The police increased patrol numbers and officers undercover, police even dressed up as prostitutes to try and catch the Ripper, which as they had never done anything like this before was a very good step. The police tried to contain the panic as much as possible; they did this by rubbing off the message on the wall near the murder of Catherine Eddowes, which said the Jews would not be blamed for nothing. As the Jews were already disliked in the area they would be blamed, this was also a bad thing because the writing may have been the Rippers handwriting, which would have helped the CID in catching the ripper.
Fredrick Abberline was put in charge of this inv from coursework.info estigation; he had been in the police force for 25 years and lived in Whitechaple. This meant he had knowledge of all the streets and knew some of the prostitutes and their pimps. He acted quickly and was the best man for the job. There were limitations on the CID because they where only just formed and was not experienced in solving murder cases like this before, which was probably the main factor of why Jack the Ripper was not caught.
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.
The police did many things to try and catch Jack the Ripper, but they never did. Many people have different views on whether the police were to blame for this. Some people say the police were to blame simply because they didn’t catch him, but you have to look at all the evidence before you can make a judgement.
Source E shows that the police were to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper, it says that the police did not have many police officers on the streets when they were advised they should. They still didn’t listen to this advise after the first murder, but as I know they did put a lot more people on the street after the second. Source G shows that the police did not offer a reward for any information leading to the capture of Jack the Ripper, which was probably a bad thing as many people did not like or trust the current police force, and they had no other way to get information. Source I is a map of the Whitechaple showing where the murders took place. It shows that the murder sites were close together which should have helped the police to catch Jack the Ripper, as they would have known the areas to patrol and search, but the place where he killed where random. There was no pattern to help the police. Source J is a photograph of the site where Annie Chapman died. It shows that there are houses all near this site, so some people must have seen or head something, when only 3 people came forward with sightings. A reward would have helped in this situation making the public more willing to offer information to the police. This photo does show that the Ripper could work in open spaces without being captured, which shows how clever he was in not getting caught.
Using my own Knowledge there are lots of reasons for the police to be blamed. There was a lack of information for the police to use but the information they did have they wasn’t used properly, like the descriptions after the death of Annie Chapman, which was disregarded just because their times didn’t correspond with the time of the coroners time of death. When they questioned suspects they let them go far too soon and didn’t look carefully at them, just like they did with ‘leather Apron’ that was taking money from prostitutes, even if he wasn’t the Ripper they should have kept him to show the Public that they were doing something. Some evidence was destroyed like the message about the Jews on the wall near the murder of Catherine Eddowes. This should have been photographed because this might have been the handwriting of Jack the Ripper, Jews was also spelt wrong, this meant that the Ripper may not have had a good education, this might have been a useful lead for them. The police didn’t widen their search; they concentrated their search in Whitechaple when the murderer could have been living outside the east end. If I would have been a serial murderer of this time I would thing it would be stupid to commit these crimes in your hometown, as you were more likely to be caught. They concentrated their search on Jack the Ripper on being a foreigner, which was probably not the case. They kept most of the description quiet to prevent panic, but by releasing the important bits of the information they might have jogged a few peoples memories and got more leads.
Source A doesn’t say much about the police investigation, but I know that the information about the murderer is probably false like most of the information in newspapers, so information like this would have confused the police, and put them off the trail. Sources B and C are about how the Ripper had ‘Anatomical skill’ and how he planned each murder, this would have narrowed the search to people like doctors but if the Ripper planned each murder there would have been harder for the police to catch him because he knew exactly what he was doing. Source D is a description of Jack the Ripper, the description is very vague and not very clear, there are lots of words like ‘I think’ in there. This would give the police a problem of whether this description should be used or not, there were also lots of other descriptions like this. Source F shows that the police did send out many leaflets to try and get some information, the leaflet needs more information on it like a description but this was probably the first time they have done this. The leaflets could have been better worded because they were asked to report any ‘person to whom suspicion is attached’ this statement would have created lots of information because Whitechaple had lots of prostitutes in it. People who used this prostitutes probably wanted no one to know they were using them as most of them had wives, so there would have been a lot of people acting suspicious. Source H is the best source for proving that the police were not to blame. It states that the murders were ‘cunningly’ planned and that ‘not a trace was left of the murderer’. It says there are no clues and if the police catch the Ripper it would be a complete fluke, as they have no proper evidence. This is probably over exaggerated a little because it is a newspaper, but it still a very true, the police didn’t have much true information to go on. These were the first murders like this, so with no information, how could the police catch him?
