Full Account Of Mackenzie's Murder

ANOTHER MURDER IN WHITECHAPEL.

MUTILATION OF THE VICTIM.

Another horrible murder and mutilation, similar to the series which startled the whole world throughout last year, took place in Castle-alley, off Wentworth-street, Commercial-street, Whitechapel, on Wednesday morning. As the policeman on the beat in Wentworth-street, 272 H, was passing up Castle-alley, which leads into High-street, Whitechapel, about 10 minutes to one o'clock on Wednesday morning, he came upon the murdered body of a woman, which was lying under a gas lamp in front of Messrs. David S. King and Sons, of Billiter-street, warehouses, in a pool of blood. The woman had her throat cut from ear to ear, and two deep gashes, evidently inflicted with a sharp instrument, in the lower part of the abdomen. The murderer evidently had not time to finish his work, as the body was not so terribly mutilated as was the case in some of the previous murders.
The spot chosen for the ghastly deed is at night the most prominent part of the whole alley, and is within a very short distance of High-street, Whitechapel, and Commercial-street. The warehouse in front of which the gaslamp stands is a large, three-storeyed building, and in the vicinity are usually costermongers' carts and large wagons lying in every direction. On the night in question there were two wagons there, and the dead woman was found with her head under one, a scavenger's cart. The constable immediately on discovering the body whistled for assistance, and a number of policemen quickly arrived on the spot.
The discovery was made known at once at Commercial-street police-station, and Drs. Phillips and Brown were communicated with. Immediately on their arrival they examined the wounds, and informed the police that the murder must have been done by the same person or persons who committed the series of previous murders in Whitechapel and Spitalfields. They ordered the body to be conveyed to Montague-street mortuary. The news that another murder and mutilation had taken place quickly spread in the neighbourhood, and in the early morning a large crowd of men and women, chiefly costermongers and those having business in the vegetable market close at hand, assembled round the scene of the murder.
Castle-alley is in the midst of a maze of streets and alleys. It is within a stone's throw of Dorset-street, Hanbury-street, Flower and Dean-street, and several other notorious localities, which abound in lodging-houses. The exits for the escape of a murderer are so numerous that he could easily reach any part of Whitechapel or Spitalfields free from being observed in that locality. The police, while observing the strictest silence regarding the details of the murder, do not for a moment doubt that it is the work of the fiend who seemed to have left off on Nov. 9 last year, when the unfortunate Mary Jane Kelly was murdered and mutilated in her own room. It was thought by not a few that the Thames mystery was also the work of this wretch, owing principally to the fact that the murderer in this case, as examinations of the various portions of the body showed, seemed to have taken a fiendish delight in mutilating the body, apart from any other desire to accomplish the woman's death. Whether this was his work or not, the Castle-alley murderer has decidedly shown that the fiend still lives, and has no intention of closing his diabolical record as yet.

THE MUTILATIONS.

