Annie Chapman - Wife, Mother, Victim: The Life & Death of a Victim of Jack The Ripper

by Covell, Mike

  The Eastern Morning News, a Hull based newspaper, featured the following, dated September 12th 1888,

  THE WHITECHAPEL TRAGEDIES. SCENES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. RELEASE OF “LEATHER APRON.” ANOTHER CLUE. A TRAIL OF BLOOD. A representative of the Central News, who patrolled the streets and alleys of Whitechapel on Monday night and the early hours of yesterday morning, writes as follows: - The scare, which the disclosure of the fourth and most horrible of the murders occasioned in the district, has considerably subsided. People having become familiar with the details of the tragedy, and being calmed by the knowledge of the active measures adopted for their protection by the police, are returning to their normal condition of mind. This is plainly evidenced by the aspect which Whitechapel road presented on Monday night, and up to an early hour of the morning - a very different one from that of the corresponding period of the previous day. On Sunday night the pavements were almost deserted, but 24 hours later groups of men and women chatted, joked, and boisterously laughed upon the flagstones until long after St. Mary's clock struck one. In passing through the groups of people, the words most frequently heard in their conversation were “Leather Apron.” The term has become a byword of the pavement and gutter, and one oftener hears it accompanied by a laugh than whispered in a tone which would indicate any fear of the mysterious individual who is supposed to live under that nickname. Whilst a large number of persons, including many members of the police force, believe in the guilt of “Leather Apron,” the talk of the footways convinces the passer-by that a large number of other inhabitants of the East end are sceptical as to his personality. So it may be said with truth that the thoroughfares on Monday night presented their customary appearance. There was the usual percentage of gaudily dressed, loud, and vulgar women at the brightly lighted cross ways; and the still larger proportion of miserable, half fed, dejected creatures of the same sex upon whom hard life, unhealthy habits, and bad spirits have too plainly set their stamp. Soon after one o'clock the better dressed members of the motley company disappeared; but the poor wretches crawled about from lamp to lamp, or from one dark alley's mouth to another, until faint signs of dawn appeared. Off the main road - in such thoroughfares as Commercial street and Brick lane - there was little to attract attention. Constables passed silently by the knots of homeless vagabonds huddled in the recess of some big door way; other constables, whose plain clothes could not prevent their stalwart, well drilled figures from betraying their calling, paraded in couples, now and again emerging from some dimly lighted lane and passing their uniformed comrades with an air of profound ignorance. The streets referred to by the constables in the main thoroughfare, as “round at the back,” presented a dismal appearance, the dim yellow flames of the not too numerous public lamps only rendering the darkness of the night more gloomy. Such passages as Edward street, connecting Hanbury and Prince's streets, Flower and Dean street, between Brick lane and Commercial street, which, in daylight, only strike one as very unwholesome and dirty thoroughfares, appear unutterably forlorn and dismal in the darkness of the night. In almost any one of these dark and filthy passages a human being's life might be every night sacrificed were the blow dealt with the terrible suddenness and precision which evidently characterized the last two homicides; and a police force of double the strength of that now employed, and organized under the best possible conditions, might well be baffled in its efforts to capture the murderers. In the immediate neighbourhood of St. Mary's Church a wide entry presented a deep cavern of intense blackness, into which no lamp shone, and where such an occurrence as that of Saturday morning might easily take place unobserved. In a squalid thoroughfare between Hanbury street and Whitechapel road some houses have been pulled down, the space being now waste ground enclosed by wooden palings. This unilluminated spot is separated by a house or two from an alley which, at a point some yards from the street, turns at right angles apparently towards the unoccupied space mentioned. Into the mouth of this passage a slatternly woman, her face half hidden in a shawl, which formed her only headdress, thrust her head, and in a shrill and angry voice shrieked, “Tuppy!” The cry was answered by the appearance of an evil looking man, with a ragged black beard, who in reply to an impatient question “Where is she?” muttered in a surly tone, “Round there,” at the same time jerking his thumb backwards towards the alley. “Well, come `long 'ome, then. I ain't agoin' to wait for she,” replied the woman, who, with the dark man limping after, soon disappeared round the corner of the street. There was no subsequent indication of the presence of a third person. The light from the street was so dim that there was no possibility of recognising the features of the man and women, and certainly if either had borne traces of crime they would have attracted no attention. Such occurrences as the above are, the police say, quite usual, and they neither have, nor wish to have, authority to question any individual whose conduct may attract attention without exciting suspicion. “The scare which the disclosure of the fourth and most horrible of the murders occasioned. LATEST PARTICULARS. LONDON, TUESDAY NIGHT. No fresh arrests have been made in connection with the Whitechapel murders, the police obtained information which at one time promised to develop into important evidence. It had been intended to liberate John Piser on Monday evening, but at the last moment it was decided to keep him in custody, the police not being quite satisfied upon one or two points in respect to him. Yesterday morning information was received, which, if well founded, would have made out a case of some strength against Piser. On the morning of the murder of Mrs. Chapman a man in Hanbury street noticed a woman in the company of two men. They appeared to be quarrelling, and the heard the men make use of threats. Such an incident is, however, very common in the district, and the man, after taking a good look at the disputants, passed on his way. Yesterday the police resolved to inquire if Piser was one of the men seen in Hanbury street at the time in