Kirsty Rogers
Candidate number: 1135
How useful are sources D and E in helping you to understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture?
Sources d and e help us in understanding why the ripper avoided capture as it tells us about evidence that could and could not have been useful and how the police used this evidence.
Source D, a statement from Elizabeth Long this was given at an inquest into Annie Chapman’s murder. She described the man seen before Annie Chapman was killed. The real question is though, is it strong evidence? Elizabeth said that she saw a male who was wearing a dear stalker hat and a dark coat; he had a dark complexion; as if he was foreign and looked over 40 years of age.
The police took Elizabeth Longs evidence description seriously; the police acted upon it, a great deal of effort went into finding a foreigner. They looked for a foreigner, over 40 of medium height, with a dark coat and dear stalker hat; but continuously she says “…I think…I cannot be sure…as far as I can tell…he looked to me…” She is very vague about her descriptions, she was making assumptions which could not be true, which shows that it not strong evidence. While on the other hand she was sure of the time that she saw Annie Chapman talking to a man that she described, “she heard the clock strike 5.30am and saw a man and a women talking in the backyard of number 29”. Other witnesses also agree with Elizabeth long such as, Albert Cadosch, who lived at 31 Hanbury Street, stated that he heard voices coming from the backyard at about 5.20am. The word he could make out was ‘no’, and at about 5.30am he heard something falling against the fence. Both witnesses agree on the same time, but the police ignored this in favour of the coroner who claimed the death was at about 4.30, but he wasn’t sure.