When the body was first examined it was observed that the clothing was wet, whilst the pavement underneath was dry. A shower fell at 20 minutes to one a.m., and the body must have been in that position then. The belief entertained is that the miscreant, having cut the woman's throat, not necessarily with a sharp weapon, for their are scratches about the wound, then stabbed her below the breast, but was disturbed before he completed his work. The injuries, whilst sufficiently horrible, are not so extensive and atrocious as in the Dorset-street and Mitre-square cases. The wound in the throat, on the left side of the neck, is described as a stab rather than a cut. The face of the corpse bore unmistakable signs of pain. The stab in the body appeared to have been done with a blade with a not very keen edge, as there was some jagging. The position in which the corpse was discovered, and the disarranged clothing, in the opinion of the police officer who first saw it, indicated that the murderer had adopted his usual expedient of putting his victim at his mercy by getting her to place herself in a defenceless attitude. It is probable the woman knew of the movements of the police, and pointed out to her betrayer the seclusion of the spot. As the evidence shows, the police were pretty frequently in the alley, and they must have been watched. The place is indifferently lighted - there are but three lamps - and there are usually wagons and costermongers' barrows standing in the court at night. In these vehicles homeless folk, whenever chance favours them, obtain a nap, but the police expel them. As it happened, everything favoured the murderer, for on Wednesday morning these were untenanted, as far as is known, and the police upon their beats remarked that the neighbourhood was perfectly quiet. Indeed, not a sound was heard to indicate the exact time of the commission of the murder. It is supposed by the police authorities that the foul deed was perpetrated within the three minutes that elapsed between the serjeant leaving Andrews and hearing his whistle.
The body, on inspection, was found to be that of a woman of middle-age, with fair complexion and light brown hair. She was clad in shabby attire - there was no bonnet on her head, and her upper dress consisted of a bodice made of red stuff, which was patched under the armpits and about the sleeves. She also had on a kilted skirt and a brown linsey petticoat, while the stockings were odd ones and of different colours, one being of a black and the other maroon hue. The other articles of clothing were a badly-worn pair of boots and a white chemise. It was at once noticed that one of the thumbs of the deceased was mutilated, and this it was hoped - as eventually proved to be the case - would enable the authorities to establish her identity beyond all question. There were blood-marks on the face, as if caused by the gory fingers of the murderer. The body, upon the arrival of the police officials and the divisional police surgeon, Dr. Phillips, was ordered to be removed to the Whitechapel mortuary, in Eagle-place, Montague-street, there to await the post-mortem and the inquest. Dr. Phillips, of course, examined the body before removal, and declared life to be extinct. The body was quite warm when found by the constable, and death could only have occurred just before he appeared upon the scene.

SEVERAL ARRESTS.

At about five o'clock a man was seen lurking about the scene of the murder, and his movements attracting the suspicion of the police, he was arrested and brought to Commercial-street police-station, where he was searched. In his possession was a common butcher's knife, and other small things. He referred the police to the keeper of the Victoria Lodging house, who came and identified him as a man he had known for years. Owing to this and other accounts received by the police, he was ultimately discharged.
The police found an old clay pipe, saturated with blood, close beside the gas lamp under which the body was found, and were at first inclined to regard this as a clue, although admittedly a very faint one; but the evidence at the inquest rather points to the fact that the pipe belonged to the deceased woman herself, she being a great smoker. It would appear almost a marvel how the murderer could have escaped, as no less than four policemen were on beats at the different exits to Castle-alley. The serjeant on duty in Wentworth-street and the vicinity passed the very spot only 10 minutes before the murder, and when the alarm whistle blew every constable who was about closed in and blocked all the openings, arresting and detaining every person who sought to pass by, so that the murderer must have been watching his chance and escaped immediately after committing the foul deed. Superintendent Ray was early on the scene, which was also visited by Chief Commissioner Monro and other officials from Scotland-yard.
Soon after midnight on Wednesday a man who was noticed to solicit several unfortunates with considerable persistency was arrested in Commercial-street on suspicion and detained for the night.
A man named Sullivan was brought to the Commercial-street police-station about two o'clock this (Thursday) morning on suspicion of being concerned in the crime. It is said that he is a well-known disorderly character; but there does not appear to be any grave reason to suspect him in connection with the murder, and his release is regarded as certain.

THE BODY IDENTIFIED.

