However, the main cause of so much attention towards the murderers was the press at the time. The murders coincided with the advent of tabloid press in the 1880’s when both The Daily Mirror and The Daily Mirror were founded. As a result of the education act of 1870, more people were capable of reading papers. As they were just starting they needed to attract new readers this means that they were all describing the attacks in graphic detail and therefore selling more papers and soon the press became a sensationalist, filling the public in on all the gory details. The papers also drew in a lot of attention as a consequence of the large amount of hoax letters sent to liven up the story if it was dying down and it was thought that most of these were sent by the press themselves. Moreover, The press, who wanted to improve conditions in poor areas of London, saw the murders as the perfect opportunity to express their views because the local elections were approaching. All the types of press also reacted to the excitement and morbid fascination the public took so they wanted to produce more and more. The press were also responsible for branding the killer as Leather Apron” and later “Jack the Ripper” making the case even more like a soap opera. Another attention seeking act by the press was that they issued several eye witness descriptions of the killer, therefore making the murder case for interactive to the public.
The interest in the murders grew with each attack due to the persistence of the killings, and the failure of the police catching him. The nature of the victims also caused a lot of people to show attention towards the Whitechapel murders. Local prostitutes were becoming scared of the situation they were being put under; they knew they had to keep working as a consequence of their poverty but were extremely scared for their safety. Prostitution was one of the only reliable means through which a single or widowed Victorian woman could maintain herself. Consequently, they were becoming increasingly interested into whether the killer had been caught.
The fact that the police never caught the murderer further caused the media to panic and hype up stories. The fact that all the murders followed a pattern also gained interest. Jack the Ripper killed all 5 prostitues, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly by cutting their throat and mutilating the body.
When all of this is taken into account it is hardly surprising that the work of Jack The Ripper attracted so much attention at the time. The Murders of these prostitutes were confined to a small are of London’s East End but provoked a nationwide panic and consequently, many people were seen as likely suspects.
