1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcomed, unobscured a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minky. 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,520 Speaker 1: The umbrellas were out, the fine gowns too, along with 3 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: the waistcoats and the hats. It was an autumn Sunday 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: in the city of London. The only thing that made 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: these crowds of Sunday walkers unusual was that they weren't 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: gathering to wander through Regent's Park. No, they were gathering 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: on Hanbury Street. It had been one day since a 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: woman had been found in the yard behind number twenty nine, 9 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: but the word had already gotten out throughout all of London. 10 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: When the papers reported on it, they would say the 11 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: greatest excitement prevailed in Whitechapel, and crowds thronged Hanbury Streets 12 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: and adjoining thoroughfares. By Sunday evening. The neighbors around twenty 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: nine Hanbury Street were charging in mission to come inside 14 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: and peek out the windows at the spot next door 15 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: where the killing was done and the body was found. 16 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: Not that there was much to see, just a dark 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: patch on the ground. Even so, on paper at least 18 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: said that hundreds paid the neighbors to spy over the 19 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 1: fence and try to see the bloodstain of the Hanbury 20 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: Street murder. Like the sketches showing policemen battling through crowds 21 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: to move the body of the latest victim to the mortuary. 22 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: Illustrations were published of the Sunday morning crowd as well, 23 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,199 Speaker 1: decked out and dapper, ready to parade by the site 24 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: where an impoverished woman had her throat cut. To our 25 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,119 Speaker 1: modern eyes, it may even feel like a grotesque contrast, 26 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: One historian goes so far as to say that the 27 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: Whitechapel murders made the neighborhood the epicenter of elite fantasies 28 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: about sexual and social disorder. Can't say it's any better 29 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: than that. And if there's one thing we do know 30 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: about the epicenter of disasters, well, they attract a crowd. 31 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: Some of them, of course, did this out of a 32 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: sense of altruism or a desire to learn. They said 33 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: they wanted to see for themselves. They wanted to understand 34 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: the suffering of the poor in order to offer them support. 35 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: But when that suffering becomes a spectacle that can be 36 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: bought and sold by the wealthy and their guides, we 37 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: can only imagine that for many of the tourists. Part 38 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: of what they were paying for was a sense of satisfaction, 39 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: satisfaction that they didn't live in the same kinds of 40 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: misery and squalor that affected their fellow Londoners. They had 41 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: made it, and wasn't that nice to feel? And the 42 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: Hanbury Street murder wasn't the only story offering Londoners that 43 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: chill up the spine. You see, it had been two 44 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: years since Robert Louis Stevenson had published his novella The 45 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,799 Speaker 1: Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde. If Henry 46 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: James calling London a modern Babylon and Charles Dickens overrunning 47 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: the streets with pickpockets wasn't enough to make readers afraid, 48 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: the immense popularity of Jacquelin Hyde would drive it home. 49 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: In the story, London is a dismal, foggy and muddy place, 50 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: submerged in darkness, broken only by flickering lamps and Stevenson's words, 51 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: It's poor neighborhoods are like a district of some city 52 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: in a night there. In fact, Stevenson wrote the story 53 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,119 Speaker 1: after reading the reports of the maiden Tribute of modern Babylon. 54 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: He got them in a letter from a friend with 55 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: a note wondering who could be the hero of the 56 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: girls trapped in London's sex trafficking, and who was the monster, 57 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: the minotaur, the devourer of all these girls at five 58 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: pounds of pence. Because of all of that, Stevenson's fiction 59 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: proved to be as popular as the Pall Mall Gazette's 60 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: reporting was powerful, and of course, in Jacqueline Hyde, London 61 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: is the haunt of a brutal killer, a respectable and 62 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: friendly man who mutates into a monster and indulges his 63 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: lust and cruelty. It was a story about a man 64 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: as two faced and terrifying as the city of London itself, 65 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: a city whose front doors and new streets were grandiose, 66 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: but whose back alleys and poor neighborhoods were the stage 67 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: for violence and vice. And in the summer of the 68 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: Nightmare London of Jacqueline Hyde did take to the stage. 69 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: An actor in stage producer named Richard Mansfield had opened 70 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: his theatrical production of Jacqueline Hyde at the Lyceum on 71 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: August four. Born in London, Mansfield had tested out his 72 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: production in New York the year before. It got a 73 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: reputation for horrifying and terrifying audiences, and it brought him 74 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: back to his birthplace and the home of English theater. 75 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: The papers across London trumpeted the murder scene at the 76 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: end of Act one as the most powerful and horrible 77 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: thing ever seen on the modern stage. The Star proclaimed 78 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: the show's Mr Hyde an odious monster, with brutality in 79 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: every line and look and gesture. By the time a 80 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: woman in the real London was actually killed in the 81 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: yard behind twenty nine Hanbury Street, the play had been 82 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 1: drawing London crowds for a month, getting people out of 83 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: their homes for a night of voyeuristic pleasure. And when 84 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: the papers turned around and started reporting on a real 85 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: murderer in the same terms, well it started to blur 86 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,559 Speaker 1: the lines between fiction and reality. And if the killings were, 87 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 1: in a sense jackal and hide brought to life, well 88 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: why shouldn't eager thrill seekers flocked to that scene as well? 89 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: It was our first glimpse of a pastime that would 90 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: endure all the way to modern times. Ripper tourism had begun. 91 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: This is unobscured. I'm Aaron Manky. Some visitors didn't come 92 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: to the East End to condemn violence, they came to 93 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: indulge it because the East End Well, it had a 94 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: reputation for offering whatever a wandering sightseer could want, especially 95 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: if they had had a little money in their pocket. 96 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: When it came to touring the homes and haunts of 97 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: the poor well, there was lights to behold. There were 98 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: even guide books that offered walking routes to the wealthy 99 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: who wanted to take a tour of their poor neighbors homes. 