The Victims Flashcards
Who are the canonical five?
The five victims who are widely believed to be confirmed victims of Jack the Ripper
Their names are Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly
Who is the additional victim some believe might have been killed by Jack the Ripper? (4)
Martha Tabram, who was a prostitute approached by soldiers for sex, left with one and was found stabbed to death 35 times on the steps of her lodgings
Some heard screams of murder and a man even saw her dead on the steps but due to the nature of the area (chaos, drinking, etc.) her screams were ignored and her body assumed to be passed out until hours later
She was killed on August 6th, a bank holiday, in George Yard
There is much debate about whether she was a Jack victim since the MO was different (no mutilation or throat cutting) but the savage overkill is reminiscent to Mary Kelly and he had to learn somewhere
What happened to Polly Nichols? (4)
She was a prostitute and the first victim of Jack the Ripper, killed August 31st in Buck’s Row
She was working that night to afford a doss house when she was killed by having her throat and bruising around her face
It was her death where Doctor Llewellyn had suggested the killer was left handed and had some form of anatomical knowledge but none of this was ever confirmed
There are no police or coroner notes left on Polly’s murder so everything that was shared was from the sensationalized media or police later reminiscences and there was little to no evidence aside from the body itself
What happened to Annie Chapman? (5)
She was a prostitute killed on September 8th 1888 in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, a common place for prostitution
She was living on Dorset Street in Spitalfields but often worked and drank and cause all sorts of incidents, earning her the name of Dark Annie
She led her killer to the backyard where her body was found beaten, mutilated and throat cut, intestines thrown over her shoulder
Her womb, bladder and vagina were cut out and taken by the killer
Her murder left just as little evidence as the previous one
What happened to Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes? (4)
Both women were prostitutes killed on September 30th within a half hour and a quarter mile of each other
Liz was killed on Berner Street in Dutfield’s Yard and her throat was cut but there was no mutilation or organ removal which suggests her murder was interrupted by a man and his pony
Eddowes was killed in Mitre Square shortly after with no witnesses where she was brutally mutilated, disemboweled, and her kidney and uterus were removed
It was this night near Eddowes’ body that the graffiti message was left and a bloody apron found near Ghoulston street which matched the bloody apron still remaining on her body
What happened to Mary Kelly? (2)
She was a prostitute killer in her lodgings at 13 Miller’s Court on Dorset Street on November 9th
Her murder was the most gruesome of them all and took place in her room where she was mutilated, beaten, cut her throat and had her heart removed
How were the victims related?
While there is no evidence that the victims knew each other, all the victims were living in a small cluster of squalid streets about Flower and Dean Street in Spitalfields
3 lived on Flower and Dean Street itself while the other 2 lived nearby on Dorset Street
What do we know about the victims? (4)
All of the victims were killed with a single square mile of each other in doss houses (save Mary Kelly)
All of the women were known to be prostitutes, separated from spouses and living alone within close proximity to each other
They were all alcoholics
They were all vulnerable, isolated and destitute
How did all the victims die?
They all died by strangulation, not exsanguination (bleeding to death)
