JACK THE RIPPER COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

Muna Ali 10K8

Ms Redmond-History Coursework

Study source A.

What can you learn from Source A about the murders of Martha Tabrum and Polly Nicholls?

From reading source A you can learn that these murders had frightened London hence the use of the word ‘ startled’. These two murders were unexpected because the victims were ‘the poorest of the poor’ meaning they had no money and were killed for a different reason. The article does not also mention the profession of these women as prostitutes. You learn that there is no reason or motive to kill these women. The article also reveals that time and precision was taken to kill the victims – “the excess of effort” and that the murders were carried out by a madman- ‘work of a demented being’. Also, the vicious and horrific ways that the killings were carried out are written in the article as ‘extraordinary violence’ but does not reveal how the bodies were killed. The article also shows that possibly the two murders are linked for the reason that these murders are written in the same article and not separately. The newspaper article withholds information about the identity of the victims. The article has the community worried, as anyone could be the next victim in the East End. However, we cannot rule out that the information in the article maybe wrong due to how the information was gathered and may have been exaggerated to sell more newspapers. The newspaper may have got the information from the streets and other rumours, showing that there is no hard evidence that the information in the article is correct.

Study sources A, B and C.

Does the evidence of Source C support the evidence of Sources A and B about the Ripper murders? Explain your answer.

From looking at sources A and B the evidence does support source C in many ways. Firstly, source A and B gives evidence that these murder that was carried out were extremely violent and vicious – source A: ‘extraordinary violence’. Source B: ‘no meaningless cuts’. Source C also proves that these murders were brutal and inhuman. Source B also shows that no unskilled person could have carried out this murder, which is also supported by source C because source B reports that the killer had considerable anatomical knowledge. Source C shows ‘ the windpipe completely in two’. Source’s A and B show there were no apparent motives to kill the victims as supported by C because the victim’s were the ‘poorest of the poor’ written in source A and source C shows there was “no money” found on the dead body. This tells us that these murders were not committed for theft but for another reason. We must also point out the weaknesses of the source’s because source A does not give details however as a newspaper is probably exaggerated to sell. Sources B and C are official reports hence whose job is to investigate these bodies and are accurately written and reported and is not exaggerated in anyway.

Study Sources D and E.

How useful are Sources D and E in helping you to understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Study Sources D and E.

How useful are Sources D and E in helping you to understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture.

From looking at sources D and E it is useful to see why Jack the Ripper was able to avoid capture. Firstly, from looking at source D it shows the information given by Elizabeth Long to the police of a man talking to Annie Chapman before she was killed. Firstly, the description told may or maybe not correct due to the witness not being 100% sure: ‘‘ I think…. I cannot be sure…. as far as I could tell…. he seemed …‘foreigner’ and what she called ‘shabby genteel’ in her eyes. We can immediately tell that this was not reliable or accurate evidence for the police and could not lead to an arrest due to most of the population in Whitechapel were foreign. The origin of the source must also be questioned. Elizabeth Long exaggerated the man or may have lied and is possibly not correct for a reward from the police that would benefit her. Secondly, the police were to blame for not capturing the Ripper. Source E is an article published in a local newspaper after the first two murders. The article shows someone informing the police to be strengthened and more officers should be duty: ‘be strengthened and some kind of order created on the streets by night’. This quote shows that the amount of police on the streets at night was insufficient. The police were warned that ‘mischief’ would happen unless they react to public demands. This article shows that the police did not act in the right manner to this information. It was easy to avoid capture for the Ripper if the police continued to ignore demands like this from the public. However, we must also question this source because it was an article published in a newspaper, which purpose is to sell and make money. The article may well not be correct, however maybe false and exaggerated so people will buy the newspaper. Also, many people were very critical to the police and resented them and many people did not trust them. Therefore, it is easy to see how the Ripper got away with these murders from these two sources because of a lack of evidence provided and the way the police acted at the beginning to these murders and ignored the public demands.

