Nicholls' Sad Family History

I can't say that I have ever seen this article before, detailing the sad family history of Mary Ann Nicholls:

THE WHITECHAPEL HORROR.
A SAD FAMILY HISTORY DISCLOSED.

Last evening, after the inquest on Mary Ann Nicholls, the eldest son of the deceased woman arrived at the Whitechapel mortuary and recognised the body as that of his mother. He was respectably dressed, and seemed much affected at her untimely end. He is by trade an engineer, and lives with his grandfather, Mr. Walker, but for some time had not been on speaking terms with his father. The family history, by those who know them, is stated to have been a sad one. When the separation between the deceased and her husband took place on account of alleged infidelity, Mr. Walker did what he could for her children. After the separation took place the deceased went to live with a man named Tom Drew, who is a smith living at Walworth. He knew her before she was married, and was her sweetheart before Nicholls. About an hour after the son arrived, her husband, Mr. W. Nicholls, came to see the body. He is a machinist, working at Perkins and Bacon's, printers, Fleet Street. When the meeting between the father and the son took place, neither of them spoke to each other, till the deceased's father said to Mr. Nicholls, "Well, here is your son, you see. I have taken care of him, and made a man of him." The father then spoke to him and said, "Well, I really did not know him; he has so grown and altered." Then the husband went in to the mortuary to see if he recognised the deceased. He came out ashy white, and simply said, "Well, there is no mistake about it. It has come to a sad end at last." A bystander stated to our representative: -
There was no recrimination between any of them. She did not live with Drew long, for she made away with some of his goods for drink; then he abandoned her, and she went to the workhouse for food. She got a situation at Wandsworth, but she purloined things there, till at last she gradually sank till she had to take up her quarters and become the associate of the evil characters that infest the place where she was found.
Despite the policeman's assertion that he was the first to discover the body, Mr. Paul last night repeated the statement made to our representative on Friday evening that he and another man found the corpse long before the police. He says the policeman he spoke to was not belonging to that beat. Every word he had said was true.
Up till midnight there was no arrest, but the police state they have various informations which possibly may give a clue, but which are barely to be relied on.

Source: Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, Sunday September 2, 1888