100 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: If Dickens and Stevenson sprinkled a little fairy dust on 101 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: the streets of the East End Well, a reader with 102 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: some spending money could book a trip to that exotic 103 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 1: locale right across town. Here's dr at Louise ra. What 104 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: people like to do who had read these sensationalist, dramatic 105 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: tales of the Darkest East was to go and visit it, 106 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: often with a couple of policemen who were paid to 107 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: accompany them, and they would go around and stare at 108 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: the pool. Basically so they would go into the slums, 109 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: into the tenements and look at how they lived. And 110 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: it was supposed to be I suppose sometimes somewhat philanthropic, 111 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: Oh dear, They could exclaim about, oh, dear, how terrible. 112 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: You know, I do at least understand the conditions of 113 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:01,280 Speaker 1: the pool, because I've bothered to go and see it. 114 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: But then there were a lot of push young ladies 115 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: and gentlemen who just thought it was a laugh really, 116 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: and it was a freak show. But of course wealthy 117 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: visitors didn't just want to see. They wanted to taste 118 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: and to touch, and the East End well over the 119 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: course of the eighteen hundreds it also gathered a reputation 120 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: as a place where it was cheap to feed lust. 121 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: If you already know anything about the Whitechapel murders, that 122 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: might not be a surprise. Maybe you already know the 123 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: reputation of Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols and others that the 124 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: targets of the murderer were sex workers. But if that's 125 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,119 Speaker 1: the story, you know, it might be worth a minute 126 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: or two to consider the rest of London. You see, 127 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: for all that these stories have made the East End 128 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: into one snarled nest of vices, it was not the 129 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: busiest red light district in London for most of the century. 130 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: That honor would have gone to Granby Street, south of 131 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: the River Thames. That's where the rail line coming from 132 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: the south met the edge of London, bringing thousands to 133 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: the city laborers, visitors and shoppers with money to spend. 134 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: In fact, Granby Street was so notorious that in the 135 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: eighteen sixties, when the rail company was buying up the 136 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: street to expand Waterloo Station, they went so far as 137 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: to rename the street. But historians are quick to assure 138 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: us that Granby, well, it wasn't alone. For decades, London's 139 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: theaters were known as the place to go, not just 140 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: for stage performances, but for more intimate shows as well. 141 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty seven, theater managers were required to ban 142 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: sex workers from the lobbies and balconies of theaters. Before that, though, 143 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: there were travelers and writers who made a point of 144 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: condemning the London theaters for the sex work they witnessed inside. 145 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: At one point, the Metropolitan Police estimated there were eight 146 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: thousand prostitutes in London. Ministers and evangelists estimated even more, 147 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: some eighty thousand women. They said, But if sex work 148 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: wasn't centered in the East End, then where was it? Did? 149 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: I say? Granby Streets make that Haymarket with its argyle 150 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: rooms where varieties of aristocrats took their pleasures, though the 151 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: rooms were closed in eight seventy eight. As London grew 152 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 1: over the course of the century and new buildings like 153 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: train stations and sweeping viaducts were cutting through old neighborhoods, 154 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: it wasn't just the homes of the poor that were 155 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: pushed out in the city's remodeling. It was also home 156 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,559 Speaker 1: to what Londoners were happy to condemn as vice. If 157 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: a few theaters and streets in the city center were 158 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: a dry well, the suburbs were happy to resupply just 159 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,559 Speaker 1: a short train ride away. So if the Argyle rooms 160 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: were closed, not to worry. There was still St John's Wood, 161 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: all too literal the title, it seems, Pimlico held just 162 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: as many pleasures, and there were plenty of transport hubs 163 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: for coming to and going from. If you were looking 164 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: for pornographic books, the place to go was Hollywell Street 165 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: in the strand. Just in case you thought I was 166 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: finally taking a tour of London without mentioning Regent's Park, Yes, 167 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: the outer circle of the new development had its own 168 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: small hotels used as accommodation houses. And here's the thing. 169 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: Historians have collected accounts and they found thriving sex work 170 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: in Holloway, Camberwell, Waltham Green, Haggerston and many many more. 171 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: By now, I think you get the point. In Victoria's city, 172 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: the largest in the world, sex work was commonplace, as 173 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: it was before and has been since. All that was 174 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: new about the time was that newly emboldened journalists willing 175 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: to dig up stories throughout the city, and the new 176 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: technologies of power and speed gathering people around train stations 177 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: and in the suburbs. The merchants and bankers growing rich 178 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: on these profit machines, expected to buy themselves pleasures with 179 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: the rewards. Of course, just because the hotspots of London 180 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: sex trade were elsewhere doesn't mean that wealthy men weren't 181 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: tramping into the East End looking to pay for sex. 182 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: And when they weren't setting off on foot, they were 183 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: making their journeys by rail. The East End did have 184 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 1: a reputation for vice, and it had its own well 185 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: known hunts. Angel Alley in Whitechapel has been a staple 186 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: of storytelling about the murders. But the thing is, it's 187 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: just not that unusual. There was something unusual about the 188 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: East End, though, something that attracted the Victorian eye and 189 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: the Victorian imagination. The East End was a place where 190 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,560 Speaker 1: most of the residents, and in particular most of the women, 191 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: didn't have the luxury of living at ease. For instance, 192 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: take the women we followed in episode one who were 193 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: employed in the Bryant and May's match factory. Over five 194 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: thousand women worked there. Every one of them was subject 195 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,839 Speaker 1: to the sense that they just didn't live up to standards. 196 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: Standards that is set by comfortable, middle class women who 197 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: didn't have to work for a living. Let's return to 198 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: Dr Louise raw for just a minute to really help 199 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: us get a sense of what that was like. You 200 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 1: see this incredible judgmental and very sexualized by the way narrative. 