Question 4.
4. Study Sources F and G.
Use Sources F and G and your own knowledge, to explain how the police tried to catch Jack the Ripper.
Source F is a police leaflet published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddows. The purpose of the leaflet is to try and catch and/or attain vital information that would lead to the discovery of the identity Jack the Ripper. There are some problems with this leaflet the main one being a high percentage of residents of Whitechapel have been shown to be illiterate at that time. There are other problems such as they were only sent out in Whitechapel when is it a strong possibility that the Ripper came from outside the area of Whitechapel. Within the leaflet there is no description of the Ripper so even though the police have had descriptions of the Ripper from Elizabeth Long at an inquest into the death of Annie Chapman. The leaflet asks for information on anybody suspicious this could lead to a lot of false leads to whom the Ripper is. It is quite possible that the Ripper looks very ordinary and doesn’t stand out in a crowd.
