In source A it is highly suggested that the murders of Martha Tabrum and Polly Nicholls share the same killer. It also heavy depicts the gruesome amount of violence that was present, due to this fact and no clear motive the paper suggest that the killer is a “demented being”.
Source B is of a coroner’s report, it contradict source A by stating that “there are no meaningless cuts” which diminishes a mad-man with a knife theory, it goes further suggesting that the person would have to be highly intelligent “no unskilled person could know where to find the organs” which would suggest a doctor or surgeon was the killer. Although not supposed to be, it is clear that bias is present in the report when the coroner states “no mere slaughterer of animals could have carried out these operations” which suggest he does not think a butcher would have been able to commit these crimes at such a success rate. There are also beliefs that the killer could have been an artist or shoe designer, but while the corner’s report doesn’t seem to dismiss this theory there is no evidence for it. Source B also divorces the idea of the Martha Tabrum and Polly Nicholls murders being linked, which the East End Observer suggests.
Source C is of a doctor’s report for the body of Elizabeth Stride who was killed on the night of the double murder. It is believed that her murder was interrupted. But there is a hallmark that makes us believe she is a ripper victim even though there are difference. According to the doctor “in the neck there was a long incision, cutting the windpipe in two.” This is why we believe Elizabeth Stride to be a ripper victim.
However, source C differs to source B, source B talks about who what the killer could be according to the incisions. Whereas source C just describes the body of the dead, for example stating that the “left hand, lying on the ground, was partially closed, and contain a small packet of cachous” without inferring anything
.
Source C is useful when used with source A and B and the evidence in it does support that Elizabeth Stride was a Ripper victim ,but you have to conclude this by yourself, as due to the nature of the report i.e, just stating how the body looked, it is unable to tell the reader whether the body is related to Jack the Ripper and the level of the murder.
Question 3
How useful are sources D and E in helping you to understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture?
Source D is evidence provided by Elizabeth Long at the inquest into the death of Annie Chapman. She saw Annie Chapman talking to a man minutes before her death. The man could be Jack the Ripper and this is why the police listen to her as all evidence counts. The paragraph explains what the man was wearing and his physical attributes.
There were two police forces working on the case at this time, which hindered instead of helping because they were in competition with each other, so maybe they could be glorified by the press (who hated them at this time). Also the police were usually unsuitable as most of them strolled into work drunk. The reforms and introduction of the police just came in under 60 years ago, so they weren’t organised as shown in source E where they do not know how to stop the murders. “My informant demanded at that time the police force on the spot should be strengthen” But this was ignored and the murders ensued.
But back to source D, as stated it is a witness account into the death of Annie Chapman. The account given is very vague as she uses phrases like “I think” and “as far as I can tell.” The main evidence probably come form the first line “he was dark complexion and wearing a deerstalker hat” although this may seem quite striking a deerstalker hat was common fashion of the time and there was a large Jewish community in the Whitechapel area who would have a darker complexion than most English people. So even though it is the strongest piece of evidence, in reality it falls flat. She describes the suspect as “shabby genteel” which could depict any man in the area whether poor or rich. Taking into account the unreliability of this source it is clear that evidence or witness evidence hindered the investigation to find and catch Jack the Ripper.
Source E is from a local newspaper and it is clear from the article that they think the law and police are failing to prevent crime and catch Jack the Ripper. The article states that an informant of the paper “warned the murder would ensue if matters were left as they were” but this was ignored. The article paints the picture and makes Whitechapel appear unsafe it also makes it clear that they think the police were not doing their jobs properly. The source tries to blame the police for not capturing the Ripper but it strikes as odd, that the article states the police were not interested in the information from the informant of source E but listened to the vague evidence of Elizabeth Long which leads to the question of whether the article could be trusted as they could of lied or exaggerated to make the police seem worse than they were.
The sources shown that the Ripper was able to avoid capture, firstly due to the lack of concrete evidence that had no real leads and secondly the hate of the Police in the Whitechapel area (due to earlier riots) that was further enraged by the media who obviously did not help, also thirdly the limitations of the police force and the rivalry between the two forces that kept information and evidence away from each other, and the general shoddiness of them illustrates why the Ripper was never caught.
Question 4
Use source F and G and your own knowledge to explain how the police tried to catch Jack the Ripper.
The police used various different techniques in an attempt to try and catch the first serial killer, Jack the Ripper, but this was a daunting task and is probably why they failed.
One way the police was using, was to ask people for information especially witnesses or anyone who knew or suspected someone. The police would also go out in large numbers to patrol the Whitechapel area to try and catch the “Ripper” in the act. The Police also used the letters such as the “Frome Hell” and many others like them, sent from people claiming to be Jack the Ripper, which turned out to be proven as fakes, but they compiled these letters to try and seek information to convict the murderer. They also collected and used evidence from the crime scene.
