by Covell, Mike
The East London Advertiser, featured the following dated, Saturday September 29th 1888
THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS. CLOSE OF THE INQUESTS. THE STARTLING REVELATIONS. THE CLUES AND ARRESTS. THE HANBURY STREET CASE. The inquest on the body of Annie Chapman, who was murdered in Hanbury-street, Spitalfields, on September 8th, concluded on Wednesday, when Mr. Wynne Baxter, the coroner, summed up. Having narrated the details of the case, he proceeded to say that the conclusion that the desire was to possess the missing part seemed overwhelming. If the object was robbery, the injuries to the viscera were meaningless, for death had previously resulted from the loss of blood at the neck. Moreover, when they found an easily accomplished theft of some paltry brass rings and an internal organ taken, after at least a quarter of an hour's work, and taken by a skilled person, they were driven to the deduction that the abstraction of the missing portion was the object, and the theft of the rings only a thinly-veiled blind. It was abhorrent to their feelings to conclude that a life should be taken for so slight an object; but, when rightly considered, the reasons for most murders were altogether out of proportion to the guilt. It was not necessary to assume lunacy, for it was clear that there was a market for such things. To show them this he mentioned a fact which at the same time proved the assistance which publicity and the newspaper press afforded in the detection of crime. Within a few hours of the issue of the morning papers containing a report of the medical evidence given at the last sitting of the court he received a communication from an officer of one of the great medical schools that they had information which might or might not have a distinct bearing on the inquiry. He attended at the first opportunity, and was informed by the sub-curator of the Pathological Museum that some months ago an American had called on him, and asked him to procure a number of specimens of the part that was missing in this body. He stated his willingness to give £20 a piece for each specimen. He stated that his object was to issue an actual specimen with each copy of a publication on which he was then engaged. He was told that his request was impossible to be complied with, but he still urged his request. It was known that this request was repeated to another institution of a similar character. Now, was it not possible that the knowledge of this demand might have incited some abandoned wretch to possess himself of a specimen? He at once communicated his information to the Detective Department at Scotland-yard. By means of the Press some further explanation might be forthcoming from America. Surely it was not too much even yet to hope that the ingenuity of the detective force would succeed in unearthing this monster. It was not as if there was no clue to the character of the criminal or the cause of his crime. His object was clearly divulged. His anatomical knowledge carried him out of the category of a common criminal, for that knowledge could only have been obtained by assisting at post-mortems, or by frequenting the post-mortem room. If the assumption be correct that the man who was talking to Chapman at half-past 5 was the culprit he was even more clearly defined. In addition to his former description they should know that he was a foreigner of dark complexion, over 40 years of age, a little taller than the woman, of shabby-genteel appearance, with a brown deer-stalking hat on his head, and a dark coat on his back. If their views accord with his they would be of opinion that they were confronted with a murder of no ordinary character, committed not from jealously, revenge, or robbery, but from motives less adequate than the many which still disgraced our civilisation, marred our progress, and blotted the pages of our Christianity. - The jury at once returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown. THE CLUES AND ARRESTS. Nothing was talked about in the East End on Wednesday, after the publication of Mr. Wynne Baxter's summing up, but the startling revelation he had made with regard to the application at the Pathological Institute for specimens of the organism which was missing in the corpse of the last victim of the Whitechapel murderer. The revelation seemed to shed some light as to the motive for the crime, and there were not wanting those who came hastily to the most apparent conclusion to be drawn. Inquiries at the London Hospital, the nearest medical institution to the scene of the murder, have elicited the fact that no applications of the kind referred to by the coroner have recently been made to the warden or curator of the pathological museum attached to it. On Thursday morning the public were again startled by the sensational announcements in the early evening papers as to the capture of the murderer. Up to the present, however, general opinion attaches little importance to the circumstances. It appears that a man giving the name of John Fitzgerald surrendered at Wandsworth Police-station on Wednesday night, and made a statement to the inspector on duty to the effect that he was the murderer of Annie Chapman, in Hanbury-street, Whitechapel. He was afterwards conveyed to Leman-street Police-station. The man, who is a plasterer or a bricklayer's labourer, says he has been wandering from place to place, and is believed to have been more or less under the influence of drink lately. His description does not tally with that given at the inquest by witnesses of a certain man seen on the morning of the murder. It seems that Fitzgerald first communicated the intelligence to a private individual, who subsequently gave its purport to the police. A search was made, and the man was discovered in a common lodging-house at Wandsworth; he is known to have been living recently at Hammersmith. His self-accusation is said to be not altogether clear, and it is even reported that he cannot give the date of the murder, so that the authorities are disinclined to place much reliance on his statements. The efforts of the Mile End Vigilance Committee have not by any means been abated and the gentlemen who have the work in hand meet constantly at the “Crown” in the Mile End-road. A further letter has been addressed by Mr. B. Harris to the Home Secretary, requesting an interview for the purpose of laying before him more freely the facts and position of the matter. But as yet no reply has been received. The subscriptions are coming in slowly, and the reward fund now amounts to between £60 and £70, to which Mr. F. Wootton Issacson, M.P., has contributed £10, and Mrs. Sarah Lane, of the Britannia Theatre, £3 3s. A preliminary reward of £50 has been offered by the committee, and the bills producing the fact are out now. In the event of the money subscribed not being required for the purpose of a reward the amounts will be returned to the respective donors, or disposed of as they may direct. The murder at Gateshead, which was at first connected with the crimes in Whitechapel, has now altogether been disassociated with the latter. The police and detective force are still busily engaged in following up the latest clues, but with what success is unknown, as they are extremely reticent upon the course they are pursuing.
