Does the evidence of source C support the evidence of sources A and B about the Ripper murders?
Source A is part of an article in the East End Observer linking the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls together. The murders have ‘shocked’ the people of London. These women were the ‘poorest of the poor’ and there was no real motive for their murders and no sign of robbery. A lot of time and effort has been placed into the murders. It is the work of a ‘demented being’, someone who is insane. The violence used is very astonishing and peculiar.
Source B is an extraction from a coroner’s report regarding the death of Polly Nicholls. Unlike Source A, source B suggests that the murders of Polly and Martha were not connected. The body of Polly Nicholls was not cut up into pieces, but someone who had knowledge of what he was doing had done it. This suggests that a doctor or a surgeon could have carried this out. No unskilled person could have done it. It also suggests that an animal slaughterer could not have carried out these operations. Operations is a surgical term, so the so the murderer might be a surgeon.
