Why Did The White Chapel Murders Attract So Much Attention In 1888?
Jack the Ripper Coursework
The Ripper Murders
Why Did The WhiteChapel Murders Attract So Much Attention In 1888?
On 31st August 1888 the first of five terrifying and horrific murders took place, the last on 9th November 1888. The five victims, all prostitutes were Polly Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Kelly.
Mary Ann Nichols
August 31, 1888
Annie Chapman
September 8, 1888
Elizabeth Stride
September 30, 1888
Catherine Eddowes
September 30, 1888
Mary Jane Kelly
November 9, 1888
These five murders were the first ever publicized serial killings and in the period before 1888 there had never been any such killing on this level. These five victims of the commonly known 'Jack the Ripper' received a lot of media attention. Some of the possible reasons for such attention could have been that each victim was reported to have been in the company of a man described a foreign looking before they were killed. The nature of the murders was something that had never been seen before; the way that the bodies were mutilated was a shock to all. The bodies' disembowelments led to the thought that the killer had some medical experience, a man that was experienced and knew what he was doing. All the victims were women and where they were killed was a great worry to the residents of Whitechapel, the thought that ordinary people, as prostitutes were in Whitechapel were being targeted on the streets where they lived was a frightening thought.
The media became interested in the murders from an early stage in the investigations, one of the things that attracted media attention was the way that the press were able to put a name to the killer, not the killers real name, as this is unknown, but the press used the name 'Jack the Ripper'. This would have made the whole thing seem like a movie to many, the name Jack was and still is an ordinary everyday name and the thought of the killer being an ordinary person was an unbelievable thought for many. The thought that the killer could be anyone, someone that those reading the papers may know gave the killer a lot of attention. Not only had the killer and the murders had a lot of media attention but the name, 'Jack the Ripper' was something left to the imagination of the media. The name gave the ordinary people of Whitechapel a reason to worry. The name made the murderer sound more horrific than if the name 'Jack the Killer' had been used. The way that the media handled the publicity of the murders also affected the amount of attention the papers themselves received and thus the attention that the killings received. The way headlines and articles were written would have played a major role in the murders attention.
All five murders took place in a very small space, all in the vicinity of Whitechapel, and all closely linked within Whitechapel. Murder 1, Polly Nicholls was found dead in front of a stable yard in Bucks row, Murder 2, Annie Chapman was found dead in Hanbury Street,
Murder 3, Elizabeth Stride was found dead in a yard behind number 40 Berner Street,
Murder 4, Catherine Eddowes was found dead in Mitre Square and Murder 5, Mary Kelly was found dead in her bedroom at 13 Milles Court. All of these five murders were within one square mile of each other. This was one of the things that captivated the Media attention, the fact that the murderer was able to go so close to where he had already killed once, let a lone five times was a worrying thing that the media had picked ...
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Murder 3, Elizabeth Stride was found dead in a yard behind number 40 Berner Street,
Murder 4, Catherine Eddowes was found dead in Mitre Square and Murder 5, Mary Kelly was found dead in her bedroom at 13 Milles Court. All of these five murders were within one square mile of each other. This was one of the things that captivated the Media attention, the fact that the murderer was able to go so close to where he had already killed once, let a lone five times was a worrying thing that the media had picked up on. Whitechapel itself had never had a good reputation, it had always been known for drunks and prostitutes but it had never been thought of as a place where you could be killed so horrifically. This brought in more attention from outsiders; they suddenly became interested as to what went on in Whitechapel.
The media are the best at reporting bad news, it sells papers and that's why all reporters and publisher thrive on bad news. The papers would have wanted anything that they could get on the murders so that it would sell their papers. This could have been one of the factors as to why there was so much attention to the Whitechapel murders.
