1 00:00:15,316 --> 00:00:29,716 Speaker 1: Pushkin. It's a warm September evening. The sky has darkened 2 00:00:29,796 --> 00:00:32,916 Speaker 1: and a moon has risen over the flat, oily river. 3 00:00:33,956 --> 00:00:36,916 Speaker 1: Hundreds of day trippers and pleasure seekers are aboard the 4 00:00:36,956 --> 00:00:41,836 Speaker 1: Princess Alice as she steams through London. Music, singing, and 5 00:00:41,916 --> 00:00:45,076 Speaker 1: the excited shouts of children give the so called Moonlight 6 00:00:45,156 --> 00:00:50,276 Speaker 1: Cruise a holiday. Few no one notices that the craft 7 00:00:50,356 --> 00:00:53,676 Speaker 1: is moving directly into the course of a great iron 8 00:00:53,836 --> 00:00:58,956 Speaker 1: hulled freighter. The Princess Alice plows on her paddle wheels, 9 00:00:59,036 --> 00:01:02,476 Speaker 1: biting into the rank sewage bread waters at the Thames. 10 00:01:04,116 --> 00:01:08,076 Speaker 1: What unfolds over the next few terrible minutes will be 11 00:01:08,116 --> 00:01:12,516 Speaker 1: a tragedy for the city, but an opportunity for Elizabeth Stride, 12 00:01:14,116 --> 00:01:17,236 Speaker 1: maybe the first time she has benefited from the misfortune 13 00:01:17,236 --> 00:01:20,916 Speaker 1: of others, but it will not be the last, before 14 00:01:20,996 --> 00:01:27,476 Speaker 1: she meets her murderer on the streets of Whitechapel. I'm 15 00:01:27,516 --> 00:01:32,556 Speaker 1: Hallie rubbin Holt. You're listening to Bad Women The Ripper retold, 16 00:01:33,316 --> 00:01:36,356 Speaker 1: a series about the real lives of the women killed 17 00:01:36,356 --> 00:01:39,556 Speaker 1: by Jack the Ripper and how we got their stories 18 00:01:40,116 --> 00:01:49,036 Speaker 1: so wrong. One side, money plenty and friends too. By 19 00:01:49,316 --> 00:01:59,876 Speaker 1: the score, then fortune smild upon me. Now one passmo 20 00:02:04,676 --> 00:02:30,876 Speaker 1: anney and not with her to make Elizabeth, Gustav's daughter, 21 00:02:31,156 --> 00:02:34,716 Speaker 1: was borne by candlelight in the darkness of a Swedish November. 22 00:02:35,516 --> 00:02:38,996 Speaker 1: Her father tended the land and rural towards lander, cultivating 23 00:02:39,036 --> 00:02:43,276 Speaker 1: fields of grain, flax and potatoes. He also owned a barn, 24 00:02:43,436 --> 00:02:47,196 Speaker 1: several cows, pigs, chickens, and a horse. The family was 25 00:02:47,276 --> 00:02:50,276 Speaker 1: more prosperous than many in the area, and Elizabeth grew 26 00:02:50,356 --> 00:02:54,436 Speaker 1: up in a sturdy clapboard farmhouse as a farmer's daughter 27 00:02:54,556 --> 00:02:57,516 Speaker 1: in the eighteen forties. She would have been initiated into 28 00:02:57,556 --> 00:03:00,396 Speaker 1: the routine of agricultural life as soon as she was 29 00:03:00,516 --> 00:03:03,876 Speaker 1: steady enough on her feet to carry pails and gather eggs. 30 00:03:04,236 --> 00:03:07,116 Speaker 1: When she grew older, she would have assisted with milking, 31 00:03:07,356 --> 00:03:11,756 Speaker 1: tending the chickens and pigs, making butter, and even distilling aquivit, 32 00:03:11,836 --> 00:03:16,436 Speaker 1: the alcoholic liquor traditionally offered at meal times in Swedish households. 