question. The man who saw the quarrel was requested to attend at Leman street Police station. On his arrival about one o o'clock, some twenty men, mostly brought in from the adjacent thoroughfare, were paraded before him. The man, without a moment's hesitation, pointed to Piser as the man whom he heard threatening the woman in Hanbury street on the morning of the murder. Piser protested that the man was entirely mistaken, but he was put back in the cells, and more closely watched. The police, during the afternoon and evening, made careful inquiries into the statements made by the man who professed to identify Piser. The manner of this man, who is, apparently, of Spanish blood, and displays a blue ribbon on his coat, did not inspire much confidence in his veracity, and he was severely cross examined by a sort of informal tribunal, consisting of experienced detective officers. The witness added to his first statement that he not only saw the prisoner in Hanbury street on the day of the murder, but that he actually took him by the collar when he was about to strike the woman. The man first volunteered his statement on Monday, and he subsequently displayed anxiety to view the remains of Mrs. Chapman, which, however, was not permitted. Piser's brother declares that he did not leave the house between Thursday and the day of his apprehension, because he had been subjected to annoyance at being followed by people, who called him Leather Apron. Piser is physically a very weak man, and for that reason does not work very closely. He suffers from hernia, is in other ways infirm, and has been under hospital treatment for a long time. From his lodgings the police have carried off five knives, which have been subjected to careful examination. All of them are of the class used in the leather currying trade, having blades about six inches in length, with stout handles, sometimes notched in a peculiar way. There is apparently, no blood either on the blades or the handles, but on some of the blades are marks apparently caused by rust. The examination of the knives led to the conclusion that none of the marks was a blood stain. About eight o'clock last evening the police arrived at the conclusion that the man referred to above had not stated the truth, and that there were no grounds for keeping Piser any longer in custody. He was accordingly set at liberty, and at once proceeded
to Mulberry street, where he received the congratulations of his relatives and friends. The conduct of the man who professed to identify Piser has caused much indignation, it having kept several experienced officers from prosecuting inquiries in other directions. His statement, clear enough at first, utterly failed to stand the test even of ordinary questioning. In the course of a three hours examination to which he was subjected yesterday afternoon he contradicted himself over and over again. In the result he was not allowed to view the body at the mortuary and was sharply sent about his business. It should be clearly understood that the police have never made a charge against Piser, and that he was taken into custody purely as a matter of precaution to allow the allegations affecting him to be sifted. An important discovery which throws considerable light upon the movement of the murderer immediately after the committal of the crime was made. This afternoon a little girl happened to be walking in the back garden, or yard, of the house, 25 Hanbury-street, the next house but one to the scene of the murder, when her attention was attracted to peculiar marks on the wall and on the garden path. She communicated her discovery to Detective Inspector Chandler, who had just called at the house to make a plan of the back premises of the three houses, for the use of the Coroner. The yard was then carefully examined, with the result that a bloody trail was found distinctly marked for a distance of five or six feet in the direction of the back door of the house. The appearances suggested that the murderer, after his crime, had passed through or over the dividing fence between Nos. 29 and 27, and thence into the garden of No. 25. On the wall of the last house was a curious mark, between a smear and a sprinkle, as if the murderer, alarmed by the blood soaked state of his coat, had taken it off, and knocked it against the wall. Abutting on the end of the yard of No. 25 are the works of Mr. Bailey, a packing case maker. In the yard of this establishment, on an out of the way corner, the police yesterday afternoon found some crumpled paper, stained, almost saturated, with blood. It is supposed that the murderer found the paper in the yard of No. 25, wiped his hands with it, and threw it over the wall into Mr. Bailey's premises. The house No. 25, like most of the dwellings in the street, is let out in tenements direct from the owner, who does not live on the premises, and has no direct representative therein. The back and front doors are always left either on the latch or wide open, the tenant of each room looking after the safety of his own apartment. The general appearance of the trail of blood and other indications seem to show that the murderer intended to make his way into the street through the house next door but one, being frightened by some noise or light in No. 29 from retreating by the way which he came. On reaching the yard of No. 25, he made for the back door, and then suddenly remembering his blood stained appearance, he must have stopped, and, catching sight of the pieces of paper lying about, he doubtless retraced his steps to the end of the yard, and then performed his gruesome toilet. He might have had some thought of retreating by way of Bailey's premises, but the height of the walls made such a course somewhat perilous, and he finally made his way into Hanbury-street through the house. He could have met with no difficulty, as both back and front doors were open, and he could wait in the passage if anyone was passing down the street. These matters suggest that the murderer was alive to the risk of detection, and acted with so much circumspection as to dispel the idea that he was a reckless maniac. Strenuous efforts have been made to find the rings torn from Chapman's fingers by the murderer, but not a trace of them has been found. It is probable that they have been destroyed, and with them it is feared disappears the most hopeful means of bringing the murderer to justice. The man Pigott is still under surveillance at the Whitechapel Infirmary. Mr. S. Montagu, M.P. for the Whitechapel Division of the Tower Hamlets, has offered £100 as a reward for the capture of the Whitechapel murderer.