on Berner Street. Liz died from a long, six-inch gash in her
neck, but had suffered no mutilations. Because of this, some are still reticent to
count her as a Ripper victim, believing that she could have been the target of an unrelated
attack. However, others consider that there are enough
similarities such as location and killing method to group her with the other women. They believe that Jack did not cut up her
body because he was either rushing to kill again or, perhaps, because he was interrupted. This is where a Hungarian Jew named Israel
Schwartz came in with an interesting story to share which, if true, meant that he might
have been the interrupter. Schwartz told police that he saw a man assault
a woman on Berner Street at around 12:45 a.m. that night. Believing he was witnessing a domestic spat
between husband and wife, he wanted nothing to do with it and crossed the street to avoid
them. He later identified Long Liz as the woman
he saw that night. His cowardice was subsequently mocked in newspapers
which labelled Schwartz a “hen-hearted creature.” There are two peculiar details about his story. Firstly, Schwartz claimed that there was a
second man in the vicinity smoking a pipe. Secondly, the witness said that the attacker
saw him and shouted something at him. Schwartz believed the word was “Lipski”,
an anti-semitic slur which referenced Israel Lipski, a Jewish man hanged for murder the
year before. We don’t know how serious police took Schwartz’s
account, but they did not call on him to testify at the inquest. Their records do indicate that they tracked
down and eliminated the second man as a suspect. Meanwhile, within walking distance of Berner
Street, Jack had found himself another victim named Catherine “Kate” Eddowes. After midnight, Kate was walking the streets
of London after being released from jail for drunken behavior. She ended up in Mitre Square and was last
seen alive at around 1:30 a.m. in the company of a man by three Jewish gentlemen leaving
a club on Duke Street. One of those three, Joseph Lawende, got a
decent look at the couple and described them, although he mainly remembered their clothes
and not their features. Eddowes body was discovered soon after by
a constable walking his beat. Her neck had been cut and her body suffered
gruesome mutilations, more extensive than any of the previous victims. Her face was disfigured, her intestines were
removed and placed on her shoulder again, and the killer had removed her left kidney
and part of her uterus. Jack had also cut off Kate’s right ear which
is what convinced authorities that the “Dear Boss” letter was the genuine article. More Letters Arrive
Speaking of letters, the next day the Central News Agency received a postcard. The text said:
“I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you'll hear about Saucy
Jacky's work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish
straight off. Had not time to get ears off for police thanks
for keeping last letter back till I got to work again. Jack the Ripper”
The details and the handwriting suggested to police not only that the postcard was real,
but that it was written by the same person as the “Dear Boss” letter. They published a facsimile in the hope that
someone might recognize the handwriting, but were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, while it is true that both
were probably written by the same person, it is also possible that that person was not
Jack the Ripper. Since the start, some investigators believed
that these letters were the work of journalists, specifically either Fred Best or Thomas Bulling. They had access to confidential information
and wanted to keep interest in Jack alive. Indeed, it is quite feasible that all the
correspondence purported to be from Jack the Ripper was actually written by other people
who wanted to be part of the sick charade that surrounded the murders. One more letter merits inclusion, though,
because it came with a grisly accessory - part of a human kidney. This missive was addressed “From Hell”
and was sent to George Lusk, chairman of a volunteer vigilante group called the Whitechapel
Vigilance Committee. It read:
“Mr Lusk, Sir
I send you half the Kidney I took from one women preserved it for you tother piece I
fried and ate it was very nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took
it out if you only wate a while longer signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk” The handwriting in this letter was definitely
not the same as the first two. Obviously, the implication was that the kidney
belonged to the fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes. Dr. Thomas Openshaw of the London Hospital
examined the organ and concluded that it was, indeed, human. Subsequently, Openshaw received his own Ripper
letter where Jack lamented that “coppers spoilt the game” and foiled his attempt
to claim another victim near Openshaw’s hospital. The Final Victim - Mary Jane Kelly
Jack the Ripper saved his most vicious kill for last. His victim was Mary Jane Kelly, an Irish working
girl who, at only 25 years old, was much younger than the other murdered women. Also unlike the rest, she was killed in her
home rather than on the street. Kelly’s body was discovered on the morning
of November 9 at her lodging at 13 Miller’s Court by Thomas Bowyer, her landlord’s assistant. Bowyer came round to collect the rent and,