During Wednesday afternoon the murdered woman was identified by a man named M'Cormack, who lived with the deceased at a lodging-house in Gun-street, Spitalfields, which presents a far more respectable appearance than the majority of lodging-houses in the neighbourhood. She slept at the house on the night of Monday, and was in and out frequently during Tuesday. In the evening she went to a public-house near the Cambridge music-hall, accompanied by a little blind boy named George Dixon, of whom she appeared to be very fond. She there met a man and was drinking with him for some time, she having first asked him to treat her. Later on she went home to Gun-street, and returned to the public-house, saying that she was going to meet the man again. As, however, the boy is blind, he can give no clue to the man's identification, nor does he remember anything of the conversation beyond the fact that Alice Bryant, the name the deceased was known by, asked the man to treat her. Nothing was seen of her at the lodging-house after she brought the boy home, but she is known to have been drinking during the evening with three women, named Margaret Franklin, Catherine Hughes, and Sarah Marney. She did not remain with them long, and went away, saying she could not stop. The deceased is described as a woman of lively temperament, and she had lived with M'Cormack for a long time, and occasionally went out as a charwoman. She had no children. It is stated by some that the deceased occasionally went by the name of Alice Riley. M'Cormack stated to a reporter that he did not think the deceased was ever married. They had lived comfortably, and only quarrelled about her drinking habits. She always kept regular hours, and did not go into the streets at night. He last saw her on Tuesday afternoon, when he went to the lodging-house and gave her some money. They had a few words, he upbraiding her for wasting in drink money he gave her. She got him some tea, and he went to bed. When he awoke, between nine and ten, he missed her, and had not seen her since. Elizabeth Ryder, the deputy, gave the woman a good character, except for occasional drunkenness, and said she last saw her about half-past eight.
M'Cormack and the dead woman had lived in the neighbourhood of Spitalfields for the past 18 months, a part of the time in a furnished room, and latterly as the occupants of a "double" bed, at 8d. per night in Gun-street at a common lodging-house. M'Cormack, who is much distressed by the fate which has befallen his companion, defends her memory from the imputation that she had obtained her bread by what is known as "a gay life;" and, on the other hand, he avers that she worked hard as a charwoman, and was never out late at night. On Wednesday it was an exception to the rule when she left him in bed at the lodging-house in Gun-street, with 1s. 8d. in her possession, given her to pay for the bed, and to spend the rest as she pleased for necessaries. The couple had had some "words" together, which had upset the woman, and she appears to have quitted the lodging-house between eight and nine o'clock, without her bonnet, according to her custom, and wearing a light shawl. She passed through the kitchen silently and sullenly, giving the deputy the impression that she was much the worse for drink. She did not pay 8d. for the bed, but walked into the streets and did not again return. M'Cormack two hours later woke up from his sleep, went downstairs, and asked the woman in charge of the common lodging-house whether his "old woman" had given her the eightpence, and, on her replying in the negative, he demanded, "What am I to do? Am I to walk the streets, too?" and the deputy replied "No," stretching a point in his favour; as the rule is to pay for beds in advance. Elizabeth Ryder, the deputy in question, stopped up until half-past three a.m., an hour and a half after the place closed, waiting to Mackenzie and another woman, called "Mogg Cheeks," who, curiously enough, did not come back to sleep as usual. In the meantime the woman Mackenzie must have frequented the public-houses of the locality, for nothing was seen or heard of her in the streets until half-past 11 o'clock, when she was seen by Margaret Franklin. This woman, a plainly-clad, strong, pleasant-featured person, stated she had been acquainted with the deceased for many years. She had always been known to her by the name of Alice Bryant, and she believed that she lived with a man of that name. On that point, however, she was not quite positive. On Tuesday night she was sitting with two other women named Catherine Hughes and Sarah Mahoney, on some steps in front of a barber's shop at the Brick-lane end of Flower and Dean-street, about half-past 11 o'clock, when the murdered woman passed by, walking hurriedly. Witness shouted out, "Hulloa, Alice!" to which the deceased replied, "I can't stop." She was by herself, and was going in the direction of Whitechapel. She stopped, although she had said she was in a hurry, and exchanged a few words with them, then leaving them and walking on. The woman seemed to be in her usual cheerful condition, and, to all appearance, she was not the worse for drink. The deceased, to her knowledge, at one time resided at 11, Kate-street, and so far as she knew she was living at the time of her death at Tenpenny's lodging-house, in Gun-street. She knew that the deceased had been accustomed to work for foreigners.

PERSONAL NARRATIVES.

