The first Ripper victim was Polly Nicholls her body was found a little after four a.m. on the 31st August 1888, she was found on her back with her skit pushing up to her waist and a deep cut across her throat, the decapitation of his victims would soon become a trade mark for the Ripper, Polly’s abdomen was slashed and she was stabbed twice in her womb, the extent of the wounds inflicted on the victims suggest that the ripper murders were sexually motivated. The second victim was Annie Chapman, Annie Chapman was found on the Saturday the 8th of September at approximately 6 am at the back yard of a house in spitalfields, like Polly her throat was cut but they were so deep that the marks were found on her spine. Annie intestines had been removed and deposited near her head and it was later revealed that her uterus and some part of her vagina and bladder were removed. The third and fourth to these of suffered similar injuries to these of Annie. However the ripper’s final victim Mary Jane Kelly was his first indoor victim, jack the ripper showed the extent of his madness in this last murderous frenzy, Mary body was mutilated beyond recognition. Her heart and viscid were removed part of her thigh cuts of her breast were sliced off as well as her nose, and once again the victim was almost decapitated. As this was not enough Mary Kelly abdominal organs were dumped next to her bed and her heart was found to be missing.
Even though the ripper appeared a horrible and manifesting deep hatred for the female person, these murders triggered great public interest, this was due to the extensive press courage of many newspapers, the public interest was not due to the murders themselves it was due to that of all the victims were prostitutes and at the time sex was considered as taboo and that jack the ripper himself was not found and this lead to the great interest of finding out who he was
The newspapers took a very forward approach into giving information about the murders and Jack the Ripper. The East London observer gave a very intense view of how they observed the situation. They mentioned the murders have “startled London” and that the “crimes are the work of a demented being”.
During the murders and Polly Nichols and Annie Chapman hundreds of letter were sent to newspapers claming to be the murder and were all considered fakes, however on the 27th of September the police reproduced a letter which was considered as a hoax. It became known as the “dear boss” letter. The letter was written in red ink to signify blood and this was the first occasion the name jack the ripper was used. The letter was couched in lurid pros and began “dear boss……” it went on to speak of “that joke about leather apron gave me jokes….” (Leather apron was john pizer briefly suspected at the time of Chapman murder). “I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled” and so on. The trade name of jack the ripper was then made public and further excited the imagination of people around the world.
The second received as a postcard was on the 1st of October the day after the murders of Elizabeth stride and Catherine eddows, it was believed to be in the same handwriting as the previous one and became known as the “ saucy jack” it goes on to talk about how he murdered one of the victims. The third and most final letter was received on the 16th October and was considered to be genuine it was sent inside box containing half a human kidney preserved in wine which later was found to be very similar to that of Catherine eddows. The letter reads that he cut half the kidney preserved once half and fried it and ate it and I quote that it said “it was very nice”. This further increased attention of the public as this was seen as gruesome to have read about a man of a cannibalistic nature
It was very easy to blame a foreigner for the murders. So the press whipped up anti-Semitism. Some newspapers published the stories of “leather apron” which forced police to chase him. They also picked up on the statement by Elizabeth long who stated that the man Annie Chapman was talking to “looked like a foreigner” this lead to the police thinking that the murderer was a foreigner and since there were not many foreigners around the police turned onto thinking that jack the ripper was Jewish. Fortunately the formation of the mile end vigilance committee helped to shift attention away from the Jewish. Upon hearing that jack the ripper may have been Jewish exited the public as it was very easy to blame a foreigner for the murders.
Following the murders of Polly Nichols and Annie Chapman, The Mile End vigilance committee set up a force like the police to try and bring the murderer to justice by offering rewards to the killer. A reward for the killer exited the public into finding out for themselves who Jack the Ripper was.
The vigilance patrolled streets at night and criticized the police for not catching the police. There activities were reported in the newspapers which increased the attention on the white chapel.
Prior to the set up of the vigilance committee a member wrote a letter to the home secretary requesting for a reward to be offered for the capture of the murderer, a reply was received on the 17th September 1888 stating that giving a reward would do more harm then good and rejected his offer.
Having examined the evidence there was several factors which linked together attracted nation wide attention to the white chapel murders such the brutality of the murders themselves also due to the similarities and differences off all the prostitutes. But I think the real factors which the attracted the nation wide attention was of the three letter which were printed in the newspapers as they contained plisit information about the murders themselves and the startling letter which contained a piece of human kidney, which was said in the letter that that excrement’s were fried and eaten. So in conclusion I think that the sickness of the mind of jack the ripper grabbed the world wide attention.
