Why Did The Whitechapel Murders Attract So Much Attention In 1888?

COURSEWORK

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In 1888, the East End of London was being terrorised by a serial killer. This serial killer was one of a kind, and would later turn out to be the most famous serial killer of all time. In the ten weeks succeeding the 31st of August 1888, five poor East End prostitutes were brutally murdered at night. Not only had their throats been cut, but also in the case of four of the victims, their bodies had been horrifically mutilated. All the attacks occurred during the dark evenings, and all in the proximity of London's East End streets, where “Jack” performed his activities in the darkened alleys and alcoves. All these murders took place within 1 mile of each other, all five murders taking place in the Whitechapel, Aldgate or Spitalfeilds area.

Naturally, the horrific murders of five prostitutes created hordes of public interest, not just in Whitechapel but also all over London. One of the reasons that so much public attention was attracted to the murders was because of the type of place Whitechapel was.

At the time cities were very big and people that moved to Britain from other countries were very mistrusted. Foreigners were blamed for most of the crime that was committed. Most of the witnesses in the Jack the Ripper murders describe him as foreign looking middle class man. Whitechapel was mostly populated by Jews and Poles that had fled or had been expelled from Eastern Europe. Altogether nearly 900,000 people lived in Whitechapel minus the estimated 200,000 slum dwellers that lived in the Whitechapel area and the near by dockland area as well. A family, or even two, could be found living in one room, often alongside pigs and dogs, living without any form of sanitation. Adults and many children were lodging together in the same room and even shared the same bed, if they were lucky enough to have one. Cattle and sheep were herded through the streets to the many slaughterhouses that were in the East End and the streets were stained with blood and excrement from the animals. Children were found to be either orphaned or abandoned, living on the streets, begging or steeling what little food they could. They usually ended up sleeping in the gutters or seeking shelter in dark alleyways. Many men could not find regular work, so they could not support their family, if they had one.

The reason that such an immense public attraction was created by where the murders were was because if such a number of evil and horrific murders could take place, it would be in Whitechapel. Whitechapel was notorious for its high crime rates, crime was rife, with many gangs in competition. Murder, mugging, rape, and robbery were just a few of the most frequent crimes. In Whitechapel the cry of “murder” was so common it was simply ignored.

Because of the reputation of Whitechapel, people from the wealthy to middle class areas were fascinated by the murders, ...

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Because of the reputation of Whitechapel, people from the wealthy to middle class areas were fascinated by the murders, mainly because it was not taking part in their part of London and if the murders did happen it would take place in the evil collections of slums in Whitechapel. The East End was an area that horrified many people, Whitechapel was thought of by the middle and higher-class people as a “vast collection of slums that hide human creeping things.” This was a description written after the first two murders and was published in a weekly newspaper. “The main thoroughfares of Whitechapel are connected by a network of narrow, dark and crooked lanes. Every one apparently containing some headquarters of infamy. The sights and sounds are an apocalypse of evil.” With descriptions like this it is obvious why people from other working classes that lived around London were fascinated by the killings taking place.

There are several reasons why the Jack the ripper murders attracted some much attention. The second reason was because of the media. Newspapers exaggerated what had happened, they published all the gory details of how the bodies were left to be found, just to make people buy the paper. This increased fear among the people. When ‘leather apron’ was a suspect, the media reinforced the fear by publishing details of the man, about his physical appearance, and if the suspects that were being interrogated by the police were anything like the descriptions published. Many stories published by the papers were of things that were made up, the descriptions of the people that apparently saw the ‘Ripper’; they did this just to keep the focus on the murders and to raise the increasing public attention. The media gave all the details of the crimes. Newspapers published everything, like the way the bodies were left, to the degree of mutilation inflicted upon the victims. All these articles were published with inaccurate information, often going over the top with the gory details.

Another reason that the Ripper Murders of 1888 attracted so much attention was because of the victims. Everything about their lifestyles, and their jobs as prostitutes was interesting and very compelling.

The reason that all the other people who lived in London were interested was because all the victims of the ‘Ripper’ murders were prostitutes. It seemed that ‘Jack’ had something against prostitutes or women, to go around and cut them into shreds. It is also obvious that ‘Jack’ was a misogynist because all of his targets were women.

Many women that lived in Whitechapel turned to prostitution. It was estimated that nearly 1200 prostitutes worked in Whitechapel and many more who took clients on to supplement their weekly earnings. They usually ended up walking the streets of the slum areas and docklands trying to earn enough money to pay for their doss money.

Another reason that a lot of people around London took an interest to the murders was because of the nature of the crime and the degree of mutilation inflicted upon the victims. It was the first time that London had officially been hit by a serial killer and the news of this attracted many people. The other reason was because of the severity of the mutilation inflicted upon the victims. It was not rare that prostitutes were killed by gangs for protection money, but they were just beaten up or stabbed. The fact that the five prostitutes were cut up, physically mutilated, and had parts of their bodies and vital organs taken away, created an immense attraction to the murders.

Nobody could understand why these crimes had been committed, and this links with the Victorian fascination with murders, mysteries and unsolvable crimes. Arthur Conan Doyle was an author who wrote the Sherlock Homes mysteries. These stories were all about murder mysteries and increased the fascination with crime.

The police were not used to solving crime, and they did not have much evidence to go on, most of the witness reports contradicted each other and were often too vague. They suspected many people especially people with experience in medical practising, because of the way the women were cut up. They used leaflets to raise awareness of the murders and to try and catch the killer. This attracted loads of attention because nobody knew who the Ripper was, and it seemed more like a mystery trying to find him. Many people were fascinated by this and took matters into their

own hands, some people went out at night in groups looking for suspicious characters.

Another reason that the attention of the public towards the Ripper murders was getting bigger was because of the seeming failure of the police to catch the killer. The way the police handled the investigation reflected on the reputation of the police. Many people thought the police were ineffective, heavy-handed, and not good enough. The police were not very popular among the working class people living in Whitechaple at the time. The people who lived in Whitechapel were not the only people that believed that the police were useless, this was a common reaction of most people that lived in London at the time. Queen Victoria also expressed her views by writing a litter to the police saying, “The police were just not doing enough.” But on the other hand what more could they do? The evidence they had was worthless, and there were to many false leads and interferences in the case for the police to close the case with the true murderer.

I think that the most important reason why the Whitechapel murders attracted so much attention in 1888 was the media. It was through the media that so many people heard about the murders in the first place, and the papers played on the fear that people had by reporting to the best of their ability all the gory details to try to sell the most papers. The media went all out to print details of how the bodies were found, and this was printed in the Daily Express. “It is therefore desirable to state that the parts removed were in a certain portion of the abdominal wall, including the navel; two thirds of the bladder (posterior and upper portions); the upper third of the vagina and its connection with the uterus; and the whole of the uterus.” The reason that is would attract so much attention is because of the amount of mutilation that had been inflicted by the killer. Some people find it interesting when descriptions of murdered victims are released, and this makes readers tend to want to read more.

Ashley Breed Page