33 00:03:16,996 --> 00:03:21,636 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's local community was small and conservative. She was raised 34 00:03:21,636 --> 00:03:25,476 Speaker 1: a Lutheran, and prayer would have punctuated her days upon waking, 35 00:03:25,636 --> 00:03:29,516 Speaker 1: before meals and before bed, asking the Lord to shepherd 36 00:03:29,556 --> 00:03:33,396 Speaker 1: his flock safely through the long night. As a girl, 37 00:03:33,996 --> 00:03:37,756 Speaker 1: little was expected of her beyond mastery of housekeeping, childcare, 38 00:03:37,836 --> 00:03:40,716 Speaker 1: and basic animal husbandry, all of which she could learn 39 00:03:40,796 --> 00:03:45,956 Speaker 1: from assisting her mother. She therefore received little schooling. Elizabeth 40 00:03:45,996 --> 00:03:49,796 Speaker 1: probably grew accustomed to the constant rhythm of farm life, 41 00:03:50,196 --> 00:03:53,196 Speaker 1: the turning of the seasons, the cutting of the fields, 42 00:03:53,236 --> 00:03:56,796 Speaker 1: the freezing of the earth before the sowing of seeds. 43 00:03:58,036 --> 00:04:02,636 Speaker 1: But just before her seventeenth birthday everything changed. Elizabeth set 44 00:04:02,636 --> 00:04:05,676 Speaker 1: out for the city of Gothenburg to seek employment as 45 00:04:05,676 --> 00:04:09,756 Speaker 1: a servant. In Sweden, as in other European it was 46 00:04:09,796 --> 00:04:13,036 Speaker 1: traditional for young women to gain experience of domestic life 47 00:04:13,036 --> 00:04:16,196 Speaker 1: beyond the confines of their homes and communities. This was 48 00:04:16,276 --> 00:04:19,676 Speaker 1: seen as a kind of apprenticeship before they eventually assumed 49 00:04:19,756 --> 00:04:23,316 Speaker 1: command of their own households. Elizabeth went to work as 50 00:04:23,316 --> 00:04:26,876 Speaker 1: a maid for a lower middle class family. Domestic labor 51 00:04:26,916 --> 00:04:30,076 Speaker 1: at this time was cheap and in plentiful supply, so 52 00:04:30,156 --> 00:04:33,196 Speaker 1: even families of meager means could afford to hire help. 53 00:04:33,836 --> 00:04:37,556 Speaker 1: Employers were obliged to house, feed, clothe, and tend to 54 00:04:37,596 --> 00:04:41,236 Speaker 1: their servants when they were ill. In return, servants offered 55 00:04:41,236 --> 00:04:45,956 Speaker 1: their complete obedience, yet Choosing and hiring a servant could 56 00:04:45,996 --> 00:04:49,436 Speaker 1: also be risky. Bringing unknown young women into the home 57 00:04:49,636 --> 00:04:53,756 Speaker 1: could have unpredictable consequences. There was a preference for the 58 00:04:53,876 --> 00:04:58,276 Speaker 1: ruddy cheeked daughters of yeomen, who smelled like grass and goats. 59 00:04:58,476 --> 00:05:00,916 Speaker 1: It was believed that these girls had not yet learned 60 00:05:00,956 --> 00:05:04,716 Speaker 1: how to deceive or steal. They were innocent and honest. 61 00:05:05,436 --> 00:05:10,516 Speaker 1: By contrast, urban girls had been exposed to avarice and licentiousness. 62 00:05:11,676 --> 00:05:15,116 Speaker 1: Although it was a master or mistress's responsibility to keep 63 00:05:15,156 --> 00:05:19,676 Speaker 1: them safe, peril nonetheless lurked at every turn for maidservants, 64 00:05:20,116 --> 00:05:23,116 Speaker 1: whether or not she encouraged the advances of the master 65 00:05:23,316 --> 00:05:27,076 Speaker 1: or his son, his brother, cousin, friend, or father. There 66 00:05:27,076 --> 00:05:30,676 Speaker 1: were plenty of opportunities for a young servant woman to 67 00:05:30,716 --> 00:05:35,996 Speaker 1: find herself alone with men, to be coerced, overpowered, or 68 00:05:36,196 --> 00:05:41,436 Speaker 1: to give in to mutual desire. And so while service 69 00:05:41,516 --> 00:05:43,636 Speaker 1: was believed to be the making of a young working 70 00:05:43,676 --> 00:05:48,276 Speaker 1: class woman, becoming entangled with a man could be her undoing. 71 00:05:48,956 --> 00:05:51,636 Speaker 1: Some women's lovers would promise to look after them, and 72 00:05:51,836 --> 00:05:56,516 Speaker 1: many made good on these pledges, establishing their mistresses and lodgings. 