I know that the police did interview over 2,000 lodgers, which they tried to get as much information as they could. They also had lots of officers on the streets and lots of men went undercover, dressed as prostitutes to try and catch the ripper, but if the Ripper had known this then he would be more careful making it even harder for the police to catch him. Many people pretended to be Jack the Ripper so they could get food and somewhere to sleep overnight, which meant the police had no idea who was lying and who was telling the truth. The public did not trust them and they did not offer much help and information. There were no accurate descriptions, which would confuse the police. The most important factor I think is that the police had just been established and this kind of thing had never happened before. They also had no technology to use, which would have made it hard.
I think that the police were not to blame for not capturing Jack the Ripper. They could have done some things much better, but you have to remember this was there first time. Capturing criminals nowadays is hard but doing it in 1888 with no real clues and no technology must have been near impossible.
Question 1
From source A, we can learn that the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls occurred within the same month in the city of London. A, we can learn that the murders of Martha Tabram and Polly Nicholls occurred within the same month in the city of London. The motive of the killer in each case is questionable, as no theft has occurred with the murder. We can tell that these murders are unusual and especially shocking as they are described as ‘startling’. It is strongly indicated that the two murders are linked as the one article describes them together, and the victims are both poor women, killed in London in the same month. We can guess that the killer has not been found the killings are described as ‘the work of a demented being’ but fails to mention the name of the killer or any suspects. From this description of the killer and the terms ‘excess of effort’ and ‘extraordinary violence’ when referring to the killings, we can learn that the murders are brutal and violent and most probably premeditated as ‘the excess of effort’ would be applied in a planned and calculated murder. As the East End Observer is intended for public reading, and the articles are made as interesting as possible, we must bare in mind that the descriptions of the killings may have been exaggerated.
Question 2
Source C supports sources A and B in saying that there was blood on Elisabeth Stride’s chest, as sources A and B both describe brutal and bloody murders. Source A states that there was no apparent motive to the murder in the shape of plunder. Source c both supports this in saying that there was no money on the body and therefore no indication that a theft had occurred, but also challenges source A as the lack of money found on the body could have been the result of plunder taking place. Source C’s description of the incision in the victim’s neck supports source A’s statement that the murders are violent and the work of a demented being. It also supports source B’s statement that the killer had anatomical skill and knowledge in its description of the incision being a precise cut dividing the windpipe. Such an accurate incision supports source A’s statement that the ‘excess of effort’ is apparent in each case. It also supports sources A and B’s inference that the murders were premeditated. I.e. ‘There were no meaningless cuts’
Question 3
Source D is quite useful in helping us understand why the Ripper was never caught, as the evidence provided by the witness is unhelpful to the police investigation for the following reasons:
Elisabeth Long was a first hand witness to what appears to have been a conversation between the victim and the Ripper. However her lack of confidence in her evidence, demonstrated through her continuous qualifiers, i.e. “but I cannot be sure” and “I think” makes it less dependable evidence thus increasing our understanding as to why he was never caught. Her statement “as well as I could make out” implies that visibility was low. Her descriptions of the killer are therefore too vague to convict a suspect on the basis of visual identification. Elisabeth describes the man as “shabby genteel”. This is a subjective opinion, which doesn’t signify whether he was a shabby looking upper class man or a well-dressed working class man. Whitechapel at that time was an area settled by many immigrants. Elisabeth Long’s description of the man as foreign looking could apply to any one of the many foreign born residents. Elisabeth would have come into contact with many men each night, which suggests that she may have confused the killer with any other of the clients in her description.
However, source D is also unhelpful to our understanding why the Ripper was never caught, as the evidence provided by the witness, although hesitant, provides the police with a concrete description of the killer. Her frequent use of qualifiers may well have been a function of her nervousness towards the police. The description was none the less a full one, which narrows down their search to a man “over forty” who wore “a deer stalker hat and could be described as “shabby genteel” and “foreign looking”.
Source E is quite useful in helping us understand why the Ripper was able to avoid capture, as it points out that the thoroughfares of Whitechapel were connected by dark and narrow side streets and alleyways which provided an ideal setting for murders. The Ripper could commit his murders in the dead of night without fear of being seen, as nobody would choose to remain outside in that place at night.
The newspaper art from coursework.info icle seems to elaborate its information on the subject and implies that its ‘informant’ had some prior knowledge about the murders that were to take place by saying that he ‘warned’ the police. It also states that murders followed his warnings and infers that the murders were a result of police not paying heed to those warnings. I think this inference was published for publicity and sales showing that the press also hindered the police investigation making it even harder to catch Jack the Ripper by following genuine leads.
