Jack the Ripper

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What can you learn from source A about the murder of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls?

By using source A you can learn that the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls both shocked the people of London. This suggests that something of this violent nature had not been seen before and could possible have been the first killings of a serial killer. Also source A shows that both victims were really poor. This could show that because both victims were poor they turned to prostitution, and this gives a possible connection between them.

Source A shows just how violent the killer was, both victims were horrifically killed, although there are no details about how the bodies were mutilated. Another strange thing  the sources show is that nothing was stolen from the victims. This could show that both killings were random. Or that they were planned. Whichever one it is they were killed for a reason other than theft.

Another part of source A that backs up this point was that there seemed to be an excess of effort. This supports the murders being planned, because it takes a long time to kill somebody then mutilate the body, or that they were unusually violent.

Part of source A that agrees with the murders being unusually violent is the words “demented being” it hints at strong violence but does not give a description.

Does source C support the evidence form Sources A and B about the ripper murders?

Source C is a factual description written by Dr Blackwell at the inquest of the murder of Elizabeth Stride. The information given contains were the victim was found and what had happened to the body. Source C supports A about neither of the bodies had anything taken off them. They agree that in both cases there was no reason to kill the victim.

This could also be a disagreement though, because source A says nothing was stolen but source C says nothing was on the body. This could mean that something may have been stolen because nothing was found.

The sources also agree that the murders were extraordinarily violent, but source A suggests, it was the work of a “demented being” where as source C does not give detail about the murderer, this is because source A is a newspaper article and gives vague facts and opinions. Source C is a report on the body of Elizabeth Stride giving evidence so it has to be complete fact with no opinion.

Another thing they agree on is the excess of effort. Source A simply states:

“the excess of effort that has been apparent in each murder”. where as source C goes into detail of how the victim was killed and describes the type of weapon used. Source A does not detail the women or specific injuries, because it only generalises the murders.

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Source B is part of the coroners report on the death of Polly Nicholls. It like source C is a factual description.

Both sources agree that the killer knew what to cut. Source B says:

“there are no meaningless cuts” showing that the killer didn’t cut randomly, he knew were to cut for full effect. Source C agrees by saying :

“in the neck there was a long incision…cutting the windpipe completely in two”

This basically means that there was only one cut to the neck, showing that the killer knew were to cut on the victims neck ...

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