Jack the Ripper is probably the world's most well-known villain, despite the fact that his true identity has never been determined. The 'Ripper Murders' took place in the unsalubrious Whitechapel area of East London. The world's first serial killer was never caught. To this day, criminologists, Ripperologists, historians and amateur sleuths are no nearer discovering who the murderer was.

All five victims killed within the space of ten weeks in 1888 were East End prostitutes.

Mary Ann 'Polly' Nichols, aged 42, married with 5 children was found murdered at Bucks Row, off the Whitechapel Road at 3.40am on Friday 31 August. This first acknowledged victim of Jack the Ripper was discovered by PC John Neill who found her throat cut twice (from left to right), the second cut almost severing the head from her body. At the mortuary it was discovered that her stomach had been hacked open and her body slashed several times.

Bucks Row was renamed Durward Street in 1892 to avoid notoriety. The assault took place 70 feet west on the Board School, which has now been converted into luxury flats.

Annie Chapman, aged 47 was found in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street at 6am on Saturday 8 September. The facade of the old Truman's Brewery on the north side of Hanbury Street conceals the murder site.
Dark Annie's body was discovered by a Spitalfield Market porter, John Davis. Annie's throat savagely cut, body mutilated and certain organs removed from her abdomen in a manner which suggested that her attacker had anatomical knowledge. Her rings had been torn from her fingers and a leather apron soaked in water was found nearby.
Annie had been seen at 5.30am by a park keeper's wife. She was haggling with a shabbily but respectably dressed man wearing a deerstalker hat aged about 40. On Sunday 10 September the police arrested John Pizer, alias 'Leather Apron' but he had alibis.

Elizabeth Stride, aged 45 of Swedish descent. Long Liz was discovered by Louis Diemschutz when he turned his pony and trap into the yard behind 40 Berner Street at 1am Sunday 30 September.
Elizabeth's throat had been cut. From the position of the corpse it is presumed that the assassin had intended to mutilate it, but was interrupted by the arrival of the cart.
The street has been renamed Henriques Street after a local benefactor. The site is occupied by a former London County Council school, now known as Harry Gosling Primary School.

Catherine Eddowes, aged 46, was found less than an hour after Elizabeth Stride's a short walk away, inside the City of London district at Mitre Square by PC Watkins.
She had been ferociously attacked, especially around the face and abdomen. Like Annie Chapman, some of her internal organs had been removed, notably her uterus and left kidney.

Crowds of people started gathering at the Whitechapel Murder Sites and a 'terrible quiet' descended. Following this double murder, a letter in red ink was sent to the Central News Agency dated 25 September 1888, signed "Jack the Ripper". After its publication the day after, the nick-name for the killer has stayed with us to this day.

Mary Jane Kelly, aged 25 was killed at her home, Room 13, Miller's Court, 26 Dorset Street at 4am Friday 9 November.
This was the most savage and gruesome attack where her body was horrifically mutilated and her face hacked beyond recognition after her murder.
In 1904 Dorset Street was renamed Duval Street and in 1929 the whole north side was demolished and an extension to Spitalfields Market erected. Today it is an unnamed service road next to White's Row Car Park.

Polly Nichols, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddows all lived in the Thrawl Street and Flower & Dean Street vicinity at some time. Catherine Eddows and Elizabeth Stride lodged in Fashion Street on occasions. They were all reputed to drink in the Ten Bells Public House on Commercial Street.

Though the murderer was never found there were several suspects, the most sensational being the eldest son of Edward VII, Prince Albert Victor the Duke of Clarence and Queen Victoria's doctor, William Gull. A favoured suspect was Montague John Druitt, a barrister of the Inner Temple. Other suspects included John Pizer (Leather Apron), the Freemasons, a Jewish slaughterman, a doctor and a midwife.

To this day, despite the protestations of local residents, the oldest profession in the world is still practiced where Jack the Ripper murdered five East End prostitutes.

Adapted from information listed at http://www.britannia.com/

Letters from Jack the Ripper

Recieved by the Central News Agency on September 27, 1888.

Dear Boss,
I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont
fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so
clever and talk about being on the right track.
That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down
on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do
get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the
lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now.
I love my work and want to start again. You will
soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some
of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle
over the last job to write with but it went
thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit
enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the
ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for
jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a
bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's
so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck.
Yours truly
Jack the Ripper
Dont mind me giving the trade name
PS Wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it No luck yet. They say I'm a doctor now. ha ha

Recieved by the Central News Agency on October 1, 1888.

I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you'll hear about Saucy Jacky's work tomorrow
double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish straight off. ha not the time to get ears
for police. thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.
Jack the Ripper

Recieved by the president of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee on October 2, 1888.

