by Neil Storey
Moments later Thompson went down a dingy, narrow passageway under one of the railway arches (with the misleadingly attractive name of Swallow Gardens) opposite the Catholic Schools in Chamber Street, Whitechapel. PC Thompson later deposed:
The roadway under the arch is partially taken away and boarded up from the crown of the arch to the ground. What remains is a roadway, enabling one cart to pass at a time. I should say the length of the arch is something over 40 yards. There are two ordinary street gas-lamps to light this arch, and they throw a light down the archway. I cannot tell the exact position of the light at the other entrance. If I was standing at the Chamber Street entrance to the archway I should be able to see anyone in the centre of the arch. I could see right through it; and I can do this at night. The centre part is not very light in the daytime … When I turned into the passage I could see a body lying under the arch on the roadway, about midway under the arch. I turned my lamp on as soon as I got there. I could not see it was a woman until I turned my lamp on. I noticed some blood. I saw her open and shut one eye. I blew my whistle three times.
First on the scene was neighbouring Police Sergeant Hyde 161 H, who was about 250 yards away from the other end of the arch on Royal Mint Street when he heard the whistle and came running, closely followed by PC Hinton 275H, who had been on plain-clothes duty in front of Baron Rothschild’s refinery [the names cited for the two police officers who responded to Thompson’s whistle are those recorded in police report Ref. MEPO 3/140, ff.112-4; contemporary newspaper accounts however state their names as Police Constable Frederick Hart 161H and PC George Elliott 275H]. When Hyde arrived he turned on his police lamp, examined the woman, and found that her throat was cut. Telling Thompson to stay with the body, Hyde ran for Dr Oxley on Dock Street. Oxley was in bed but got up, dressed, and was at the murder scene in ten minutes, where he pronounced life extinct. Meanwhile, PC Hinton ran to Leman Street police station to report the matter to Inspector Flanagan, who in turn sent word to the Chief and Local Inspector and Dr George Bagster Phillips, the Divisional Surgeon, who soon arrived in a cab. Having ascertained to his satisfaction that life was extinct, Phillips made a minute examination of the body and the position in which it was lying and this was reported in The Times:
The woman was bareheaded, and her hair was disarranged, indicating that she had been engaged in some sort of struggle. One arm was stretched by her side, while the other was bent towards the breast. Close by the side of the dead woman was her hat, which was formed of very old crape. The deceased was then searched, when, to the surprise of the spectators, another hat was found in the folds of her dress. This article may, hereafter, have an important bearing on the case. In the pocket was found an old comb and a few pieces of cloth or rags, but no money. The latter fact caused the police to make a careful search round the place, with the result that a 2s piece was found. This probably shows the cause for which the victim was enticed to the spot where she met her end. The body was afterwards placed on an ambulance, and conveyed to the Leman Street police station, and afterwards to the Whitechapel mortuary.
In his report, Superintendent Tom Arnold noted:
The vicinity of Swallow Gardens was carefully searched, and in a space between a water pipe and some brickwork, about 18 yards from where the body was found Inspector Flanagan discovered 2s wrapped in two pieces of old newspaper, apparently Daily News, upon which there was no date. There is nothing to connect the money with the murder nor has any instrument or article been found likely to afford a clue.
At about 5 o’clock, Chief Inspector Donald S. Swanson arrived, accompanied by Inspector Moore, and took charge of the case. Having examined the spot where the body was found, Inspector Swanson gave orders that a portion of the blood should be saved for the purpose of analysis, while the remainder was afterwards washed away. Later on the Chief Constable of the East End district, Melville Macnaghten (Chief Constable CID), Robert Anderson (Assistant Commissioner CID), and other leading police officials arrived at the scene to be appraised of the situation personally. With the news of another woman of the ‘unfortunate’ class being found with her throat cut on the streets of Whitechapel, the alarm bells were set ringing in the minds of these investigating officers, many of them veterans of the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders. News of another ‘Jack the Ripper’ murder was soon spreading across the force and the rest of London – the newspapers didn’t need any prompting in this notion either.