201 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: Even in labor reports of the period, there was one 202 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: mining commission, you know, who knows what working life is like, 203 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: you would think, and yet he looks at the terrible 204 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: conditions down mines, where you've got girls, women, boys, men 205 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:16,319 Speaker 1: crawling through tunnels all day on their hands and knees, 206 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:18,960 Speaker 1: you know, naked to the waist with chains around their ways, 207 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: pulling carts of coal. Absolutely horrific. Imagine that he imagined 208 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: the difficulty in breathing. Imagine the physical horror of that. 209 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: But he looks at that and doesn't say, well, yes, 210 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,680 Speaker 1: conditions are pretty awful. He writes about it as if 211 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: it's some sort of orgy going on, because the women 212 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: are partly dressed, partially dressed as you would be in 213 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: those conditions. You're not gonna wear your best dress, are 214 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: to crawl on your hands and knees through a coal shaft. 215 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: And he says the conditions that the site, the spectacle 216 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: of these women at work was absolutely revolting, disgusting. It 217 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: was obscene. No brothel can beat it. And firstly you think, well, 218 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: Mr Mining commission you seem a bit well versed and 219 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,360 Speaker 1: exactly what a brothel is like. I wonder what Mrs 220 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: Mining Commissioner might have had to say about that one. 221 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: But also how bizarre, how bizarre, and how sort of 222 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: pervy really and slightly fetishistic do you have to be 223 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: to look at children in those awful conditions and say, oh, 224 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 1: good grief, they're partially closed or they must all be 225 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: having you know, it must be all be having sex 226 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: with each other. Disgraceful and disgusting, as if these people 227 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: I must have thought, well, a chance to be a 228 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,439 Speaker 1: fine thing. You know, these people are exhausted, they're absolutely exhausted, 229 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: and they're starving. And yet that is what we see. 230 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: We look at a factor and we see women working 231 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: alongside men and we say, well, she's clearly no better 232 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: than she should be. But again, that's a lovely way 233 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: to do humanized people. It's a lovely way to stigmatize 234 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:54,439 Speaker 1: them and blame them. Well, you no wonder you're Paul. 235 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,199 Speaker 1: Look at the way you're carrying on. It's absolutely disgraceful. 236 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: So the poverty of the East End unfairly made it 237 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 1: a target of anti vice campaigners. Preachers, evangelists and charity 238 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: organizations flooded into East and neighborhoods like White Chapel not 239 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: just to alleviate suffering, but also to attempt to correct 240 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: the people who lived there. Sex tourists made the trip 241 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: on the reputation alone, hoping they would find something there 242 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: that wasn't on offer in the streets closer to home. 243 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: And when women started to die, well, that brought a 244 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: whole new set of urban explorers who saw their neighbors 245 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: homes as sites to see. After all, writers both famous 246 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: and anonymous, kept pumping out stories that made White Chapel 247 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: and the surrounding streets sound like a foreign country. And 248 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: that might sound unfair, but fairness never kept a writer 249 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: with dramatic flair from spilling some dirt whenever there was 250 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: dirt to be found, and in Victorian London, the writers 251 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: as well as their readers knew that one could always 252 00:14:54,160 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: find dirt in White Chapel. The Star wasn't finished, In fact, 253 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: it was just getting started. After all, the Hanbury Street 254 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: murder had been just what they were waiting for. There 255 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: had even been a leather apron at the scene, and 256 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: one of their writers was in the crowd on Hanbury 257 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: Street that Saturday afternoon, watching the first wave of tourists 258 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: pay for their peep show. The evening edition hit with 259 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: the splash Horror upon horror, read the headline London lies 260 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: today under the spell of a great terror. A nameless, reprobate, 261 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: half beast, half man is at large who is daily 262 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: gratifying his murderous instincts on the most miserable and defenseless classes. 263 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: Even if London wasn't actually under a spell of terror, well, 264 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: the Star was doing its best to change that, and 265 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: there was no shortage of self congratulatory crowing. It nearly 266 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: blasted off the page. There is no shadow of a 267 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: doubt now that our original theory is correct. A strange 268 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: sentiment to introduced the story of a murdered woman, But 269 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: it didn't stop there. If nothing else, the star writer 270 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: was certainly working hard. He interviewed Mrs Richardson, the woman 271 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: who lived in the room of twenty Hanbury that looked 272 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: out over the backyard. Her description of the victim's body 273 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: was even printed in the paper, and the victim's name 274 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: was too, Annie Chapman. A lodger in the house at 275 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: thirty five Dorset Street where Chapman stayed, was able to 276 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: identify her body that morning. That set journalists on a 277 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: trail of everyone who ever knew her. Oh, and that 278 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: leather apron that was in the yard where Annie Chapman 279 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 1: was killed. They certainly didn't forget to mention that either. 280 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: They might have been disappointed, though, because their investigation also 281 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: turned up the apron's owner. It belonged to Mrs Richardson's son, 282 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,040 Speaker 1: and she left it out in the yard to dry 283 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: after scrubbing away some mold. As they searched for details 284 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: to fill in the story of Annie Chapman's life. The 285 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: Star also searched for clues about who might have killed her, 286 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: and for that they found plenty of people willing to talk. 287 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: For instance, one woman said that at seven in the morning, 288 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: a man came into her husband's bar, a man whose 289 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: rough look gave her a sense of inarticulate fear. She 290 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,120 Speaker 1: said he was wearing a stiff brown hat, and under 291 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: his dark overcoat he had on no waistcoat, and his 292 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,119 Speaker 1: shirt was torn, and what was more, there were spots 293 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: of blood on the back of his hand. She served 294 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: him one glass of ale. It was gone with a gulp, 295 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: and then so was he. A woman across the street 296 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:30,159 Speaker 1: from the pub added to the story and filled in 297 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: the picture. Yes, his shirt was torn and it was 298 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,959 Speaker 1: a light blue check. There was blood not just between 299 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 1: his fingers, but also smeared under his right ear. A 300 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: third witness said that he had seen the same man, 301 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: dark coat, salt and pepper, trousers and overall a shabby, 302 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,880 Speaker 1: genteel look. He pinched his coat together as he went 303 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 1: by in the streets. The witness said the man looked 304 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: like a foreigner. It was everything the paper needed, even 305 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 1: with the leather apron accounted for the confidence that they 306 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: were on the trail of the kill are oozed from 307 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: the pages, as did the certainty that the police were 308 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: far behind, and the Star knew where to place the 309 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,880 Speaker 1: blame at the feet of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner himself, 310 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: Charles Warren. Warren had brought in a military system, they wrote, 311 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: Perhaps good enough for large ranks of officers charging down 312 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: poor people marching in the streets, but was he any 313 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: good at solving crimes? The Star argued that Warren had 314 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: collared his own detective department and put them on a 315 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: short leash. The officers of his Scotland yard hardly even 316 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: knew the streets of Whitechapel where Paully Nichols and Annie 317 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: Chapman had been killed. Warren had centralized control over his police, 318 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: and that meant his inspectors were paralyzed waiting for instructions 319 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: to come down the military style chain of command. At 320 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: least that was the Stars idea, and there was some 321 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:51,440 Speaker 1: truth to it. Here's more on that from Dr Drew Gray. 322 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: I think his military backgrounds in many respects defines his 323 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 1: time as Commissioner of the met He didn't really get detection. 