From hell.
Mr Lusk,
Sor
I send you half the Kidne I took from one woman and prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was
very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer

signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk

Recieved by a local newspaper on October 6, 1888.

You though your-self very clever I reckon when you informed the police. But you made a mistake if you
though I dident see you. Now I known you know me and I see your little game, and I mean to finish you
and send your ears to your wife if you show this to the police or help them if you do I will finish you.
It no use your trying to get out of my way. Because I have you when you dont expect it and I keep my
word as you soon see and rip you up. Yours truly Jack the Ripper.
PS You see I know your address

Recently discovered by the British Public Record Office:

17th Sept 1888
Dear Boss
So now they say I am a Yid when will they lern Dear old Boss! You an me know the truth dont we. Lusk can
look forever hell never find me but I am rite under his nose all the time. I watch them looking for me an
it gives me fits ha ha I love my work an I shant stop until I get buckled and even then watch out for
your old pal Jacky.
Catch me if you Can
Jack the Ripper

Sorry about the blood still messy from the last one. What a pretty necklace I gave her.


from http://www.casebook.org/official_documents/index.html

Eight little whores, with no hope of heaven
Gladstone may save one, then there'll be seven.
Seven little whores beggin for a shilling,
One stays in Henage Court, then there's a killing.
Six little whores, glad to be alive,
One sidles up to Jack, then there are five.
Four and a whore rhyme alright,
So do three and me,
I'll set the town alight
'Ere there are two.
Two little whores, shivering with fright,
Seek a cosy doorway in the middle of the night.
Jack's knife flashes, then there's but one,
And the last one's the ripest for Jack's idea of fun.

An anonymous verse sent to police in the fall of 1888, attributed to Jack the Ripper.

When Jack the Ripper was on his murder spree, there were an estimated 1200 prostitutes in the Whitechapel area. The city of London had about 80,000 prostitutes total.

As dangerous as it was, prostitution paid better wages than any of the other jobs women could get in the city, such as being a scrubmaid, sewing in a sweatshop or making matchboxes. Those who slaved at regular "women's work" could at most expect to get about ten pence per 17-hour day of hard labor. Prostitutes, on the other hand, earned two or three pence per john serviced.

Jack's murders were less terrifying than the specter of starvation to most working women, so they continued their trade as best they could.

---

Reference: Murder Ink edited by Dilys Winn (Workman Publishing Company)

It is hard, if not quite imposible to prove anything concerning a series of murders done over one hundread years ago. Nonetheless, one person believes she has solved the mystery.

The famous writer of crime novels (and coincidentally one of my absolute favourite writers), Patricia Cornwell, claims she knows who "Jack The Ripper" was. According to her, the murderer was Walter Richard Sickert, a famous British impressionist painter at the time. He was 28 at the time of the killings and owned three studios in the area where the killings took place. This could have made it easier for "The Ripper" to have "disapeared into the night".

What lead Patricia Cornwell to suspect Sickert however, was a bunch of paintings that he did some twenty years after the murders. Cornwell herself has bought 30 of his paintings in her search for clues and hints, among others a series of paintings of a murdured prostitute.

Note:
As I am writing this, this is fairly fresh news, and though Patricia Cornwell is quite certain that her claims are the answers to the mystery, none has yet tried to prove her wrong. In other words, please take this with a grain of salt, and, needless to say, please add your own writeup and msg me if you find new info on the subject.

One sensational theory in the early 1990's was that James Maybrick, already famous after his wife's spectacular trial for murdering him, was Red Jack. This was the basis of Shirley Harrison's 1993 book The Diary of Jack the Ripper: The Chilling Confessions of James Maybrick.

Although the diary does not name Maybrick, its details are consistent with his. The diarist's brothers are named Michael and Edwin, and his children are referred to as Gladys and Bobo (presumably a nickname for his son James, if the theory is correct). The author's wife is never named, but is called "the whore", and there are references to "the whore master", presumed to be her lover Alfred Brierly.

The diary begins with a murder in Manchester, where the author tested "his stomach for murder." (We have no accounts of a Ripper-style murder in Manchester at that time), then details all of the Whitechapel killings, including information that was not released to the press at the time.

The theory that Maybrick was the Ripper is backed up by a pocket watch allegedly bought in Liverpool. Close examination revealed a number of things scratched into the back: "J. Maybrick", "I am Jack", and the initials of all of the victims.

Proponents of this theory also point to the resemblance between the police sketch of Jack the Ripper and James Maybrick, and to the fact that Maybrick's mistress lived in Whitechapel.

Serious Ripperologists (if that's not an oxymoron) contend that the diary is a fake, the watch scratches recent, and the resemblance a coincidence. Newer, fresher theories come out all the time, and the Victorian era's most famous arsenic eater has since been overshadowed.