A TRAVESTY IN WHITECHAPEL

1. Brought to You By the Combined Efforts of Annelise Trout and Holly Oliver A TRAVESTY IN WHITECHAPEL

2. Primary Source: The “Dear Boss” Letter • The “Dear Boss” Letter was actually a FAKE! It was written as a way for the Star newspaper to gain viewers. Still, it did what it was intended to do: create panic, and attach a name to this mystery man-slaughterer.

3. More About the Letter… • You may see the letter as just a few words scrawled in red ink (I assume you understand what it as made to resemble), but to the entire town of Whitechapel, it attached a name to this killer of 5: JACK THE RIPPER. Now, he is forever remembered in history. Without a name, you and me would never have known about the 5 lives taken, or about the famous Whitechapel murders. Now, the whole world knows.

4. JACK THE RIPPER… BEHIND BARS? • In answer to this question, NO! Jack the Ripper was as cunning as he was precise, which comes to the point that he was VERY cunning. Jack the Ripper not only escaped the officials clumsy hands but also managed never to be found! His identity, to this day, remains a ghastly mystery to scientists and Whitechapel citizens alike.

5. WHITECHAPEL MURDERS • There was a grand total of 5 victims, all murdered by Jack the Ripper, part-time serial killer, and part-time (presumably) as a surgeon. Below are listed their names and the date of murder for each victim. • Mary Ann Nichols, 31 August 1888 • Annie Chapman, 8 Sept. 1888 • Elizabeth Stride, 30 Sept. 1888 • Catherine Eddowes, 30 Sept. 1888 • Mary Jane Kelly, 9 November 1888 Both victims were murdered on the same night, giving that night the name, “Double Event”

6. Primary Sources By Annelise Trout

7. PRIMARY SOURCES • Newspaper Articles • Photographs • Letters

8. NEWSPAPER ARTICLE REPORTS • The Murder in Whitechapel • Report as Printed in the London Times • Yesterday afternoon Mr. G. Collier, Deputy Coroner for the South-Eastern Division of Middlesex, opened an inquiry at the Working Lads' Institute, Whitechapel-road, respecting the death of the woman who was found on Tuesday last, with 39 stabs on her body, at George-yard-buildings, Whitechapel. • Detective Inspector Reid, H Division, watched the case on behalf of the Criminal Investigation Department. • Alfred George Crow, cabdriver, 35, George-yard-buildings, deposed that he got home at half-past 3 on Tuesday morning. As he was passing the first-floor landing he saw a body lying on the ground. He took no notice, as he was accustomed to seeing people lying about there. He did not then know whether the person was alive or dead. He got up at half past 9, and when he went down the staircase the body was not there. Witness heard no noise while he was in bed. • John S. Reeves, of 37, George-yard-buildings, a waterside labourer, said that on Tuesday morning he left home at a quarter to 5 to seek for work. When he reached the first-floor landing he found the deceased lying on her back in a pool of blood. He was frightened, and did not examine her, but at once gave information to the police. He did not know the deceased. The deceased's clothes were disarranged, as though she had had a struggle with some one. Witness saw no footmarks on the staircase, nor did he find a knife or other weapon. • Police constable Thomas Barrett, 226 H, said that the last witness called his attention to the body of the deceased. He sent for a doctor, who pronounced life extinct. • Dr. T.R. Killeen, of 68, Brick-lane, said that he was called to the deceased, and found her dead. She had 39 stabs on the body. She had been dead some three hours. Her age was about 36, and the body was very well nourished. Witness had since made a post mortem examination of the body. The left lung was penetrated in five places, and the right lung was penetrated in two places. The heart, which was rather fatty, was penetrated in one place, and that would be sufficient to cause death. The liver was healthy, but was penetrated in five places, the spleen was penetrated in two places, and the stomach, which was perfectly healthy, was penetrated in six places. The witness did not think all the wounds were inflicted with the same instrument. The wounds generally might have been inflicted with a knife, but such an instrument could not have inflicted one of the wounds, which went through the chest-bone. His opinion was that one of the wounds was inflicted by some kind of dagger, and that all of them had been caused during life. • The coroner said he was in hopes that the body would be identified, but three women had identified it under three different names. He therefore proposed to leave the question open until the next occasion. The case would be left in the hands of Detective Inspector Reid, who would endeavour to discover the perpetrator of this (illegible) murder. It was one of the most dreadful murders any one could imagine. The man must have been a perfect savage to inflict such a number of wounds on a defenceless woman in such a way. The inquiry would be adjourned for a fortnight.

9. NEWSPAPER ARTICLE REPORTS • A WHITE CHAPEL SCARE. • All London Gets Excited Over a Fallen Woman's Outcry. • NOT JACK, THE RIPPER, THIS TIME • The Police, After Much Ado Over the Case, Decide that the Harlot Gashed Herself With a Knife - Cable News. • LONDON, Nov. 21.-Great excitement was occasioned this morning when it was reported that another woman had been murdered and mutilated in White Chapel. The police immediately formed a cordon around the premises, and an enormous crowd soon gathered. It was stated that another murder had been attempted upon a low woman by a man who had accompanied her to her lodgings, but that in this instance his work had been frustrated. According to the woman's story the man had seized her and struck her once in the throat with a knife. • She had struggled desperately and had succeeded in freeing herself from the man's grasp and had screamed for help. Her cries had alarmed the man and he had fled without attempting any further violence. Some of the neighbors said they heard the woman's screams and followed the murderer for about 300 yards, when he disappeared from their sight. The woman said she was fully able to identify the man and gave a description of him to the police. The police felt hopeful of soon capturing him. • After investigation of the facts the police are of opinion that it was not the work of the man who committed the atrocious murders in that vicinity recently. The excitement among the people was great. • Further investigation showed that the White Chapel woman was a prostitute of the lowest order. She suffered only a slight abrasion of the skin on her throat, and the police finally concluded that she inflicted the injury herself while she was drunk. • The principal reason given by the police for their belief that this morning's attempted murder in the East End was not the work of the real White Chapel fiend is the fact that both the would-be murderer and his intended victim drank themselves into a state of gross inebriety, a condition that the perpetrator of the previous crimes was obviously free from, and then went to an ordinary lodging house, at the door of which a Government inspector is always in attendance. This circumstance, together with the fact that the time of attempting to kill the woman was as ill-judged with reference to the escape of the murderer as the place, induces the belief that the whole business was simply to create a sensation.

10. PHOTOGRAPHS Two of Jack the Ripper’s Five Victims

11. LETTERS Jack the Ripper: Dear Boss Letter

12. Citations By Annelise Trout

13. Bibliography • “Press Reports.” Casebook: Jack the Ripper. n.d. Web. 15 May 2012. • “Victims.” Casebook: Jack the Ripper. n.d. Web. 15 May 2012. • “Ripper Letters.” Casebook: Jack the Ripper. n.d. Web. 15 May 2012. • “Suspects.” Casebook: Jack the Ripper. n.d. Web. 15 May 2012.

14. Go Further… • To learn more about the Jack the Ripper case, click on the following link. • Casebook: Jack the Ripper • All information gathered from the Casebook site has been sited.

15. CreditsAnneliseTroutCreated Slideshow PresentationEdited Slideshow PresentationHolly OliverDirector of Video ReenactmentEditor of Video ReenactmentTHE END