Isaac Lewis, of Old Castle-street, says he was the first civilian who saw the body after the murder. He was running home, when the police-constable came towards him and asked him for God's sake to go to the woman and stand by while he called assistance. Lewis obeyed the constable and went to the spot. He closely examined the body while the constable was blowing his whistle. It was that of a middle-aged woman poorly clad. The clothes were all crushed up on her chest, her body and legs being nude. Her throat was not cut in front, but was pierced much the same as the throats of sheep are pierced by butchers. The only wound on the body was a cut below the right breast which did not extend to the abdomen. There was a blood mark on the face and left thigh as if an open blood-covered hand had been placed on them. The body was warm when he saw it, and the blood gushing from the throat very fast. The stockings were odd ones and the boots dilapidated. Lewis has made the following remarkable statement: - He says a man named Burrows was the owner of a great number of barrows standing in the alley. Up to about two weeks ago he employed a night watchman; but at the present time the greater majority of his barrows are stored elsewhere; and, consequently, the watchman has been dispensed with. He thinks that the murderer may have known of this fact; and, certainly, it would seem worth while for the police to investigate the matter, as possibly inquiries may have been made.
Mrs. Smith, the keeper of the baths in Castle-alley, states that she and her husband were just going to bed, shortly after one o'clock that (Wednesday) morning, when they were startled by a knock at the door, and on opening it they found that it was the policeman, who had just discovered the body, and called them up. Mrs. Smith is positive that there had been no noise in the alley for a considerable time previously. She went out with the constable and saw the victim lying on the pavement. She recognised the body as that of a woman who used to come to the baths on Saturday to wash her clothes. A ticket is always given to people using the laundry. The deceased used to give the name of Kelly, but at other times gave that of Murrell. She was always in a dirty condition. She did not know where she lived, as they do not take any address.

THEORIES OF THE CRIME.

Dr. Forbes Winslow has once more started the theory that the criminal is a homicidal lunatic, who since November has had a lucid interval, but has now again broken out. The man, when caught, he says, will be shown to be a homicidal lunatic labouring under religious mania, and perhaps acting on an imaginary command from Heaven.
Another theory held by some experienced detectives is that the murderer is a foreigner working in the capacity of cook or butcher on board a foreign vessel trading regularly to London, and it has been ascertained that some cattle boats arrived on Tuesday at the docks, and sailed again on Wednesday. This, taken in conjunction with the dreadful tragedy, has led the authorities to issue orders to the East-end and Thames police to watch all vessels about to leave the Thames, especially cattle boats which trade between London, Oporto, and various other Spanish ports, and American ports, and also to request the cattle-men to give an account of themselves on the night of the 16th or the morning of the 17th inst. Detective-inspector Regan, Thames division, with a large staff of detective officers under him, is, in consequence, busily engaged in carrying into effect the order, and all passenger vessels are boarded by the officers, and the passengers carefully scrutinised.

LETTER FROM "JACK THE RIPPER."

As a corroboration of the above theory of the crime, and justifying the action of the Thames police, a letter was received a few days before the tragedy by Mr. Albert Backert, 13, Newnham-street, Whitechapel, as chairman of the vigilance committee, commencing: - "Eastern hotel, Pop---," and then thickly penning the words out. Mr. Backert states that he was urged to treat the matter as a practical joke; but in view of the writer "Jack the Ripper," threatening to re-commence operations about the middle of July, and Wednesday morning's murder, inquiries have been made, with the result that it has been discovered that there is an Eastern hotel in the East India Dock-road, Poplar, which is within a stone's throw of the docks, and where a number of sailors put up. It is thought probable that the murderer may have been on a voyage during the interval between the Miller's-court murder, and the one which on Wednesday renewed the horrors which have shocked the world.

Source: Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, July 21, 1889, Page 7

Latest Foreign News.

JACK THE RIPPER ADDS ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE TO HIS BLOODY SCORE.

London, July 17. - Thousands in this great city are quaking with fear of the murderer's knife. Jack the Ripper is back again. The horrible murder committed this morning enables him to cut another notch in the handle of his terrible knife. The details of this morning's crime leaves no doubt that he is the murderer of Alice Mackenzie, known to some as Kelly.

THE TERRIBLE LIST.

He is also guilty of the following crimes: -

During Christmas week of 1887 an unknown woman was found murdered near Osborne and Wentworth streets, Whitechapel.
August 7, 1888, Martha Turner was stabbed thirty-nine places on the landing of the George Ford Buildings, Commercial Street, Spitalfields.
August 31, Mrs. Mary Ann Nicholls was murdered and mutilated in Buck's row, Whitechapel.
September 7, Mrs. Annie Chapman was murdered and mutilated in Hanbury Street, Whitechapel.
September 30, Elizabeth Stride had her throat cut in Berner Street, Whitechapel.
September 30, Catherine Eddowes was murdered and mutilated in Mitre square, Aldgate.
November 9, Mary Jane Kelly was hacked to pieces at No. 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields.

