Packer's Testimony Very Important to Police

THE LONDON HORRORS.
HELPLESSNESS OF THE POLICE.

SIR C. WARREN'S RESIGNATION.
THE LATEST VICTIM.

"JACK, THE RIPPER."
THE GOVERNMENT AND A REWARD.

PORTRAIT OF THE SUPPOSED MURDERER.
LONDON, November 12.

SIR C. WARREN'S resignation was due to the attacks which have been made upon him by the newspapers in consequence of the helplessness of the police with regard to the recent murders. He had also been officially censured for writing an article in Murray's Magazine defending the department.
An open verdict has been returned at the inquest on the last victim of the Whitechapel murders.
The police and other people continue to receive letters signed "Jack, the Ripper," admitting the murders and threatening more shortly.
Mr. Matthews, Home Secretary, in reply to a question in the House of Commons, reiterated his refusal to offer a Government reward for the apprehension of the murderer.



The above is a sketch of the supposed murderer, made from the descriptions supplied to the London police by witnesses who saw the man who was last in the company of the woman, Elizabeth Stride, shortly before her murdered body was found. The London Daily Telegraph, from which our woodcut is taken, says: - "Three men, William Marshall, James Brown, both labourers, and Police-constable Smith, have already stated before the coroner that a man and woman did stand in Fairclough-street, at the corner of Berner-street, for some time - that is, from a quarter to twelve o'clock, as stated by Marshall, to a quarter before one a.m., the hour mentioned by Brown. The policeman appears to have seen the same pair in Berner-street at half-past twelve. The evidence of another witness has yet to be taken, and this man seems to have had a better opportunity of observing the appearance of the stranger than any other individual, for it was at his shop that the grapes which other witnesses saw near the body were bought. This witness, Matthew Packer, has furnished information to the Scotland-yard authorities, and it was considered so important that he was examined in the presence of Sir Charles Warren himself. He has also identified the body of Elizabeth Stride as that of the woman who accompanied the man who came to his shop not long before midnight on Saturday. In accordance with the general description furnished to the police by Packer and others, a number of sketches were prepared, portraying men of different nationalities, ages, and ranks of life. These were submitted to Packer, who unhesitatingly selected the one here reproduced. Further, in order to remove all doubt, and, if possible, to obtain a still better visible guidance, Packer was shown a considerable collection of photographs, and from these, after careful inspection, he picked out one which corresponded in all important respects to the sketch. It was noticed that Packer, as also another important witness, at once rejected the faces of men of purely sensuous type, and that they thus threw aside the portraits of several noted American criminals. Both witnesses inclined to the belief that the man's age was not more than thirty, in which estimate they were supported by the police-constable, who guessed him to be twenty-eight. If the impressions of two men, who, it may be supposed, have actually conversed with the alleged murderer, be correct, and their recollection of his features can be relied upon, then, in their opinion, at all events, the above sketch furnishes a reasonably accurate representation of his general appearance as described and adopted by them.

Source: The New Zealand Herald, Thursday November 15, 1888