324 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: He didn't get planes clothed, so he clashed with some 325 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,719 Speaker 1: I d And he didn't get on with his boss, 326 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: who was the Home Secretary, Matthews. So he wasn't well 327 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,880 Speaker 1: served by his relationships. Probably I imagine it was quite 328 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: a prickly upstanding military guide. If Warren's military approach helped 329 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,440 Speaker 1: him draft up a force of bobbies on the beat, 330 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: then the tension in his relationship with a criminal investigation 331 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: department was already clear at the beginning of As the 332 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: previous year ended and Warren was bashing heads in Trafalgar Square, 333 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: he got a note from the head of Scotland Yard 334 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: saying that the detective department of the police was overworked. 335 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: They wanted more men in their ranks. In particular, the 336 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: current head of the Criminal Investigation Department, James Monroe, asked 337 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 1: for a new post to be created in his office, 338 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 1: Assistant Chief Constable, and Monroe also knew exactly who he 339 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: wanted for the job. You see, Monroe had lived in 340 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: India for a long time and there was a man 341 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: there who had managed his family least tea plantations, a 342 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,239 Speaker 1: man named Melville McNaughton. Just as the Home Secretary had 343 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: chosen Charles Warren when they wanted a police commissioner to 344 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: squash restlessness among London's poor. The head of Scotland Yard 345 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: wanted someone with the experience of managing a foreign country. 346 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 1: In his recommendation, he said that McNaughton had a way 347 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 1: of managing men that was impressive to him. In fact, 348 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:24,959 Speaker 1: he said he had seen him deal firmly and justly 349 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: with and I quote turbulent natives in India, so he 350 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: thought it was just the thing for managing crime in 351 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: another foreign place, the poor neighborhoods of London. So Charles 352 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,359 Speaker 1: Warren took a look at the man's record and he 353 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: decided not to do the Head of Scotland Yard any 354 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: favors because Warren saw something he didn't like. He noticed 355 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: that at one point Melville McNaughton had been attacked in 356 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: India and beaten. So Warren came back with a condescending 357 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: remark that McNaughton was the one man in India who 358 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: had been beaten by the Hindus. To Warren, he wasn't 359 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: good enough at imposing imperial control, so he wasn't good 360 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: enough for the police force. Monroe, the head of Scotland 361 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: Yard was enraged and embarrassed too. He had already told 362 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,439 Speaker 1: Melville McNaughton that he would get the job. After a 363 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: few more months of haggling with Warren, their relationship getting 364 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: worse all the time, Monroe simply resigned his replacement to 365 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: lead the detective apartment. Took his new post on September one, 366 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: the day after Polly Nichols was killed. So when a 367 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: second murder arrived two weeks later, The Star wasn't the 368 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: only paper beginning to count the bodies of the murdered 369 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: women and thinking Warren's police might be losing. A week later, 370 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: the East London Adviser would publish a piece blasting Charles 371 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: Warren in similar terms. We are militarizing our police, their 372 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: article read, but we do not seem to be able 373 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 1: to make either good detectives of them or good local 374 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 1: guardians of our lives and property. They blamed Charles Warren 375 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: for choosing to skip the hiring of more detectives in 376 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 1: favor of simply building up the ranks of the ordinary 377 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,479 Speaker 1: police from military units. He was replacing local constables with 378 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,440 Speaker 1: men whose only value was a few years of military service, 379 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: but no other qualification in the old system. According to 380 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: The Advisor, constables were men appointed by their neighbors to 381 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: look after their lives and property, a member of the 382 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: community that he served in and who knew it well. 383 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,399 Speaker 1: And nothing they said was more characteristic of the hunt 384 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: after the Whitechapel murderer than the lack of local knowledge 385 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: displayed by Charles Warren's officers. But if the Advisors shared 386 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,119 Speaker 1: the opinion that Charles Warren was failing at his post, 387 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: they hadn't seemed interested in doing their own speculation about 388 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,480 Speaker 1: the identity of the killer when the Star was whipping 389 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: up anti Semitic hatred against foreigners. The September eighth edition 390 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,679 Speaker 1: of The Adviser was simply republishing stories that they had 391 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: heard about gang violence in Whitechapel. There is a strong 392 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: belief current, they wrote, that there is more than one 393 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:58,400 Speaker 1: person concerned in the outrage. One woman on Cambridge Road 394 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: had given her account of being old into an alley 395 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: by a gang of bullies. They ripped off her purse, 396 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: ear rings, necklace and brooch. One of the gang held 397 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,399 Speaker 1: a knife to her throats and growled, we will serve 398 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: you as we did the others. It was the kind 399 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: of event that was all too common in London at 400 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: the time, and it was the kind of suspicion the 401 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: police had been following up to that point. After all, 402 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,159 Speaker 1: it had been a violent gang that had committed the 403 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: Regent's Park murder, and it was a gang of men 404 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: who had killed Emma Smith in Whitechapel that April. No 405 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: clues yet had been found to identify the killers of 406 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: Martha Tabrom and Polly Nichols, But alongside the suggestion that 407 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: there was a lone murderer on the hunt, the police 408 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,960 Speaker 1: had also been following the suspicion that it was one 409 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: or many of London's gangs that had killed the women. 