Jack the Ripper Coursework.

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Jack the Ripper Coursework.

Assignment Two: Objective 2 and 3

) From the article we can see that the victims were both prostitutes, very poor ones at that, which made the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls alike. Allegedly by the same degenerate. It would be suggested that Polly Nicholls and Martha Tabram did nothing to provoke such an attack but were murdered spontaneously due to the fact that they had nothing a murderer could possibly want. This source could potentially be a feeble source though as it is merely a newspaper article from the 'East End Observer', newspapers tend to focus on whatever would get the most readers rather than telling the facts. Then again, it was written near the time of the murders and they got the times correct so it could be reliable. The article also says, 'the excess of effort has been apparent in each murder', this tells us that the killer had intent to kill and a certain amount of knowledge how he wished to murder his victim.

2) Source A is an article from the East End Observer telling about the murders of the two prostitutes, Polly Nicholls and Martha Tabram. Source B is part of the coroner's report regarding the death of Polly Nicholls. Source C is the report of Dr. Fredrick Blackwell on the corpse of Elizabeth Stride. Source C is about the murder of Elizabeth Stride and B is about Polly Nicholls, both of them talk about the victim's corpses as they were found and goes into detail about where the cuts were inflicted, both C and B say the murders were committed with a knife of some sort. Source A doesn't give any information that relates to the corpses, they just focus on where / who they were, and the murderer. C and B are similar to each other due to them talking about the victims corpses and how they were found but Source A does not relate to them at all because it doesn't mention the injuries of the victims. Also, Source C contradicts Source A by suggesting it was the work of a "demented being" whereas Source C and B state otherwise, saying it was the work of a skilful, smart and a person with very good and precise anatomical knowledge Source C was written after Elizabeth Stride died (Sept 30th 1888). Source B was written after Polly Nicholls died (Aug 31st 1888) and finally Source A was written about the deaths of both Polly Nicholls and Martha Tabram (August 7th 1888). So, Source A and B are alike in the respect that they were both written at about the same time but that's about it.
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Source A is written in a newspaper which means that it can't be trusted as much as C and B. Sources C and B are written by people with insight in medical knowledge, and Source A is a mere report in a newspaper which tends to try and get as many people to read it instead of factual evidence of what happened, newspapers over exaggerate the situation also.

3) Source D is useful in helping understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture. This is because Elizabeth Long gave evidence describing the man that she ...

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