One hundred years ago
THE report to which we alluded last week unhappily turned out true. The terrible miscreant known as 'the Whitechapel murderer', who, if insane, differs from all other insane persons in persistence, reticence, and fear of the police, had committed another crime. Just before 11 a.m. on November 9th, an 'unfortunate' of twenty-four, named Jane Kelly, a drinking but not a violent woman, was found in her room, in Dorset Court, Dorset Street, dead and naked, with her throat cut and her body disembowelled. No clue whatever was left by which to trace the murderer, nor is there any guide to his condition or his whereabouts. The police are completely baffled, the little evidence there is being hopelessly confused. Several witnesses declared they see 'a man' with the woman just before the murder, but no two of them describe the same person, or even the same kind of person, the only points of agreement being that he is about Mt. 6in. in height, and between thirty and forty years old. On all other points such a colour and dress, the `testimony' is hopelessly conflicting, and some of it, we fear, imaginative. The Crown has promised a pardon to any confederate; but as the murderer is almost certainly a lonely criminal, that is not hopeful, and no reward could stir either police or people to more furious zeal. There is nothing to be done but wait, and widen inquiry as far as possi- ble. There is no proof that the murderer lives in Whitechapel, or that he is a poor man.
The Spectator, 17 November 1888
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