410 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:45,720 Speaker 1: After all, high rip gangs had been known to bully 411 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: and extort sex workers throughout the city and the East 412 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: Ends undeserved reputation as the pinnacle of London prostitution was 413 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: just as well known to the police as to anyone else. 414 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: Without anything to go on, it was the default assumption 415 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: that when sex workers were in attacked, it was likely 416 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: to be a high rip gang scooping up their earnings 417 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 1: and threatening them for more. But the police read the 418 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: papers too, and despite the criticism of the detectives. The 419 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: stars theory was filtering into the offices at Scotland Yard, 420 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 1: not to mention that the string of killings was already 421 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: challenging the assumptions of the inspectors. And of course there 422 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: was another theory developing two inside the office of the surgeon, 423 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 1: who was mulling over Annie Chapman's deadly wounds. So in 424 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,679 Speaker 1: the days after Annie was killed in Hanbury Street, constables 425 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,960 Speaker 1: stepped up their efforts to capture White Chapel's leather Apron, 426 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,239 Speaker 1: and the Scotland Yard detectives put their heads together with 427 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,680 Speaker 1: corner Wind Baxter to see what could be gleaned about 428 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: the shabby madman who still remained on the loose. Every 429 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: arrest led to an uproar. The constables in White Champel 430 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: were still making their ordinary arrest for brawling, for burglary 431 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: or disorder, but the neighborhood was buzzing with fear. They 432 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: were waiting for the arrest of the killer. The papers 433 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: reported crowds gathering around every confrontation with police and chasing 434 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: after arrests, yelling they've got leather Apron. But sometimes it 435 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,119 Speaker 1: didn't even take an arrest. One constable broke through an 436 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: angry crowd and short ditch to see that they had 437 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: surrounded a drunk cabinet maker. They were calling him leather 438 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: Apron and threatening to give him a taste of London justice. 439 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: After all, he looked just like the picture of leather 440 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,879 Speaker 1: Apron that had been printed in the papers. But now 441 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: the police had their man. On Monday, September t leather 442 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: Apron was in custody. A police sergeant collared him at 443 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 1: his home on Mulberry Streets in Whitechapel. They dragged him 444 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 1: to the police station and gave him a squeeze. After all, 445 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: they were feeling the pressure too. Things were getting out 446 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: of hand and they needed to make an arrest. The 447 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: thing is, leather Apron isn't all that mysterious. The sergeant 448 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: who arrested him made that clear when he talked to 449 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,120 Speaker 1: the papers. I've known him for years, he said. He's 450 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: been in hiding, and it's my opinion his friends have 451 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,120 Speaker 1: been screening him. He's not been in lodging houses. He's 452 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 1: too well known there. It was till the early hours 453 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 1: of this morning. I was told where I could put 454 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: my hands on him. The man's name was John Piser. 455 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: His nickname leather Apron had simply been his calling card. 456 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: Here's historian Paul Beg. Unfortunately for him, it turned out 457 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: that there was a man in the Eastern with the 458 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: nickname of leather Apron. John Piser was the son of 459 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: a Polish immigrant, and he was a slipper maker by trade, 460 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: and he wore a leather apron, which was the usual 461 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: attire for someone in his line of business, and for 462 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: some reason it had also won him the nickname leather Apron, 463 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: probably because he walked to work and came home and 464 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: everything wearing the apron. We don't really know an awful 465 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: lot about it for certain, except that his health was 466 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: poor that a police sergeant for some reason thought it 467 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,439 Speaker 1: likely that he was the man allegedly spoken about by 468 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 1: the local prostitutes to the start, and so he was 469 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: arrested and hauled in. In fact, this wasn't John Pyser's 470 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: first arrest that year. The other reason the sergeant would 471 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,199 Speaker 1: have known Pyser is that he was booked just a 472 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 1: month before, on August four. That arrest was for attacking 473 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: a woman in Whitechapel. The charge was indecent assault, and 474 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: if the rumors that sparked. The stars reporting are true. 475 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: It's likely that Pyser was a cruel and violent man 476 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: who took out his anger on sex workers all around London. 477 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,480 Speaker 1: But when the police worked him over, John Pyser had 478 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 1: very little to offer them. He had alibis for the 479 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,439 Speaker 1: night of each murder. And what didn't make the police 480 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 1: work any easier was that word got out Pyser had 481 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 1: been arrested soon enough. Not only was the police sergeant 482 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:01,439 Speaker 1: learning that the leather Apron lead was a dead end, 483 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: but he was also protecting the man he had arrested 484 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,680 Speaker 1: from a gathering crowd, one that was now shouting threats, 485 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 1: a crowd ready to enact some mob vengeance on the 486 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,159 Speaker 1: Jewish immigrant they had been told to fear. It was 487 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:17,119 Speaker 1: exactly the sort of reaction that the Jewish community in 488 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: White Chapel knew to expect. No wonder they helped John 489 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,919 Speaker 1: Pyser to hide when words started to go around that 490 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: leather Apron was the White Chapel killer. It wasn't the 491 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: end of Pyser's involvement, though, because when when Baxter opened 492 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,199 Speaker 1: the inquest into Annie Chapman's death on that same Monday, 493 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: September ten, he called John Pyser to testify. It would 494 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: take a few days before the notorious leather Apron would appear. 495 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: In the meantime, the familiar surroundings of the Working Lads 496 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: Institute brought the corner a parade of constables who could 497 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: describe the scene of Annie Chapman's death. It brought in 498 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 1: a few of her companions from the cheap lodging houses 499 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: of Whitechapel, who described the last times they had seen her, 500 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: the last conversations they'd had. The people who knew Annie 501 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: the longest knew she wasn't always an east Ender. In fact, 502 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 1: she wasn't always a poor woman. Her father had been 503 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: a respectable soldier, serving in the second Regiment of the Lifeguards, 504 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: and when he was pensioned, he took a job as 505 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: a ballot. Annie herself had married another man of respectable service, 506 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: a coachman named John Chapman. As a coachman, John had 507 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: scored a couple of good jobs, first for a nobleman 508 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: in West London, and then a position in a village 509 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: out in Windsor Forest. For a while, Annie was living 510 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: there with her husband and three