Source F is a police leaflet published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes asking the public to notify them if they knew anything or was a witness.
The leaflet was successful in the fact that many people came forward but most were unreliable or vague as the evidence provided by Elizabeth Long. The leaflet may of alienated some people due to the resentment of the police in the Whitechapel area. So the leaflet was overall not a successful in the quest to catch Jack the Ripper.
Source G was part of a letter from the Home Secretary to the Mile End vigilance Committee on 17 September 1888 stating there is no reward for the discovery of the criminal.
Source G is the opposite of Source F as in there was no reward used to help find the killer but if there was, the police might have been more successful as it would of motivated people to come forward. Although it could of helped the Home Secretary was probably right in saying “rewards tended to produce more harm than good” as vigilante groups would get bigger and only distract the police form their main aim with their sluggish way of operating such as interrogating and beating innocent people up. Also people could of lied or committed copy-cat crimes just for the reward with would have been a waste of police time. Vigilante groups also didn’t inform the police on what they learned but if they did or worked together they could have been more prosperous.
Even though the police tried many different ways to catch Jack the Ripper they ultimately failed due to lack of technology as they couldn’t even tell the difference between human and animal blood and the hatred towards the police in the Whitechapel area was apparent. It is due to these factors that helps show us why Jack the Ripper was no caught even though various methods were used.
Question 5
“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.
On first glance, it may appear that this is true, but upon further inspection it is clear that this is not the case and the police are only partly to blame for the Rippers freedom.
Sources H, I and J help to show why the police were at a disadvantage when trying to catch Jack the Ripper. Source H is an article published in the Times after the murder of Mary Kelly the Ripper’s last known victim it stresses that the killer knew what he was doing and didn’t even leave “the slightest clue”. Source I shows the East end in 1888 which shows many backstreets and essentially the Ripper’s escape route. Source J is a photograph 29 Hanbury Street where Annie Chapman’s body was found.
In 1888 the East end and Whitechapel was a poor and dangerous area to live in, it was small and overcrowded and surrounded by smog. The smog made it hard to see and the poor lighting at night didn’t help. Also the many backstreets and alleyways as shown in both source I and E “the main thoroughfares in Whitechapel are connected by a network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes.” Which would be a perfect setting for Jack the Ripper’s murders. People in Whitechapel were often poor and the women without husbands, prostitution was the route. There were many prostitutes in the area so Jack the Ripper could pick and craft the perfect way in which to not get caught. All of these reasons cannot be attributed to the police but were a reson why the Ripper was never caught.
The press were constantly blaming the police which did not help. The popular press made it seem as though the killer was just a mad-man on the lose that was easy to catch but due to the police neglect and sloppiness that never happened. Source A illustrates this “The excess of effort apparent in each murder suggest the idea that both crimes are the work of a demented being”. Source E “My informant demanded at that time the police force on the spot should be strengthen. He warned that the murder would ensue, but without making any impression. Then came the first murder.” This suggest that the police did not take advice or evidence which might lead a person, even if they had some evidence, just to disregard it as the police would not listen.
The police were at a technologic disadvantage and had many problems with the evidence at the crime scene such as destroying the message “The Juwes are not the men to be blames for nothing” which was near the body of Katherine Eddowes and cleaning blood from the Polly Nicholls murder, for these reason the police could be blamed but due to their technologic disadvantage such as not being able to tell if the blood belong to a human or an animal yet alone pin-point the exact person of who it belong to, the blood may not of serve that much purpose.
Witness evidence was very unreliable and scarce (possibly due to no reward or fear). Most statements would have been near identical to Elizabeth Long’s regarding the murder of Annie Chapman; unspecific, short and no actual facts that could lead to a suspect or arrest.
As shown Jack the Ripper was not caught due to many reasons. There were no clear motives. Murders were frequent in the Whitechapel area even before Jack the Ripper and many prostitutes were killed before, the only reason Jack became famous was the gruesome way in which he carried out his murders and the press now being available to both poor and rich. There were hundreds of cases that could have been attributed to Jack the Ripper due to some kind of similarity in the case, although now it is narrowed down to 5 now due to different modus operandi and slightly different techniques, there are still roughly 15 that could have been committed by the
Ripper. The Ripper seems to be intelligent as each murder took about 15 minutes and he was able to get away quickly. He murdered in the dark and was aided by the smog and poor lighting.
The police although partly to blame cannot be given full responsibility for not capturing Jack the Ripper and the main reasons were the lack of technology and science, the belief of superstition such as your eyes shown your final moment before death but also the negative light portrayed by the media, the fact that the ripper possessed intelligence instead of just being a thug, and lack of concrete evidence.