The man who discovered the body of Frances Coles: PC Ernest Thompson 240H.
The cover story of the Frances Coles murder from the Penny Illustrated Paper. (Stewart P. Evans)
A connection between the Frances Coles murder and Jack the Ripper was irresistible to the press.
Within the day a potential witness, William ‘Jumbo’ Friday, a carman in the employ of the Great Northern Railway, came forward to state he saw a man and woman in the shadows of a doorway near the entrance to Swallow Gardens at the Royal Mint Street end as he passed by at 1.45 a.m. He could not discern their faces, but noticed the woman wore a black hat – which, when shown the hat worn by the deceased, he identified as the one he had seen the woman wearing. He also gave a slight description of the man she was with but had to admit he did not see his face.
The deceased woman was known to police of H Division as a prostitute. She was formally identified as Frances Coles (26), but was known on the streets she had walked for about eight years as ‘Carrotty Nell’. Over the last couple of days she had been spotted in the company of Tom Sadler (53), a fireman on the SS Fez. Sadler was rapidly tracked down by Detective Sergeant Don and PC Gill to the Phoenix public house in Upper East Smithfield on 14 February. He came quietly, saying, ‘I expected this,’ adding on the way to Leman Street police station,
I am a married man and this will part me and my wife, you know what sailors are, I used her for my purpose for I have known Frances for some years. I admit I was with her, but I have a clean bill of health and can account for my time. I have not disguised myself in any way, and if you could not find me the detectives in London are no damned good.
Interviewed by Chief Inspector Swanson – and after confirming his name as James Thomas Sadler and stating his place of residence as Dann’s Boarding House, East Smithfield – Sadler gave the following detailed statement:
I am a fireman and am generally known as Tom Sadler. I was discharged at 7 p.m. on the 11th inst. from the steamship Fez. I think I had a drink of Holland’s gin at Williams Brothers’, at the corner of Goulston Street. I then went, at 8.30 p.m., to the Victoria Home. I then left the Home and went into the Princess Alice opposite, and had something to drink. I had no person with me. While in the Princess Alice, between 8.30 and 9 p.m., I saw a woman (whom I had previously known, named Frances). I had known her for 18 months. I first met her in the Whitechapel Road, and went with her to Thrawl Street, to a lodging-house, and I stayed with her all night; having paid for a double bed at the lodging-house. I don’t remember the name of the lodging-house where I then stayed with her. I think I then took a ship, the name of which I do not remember.
I did not see this woman again until I saw her in another bar of the Princess Alice, and recognising her, I beckoned her over to me. There was nobody with her. She asked me to leave the public house, as when she had got a little money the customers in the public house expected her to spend it amongst them. We left the Princess Alice, and went round drinking at other public houses. Among other houses I went into a house at the corner of Dorset Street, where another woman (named Annie Lawrence) joined us. Frances stopped me from treating this woman, and we then went to White’s Row Chambers. I paid for a double bed, and we stayed the night there. She had a bottle of whisky (half-pint), which I had bought at Davis’s, White Swan, Whitechapel. I took the bottle back yesterday morning, and the young woman (barmaid) gave me two-pennyworth of drink for it.
Frances and I left White’s Row Chambers between 11 and 12 noon, and we went into a number of public houses, one of which was
the Bell, Middlesex Street. We stayed there for about two hours drinking and laughing. When in the Bell, she spoke to me about a hat which she had paid a shilling for a month previously. We then went on the way to the bonnet shop drinking at the public houses on the way. The shop is in White’s Row or Baker’s Row, and I gave her the half-a-crown which was due for the hat and she went into the shop. She came out again and said that her hat was not ready; the woman was putting some elastic on. We then went into a public house in White’s or Baker’s Row, and we had some more drinks. Then she went for her hat and got it; and brought it to me at the public house, and I made her try it on. I wanted her to throw the old one away, but she declined, and I pinned it onto her dress. Then we went to the Marlborough Head public house, in Brick Lane, and had some more drink.