73 00:05:56,636 --> 00:05:59,796 Speaker 1: Some men lived alongside their paramours and they posed as 74 00:05:59,836 --> 00:06:05,356 Speaker 1: married couples. Others visited only on occasion. Some relationships continued 75 00:06:05,396 --> 00:06:08,556 Speaker 1: for many years, if not a lifetime, but many more 76 00:06:08,636 --> 00:06:12,756 Speaker 1: fell upon art within weeks. The nineteenth century double standard 77 00:06:12,916 --> 00:06:17,076 Speaker 1: enabled men to walk away from such attachments. By contrast, 78 00:06:17,196 --> 00:06:20,076 Speaker 1: it often devastated the lives of the women who were 79 00:06:20,116 --> 00:06:23,996 Speaker 1: left to bear the crying and gurgling consequences of these unions. 80 00:06:25,156 --> 00:06:27,676 Speaker 1: Elizabeth has taken to the grave the name of the 81 00:06:27,716 --> 00:06:31,276 Speaker 1: man who altered her life with his lust. It will 82 00:06:31,356 --> 00:06:33,956 Speaker 1: never be known whether her first encounter with him was 83 00:06:34,076 --> 00:06:38,716 Speaker 1: consensual or forced, where it occurred, or under what circumstances, 84 00:06:38,996 --> 00:06:43,116 Speaker 1: But by March eighteen sixty five she was six months pregnant, 85 00:06:43,716 --> 00:06:46,276 Speaker 1: and whoever had got her into that position was no 86 00:06:46,316 --> 00:06:50,916 Speaker 1: longer present to shield her from the consequences. Until the 87 00:06:50,956 --> 00:06:56,236 Speaker 1: eighteen sixties, in Sweden, extramarital sex and illegitimate pregnancy were illegal, 88 00:06:56,476 --> 00:07:00,556 Speaker 1: punishable offenses. In fact, across all Europe and its colonies, 89 00:07:00,716 --> 00:07:06,316 Speaker 1: sexual immorality was a source of anxiety, verging on para noia. 90 00:07:06,476 --> 00:07:10,796 Speaker 1: In Gothenburg, the prostitution police charge placing women on the 91 00:07:10,876 --> 00:07:15,556 Speaker 1: sex trade register, colloquially referred to as the Register of Shame. 92 00:07:16,316 --> 00:07:19,876 Speaker 1: There were two lists, one containing the names of acknowledged 93 00:07:19,956 --> 00:07:24,436 Speaker 1: prostitutes and the other of suspected women, pregnant, single women, 94 00:07:24,636 --> 00:07:27,956 Speaker 1: women frequently seen alone with men or out at night, 95 00:07:28,396 --> 00:07:32,756 Speaker 1: and mistresses. The chief concern was the spread of venereal disease, 96 00:07:33,196 --> 00:07:37,676 Speaker 1: specifically syphilis, and bad women were seen as responsible for 97 00:07:37,796 --> 00:07:40,996 Speaker 1: its spread. This belief was then used to justify the 98 00:07:41,076 --> 00:07:44,676 Speaker 1: harsh treatment of women in legislation designed to prevent infection. 99 00:07:45,756 --> 00:07:48,836 Speaker 1: When her pregnancy began to show, it was surmised that 100 00:07:48,876 --> 00:07:53,116 Speaker 1: twenty one year old Elizabeth was guilty of lecherous living. 101 00:07:53,516 --> 00:07:56,196 Speaker 1: She was ordered to appear at the Police Inspection House. 102 00:07:56,516 --> 00:07:59,156 Speaker 1: On her first visit, she was entered into the official 103 00:07:59,236 --> 00:08:03,676 Speaker 1: register as public woman number ninety seven. She was then 104 00:08:03,716 --> 00:08:07,836 Speaker 1: further questioned and her answers included in the ledger age 105 00:08:07,876 --> 00:08:13,436 Speaker 1: twenty one years, appearance, blue eyes, brown hair, straight nose, 106 00:08:13,636 --> 00:08:18,556 Speaker 1: oval face, five foot two inches, slender build. I surmise 107 00:08:18,676 --> 00:08:21,676 Speaker 1: that this woman has not been living a life of gluttony. 