Source C gives information about the body of Elizabeth Stride after she was murdered the source also gives information about how Elizabeth Strides murder was only one of two murders committed in the same night. Elizabeth Stride murder was thought to have been interrupted. Source C describes the body of Elizabeth Stride when she was found “As the neck and chest were quite warm”, her murder was also claimed to be unfinished, and this suggests that the murder did not occur long before the report was written, but Polly Nicholls body was described as “not been dissected”, but the cuts made for example “ the long incision, cutting the windpipe in two” suggests that the murderer knew how to use a knife according to the coroner’s report, but the two murders had a distinct similarity, the incision along the throat. This suggests that if the women had the same distinct cuts along the throat, on the same night, within a hundred meter radius of each other, the murderer must have stroke twice in the same night.
Source B is not very informative about the locations of the cuts it outlines, suggesting how the cuts were made not where. Source C is informative because it gives us the precise locations on where the cuts were made.
Source C is a source that gives the audience a clear picture of how the body was found. Source B doesn’t do this it is only informative in a way that is justifying the skill the murderer had.
Question 3: How useful are sources D and E in helping you to understand why the ripper was able to avoid capture?
Source D is a witness account concerning the death of Annie Chapman. This account was given by Elizabeth Long. She describes a possible suspect she had seen talking to Annie Chapman on the night of the murder. Source E is an article published in a local newspaper after the murders of Polly Nicholls and Annie Chapman. It focuses on the deaths of Polly Nicholls and Annie Chapman around a month after Chapman was murdered.
In Source D the statement that Elizabeth Long had given is very imprecise description of Jack the Ripper. She uses phrases such as “I think”, “As far as I could tell.” All of this evidence being given by Elizabeth Long shows that she is not been sure of herself and most of the time while giving evidence she contradicts herself. She also describes Jack the Ripper as “Having a dark complexion”. How would she have known this if at 5am in the season of winter when it is fairly dark and she was also quite a distance away from the allege suspect? Unless she had went close to him and closely examined his skin complexion. When analyzing this statement you may think that Elizabeth Long was a lady who wanted a bit of popularity and fame. She also may have wanted to mislead the police, whatever her reasons for giving this statement she wasted her time and police time, but maybe in the polices eyes she was doing them a favor, because this was the clearest description they had got in the investigations to find the ripper. Seeing they may have followed this statement given by Elizabeth Long, the police were just getting further and further away from catching the ripper. To be quite honest Elizabeth Long’s statement was complete non-sense.
Source E immediately shows a dislike for the police force. It does this by showing the reader how the police force did not listen to the voice of the public and how the police force were also not meeting the expectations of the public. The article revolves around the police force. It is trying to give a sense to the person reading it that the police are unreliable and untrustworthy, “He was referred from one police office to another, but without making any impression.” This shows how unreliable and negative the police were to the public. The article makes the police force look as if they are not doing their jobs of police officers seriously and also the article is blaming the police force of not keeping the streets of Whitechapel safe enough for people to live. It shows this in this quote, “Everyone apparently containing some headquarters of infamy.” This quote from the article suggests that the public can cause havoc on the streets without police having no order on them. This quote also shows how careless the police were in monitoring the public. This article doesn’t do any favors for the police because the police need the public on their side to try and find the ripper.
Both Sources used have demonstrated the fact why the ripper was able to avoid capture: Firstly police did not obtain any solid assured evidence, secondly the police were not in the good books of the public and also the media was most of the time bias and because of the way the murders were brought about more people were interested in focusing on the media than listening to the police.
Question 4: Use sources F and G, and your own knowledge, to explain how the police tried to catch Jack the ripper.
The police tried to catch Jack the Ripper in many different ways. One way was that police appealed to the public by posting leaflets in peoples houses. Another way is that police would put more patrols on the streets to limit the rippers escape route. The police also received letters from people stating that they were the one who had committed all of the murders.
Source F is a police leaflet published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes asking for the witnesses or any information about the murders. Its purpose is to inform us about the location of the murders and also give information about any person you find suspicious. The leaflet is also asking for possible witnesses or suspects to come forward and give any information about the murders.
A police leaflet was the only effective method that the police had to catch the ripper. A lot of witnesses came forward but most of the information that they gave were vague, unreliable or misleading. The advantage of using the leaflets was that they could get the information to a vast number of people, but a disadvantage was that the information given on the leaflet was not very precise it was mostly random, “To whom suspicion is attached.” This shows how random the leaflet was. The leaflet was basically saying if your neighbor is acting strange report him/she. The information also given on the leaflet was also that of desperation. The police needed this information quick so that they didn’t waste any time, but this strategy backfired because witnesses came forward giving false information and again wasting police time.
Source G is part of a letter from the home secretary to the Mile End vigilance committee on the 17th of September 1888. It is used to inform readers that there were no rewards for the capture of the ripper. It also shows another method the police may have used to catch the ripper but obviously it wasn’t used.