even though he was a former soldier, he was left stunned by the scene of ineffable horror
that awaited him. First thing he noticed was the broken window. Inside, the room was absolutely covered in
blood. On the table he saw piles of meat, not realizing
in the moment that they were human flesh. On the bed there was the body of Kelly which
had been so grotesquely maimed and mangled that it barely looked human anymore. According to the doctor’s estimation, it
would have taken around two hours to inflict those atrocities upon Mary Kelly. It showed the world just how depraved Jack
the Ripper could be when he had all the time and privacy he wanted. Police surgeon Dr. Thomas Bond detailed the
extent of her injuries in his report: “The whole of the surface of the abdomen and thighs
was removed and the abdominal cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated
by several jagged wounds and the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round
to the bone.” The Investigation
On the other side of the law, the London police force was engaged in one of the most ample
investigations in its history. Thousands of people were interviewed and hundreds
of leads were chased down, yet police were heavily criticized by the public and the media
for failing to apprehend the killer. The inquiry was initially handled by Whitechapel’s
H Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, but was soon taken over by Scotland Yard detectives. Chief among them was Detective Inspector Frederick
Abberline who was put in charge of the case because he previously worked for H Division
for 14 years and it was thought that his local knowledge would prove invaluable. A frequent criticism throughout the investigation
concerned police refusal to offer a reward for information. Authorities were accused either of not taking
the case seriously or not caring what happened in a poor district full of immigrants like
Whitechapel. In reality, this lack of reward was a new
Home Office policy instituted a few years earlier. If you’re watching this video, you are probably
already aware that the police never caught Jack the Ripper. That being said, there are two curious moments
in their investigation that are worth discussing. First is a report by surgeon Thomas Bond. He was asked for his opinion on the killer’s
medical knowledge, but Bond ended up writing an 11-point essay which is sometimes regarded
as the first ever criminal profile. Curiously, Bond vehemently disagreed with
Dr. Phillips’s assertion that Jack the Ripper had a medical background. He didn’t even think the killer had “the
technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer.” Moreover, Bond had no doubt that the five
women were killed “by the same hand.” He concluded that Jack the Ripper was cool,
daring, middle-aged, quiet, respectably dressed, and inoffensive looking. He believed the killer wore a cloak or overcoat
in order to conceal the blood stains after the murders. Bond said that, in each case, the mutilation
was the Ripper’s main goal and that Jack might have suffered from homicidal impulses
brought on by satyriasis, a condition better known today as hypersexuality or nymphomania. The second moment concerns the only clue that
Jack the Ripper left following a kill. After he had murdered Catherine Eddowes, he
took her apron. Police later found the bloody garment in a
stairwell on Goulston Street. Right above it was a piece of graffiti written
in chalk which read “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing." Police saw it, copied it down and, on the
orders of Police Commissioner Charles Warren, wiped it clean. At a time of skyhigh racial tensions, he feared
that the text might incite a violent riot. Much debate still goes on regarding whether
the police acted properly by erasing possible evidence and whether the graffiti was actually
a message from Jack the Ripper or just a random anti-semitic scrawl unconnected to the crimes. More Murders? The five dead women we have mentioned are
referred to by ripperologists as the Canonical Five and are, generally, considered Jack’s
only victims. However, given the uncertainty surrounding
everything else related to the Ripper, it’s not surprising that people think he may have
killed others. First, there were two slayings which took
place in Whitechapel before that of Mary Nichols.The first victim was Emma Smith and the second
was Martha Tabram. Smith survived her attack long enough to tell
police she was assaulted by two or three men, making it more likely that she fell prey to
gang violence. Tabram, however, died after being stabbed
39 times. Her kill had the viciousness of Jack the Ripper,
but investigators were, ultimately, convinced that her death was unrelated because her throat
wasn’t cut and she wasn’t mutilated afterwards. Even so, it wouldn’t be completely unheard
of for a serial killer to evolve his modus operandi and increase in brutality as he gained
more experience and confidence. Four more suspicious deaths occurred in 1888
and 1889 which were added to the Whitechapel Murders. However, they were considered unrelated because
they lacked the savage disfigurement of the Ripper. That being said, one of those victims was
just the torso of a woman. That certainly sounds vicious enough to be