If the description of the infamy that occurred on the streets of Whitechapel at night was accurate, source E is unhelpful to our understanding why the Ripper was never caught, as the police had relevant information about the area at night, and knew why the murders could occur. After the ‘informant’s’ warning was borne out by later events, they should then have been heeded by the police, and acted upon.
Question 4
From source F we can learn that in an attempt to catch the Ripper, the police posted a notice to houses asking for information on the killings. After the third murder, on the 30th September, it became clear that the police were dealing with a serial killer and the notices were posted that very day. The notice expresses desperation and “earnestly” requested people with information to come forward.
From my own knowledge, I know that inquiries were made at abattoirs and slaughterhouses, because the way that Polly Nichols and Annie Chapman were cut up suggested that someone with experience of dissecting bodies may have been involved. Inspector Frederick Abberline was in charge of the investigation. He had served for 25 years in the Metropolitan Police Force and had spent most of that time in Whitechapel. His experience was crucial to the investigation. The police took notice of evidence suggesting that the murderer had medical knowledge and consequently 76 butchers and slaughterers were questioned despite their having been dismissed as possible suspects. This demonstrates the thoroughness of the investigation. The police increased the number of patrols in Whitechapel and PC’s on the beat were criss-crossing Whitechapel at regular intervals. After the two murders on the 30th September, the number of police patrols increased even more. Several policemen dressed up as prostitutes in an attempt to trap the killer. The police visited most of the lodging houses in Whitechapel and interviewed more than 2000 lodgers. Sailors on Thames’ river boats were also questioned. Bloodhounds were used to try and follow the scent of the killer. The notice was sent to 80,000 houses. The police also attempted to jog the public memory by publishing the ‘Dear Boss’ letters.
However, the police investigation failed in a number of respects. The idea of offering a reward for the capture of Jack the Ripper was declined by the Home Secretary as he then had no idea of the seriousness of the situation. He thought that a reward would result in spurious claims and an excess of unhelpful public involvement – “more harm than good” – 17th September, 1888.
Inspector Chandler ignored some of Elizabeth Long’s evidence at it conflicted with that of Dr. Phillips, who was an experienced and highly regarded police surgeon. In fact, at the inquest, Dr. Phillips did suggest that his estimate of the time of Annie Chapman’s death may have been inaccurate. The police again discounted this.
Inspector Abberline took a description given by William Hutchinson very seriously and had it circulated to all police stations. The description was incredibly detailed for a siting that had taken place at night, suggesting that the witness may himself have been avoiding suspicion. However, the police did not investigate him at all.
The desperation of the police was shown in the handbill posted (source F). There were three startling points about the handbill. Firstly, the police were unable or unwilling to give any description of the killer. Secondly, they still apparently believed that the killer lived in Whitechapel, despite evidence that he lived elsewhere, as all the killings had taken place at weekends. Thirdly, they were still appealing for information regarding suspicious characters. The last point shows that the police were still using the standard method of detective work, even after the great mass of evidence that had been collected about the Ripper and his victims. In fact, after the third and fourth murders, there was evidence that the Ripper lived outside Whitechapel as the killings took place at weekends.
1/ Source A is an extract from an article written for an East End newspaper a the time of the murders. It tries to draw similarities between the cases of Martha Tabram and Polly Nichols. From this source we can learn that both of the women were very poor ‘that the victims have been the poorest of the poor.’ It also tells us that the bodies had not been looted, ‘no adequate motive in the shape of plunder.’ The article also suggests that the killer was a demented being and that the wounds to the body was the evidence for this statement. The article says that there was extraordinary violence shown towards the deceased. This article shows us that the murder of both Polly Nichols and Martha Tabram were so violent and so unexplainable that even before the bodies of Annie Chapman Elizabeth Stride Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly had been discovered the murder of Polly Nichols had begun to attract press attention, and be singled out from all the other murders in Whitechapel.
2/ Source C is a doctor’s report on the body of Elizabeth Stride carried out at the scene of the murder. She was found in Dunfields Yard off Berner Street in Whitechapel. We can see from Source C that Elizabeth Stride was found lying on her side ‘across the passage.’ Her feet were close together against the wall with one hand on her chest and the other close to the side of the body slightly open. It is possible to conclude from this that her body had been moved to the side of the passage, the neat way her feet, torso and hands had been placed shows this. However if this is true then it contradicts what source A says, describing the killer as a ‘demented being.’ A demented being, in a frenzy, would not, I feel, move the body to the side of the passage and arrange her hands and feet.