108 00:08:22,556 --> 00:08:25,516 Speaker 1: The rules that were to govern Elizabeth's daily life would 109 00:08:25,516 --> 00:08:28,756 Speaker 1: then have been explained to her a lecture intended to 110 00:08:28,836 --> 00:08:31,956 Speaker 1: humiliate her. You will attend the inspection house twice a 111 00:08:31,996 --> 00:08:34,876 Speaker 1: week on Tuesdays and Fridays, or face a rest and 112 00:08:34,916 --> 00:08:37,316 Speaker 1: a fine, or three nights in prison on rations of 113 00:08:37,356 --> 00:08:40,116 Speaker 1: bread and water. You will not be permitted outdoors after 114 00:08:40,156 --> 00:08:42,756 Speaker 1: eleven at night. You must conduct a quiet and a 115 00:08:42,876 --> 00:08:45,596 Speaker 1: silent life. You must not loiter in the windows or 116 00:08:45,636 --> 00:08:48,236 Speaker 1: doorway of your home. You must dress in a decent 117 00:08:48,276 --> 00:08:51,636 Speaker 1: way when appearing in public and not call attention to yourself. 118 00:08:52,676 --> 00:08:56,676 Speaker 1: At the Police Inspection House, Elizabeth would have been subjected 119 00:08:56,716 --> 00:09:01,956 Speaker 1: to regular examinations of her genitalia. This routine was designed 120 00:09:02,036 --> 00:09:05,316 Speaker 1: as much to chasen the city's public women as to 121 00:09:05,356 --> 00:09:11,076 Speaker 1: screen them against the dreaded syphilis. Syphilis is transmitted primarily 122 00:09:11,156 --> 00:09:15,916 Speaker 1: through sexual intercourse, and it has three key stages in 123 00:09:15,956 --> 00:09:20,116 Speaker 1: its acquired form, primary, secondary and tertiary. And Hanley is 124 00:09:20,156 --> 00:09:22,676 Speaker 1: a lecturer in the History of science and Medicine at 125 00:09:22,716 --> 00:09:28,276 Speaker 1: Birkbeck University of London. The primary stage is characterized by 126 00:09:28,316 --> 00:09:31,236 Speaker 1: the presence of a soft saw or canker at the 127 00:09:31,236 --> 00:09:33,516 Speaker 1: side of infection. So in most cases this would have 128 00:09:33,516 --> 00:09:36,076 Speaker 1: been on a person's genitals. And you know this saw 129 00:09:36,116 --> 00:09:39,476 Speaker 1: could appear a couple of weeks to several months after 130 00:09:39,996 --> 00:09:42,436 Speaker 1: infection and it will last for a short period of 131 00:09:42,476 --> 00:09:45,196 Speaker 1: time and then disappear, and when it disappeared, the patient 132 00:09:45,276 --> 00:09:49,396 Speaker 1: moved into a period of disease latency. The secondary stage 133 00:09:49,436 --> 00:09:53,196 Speaker 1: could occur anywhere from several months to several years. Later, 134 00:09:53,676 --> 00:09:57,836 Speaker 1: patients would experience flu like symptoms, a fever, swollen glands, 135 00:09:57,876 --> 00:10:00,996 Speaker 1: a sore throat, and then the eruption of a rash, 136 00:10:01,036 --> 00:10:05,596 Speaker 1: as well as wart like growths and lesions on their genitals. Eventually, 137 00:10:05,636 --> 00:10:09,516 Speaker 1: it would attack the person's central nervous system. Suffer might 138 00:10:09,596 --> 00:10:15,116 Speaker 1: experience behavioral changes, including paranoia and mood swings, deterioration of 139 00:10:15,156 --> 00:10:19,356 Speaker 1: the spinal cord, and seizures. There were other visible symptoms 140 00:10:19,356 --> 00:10:22,796 Speaker 1: as well. The soft tissue in a person's face begins 141 00:10:22,916 --> 00:10:27,636 Speaker 1: to break down. This type of necrotic deterioration where person's 142 00:10:27,916 --> 00:10:31,956 Speaker 1: nose disintegrates essentially, as does their soft palate and parts 143 00:10:31,956 --> 00:10:36,316 Speaker 1: of their frontal though, syphilis affected fertility too and could 144 00:10:36,316 --> 00:10:39,196 Speaker 1: be passed on to a fetus before birth, so called 