children, in what might 511 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,719 Speaker 1: seem to be the expected path for working class victorians 512 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: of good station. But as Annie's brother would later write, 513 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: she was given to drink, and when she was drunk, 514 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 1: she would wander the wealthy neighborhood around Windsor. Forest took 515 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 1: note of that behavior. For Annie and for John, it 516 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: was an embarrassment and maybe even more, John could potentially 517 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: lose his position. The family made Annie sign a pledge 518 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: to oh sober. After all, they said, she was married 519 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: and in a good position, but over and over again 520 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:10,320 Speaker 1: she was tempted and fell. The family mustered its resources 521 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: and rallied around her. She went to a home for 522 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: the Cure of the intemperance, where they paid for her 523 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: to live for a full year, and it seemed that 524 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: she had kicked it. But one night John had to 525 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: work despite having a severe cold. To fortify himself, Annie's 526 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: sister wrote, he took a glass of hot whiskey. He 527 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: took his shot when Annie was in a different room 528 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: because he was afraid of tempting her. But then he 529 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,400 Speaker 1: gave her a kiss on his way out the door. 530 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: All the old cravings came back, Annie's sister wrote, and 531 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: after that day she couldn't stay sober. The family living 532 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: around London, didn't know exactly where Annie went after that. 533 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: She would visit them sometimes and they would do their 534 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: best to help her. John would send money, but his 535 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: health was failing and he died in six when he 536 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: was just forty five. It may be that Annie didn't 537 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: tell her family where she was living because that embarrassment, 538 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: that shame still followed her. After all, she ended up 539 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: in lodging houses in spittle Fields and Whitechapel. She made 540 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: friends though. In fact, for a while she had a partner, 541 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: Jack Civy, and when he left London, she reconnected with 542 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: an acquaintance from her time in Windsor, a man named Edward, 543 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: who would spend his weekends with her. They would meet 544 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: up on Dorset Street in spittle Fields. Other lodgers said 545 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: that she was friendly, even helpful, steady going. They even 546 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: knew her as a sober woman. It seems she really 547 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: did try to hold to her pledge, though. In the 548 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: week before she died, she had gotten into a spat 549 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 1: with another lodger when she had seen them stealing from 550 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: a drunk companion. Annie stood up for the victim, but 551 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,680 Speaker 1: the fight left her with bruises on her head and chest. 552 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 1: These bruises were noted down when her body was examined 553 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 1: in the mortuary. It wasn't until that Thursday September that 554 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,160 Speaker 1: the surgeon would provide his testimony at Win Baxter's inquest. 555 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: That's when Dr Phillips laid out his conclusions. Whatever knife 556 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: made the cuts on Annie Chapman's body, there wasn't a 557 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: bayonet or even a sword bayonet. The knives used in 558 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: the leather trade weren't long enough either. What it might 559 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: have been, though, was such an instrument as a medical 560 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 1: man used for post mortem purposes. It could have been 561 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: a slaughterman's knife, he said, well ground down, but at 562 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: the very least there were indications of anatomical knowledge. And 563 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: what's more, he told when Baxter and so the press 564 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 1: as well about the missing portions of the body. When 565 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: the Times published their report on the inquest the next day, 566 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:42,239 Speaker 1: Dr phillips theory was at large and it brought in 567 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: a swift response to Win Baxter. That is, he got 568 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: a startling letter in the mail from a curator of 569 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:52,320 Speaker 1: a medical schools pathology museum. He said he had information 570 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: that might help with the case. So when Baxter paid 571 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: the man a visit, the curator had read Dr phillips 572 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,200 Speaker 1: testimony in the paper, and he had seen that Annie 573 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,959 Speaker 1: Chapman's uterus was missing, and that had jogged his memory. 574 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: A few months earlier, an American doctor had come to 575 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: the medical school with a strange offer. He said that 576 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: he was looking to buy organs and he would pay 577 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: twenty pounds for a uterus as long as it was 578 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: preserved in glycerin. Other news reports would later fill in 579 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: the details that the doctor was a surgeon from Philadelphia, 580 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: and then he had passed along the same offer at 581 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: both Middlesex Hospital and at King's College. The American doctor 582 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: was apparently writing a book, the report said, and he 583 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: wanted specimens to go along with them. Whether or not 584 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,400 Speaker 1: this convinced the coroner right away. It was an extra 585 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: push through a door thrown open by the speculations of 586 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: Dr Phillips. It got Baxter wondering, even if the killer 587 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 1: wasn't a doctor, was there a chance that he was 588 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: killing women in the hopes of cashing in on their organs. 589 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: After all, the days of broken hair were passed, but 590 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: body snatching and trading in corpses was never truly out 591 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: of fashion. So if the killer wasn't a member of 592 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: a gang. Perhaps he was even more desperate and violent, 593 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,440 Speaker 1: and more willing to do horrible deeds for a pocket 594 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: full of coin. And so, when Baxter was left to 595 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 1: wonder could the killer be the kind of person who 596 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:23,920 Speaker 1: would sell his own neighbors for parts, Warren was winding 597 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: his watch. Monroe had just resigned from leading the detectives 598 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 1: at Scotland Yard. His replacement had been selected. But here's 599 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,840 Speaker 1: the thing. He took the role on September one, the 600 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,879 Speaker 1: day that Polly Nichols was found dead, the day after 601 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 1: Annie Chapman was murdered. Well, he went on vacation. In fact, 602 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,400 Speaker 1: it was more like medical leave than vacation. Charles Warren 603 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: had agreed with him that all the officers were a 604 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:53,319 Speaker 1: bit overworked, and he more than most. Plus he had 605 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:57,120 Speaker 1: a nagging throat infection that just wouldn't go away. Warren 606 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,839 Speaker 1: told him to spend the month of September in Switzerland. 