Henry Vann

"JACK THE RIPPER" AT NEATH.
An Extraordinary Scene.

The "Jack the Ripper" mania has extended to Neath. On Saturday night, when a man of exceedingly rough exterior appeared at the Falcon Inn, Old Market-street, and claimed to be "Jack the Ripper," it is stated that he brandished a glittering weapon and threatened to cut up a woman known as "Nancy Bull." A disturbance occurred, in the course of which a man named William Perrin attempted to seize "Jack the Ripper." A struggle ensued, and P.C. Vincent Jones appearing on the scene, took the man into custody. During the journey to the police-station they were followed by a large and excited crowd, many of whom expressed a desire to lynch the prisoner. The precincts of the police-station were also surrounded by a surging mob, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the officer and his prisoner could obtain a passage. When at the police-station the man gave his name as Henry Vann, of no fixed place of abode. He was immediately searched, but no weapon was found in his possession.

Source: Cardiff Times, 3 November 1888, Page 3