145 00:10:39,316 --> 00:10:44,276 Speaker 1: congenital syphilis. In the days before antibiotics, this was a 146 00:10:44,396 --> 00:10:49,276 Speaker 1: terrible disease. So as to avoid giving offense to Gothenburg's 147 00:10:49,276 --> 00:10:54,596 Speaker 1: respectable citizens, all suspected and known public women were required 148 00:10:54,636 --> 00:10:58,196 Speaker 1: to enter the police inspection house through a concealed rear 149 00:10:58,356 --> 00:11:02,516 Speaker 1: passage jetty line. Once inside, they had to strip naked 150 00:11:02,556 --> 00:11:05,756 Speaker 1: and form a line. Sometimes, if the weight was a 151 00:11:05,796 --> 00:11:09,356 Speaker 1: long one, they were ordered to stand in the outdoor courtyard, 152 00:11:09,636 --> 00:11:13,916 Speaker 1: shivering in the cold as the uniformed officers stood over them. 153 00:11:15,156 --> 00:11:17,036 Speaker 1: For a young woman who had been raised in a 154 00:11:17,076 --> 00:11:23,036 Speaker 1: religious community, the indignity of the experience would have been shocking. However, 155 00:11:23,436 --> 00:11:27,276 Speaker 1: as Elizabeth was pregnant with an illegitimate child, she may well, 156 00:11:27,436 --> 00:11:30,516 Speaker 1: like so many women of her era, have internalized her 157 00:11:30,516 --> 00:11:35,676 Speaker 1: punishment as a justifiable one. Elizabeth can only have been 158 00:11:35,716 --> 00:11:39,076 Speaker 1: subjected to this routine a handful of times before it 159 00:11:39,156 --> 00:11:42,956 Speaker 1: was discovered that she was presenting the symptoms of syphilis. 160 00:11:43,796 --> 00:11:47,556 Speaker 1: She was immediately admitted to the cahousit or cure house, 161 00:11:47,756 --> 00:11:52,316 Speaker 1: the local venereal disease hospital. These treatment centers, also known 162 00:11:52,396 --> 00:11:56,036 Speaker 1: as lack hospitals, were designed for poor people. A stay 163 00:11:56,116 --> 00:12:01,836 Speaker 1: here carried profound stigma, and this was in part a 164 00:12:01,836 --> 00:12:05,316 Speaker 1: deterrent as well, like the shaven stigma that accompanied entry 165 00:12:05,356 --> 00:12:08,876 Speaker 1: into a workhouse. A similar stigma existed for the law hospitals, 166 00:12:09,436 --> 00:12:15,556 Speaker 1: and these were institutions that were often seriously underfunded, understaffed, 167 00:12:15,836 --> 00:12:19,556 Speaker 1: and lacked the facilities needed to be able to provide 168 00:12:19,596 --> 00:12:25,036 Speaker 1: people with effective care even by Victorian standards. Patients at 169 00:12:25,076 --> 00:12:29,916 Speaker 1: these institutions were effectively imprisoned, hence the name Lock hospital. 170 00:12:30,596 --> 00:12:34,716 Speaker 1: Some women entered voluntarily, but many were incarcerated against their will. 171 00:12:35,316 --> 00:12:39,476 Speaker 1: At Gothenburg's cure House, attendance and nurses used force to 172 00:12:39,476 --> 00:12:43,556 Speaker 1: subdue patients. It was also overcrowded, and when the number 173 00:12:43,596 --> 00:12:47,676 Speaker 1: of patients exceeded capacity, inmates were made to sleep on 174 00:12:47,716 --> 00:12:51,956 Speaker 1: the floor. Mercury was the go to treatment for syphilis 175 00:12:51,956 --> 00:12:55,716 Speaker 1: at this time. The standard forms were an ointment, pill, 176 00:12:56,036 --> 00:12:59,716 Speaker 1: or tonic, but doctors also experimented with other modes of 177 00:12:59,716 --> 00:13:03,516 Speaker 1: administration fumigation. I think it's the best way to describe it. 178 00:13:03,556 --> 00:13:05,476 Speaker 1: So you'd sit essentially something that looked a bit like 179 00:13:05,516 --> 00:13:09,836 Speaker 1: a steam room and mercury infused vapors pumped in and 180 00:13:09,836 --> 00:13:11,756 Speaker 1: you sit there and just sort of absorb it through 181 00:13:11,756 --> 00:13:16,356 Speaker 1: your skin. There was no standardized dosage for mercury. Doctor 182 00:13:16,436 --> 00:13:20,156 Speaker 1: saw its administration as an art rather than a science. 