All of the murders, except one which was Mary Kelly took place on the streets. All of the bodies were found outside. Many would have been worried as to whether they were now safe on the very streets that they lived on. There was a lot of media attention since the first murder, but by the time the fifth murder, Mary Kelly's murder had taken place the whole of Whitechapel was in full panic and full attention to the urders. Mary Kelly's murder would have attracted the most attention; this was because she was not killed on the street. The general public would have been worried that they were not safe on the streets after dark but it would have made them even more scared to think that they were now no longer safe in their own homes. Attention would have been drawn to the fact that Mary Kelly was killed in the comfort of her home and people's attention would have been on the fact that this could happen to anyone of them, this sort of killing had never taken place before, and certainly never taken place in someone's home. All of the victims except Annie Chapman the second woman killed had a home and all lived with someone in those homes.
Polly Nicholls was found dead at 4:00am, Annie Chapman was found at 6:00am, Elizabeth Stride was found dead at 1:00am, Catherine Eddowes at 1:44am and the time of discovery for Mary Kelly was in the early hours of the morning. All women found in the very early hours of the morning, this was no coincidence and the media wouldn't have thought so either. The time of death are all very similar too, they were all killed in the early hours of the morning and it is believed that all of the deaths were caused due to the cut's that each woman received on their throats. Polly Nicholls was killed at 3:30am, Annie Chapman at 4:30am, Elizabeth Stride between 12:36-12:56am, Catherine Eddowes between 1:15-1:44am when she was found and Mary Kelly died between 1:00-6:00am. All the times of death very similar, it looked as if the killer was forming some kind of pattern to his killings and this was what the press picked up on. The fact that the killer was killing at roughly the same times and very near to all of his previous killings the press found it hard to believe that the killer was not being seen, or had been caught.
Many, as well as the press were under the impression, due to all of the evidence that the killer had some kind of hatred for all prostitutes, and was picking them all out one by one. All of the women were prostitutes, none of them had been for the whole of their lives, Elizabeth Stride for example did sewing and cleaning, prostitution was a resort that she had turned to in a bid of earning extra money as sewing and cleaning were all very badly paid. Attention was brought to the murders as it was believed that every prostitute was at risk and that there was a mad man targeting prostitutes. There was attention to this to raise awareness to those prostitutes still on the job so that they could be extra cautious as to who they are picked up by.
From witnesses evidence it was believed that the killer was a foreigner and that he had a Jewish background. Many had said he was in his 40's, he had a moustache, wore a dark jacket, dark trousers and a dark deerstalkers hat. He was described by all of the witnesses as having a dark complexion and being of a foreign looking nature. One witness named Israel Schwartz reports seeing a man push Elizabeth Stride to the floor and call a second man by the name of Lipski over. This was the only witness that reported seeing two men. This would have attracted attention because it would have given the thought to many that there was more than one man and this would increase the risk of being attacked. Most of the attention would not have been for the women themselves but because the general public would have been concerned for their own wellbeing.
All of the women were in their 40's, all except the last woman killed, Mary Kelly. She was just aged 25, she was the only one out of the five as well that she was foreign, she was from Ireland. The fact that all the victims were female prostitutes, in their 40's and lived within one square mile of each other was another reason for all the attention that the killing received. The fact that there were so many links between all of the women would have been a great worry to many.
One of the biggest reasons that the murders would have received so much attention was the fact that the killer was ever so clever and very precise about the way that he killed his victims. The police had no leads on the man. He had left no clues or leads at any of the scenes and he was very quick at what he did. One of the killings, Catherine Eddowes was believed to have been killed within two minutes, a police officer had walked within the place that she was found dead at 1:42am, and a separate officer was in the same place two minutes later at 1:44am and he found the body. She was found lay in a pool of blood and had her bowels removed, all within these two minutes. Although the times may not be exactly true the fact that the killer was able to do so much to his victims in so little time brought a great deal of attention to who he was, and how he did it. The technique used and how precise he was lead to, all except one examining doctor to believe that the killer had medical experience. The only examining doctor that believes the killer had no medical experience was Dr Bond who examined Mary Kelly. Media attention would have been thriving on the fact that the doctors believed he had medical training, this would have explained why 'Jack the Ripper' was able to kill in the way that he did and in the time that he did and with as little disturbances as there was.