EXTRAORDINARY AUDACITY.

All these murders were audacious, the last extraordinarily so. Police were in front, behind and all around the assassin when he killed his eighth victim. Before his dreadful work could be completed the tramp of Constable No. 272 H drove the ghoul away. The constable had left the spot ten minutes before. On his return he found the mutilated body in front of a house wherein two people were retiring. There was a light in the window. He raced down Castle Alley to Castle Street. The only person in sight, Isaac Lewis Jacobs, had a plate in his hand, having been sent for cheese and pickles by his brother. He was arrested, but was evidently innocent.
At the sound of the constable's whistle the police came from all directions. The "bull's-eyes" threw patches of light everywhere, but no trace of the murderer could be found. The woman was placed in an ambulance. Under her was found a broken clay pipe and a farthing pipe, which may have belonged to the woman or to the murderer.

A NEW FEATURE.

The body, when taken to the dead house for examination, developed an unusual feature. Jack had done his work with a dull knife. Heretofore the slashes had been clean. Alice Mackenzie's body bore marks of Jack's terrible methods, but not of his execution. The clothes were drawn over her head, after the knife had been driven into her neck. A cut four inches long, running toward the groin, had not severed the abdominal wall. On both sides of this cut and along the lateral line below the breast bone were twenty scratches, which would have been slashes with a keen knife.
Every scratch was evidently an attempt to rip. The woman had evidently been taken unawares, as she was strongly built and weighed 140 pounds. She could not have uttered a cry without her being heard by the police. Jack had adopted the same method, except that in this case his right hand was put over the mouth, the left hand driving the knife into the neck, instead of vice versa.

IDENTIFIED.

The murder threw Whitechapel into a condition of fearful excitement. Castle alley was crowded all day with people from all quarters who flocked to the scene. Stories about the crime were on every tongue. At ten o'clock the woman was identified. John McCormack, a porter, said he lived with the woman six years. She was forty years old and was born at Peterborough. Her family lived there until a month ago. They lived in a furnished room in Whitechapel. She did charing work and never got her living on the streets. Sometimes she drank too much. She left the house at four o'clock yesterday afternoon. They had had a tiff. He gave her a shilling and advice not to spend it in drink. She told him she would return to the house at ten last night, and took with her a blind boy, George Dixon, for a walk.
McCormack knew no more. The woman and boy went to the Cambridge Music Hall. There they met a man. She asked him to "treat." She then went home and left after saying she was to meet a man at the Cambridge Music hall. Whether or not she met him is not known, for the blind boy could be no means identify him except by his voice.

THE FATAL SPOT.

Nothing could more clearly indicate the cunning of the murderer than the selection of the locality - an alley 100 yards long, dark and encumbered by a mass of wagons and barrows, which formerly were stored in a yard in which excavations were going on. There is here a network of streets, courts and alleys, none of whose residents are likely to go through Castle alley at night, the baths being the only tenanted house in the upper part of it. The others on the left side are small factories and workshops. On the right side is a high board fence shutting off the back yards. A row of small houses face on New Castle street. New Castle street runs parallel with Castle alley, and just below the scene of the murder they are connected by a narrow court. If approached, therefore, from the Whitechapel road, the murderer could escape down Castle alley into Old Castle street, through the Wentworth street and thence to Commerical street or the lane. If approached from Old Castle street he could escape through Castle alley court into the Whitechapel road. This way he did escape.

UP IN POLICE RULES.

If hemmed in on both sides, he could still escape through the connecting court to New Castle street and thence to Whitechapel road or to Wentworth street, as he chose. There was further cunning and evidence of his intimate knowledge of the locality in the fact that he was just on the boundary line of two police districts. Whitechapel road is patrolled by constables from the Leman street station, and no street constables come from the road down the alley, because that is the district belonging to another division. He must have known that an officer could come toward him only from the bottom of the alley, and his intimate knowledge of the locality and of police rules made his escape as easy as ever. When it is remembered that in all the eight murders committed he has never once been seen by anybody, the fear of him in Whitechapel will be understood, and the superstition in some of the slums that he is invisible does not seem surprising.