183 00:13:20,556 --> 00:13:25,636 Speaker 1: It was also highly toxic and potentially deadly severe. Mercury 184 00:13:25,676 --> 00:13:30,876 Speaker 1: poisoning could result in everything from loosened to lost teeth 185 00:13:30,876 --> 00:13:34,036 Speaker 1: and fettered breath all the way through to hair loss 186 00:13:34,076 --> 00:13:38,276 Speaker 1: and changed mental state, very similar symptoms to what you 187 00:13:38,356 --> 00:13:42,276 Speaker 1: might expect in the later stages of syphilis itself. Pregnant 188 00:13:42,316 --> 00:13:47,316 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was spared mercury but treated internally with acid while 189 00:13:47,356 --> 00:13:51,036 Speaker 1: her genital wartz would have been dehydrated or cut off. 190 00:13:51,676 --> 00:13:56,036 Speaker 1: After receiving this cure for seventeen days, she went into 191 00:13:56,116 --> 00:14:00,756 Speaker 1: premature labor. Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn girl at 192 00:14:00,836 --> 00:14:04,396 Speaker 1: seven months while under lock and key at the cure house. 193 00:14:05,276 --> 00:14:08,716 Speaker 1: A birth certificate was still required. The space for the 194 00:14:08,756 --> 00:14:15,436 Speaker 1: far this name was left blank. Methods of treating syphilis 195 00:14:15,516 --> 00:14:20,076 Speaker 1: varied between countries, but they shared an underlying concept. Women 196 00:14:20,236 --> 00:14:23,956 Speaker 1: should shoulder the blame for its transmission. If the state 197 00:14:23,996 --> 00:14:27,356 Speaker 1: could control the morally corrupt woman the disease is spreaders, 198 00:14:27,676 --> 00:14:32,236 Speaker 1: then the problem would be isolated. Sexually transmitted disease involves 199 00:14:32,476 --> 00:14:38,396 Speaker 1: two parties, of course, but male carriers were exempt from regulation. Unfortunately, 200 00:14:38,476 --> 00:14:42,716 Speaker 1: the idea that women, specifically female sex workers, are solely 201 00:14:42,756 --> 00:14:45,716 Speaker 1: responsible for the spread of disease and should be punished 202 00:14:45,756 --> 00:14:48,836 Speaker 1: for it, is one that we haven't left behind. There's 203 00:14:48,836 --> 00:14:51,876 Speaker 1: been a long history of sex workers being imprisoned under 204 00:14:51,956 --> 00:14:55,556 Speaker 1: public health justifications. Grace is a sex worker from the 205 00:14:55,676 --> 00:14:59,396 Speaker 1: UK who contacted me after reading my work on Elizabeth's life. 206 00:14:59,556 --> 00:15:01,876 Speaker 1: People fear that we will be seen as vector as 207 00:15:01,876 --> 00:15:05,796 Speaker 1: a disease, so unfortunately, these actually do still persist and 208 00:15:05,916 --> 00:15:07,836 Speaker 1: clients let you know about it. Leave me there, will 209 00:15:07,876 --> 00:15:12,716 Speaker 1: say things and you feel lange. In Elizabeth's time, as 210 00:15:12,756 --> 00:15:16,116 Speaker 1: for Grace today, attitudes and fears around the spread of 211 00:15:16,156 --> 00:15:20,996 Speaker 1: disease caused women real physical harm too. Syphilis inspections were 212 00:15:21,116 --> 00:15:25,396 Speaker 1: brutally rapid. Fifty women might be examined using the same 213 00:15:25,636 --> 00:15:29,796 Speaker 1: medical instrument in less than two hours, says Ann Hanley, 214 00:15:29,956 --> 00:15:33,516 Speaker 1: and that speculum was then passed to the attending nurse, 