Source’s C and B generally contradict one another. Source A describing a mad and frenzied killer and Source C relating a more calculated and methodical one. Source C shows that Elizabeth Stride’s face looked placid and that she still had her cachous in her hand. If she had come up against a demented being, she would surely not have held on to her cachous. No fight
The evidence of the cachous in her hand gives more support to Source B, which describes the killer as knowing what difficulties there would be to contend with and having some anatomical knowledge. This seems to me to indicate that he would know how to killer Elizabeth Stride quickly and without much commotion, by cutting her windpipe ’completely in two.’ The way that Ms Stride’s throat has been cut, ‘long incision’ ‘cutting the windpipe completely in two’ seems awfully vicious albeit still incredibly precise and purposeful. As source B says ‘There are no meaningless cuts.’ Nevertheless this method of killing someone does show horrific brutality therefore backing up Source’s A point regarding ‘extraordinary violence.’
3/ How useful are Sources D and E in helping you to understand why the ripper was available to avoid capture?
Source D is the statement given by Elizabeth Long at the public enquiry into Annie Chapman’s murder. Elizabeth Long is describing the man she saw with Annie Chapman. What she says is very vague, she mentions that the man in question was ‘foreign looking’ and taller than the deceased. She is very uncertain in her statement saying things such as ’as well as I could make out’ and ‘ I cannot be sure.’ This would be a very unhelpful statement, seeing as Whitechapel was full of people that would have been foreign looking to Ms. Long. This statement as well did not give a specific height or a definite description of his clothing on the night of the murder. She is very vague in his height, j from coursework.info ust describing him as taller than the deceased. She is also unsure about his attire saying that she thought he could have been wearing a dark coat. To the police this could have described nearly three quarters of the men in Whitechapel. She does not say what his faces was like and fails to give an approximate age, which would even further hinder the police. For our purposes this source is only reliable for a lose description of the killer, maybe not even that much. The witness is very unsure and what she does say cannot be of very much help to us or the police in 1888.
Source E, an article published in a local newspaper, is an attack on the policing in Whitechapel at the time of the first two murders. It is however more useful as a description of Whitechapel. The warren of streets passages and alleys described as ‘a network of narrow and dark crooked lanes.’ This invokes the image of a labyrinth of dark twisting streets, which would be extremely hard to navigate. This article, although written from a biased point of view is useful to us in understanding how hard it would have been for the police, who would have been on foot, to catch Jack the Ripper. We can see that by the time had reached the body the killer could have put a substantial distance between himself and the body. The article is also useful for ascertaining the levels of crime and also policing around Whitechapel at the time. It says that the journalist’s informant had called upon various police officers to increase the numbers of officers but to no avail. It also describes scenes of open and defiant ruffianism. The article however is meant to stir annoyance at the police, and show the force in the worst light possible. This is why we cannot use it as fact but merely as an indication as to what Whitechapel was like for the people living there in 1888.
4/
5/ In the Jack the ripper case the police could only gather strong evidence from the statements they took from witnesses and next of kin. What information they did gather could not always be trusted, the sense of community in the East End meant that if someone had recognised Jack the Ripper, as a friend or family member, they would probably not report him for fear of the repercussions. There evidence had also sometimes been violated, for example in the case of Mary Ann Nichols the body had been moved from the scene and all the blood washed away before any senior members of the investigative team had arrived on the scene. When the body of Catherine Eddowes was found there was a message written in chalk in a doorway next to a piece of her apron, which the ripper had used to wipe off his knife. The message said ‘The Juwes are the men who will not be blamed for nothing’ The City of London police wanted to photograph it as evidence but the commissioner ordered it washed away. It was only Mary Jane Kelly who was photographed at the scene. It was also rumoured that the press would plant false evidence to make the story either gorier or more interesting for their readers. The press also pressurised the police to follow up the lead of ‘The leather apron’, even though they had reason to believe he was not responsible. The fact that both Scotland Yard and the City of London police force were both involved caused problems too. The lack of communication between the two forces meant that evidence was not shared which could prevent vital evidence form being followed up. They also had different policing methods, The City of London police force believed in taking photos at the scene of the crime and studying the scene and the surrounding area in great detail for any evidence. Scotland Yard, or the Metropolitan Police would move the body to perform autopsies as close to time of death as possible and take many statements. The angst between the two forces was probably one of the greatest problems in the Ripper case.
Barbara Kruger February 02, 2003 This essay downloaded from coursework.info http://www.coursework.info/