NO CLEW WHATEVER.

The police are absolutely without a clew. Inspector Reid so stated this evening. Jacobs was the only person in the vicinity of Old Castle street. He was simply on an errand, and was released directly. Three other men were arrested on suspicion during the early morning and forenoon, but were almost immediately released upon establishing their identity and their whereabouts at the time of the murder. A search of the lodging-houses, which followed close upon the discovery, revealed nothing. Nobody had come in or gone out within the fatal hour would could in any way be connected with the tragedy.
The only hope was the examination of barmen and barmaids along Whitechapel road with reference to the presence in their places of the woman Mackenzie. Prior to the murder there is a possibility, judging from previous cases, that the murderer took her into one of these and got her stupidly drunk before attempting her death. This investigation appears to be the only chance of finding a clew, but it does not appear to have been made. The attempt to surround the scene with a cordon of constables amounted to nothing, as the murderer had passed out into Whitechapel road, and it would be quite as easy to hem wayfarers on that populous avenue as to encircle the population of London.
Consequently, the police stand as before, not knowing which way to turn. No doubt they have done and are doing all in their power. Chief Commissioner Monroe and Col. Monsall were on the spot as soon after the murder as telegraphed and horses could bring them. All the detective strength of the metropolitan force have been centred on Whitechapel, and the best brains of Scotland Yard not only are but have been at work on the murders up to a month ago. Two constables were nightly on watch in the alley, it being a likely spot for the murderer to select, up to two weeks ago. There was also a night watchman stationed in the alley by a man who owned a number of barrows stored there. The withdrawal of all these left the place free.
There is nothing more for the police to work on at the present than there was at the time of the last murder on August 9.

Source: The Daily Gleaner, Friday July 26, 1889

THE WHITECHAPEL FIEND.
AGAIN AT HIS DIABOLICAL WORK.

LONDON, July 16 - One more murder has been added to the list credited to Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel. The body of a woman, evidently one of the disreputable frequenters of the district, was found in Castle alley tonight, only a short distance from where the other murders were committed. The body was horribly mutilated, and bears evidence of the work of the fiend whose atrocities in Whitechapel have so often terrorized the whole district. The police are as far as ever from a clue to the identity of the murderer, and seem perfectly paralyzed. The excitement throughout Whitechapel, where the news of the discovery of a fresh victim of the Ripper has spread with lightning rapidity, is at fever heat.

LONDON, July 17 - The woman found murdered in Whitechapel early yesterday morning was about forty-five years of age and was known as Kelly. She was a servant to Mrs. Smith, the keeper of baths in Castle alley. The body was found near a lamp-post under the glare of the light. Carts of many descriptions were stacked on both sides of the alley. Just where the murder occurred there was room for a man to stand out of sight in the alley. The theory of the police is that the man and woman entered Castle alley from Petticoat lane. As they were passing an unoccupied building he thrust a knife into her neck below the right ear. The woman apparently fell on her face as there was mud in front of her dress. The murderer then turned her over and inflicted frightful gashes across her stomach. The police are as usual reticent when they know nothing. The woman's throat was cut to the spine. No part of the body was missing. Warm blood was flowing from the wound when the body was discovered. A policeman who, with the watchman of an adjacent warehouse, must have been within a few yards of the spot where the murder took place when it was committed heard no noise. Policemen have been placed at fixed points in Whitechapel since the murders of this character began there, and since the murder preceding that of last night officers have been stationed at a point within a hundred yards of the scene of the latest tragedy. An old clay pipe smeared with blood was found alongside the body. It is supposed by the police that this will furnish a clue to the murderer, although it may have belonged to the victim. Several arrests of suspected persons have been made, but they were discharged, there being no proof against them.

Source: The Montreal Daily Witness, Wednesday July 17, 1889, Page 1

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.
CABLE.

THE WHITECHAPEL FIEND.

LONDON, July 18 - At a late hour last night no trace had been discovered of the Whitechapel murderer.

Source: The Montreal Daily Witness, Thursday July 18, 1889, Page 1