I was then getting into drink, and the landlady rather objected to Frances and me being in the house. I can’t remember what the landlady said now. I treated some men in the house. I can’t say their names. I had met them previously in the same house. From there I had an appointment to see a man Nichols in Spital Street, and I left her there to see Nichols, arranging to meet her again at a public house – where I cannot say now, and I have forgotten it. We came down Thrawl Street, and while going down a woman with a red shawl struck me on the head and I fell down, and when down I was kicked by some men around me. The men ran into the lodging-houses, and on getting up I found my money and my watch gone. I was then penniless, and I then had a row with Frances, for I thought she might have helped me when I was down. I then left her at the corner of Thrawl Street without making any appointment that I can remember.
I was downhearted at the loss of my money, because I could not pay for my bed. I then went to the London Docks and applied for admission, as I wanted to go aboard the steamship Fez. There was a stout sergeant inside the gate and a constable. They refused me admission, as I was too intoxicated. I cannot remember what hour this was, as I was dazed and drunk. There was a metropolitan police officer near the gate, a young man. I abused the sergeant and constable because they refused me admission. There were some dock labourers coming out, and they said something to me, and I replied abusively, and one of the labourers took it up, saying, ‘If the policeman would turn his back he would give me a good hiding.’ The policeman walked across the road, across Nightingale Lane, towards the Tower way, and as soon as he had done so the labourers made a dead set at me, especially the one who took my abuse. This one knocked me down and kicked me, and eventually another labourer stopped him. I then turned down Nightingale Lane and the labourers went up Smithfield way. I remained in Nightingale Lane for about a quarter of an hour, feeling my injuries.
I then went to the Victoria lodging house in East Smithfield, and applied for a bed, but was refused, as I was so drunk, by the night porter, a stout, fat man. I begged and prayed him to let me have a bed, but he refused. To the best of my belief I told him I had been knocked about. He refused to give me a bed, and I left and wandered about. I cannot say what the time was. I went towards Dorset Street: I cannot say which way, but possibly Leman Street way. When I got to Dorset Street I went into the lodging house where I had stopped with Frances on the previous night, and found her in the kitchen, sitting with her head on her arms. I spoke to Frances about her hat. She appeared half-dazed from drink, and I asked her if she had enough money to pay the double bed with. She said she had no money, and I told her I had not a farthing, but I had £4 15s coming to me. I asked her if she could get trust, but she said she could not. I then went to the deputy and asked for a night’s lodging on the strength of the money I was to lift the next day, but I was refused. I was eventually turned out by a man, and left Frances behind in the house.
I then went, to the best of my belief, towards the London Hospital, and about the middle of the Whitechapel Road a young policeman stopped me and asked where I was going, as I looked in a pretty pickle. I said that I had had two doings last night, one in Spitalfields and one at the docks. I said I had been cut or hacked about with a knife or bottle. Immediately I mentioned the word knife he said, ‘Oh, have you a knife about you?’ and then searched me. I told him I did not carry a knife. My shipmates, one Mat Curley and another named Bowen, know that I have not carried a knife for years. The policeman helped me across the road towards the hospital gate. I spoke to the porter, but he hummed and hawed about it, and I began to abuse him. However, he did let me in, and I went to the accident ward and had the cut in my head dressed. The porter asked me if I had any place to go to, and I said no, and he let me lay down on a couch in the room where the first accidents are brought in. I can give no idea of the time I called at the hospital.
When he let me out, somewhere between 6 and 8 o’clock in the morning, I went straight to the Victoria Home, and begged for a few halfpence; but I did not succeed. I then went to the shipping office, where I was paid £4 15s 3d. Having got my money, I went to the Victoria, Upper East Smithfield, and stayed there all day, as I was miserable. The furthest I went out was the Phoenix, about twelve doors off. I spent the night there and I was there this morning. I had gone to the Phoenix this morning to have a drink, and I was beckoned out and asked to come here (Leman Street) and I came. As far as I can think, it was between 5 and 6 that I was assaulted in Thrawl Street at any rate it was getting dark, and it was some hours after that that I went to the London Docks. I forgot to mention that Frances and I had some food at Mr Shuttleworth’s, in Wentworth-street.