Offering a reward to the public may have increased the chances of the police catching the ripper, because the public may have worked together and devised a plan to catch the ripper. Offering a reward also may have helped because the victims (Prostitutes) may have set a trap of their own to lure the ripper into. But the downside of having a reward is that people will be over motivated and will give incorrect information to the police which leads to time wasting.
Another method police used to catch the murderer was that the police themselves would dress themselves up as prostitutes. This method never really worked because some of the men in the police force were unwilling to shave off their beards, which made them stand out and look very unattractive. The Ripper was smart enough anyway to work out the difference between a prostitute and a person dressing up as one.
The police could have used the Mile End Committee as an advantage to catch the ripper. The Mile End Committee rioted against the police because they weren’t doing enough to catch the ripper. The police could have tried to co-operate with the Mile End Committee and use their numbers to maybe increase the number of people that were patrolling the streets at night and limit the chances of the ripper striking again.
The police had many ways in which to catch the ripper, but the one source that they didn’t have was technology. Without technology e.g. CCTV and DNA samples the police could not gather any definitive evidence. This lead to the downfall of the police not catching the ripper.
Question 5: “The police were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper.” Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain whether you agree with this view.
Many people who have not gone into depth studying the ripper case may say that yes the police were to blame for not capturing Jack the ripper. But on the other hand people who have gone into depth with the ripper case can say that the police were only partly to blame.
Sources H, J and I are very useful in giving an indication why the police were not to blame, but other sources help as well about how the police were not to blame.
Source H is part of an article published in the times after the murder of Mary Kelly. Source I is a map of the east end in 1888 showing the sites of the murders. Source J is a photograph of the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street. Annie Chapman’s body was lying against the fence with her head on the step.
Before going into an insight of who was to blame, we have to consider the area the murders had taken place. All sources H, J, I help us answer this question because they show how easy it was for the ripper to get away and hide as fast as he did in deep alley ways and in dark hidden locations.
The East End of London was a very difficult place to live in 1888. The crime rate was high, their was little lighting on the streets which meant that streets were dark at night which may have felt people to be vulnerable. The alley ways were narrow, dark and very easy places to hide into. As demonstrated by sources I and J. The smog also made it very difficult to see especially during the night. All of these problems for the East End were perfect conditions for a murderer to strike and get away very quickly. People living in the East End were very poor. Their was no means of work except from prostitution which came in vast amounts, quality of accommodation was poor. The best you could get was one bedroom sleeping on the floor. A quote from source A sums up the struggles of the people living in the East End, “The poorest of the poor”. This suggests to the reader that the East End of London was not a very nice pace to live. Source E tells you how bad the street conditions were, “The main thoroughfares of White Chapel are connected by a network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes.” The police can not be blamed for poor street conditions or the financial stability of the people in the East End of London.
The media had played a major role in distracting the polices investigations, especially the East End Observer. Most of the time the media were sensationalizing of how the murders took form. They wanted the public to think of the police as not doing their jobs and they also made it seem that the police were backing off the ripper to see when the next murder occurred. This got the public angry which lead to them have a bad relationship with the police. Sources A, H and E highlight how malice the media were to the police, “The excess effort apparent in each murder suggests the idea that both crimes are the work of a demented being as the extraordinary violence used is the peculiar feature in each instance”, source E “My informant demanded at that time that the police force on the spot should be strengthened and some kind of order created on the streets by night. He warned that murder would ensue if matters were left as they were. He referred from one police office to another, but without making any impression. Then came the first murder.” And source H, “All the police can hope is that some accidental circumstance will lead to a trace which maybe followed to a successful conclusion.” All these three sources suggest that the media are trying to make a mockery of the police and they are also suggesting that the police force might as well not exist because they are not doing their jobs.
The police were unlucky in gathering substantial evidence in the ripper case, but they got one piece of vital evidence which they could have used as a lead. It was near the body of Kate Eddowes stating, “The Juwes are not the men to be blamed for nothing.” They could have investigated this graffiti on the wall instead of cleaning it off the wall. This showed the in-experience of the police force when they could have used this information to try and catch the ripper. Experience in the police force could have made the difference between the ripper striking again or been caught.
Other sources of evidence were witness statements. This may have been great evidence to use in the ripper case, but people were scared to give witness accounts in fear of they could be the next victims of the ripper. Others came forward to the police, but gave very vague descriptions which were of no use what so ever, such as Elizabeth Long’s statement. Their were many distractions such as people writing hoax letters to the police claiming that they were the ripper. This wasted a lot of the polices time.
Jack the Ripper was never caught for a number of reasons police could have used the advantage that Jack the Ripper always committed his murders near or around white chapel, but numbers in the police force and technology were limited. The ripper was very intelligent and obviously knew what he was doing.
The police cannot be blamed completely blamed for catching Jack the Ripper although they got use of vital evidence and didn’t take the warnings that the murders were going to happen seriously. Distractions such as the media did not help the police in any way except from only piling on the problems that they already had.
The lack of police experience was also a factor in not catching the ripper. But one of the main reasons why the police did not catch the ripper was because of technology. With technology that there is today who knows whether the ripper would have ever been caught.