These killings were the first ever publicized killings before the period of 1888, the fact that there was a mad man on the loose, killing people in such a horrific way; it was inevitable that it would make headline news. People had never seen anything like this at all in their lives and it would have come as a great shock to them, this was the biggest ever catastrophe to have happened to ordinary civilians on their own door steps. Newspapers from far and wide would have definitely picked up on it, and they did. As said before bad news is what sells newspapers.
The true nature of the killings alone attracted attention, the fact that women could be brutally murdered in such a way in their own streets and in their own homes, as in the case of Mary Kelly was a great blow to people who had never expected this. The murderer was very disturbed and believed to be mentally ill this was a worry to all of those that lived in Whitechapel. Knowing that they could be next and the fact that they are not safe on their own on the street set alone in their own homes, one lady named Sarah Lewish was with a friend one evening and they were approached by a man. This man wanted the two women, who were both prostitutes to follow him; he was very persuasive and was very adamant that they were going with him. This caused both of the women to panic and they ran. Sarah Lewish reported seeing the same man at 2:00am on the morning of Mary Kelly's murder and she heard a lady shriek 'murder'.
All five of the murders were horrific, Mary Kelly the worst out of the five victims. Each had deep lacerations to the body; all five of the victims were killed by the cuts that they received to their throats, all except Elizabeth Stride were found with their skirts up. Most of the victims were found lay on their sides, Catherine Eddowes the only one found lay on her back. The wounds and the deformities that each of the women received was the most worrying thing of all, the fact that the killer at one point could be killing so violently and frantically at on moment and so calm when laying out the internal organs the next was amazing. The killer must have had some bravery and been a very confident person.
The thought of a cannibal on the streets of Whitechapel would have brought attention to all of the murders; this though was brought to the attention of the police and the press when they received two letters, which are thought to have been from the murderer. For the last two murders of Catherine Eddowes and Mary Kelly the police received a couple of letter which contained information about the murders. The thought that the killer was playing a game, and that all of this to him was fun and games would have been of interest to the press. In one of the letters which was addressed to George Lusk who was the president of the Vigilance Committee, he received this letter on the 16th October.
The hundreds of hoax letters that the press and the police received often led the police in the wrong direction when they were carrying out their enquiries. The press often made up stories and leads to attract attention; this led to the police making wrong turns in the way that their enquiries were going. People would often believe everything that they read in the papers, letters produced by the press often sold the papers but made delays to proceedings and prevented the police from following up other leads, real leads that may have led to the catching of the killer.
Attached to the letter was a small cardboard box containing half a kidney which had been preserved in wine. This was of great interest to the press and the general public, knowing that the killer was now posting parts of his victim's bodies to people, this was something that had never ever been seen before, and something like this had never even been in someone's wildest dreams before. This press attention is something that I think the killer very much enjoyed.
'Dear Boss' letter
Received on September 27th, 1888 at the Central News Agency, this letter was originally believed to be just another hoax. Three days later, the double murder of Stride and Eddowes made them reconsider
Second page of the 'Dear Boss Letter'
In the case of Annie Chapman it was believed that there was no struggle between her and her killer, this is the only killing where there were no signs of a struggle, there were no noises heard and there were no other signs of there being a struggle.
Overall, there were many factors that caused the attraction of media and general public attention to the murders. These murders attracted so much attention because of the nature that the women were killed, where the women were killed. The time it took for the women to be killed and most of all the fact that the police had no leads to the killer, and to this very day, over a century later the well know 'Jack the Ripper' remains a mystery. This the most interesting part and the part that attracted, and still does attracts so much attention to the Whitechapel murders.
Daryl Levett 10.1 10FF