My discharges are as follows: Last discharged 11-2-90 in London ship Fez. Next discharge 6-9-90, London. Next 15-7-90, London. Next 27-5-90, Barry. Next 1-10-89, London. Next 2-10-88, London. Engaged, 17-8-86; next, 5-5-87; engaged, 24-3-87, London. The last I had seen of the woman Frances was when I left her in the lodging-house when I was turned out. The lodging-house deputy can give you the name. The clothes that I am now wearing are the only clothes I have. They are the clothes I was discharged in and I have worn them ever since. My wife resides in the country, but I would prefer not to mention it. The lodging-house I refer to is White’s Row, not Dorset Street. It has a large lamp over it. Passing a little huckster’s shop at the corner of Brick Lane and Brown’s Lane I purchased a pair of earrings, or rather I gave her the money and she bought them. I think she gave a penny for them.
This statement was read out on the second day of the inquest held before Mr Wynne E. Baxter, the East London coroner at the Working Lads’ Institute, Whitechapel. The reading of the statement was followed by Divisional Surgeon George Bagster Phillips’ detailed account of his post-mortem examination of the body:
On Saturday morning I made a minute examination of the incision in the throat. There was an external wound, the edges of the skin being not exactly cut through, there being a portion of about an inch long undivided. In my opinion, there were three distinct passings of the knife across the throat – one from left to right, one from right to left, and the third from left to right. Below the wound there was an abrasion, as if caused by a finger nail. Above the wound there were four abrasions, possibly caused by fingernails. From the position of these marks I opine that the left hand was used. There were some contused wounds on the back of the head, which I am of opinion were caused by the head coming into violent contact with paving stones. I came to the conclusion that death had been almost instantaneous, occasioned by the severance of the carotid arteries and other vessels on the left side. In my opinion, the deceased was on the ground when her throat was cut. I think that her assailant used his right hand in making the incisions in the throat, and that he had used his left hand to hold her head back by the chin; that he was on the right side of the body when he made the cuts. The tilting of the body to the left was to prevent the perpetrator from being stained with blood. There was a complete absence of any struggle or even any movement from pain, but it may have arisen from the fact that the woman was insensible from concussion. The knife produced would be capable of inflicting all the wounds found on the neck. It was not a very sharp knife that caused the woun
ds. On Monday, the 16th, I examined the sailor’s cap produced. It was saturated with blood. The left and right cuffs of a shirt were stained with blood. The coat had two spots of blood on the right breast and two drops on the right sleeve. There was also a deposit of blood inside the right sleeve. The boots had no blood on them. On Monday, the 16th, I examined Sadler at Arbour Square police station. I found two wounds on the scalp, and the appearances of the blood on the clothes were consistent with its having come from either of these wounds.
Tom Sadler and Frances Coles in the kitchen of the lodging house on White’s Row.
Mortuary photograph of Frances Coles. (Stewart P. Evans)
Tom Sadler in the dock at Thames Police Court.
Of course, modern forensics could have proved the matter conclusively, but in the late nineteenth century they were just developing the science of identifying the difference between mammalian and human blood – blood type or DNA did not enter into the equation. The inquest resumed, and what was to prove to be its final day of hearing was Friday 27 February 1891. More witnesses came forward placing Sadler and Coles in each others’ company, something Sadler never denied, but the crucial placement of Sadler at the scene at the time of the murder proved impossible – there were simply no witnesses to do so. Wynne Baxter summed up at great length, placing all the facts adduced by the witnesses in review. The case, he said, had many characteristics in common with the murders which had preceded it; but it was for the jury to decide, taking well into consideration Sadler’s drunken condition, the conflicting evidence as to times and the connected account given by him of his movements before and after the murder was committed, whether they could fairly charge him with the deed, or they must attribute it to some person or persons unknown.