the work of Jack but, as it happened, four other torsos had been found around that time,
just not in Whitechapel. Only one of the victims of the so-called “Thames
Torso Murders” was identified as Elizabeth Jackson. Some believe these were all the work of Jack,
while others feel they belonged to a second maniac who was active at the same time as
the Ripper. Who Was Jack? Who was Jack the Ripper? That’s the million dollar question and historians,
scholars, criminologists, authors, and police officers have put forward over a hundred suspects. Inspector Abberline strongly suspected George
Chapman, a Polish immigrant and a convicted serial killer who was hanged for three poisonings. Chapman, real name Seweryn KĹ‚osowski, had
minor surgical knowledge and arrived in London shortly before the killing spree started. He also left for America in 1891, a few years
after the murders stopped. However, Chapman used poison and criminologists
don’t believe a killer would change their modus operandi to such an extent. Another convicted serial killer suspected
of being Jack was Dr. Thomas Neill Cream. He was also a poisoner and, according to records,
he was in prison in America during the killing spree. All available evidence should dismiss Cream
as a candidate, yet he remains a popular choice solely based on the story that, while being
hanged, Cream’s last words allegedly were “I am Jack…” A more plausible suspect was Aaron Kosminski,
a Jewish barber who emigrated from Congress Poland sometime in the early 1880s. He was considered a strong candidate by several
authorities of that era. Sir Melville Macnaghten, Assistant Commissioner
of the London Metropolitan Police, wrote in memoranda that Kosminski had “strong homicidal
tendencies” and a “great hatred of women, especially of the prostitute class.” Chief Inspector Donald Swanson wrote that
the only witness who got a good look at the Ripper’s face (doesn’t specify who, but
presumably either Schwartz or Lawende), refused to testify against him because they were both
Jewish. And although we’re not exactly sure on the
date, sometime around 1890 Kosminski was committed to an insane asylum which lines up with the
murders stopping. Modern science seemingly came to the rescue
when a paper published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences boldly proclaimed that Aaron Kosminski
was Jack the Ripper based on DNA. The authors alleged that a semen sample obtained
from the shawl of Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim, was DNA matched to a living relative
of Kosminski. This study, however, was heavily criticized
by other scientists who found many faults with it. Even the provenance of the shawl is in doubt. The original inventory done in 1888 lists,
in detail, over 30 items of clothing and possessions that Eddowes had on her at the time of her
murder, yet there is no shawl among them. So while Kosminski remains one of the top
suspects, the matter is yet to be settled. In the same memoranda, Assistant Commissioner
Macnaghten named Montague Druitt as his favored suspect. He asserted that Druitt was “sexually insane”
and was suspected of being the Ripper even by his own family. Druitt committed suicide a month after the
murder of Mary Kelly, giving a reason why the murders stopped. Macnaghten’s appraisal placed Druitt at
the top of the suspect list of many ripperologists, but it seems to be based mostly on incorrect
facts and hearsay. Inspector Abberline dismissed Druitt as a
suspect and, decades later, researchers placed Druitt in different parts of the country for
some of the murders. Going by viciousness alone, a man named Frederick
Bailey Deeming seemed to be the most likely culprit. Deeming was hanged in Australia in 1892 for
killing his second wife, only to be later discovered that he had also murdered his first
wife and their four children by cutting their throats. He was certainly capable of inflicting the
gruesome horrors of the Ripper, but records of his movements in 1888 are spotty, at best. They seem to indicate that Deeming was in
South Africa at the time. These are just a few of the more sensible
suspects. There are many more out there. Some believe the killings were the work of
a masonic conspiracy involving the royal family whose goal was to protect Prince Albert Victor
and that the killer was either the prince himself or the Queen’s physician, Sir William
Gull. Others opine that the murderer was Lewis Carroll,
author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or the post-impressionist painter Walter Sickert. Some believe that Jack the Ripper was, in
fact, Jill the Ripper, and that the killer was a woman. This theory started with Inspector Abberline
himself. Some of the suspects included women of the
era who had been convicted of heinous murders such as Mary Pearcey and Lizzie Halliday. We could keep doing this all day and we would
still not run out of suspects. Ultimately, there isn’t sufficient evidence
to identify, beyond a shadow of a doubt, any person as Jack the Ripper. This anonymity surely helped bolster his infamy
as here we are, 130 years after his ghastly killing spree, still talking about it. And we are hardly the only ones - books, movies,
and TV shows that revolve around the Ripper murders are still popular today. So that just leaves us with one question - who
do you think was Jack the Ripper?
Great video. Love that channel.