607 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: Warren's instructions actually came by letter because he was in 608 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:08,759 Speaker 1: northwest France taking his own kind of working holiday. And 609 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: you may remember that the inspector assigned to White Chapel 610 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,480 Speaker 1: at the time was also gone. That's why they had 611 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: called in Frederick Aberline from the Central Office to help 612 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,799 Speaker 1: with Polly Nichols case, and when Baxter brought him back 613 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: again for Anti Chapman's inquest. Before his police work, Aberleine 614 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,319 Speaker 1: had been a clocksmith, coming to grips with how all 615 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: the intricate weights and gears pulled together to follow the 616 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,880 Speaker 1: flow of time. That was his specialty. Now Aberline was 617 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:40,880 Speaker 1: on the case in Whitechapel and he was ticking. In 618 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,839 Speaker 1: his later years, Aberleine would remember that he fell down 619 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: the rabbit hole. He told the pall Mall Gazette in 620 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 1: nineteen o three that his interest in the case was 621 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,719 Speaker 1: especially deep. He had been an inspector in Whitechapel for 622 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,720 Speaker 1: fourteen years, and now he was being called back into 623 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 1: service there. I went back to the East End just 624 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,320 Speaker 1: before an each atman was found, he said. And many 625 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: a time, instead of going home when I was off duty, 626 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,879 Speaker 1: I used to patrol the district until four or five 627 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,360 Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. And as he patrolled the streets, 628 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,640 Speaker 1: he kept his eyes open looking for clues. He saw 629 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,360 Speaker 1: a few killers, but he saw many women like Paully 630 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,719 Speaker 1: Nichols and Annie Chapman, women with no money, even to 631 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,240 Speaker 1: pay for the cheapest lodging houses in the neighborhood. Many 632 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: a time I gave homeless women fourpence or sixpence for 633 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:30,359 Speaker 1: a shelter, he said, to get them away from the 634 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 1: streets and out of harm's way. But if Aberleine was 635 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 1: making all night patrols, watching Whitechapel minute by minute, Charles 636 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:41,640 Speaker 1: Warren knew that he needed someone higher up to tell 637 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 1: the hours, someone from Scotland Yard who knew Aberline and 638 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 1: his work, and who could coordinate with the detective on 639 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: the ground. And so from his perch in France, Warren 640 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: decided it was finally time to bring Chief Inspector Donald 641 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 1: Swanson onto the case. He had solved the Brighton railway 642 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,719 Speaker 1: murder and caught the prints. He had risen through the 643 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: ranks and now had a bird's eye view of the 644 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,440 Speaker 1: city from the Scotland Yard offices at Whitehall. He had 645 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,520 Speaker 1: worked side by side with Aberline since the early days 646 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,279 Speaker 1: when they had broken up the illegal playhouse for the 647 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 1: vices they needed to stop. Now we're much more grave. 648 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,960 Speaker 1: On September a letter from Warren circulated among the top 649 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,560 Speaker 1: officers in the Scotland Yard Central office. It opened with 650 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,320 Speaker 1: what can only be called an arrogant note from Warren. 651 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,959 Speaker 1: I am convinced that the Whitechapel murder cases one which 652 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,400 Speaker 1: can be successfully grappled with if it is systematically taken 653 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: in hand. I go so far as to say that 654 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: I could myself, in a few days unraveled the mystery, 655 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: provided I could spare the time. Perhaps not the most 656 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: auspicious beginning, but he went on, I feel, therefore the 657 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: utmost importance to be attached to putting the whole Central 658 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: Office work in this case in the hands of one man, 659 00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 1: who will have nothing else to concern himself with. I 660 00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:59,880 Speaker 1: therefore put it in the hands of Chief Inspector Swanson, 661 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: who must be acquainted with every detail. I look upon 662 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 1: him for the time being as the eyes and ears 663 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,440 Speaker 1: of the Commissioner. In this particular case. He must be 664 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,720 Speaker 1: consulted on every subject. I give him the whole responsibility. 665 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,879 Speaker 1: And so, despite the absences among the leadership, the team 666 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: of detectives who would truly hunt the Whitechappel killer was 667 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:26,720 Speaker 1: now on the case. Here's historian Adam Wood when Warren 668 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:32,439 Speaker 1: wrote that memorandum appointing Swanson to the overall rule charge 669 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,680 Speaker 1: at Scotland Yard. He made he made a comment saying 670 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,759 Speaker 1: that I found a most important letter was sent to 671 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 1: Division yesterday without his seeing it. This is quite an error. 672 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,040 Speaker 1: Should not happen again. And all the papers in Central 673 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,600 Speaker 1: Office on the subject of the murder must be kept 674 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:52,359 Speaker 1: in his room and immediately from that and in fact 675 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,400 Speaker 1: back dating some of the reports. Every every import and 676 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,719 Speaker 1: telegram on the investigation was submitted to Swanson at Scotland Yard. 677 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,640 Speaker 1: So you can mention he's spent a good few weeks 678 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,200 Speaker 1: reading and nodgesting all the reports that had been generated 679 00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 1: um before his appointment and came right back to m 680 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 1: Smith and Martha Taboram before the murder of Polly Nichols, 681 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,840 Speaker 1: all the reports that had come from H Division in 682 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: Whitechapel and J Division of bethanal Green who had been 683 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,160 Speaker 1: involved in the Mary and Nichols investigation. And it was 684 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,200 Speaker 1: only really once you've done this you could identify the 685 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 1: potential links and loans investigation. So a monumental task now 686 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: faced Swanson. Melville McNaughton might not have taken the role 687 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,080 Speaker 1: among Charles Warren's detectives, but that didn't keep him from 688 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,320 Speaker 1: respecting the men who were there and McNaughton called Donald 689 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:44,760 Speaker 1: Swanson a very capable officer with a synthetical turn of mind. 690 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:49,320 Speaker 1: Swanson was just the right climber for the mountain before him. 691 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,040 Speaker 1: All of this, though, was happening behind the scenes. On 692 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:55,880 Speaker 1: the streets of Whitechapel, the same confusion and chaos still reigned, 693 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:59,440 Speaker 1: and although that had its effect on every resident of Whitechapel, 694 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 1: it's business owners felt that they were particularly unlucky at 695 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,560 Speaker 1: how things were being handled. After they had been told 696 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: that no reward would be issued for the murderer, about 697 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,760 Speaker 1: seventy men gathered together. They agreed that they were seeing 698 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,000 Speaker 1: a drop in income. People weren't coming around their shops. 699 00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,920 Speaker 1: When the afternoons began to get dark, the crowds of 700 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,080 Speaker 1: visitors vanished and the streets emptied out. So they put 701 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,880 Speaker 1: their heads together and made a decision. If the police 702 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: weren't protecting their streets, then they would do it themselves. 703 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,120 Speaker 1: The business leaders and shop owners of Whitechapel formed what 704 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,600 Speaker 1: the Star called vigilance committees. They would make their own 705 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 1: street patrols alongside whatever constables the Metropolitan Police assigned to 706 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,200 Speaker 1: their neighborhoods, and they attracted some attention too. They put 707 00:40:44,239 --> 00:40:47,040 Speaker 1: together a statement that reached The Times on September twelve. 