4. Study sources F and G.

Use sources F and G and your own knowledge, to explain how the police tried to capture Jack the Ripper.

The police tried to capture Jack The Ripper in many ways. Firstly, source F is a leaflet published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes. This leaflet shows the police asking for help in their investigation to catch Jack the Ripper by trying to find witnesses, informers or anyone who had any information. However, this method to catch the Ripper was not successful due to the general public not trusting the police. The police also began to question local people and interview anyone who looked suspicious or was foreign and door-to-door investigations. The police began to target and aim their investigation mainly on people who had basic dissection and anatomical knowledge-for example butchers and slaughterers. The police also used dogs to sniff and gain smells and scents from the crime scene. The police also had to follow up letters that were sent in by people who were believed to be Jack the Ripper, but these were all false. The police even went undercover as prostitutes to gain inside information and spy on local people. The police began to increase the amount of officers on the streets at night and removed suspects from the area, such as Michael Ostrog who was deported back to Russia. Another method that the police did not use was rewards. Source G is a letter from the Home Office to the Mile End Vigilance Committee criticising the use of rewards to gain information from people. They believed that the use of rewards will cause people in the East End to create and exaggerate their own stories and version of events only for the pure purpose of the reward and will cause false leads, which the police would have to follow up. The police also had poor relations and failed to work with CID and Special Branch who were more interested in preventing Terrorism rather then the capture of the Ripper. The City Of London police and The Metropolitan Police also failed to work together and communicate information with their investigation.

5) Study all of the sources.

‘ 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.

In my opinion, I do not believe that the police were to blame for not capturing Jack The Ripper. During the Ripper murders, the Police forces in London (The City Of London police and The Metropolitan Police) were divided. The police failed to work together in the Ripper case, which possibly proves that they were responsible for not capturing the Ripper. However, due to lack of technology, funding, witnesses coming forward with authentic information and the dangerous conditions of Whitechapel they had a tough case to capture the Ripper. Also, this was the first time the police had ever carried out an investigation of a serial killer, especially in a rough place such as Whitechapel. There were several reasons why the police were not to blame.

Firstly, there were no witnesses to the murders happening. When people did come forward this was usually misleading and wasted time with the police because they were given different versions. Many people believed it to be the Jews. If the police had a blamed a Jew, this would have led to riots and the police could not risk that.

There were hoax letters sent in by people claiming to be Jack The Ripper, which the police had to follow up on, and wasted a lot of valuable time. The police were sent two letters with “Dear Boss” which only seemed genuine, which had descriptions of the victims and which no could have known or taken from the newspapers and also had a piece of the victim which was missing from the body.

Secondly, the victims were prostitutes who avoided the police at all cost. Targeting prostitutes would be easy for a murderer because prostitution was a very dangerous job in the slums of the East End.

Thirdly, the police could not come up with a sensible motive as to why these murders were happening. They were random victims and possibly the murderer did not know his victims. So the police could not link up the victims together and a motive. Source A also says: “ no adequate motive”.

Fourthly, the police forces were under a lot of pressure from the public, the media and even the government. Many people resented and did not trust the police. They believed they could not protect the public. The media, such as newspapers, criticised the police and published many hoax letters, this misled the police, as they had to investigate. The police were under pressure to catch the killer or would be thought as a failure. The public expected results, due to the continuous murders the police had lost the support of the public.

One of the main reasons why the police could not catch the Ripper was due to technology. There was no forensic evidence, finger printing, and DNA evidence. Sources B, C and H shows that these killing were very professional and had left very few clues, which the police could follow up on. If there were technology such as security and surveillance cameras, they would have been able to catch the Ripper. Due to limited evidence and technology it would have been difficult to capture the Ripper. Therefore, the police were not to blame for not capturing the Ripper. If these murders were happening today, the police in a matter of days could catch the murderer, maybe hours due to technological advances and forensic evidence. In my opinion, even though the police lost the trust and support of the public and media, they did everything in their power to try and catch Jack The Ripper.

Muna Ali