708 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:51,240 Speaker 1: They declared that our police force is inadequate to discover 709 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,000 Speaker 1: the authors of the late atrocities, and that because the 710 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,719 Speaker 1: government would not offer a reward, they would pool their 711 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:01,520 Speaker 1: resources and offer one themselves. They weren't completely alone, though 712 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,879 Speaker 1: the Jewish Member of Parliament elected from Whitechapel, Samuel Montague, 713 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,520 Speaker 1: added his own reward of one hundred pounds to the 714 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,640 Speaker 1: offer made by the Vigilance Committee. No one knew better 715 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: that without leads, the accusations were falling hard on the 716 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:18,279 Speaker 1: Jewish community in the East End. He even wrote a 717 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,919 Speaker 1: letter directly to Charles Warren saying that the Home Secretary's 718 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:25,440 Speaker 1: opinion that the murders required nothing but the usual procedures 719 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: was not in accordance with the general feeling on the subject, 720 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,680 Speaker 1: and opened a somewhat tense exchange on the government's choice 721 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:36,880 Speaker 1: of not offering incentives for information on the killer. But 722 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:41,320 Speaker 1: incentives or no. Letters began coming in offers from across 723 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,919 Speaker 1: England suggesting methods of catching the killer. The Times would 724 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,000 Speaker 1: later remark that it is almost needless to say that 725 00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:52,320 Speaker 1: none of the communications help in any way and honestly, 726 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 1: if solving the murders came down to sorting through numerous reports, 727 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,719 Speaker 1: confusing documents, and unhelpful advice from people who weren't there. 728 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: That Donald Swanson's synthetical frame of mind was going to 729 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:09,280 Speaker 1: come in handy because things we're about to become much 730 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:17,600 Speaker 1: more complicated. The killer confessed that is the killer in 731 00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: Jacquelin Hide. The story ends with a long section called 732 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: Henry Jekyl's Full Statement of the Case, a letter written 733 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,560 Speaker 1: by Jekyl explaining everything. He lays it all out there 734 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,360 Speaker 1: for the hero of the story so that by the 735 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:35,279 Speaker 1: last page the picture is clear and wouldn't that be nice? Well, 736 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,800 Speaker 1: at the end of September, something surprising did happen in London, 737 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 1: and it means we have one more letter to explore. 738 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: Londoners were eagerly glued to the papers, looking for something, anything, 739 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:48,799 Speaker 1: that would bring things to a close, or that would 740 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:52,600 Speaker 1: at least move the investigation forward, and then out of 741 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: the blue, someone decided to give it to them. On September. 742 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,279 Speaker 1: As the investigation stretched on, one press office at a 743 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:04,360 Speaker 1: company called the Central News Agency received a strange postcard. 744 00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:07,920 Speaker 1: At first, they thought the letter was a joke. For 745 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: a couple of days. They passed it around the office, 746 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:14,440 Speaker 1: reading it, discussing it, maybe even laughing at it. After all, 747 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,200 Speaker 1: there were plenty of opinions to be published on the murders, 748 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 1: but maybe someone in the office thought of Jacqueline Hide. 749 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,480 Speaker 1: Maybe one of them just couldn't shake the feeling that 750 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: if what they were reading was true, they had to 751 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:29,319 Speaker 1: do something about it. So on September twenty nine, the 752 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:32,680 Speaker 1: note was forwarded to Scotland Yard and it must have 753 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: landed on Donald Swanson's desk. But for reasons that are 754 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,640 Speaker 1: about to become clear, he wasn't laughing. In fact, it 755 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:42,879 Speaker 1: was the letter that would coin the name we know today. 756 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: It opened like this, Dear Boss, I keep on hearing 757 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:50,440 Speaker 1: the police have caught me, but they won't fix me 758 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 1: just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever 759 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:56,600 Speaker 1: and talk about being on the right track. That joke 760 00:43:56,680 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 1: about leather apron gave me real fits. I am down 761 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:03,200 Speaker 1: on whors and I shan't quit ripping them till I 762 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,880 Speaker 1: do get buckled. After that, more mockery of the victims 763 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,200 Speaker 1: and the police followed. A PostScript even read they say 764 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:14,360 Speaker 1: I am a doctor now with a mocking laugh. The 765 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: writer said that he had saved some blood in a 766 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,400 Speaker 1: ginger beer bottle to write with, but it went thick, 767 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,479 Speaker 1: so he chose red ink instead, and yes, the letter 768 00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:27,279 Speaker 1: was written in red. When he signed off, the writer 769 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:30,480 Speaker 1: put down, keep this letter back till I do a 770 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,800 Speaker 1: bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's 771 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,319 Speaker 1: so nice and sharp. I want to get to work 772 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 1: right away if I get a chance. Good luck, and 773 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:46,600 Speaker 1: then he wrote the name yours truly, Jack the Ripper. 774 00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: That's it for this week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around 775 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:55,920 Speaker 1: after this short sponsor break for a preview of what's 776 00:44:55,920 --> 00:45:01,280 Speaker 1: in store for next week. On the night after Martha 777 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,399 Speaker 1: Tabron was murdered, Elizabeth Stride was in court. She had 778 00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:08,520 Speaker 1: been dragged in for a drunkenness and for using obscene language. 779 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:10,920 Speaker 1: She was told that she would be locked up for 780 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:13,760 Speaker 1: five days or she could pay a five shilling fine. 781 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:16,680 Speaker 1: At the time, Liz Stride had the money, so she 782 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:19,799 Speaker 1: paid the fine and walked away. And it wasn't the 783 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:22,880 Speaker 1: first time. She had been fined two shillings and sixpence 784 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,960 Speaker 1: on Valentine's Day the year before, when she was arrested 785 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,920 Speaker 1: on the same charges by now, though, I'm sure you 786 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:32,400 Speaker 1: know where Liz stride story goes, because in the early 787 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:37,800 Speaker 1: morning hours of September, Liz Stride found herself doing something 788 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:41,400 Speaker 1: few people had the courage to do that autumn, walking 789 00:45:41,520 --> 00:46:02,279 Speaker 1: alone through the dark of Whitechapel. Unobscured was created by 790 00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:05,800 Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky and produced by Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, 791 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:09,680 Speaker 1: and Josh Thayne in partnership with I Heart Radio. Research 792 00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:11,759 Speaker 1: and writing for this season is all the work of 793 00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,560 Speaker 1: my right hand man Carl Nellis and the brilliant Chad 794 00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:18,239 Speaker 1: Lawson composed the brand new soundtrack. Learn more about our 795 00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:22,360 Speaker 1: contributing historians, source material and links to our other shows 796 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:26,640 Speaker 1: over at History unobscured dot com and until next time, 797 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:37,200 Speaker 1: thanks for listening. Unobscured is a production of I Heart 798 00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:39,919 Speaker 1: Radio and Aaron Monkey. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, 799 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,520 Speaker 1: visit i heeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 800 00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:43,640 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.