215 00:15:33,796 --> 00:15:37,036 Speaker 1: who sort of cursorily disinfected it the use of the 216 00:15:37,076 --> 00:15:41,516 Speaker 1: next patient. There's no way that these diagnostic examinations were thorough, 217 00:15:41,756 --> 00:15:44,396 Speaker 1: and there's no way that they were hygienic. In many cases, 218 00:15:44,476 --> 00:15:46,676 Speaker 1: women who may not have had a anereal disease were 219 00:15:46,716 --> 00:15:50,476 Speaker 1: being infected by the very process of examination to determine 220 00:15:50,516 --> 00:15:53,636 Speaker 1: whether or not they were infected. Even if women seemed 221 00:15:53,636 --> 00:15:56,316 Speaker 1: to respond to the rudimentary cures on offer and were 222 00:15:56,356 --> 00:16:01,316 Speaker 1: released from the hospital. Their slate wasn't white clean. Criminal 223 00:16:01,356 --> 00:16:04,516 Speaker 1: convictions followed those who had been inmates at lock hospitals, 224 00:16:04,996 --> 00:16:07,636 Speaker 1: and once a woman appeared on a police register, she 225 00:16:07,716 --> 00:16:11,956 Speaker 1: would not be able to secure respectable work. One of 226 00:16:11,956 --> 00:16:15,116 Speaker 1: the only ways that she could actually sustain herself would 227 00:16:15,156 --> 00:16:17,996 Speaker 1: be to resort to the profession she had been accused 228 00:16:17,996 --> 00:16:23,676 Speaker 1: of practicing prostitution. Inside, Elizabeth joined the ranks of women 229 00:16:23,716 --> 00:16:28,356 Speaker 1: who sold themselves on a notorious Gothenburg thoroughfare known mockingly 230 00:16:28,396 --> 00:16:33,716 Speaker 1: as the Street of many Nymphs. As open solicitation on 231 00:16:33,756 --> 00:16:37,436 Speaker 1: the street was forbidden, she would have traded discreetly indoors 232 00:16:37,716 --> 00:16:41,836 Speaker 1: at a brothel, perhaps or in a coffee house. Elizabeth 233 00:16:41,876 --> 00:16:44,876 Speaker 1: had been publicly denounced as a whore, had suffered the 234 00:16:44,916 --> 00:16:49,196 Speaker 1: indignity of police examination, had discovered she carried a potentially 235 00:16:49,236 --> 00:16:53,276 Speaker 1: deadly and disfiguring disease, and had been incarcerated and subjected 236 00:16:53,276 --> 00:16:57,636 Speaker 1: to excruciating medical procedures. Estranged from her family and from 237 00:16:57,716 --> 00:17:01,356 Speaker 1: respectable life, she had then been released onto the street, 238 00:17:01,996 --> 00:17:04,836 Speaker 1: with no friend to whom she could turn in the city. 239 00:17:05,676 --> 00:17:09,236 Speaker 1: It was now that the symptoms of syphilis returned and 240 00:17:09,396 --> 00:17:14,236 Speaker 1: medical incarceration was ordered once more. But just when things 241 00:17:14,276 --> 00:17:18,676 Speaker 1: looked to be at their bleakest, an opportunity appeared, one 242 00:17:18,716 --> 00:17:27,076 Speaker 1: that would change Elizabeth's life forever. The ripper retold, will 243 00:17:27,116 --> 00:17:38,396 Speaker 1: be back in just a moment. Sweden, like many European countries, 244 00:17:38,716 --> 00:17:43,076 Speaker 1: was witnessing a swell of interest in rescuing prostitutes. Middle 245 00:17:43,116 --> 00:17:47,036 Speaker 1: and upper class women sought to rehabilitate back into Christian life, 246 00:17:47,156 --> 00:17:50,076 Speaker 1: those who would otherwise have been lost to God. During 247 00:17:50,116 --> 00:17:53,236 Speaker 1: one visit to the Cahust, Elizabeth was picked out by 248 00:17:53,276 --> 00:17:57,116 Speaker 1: Maria Weisner, the wife of a German musician. The Weasners 249 00:17:57,116 --> 00:17:59,876 Speaker 1: were looking for a reasonably priced maid, and they offered 250 00:17:59,876 --> 00:18:04,476 Speaker 1: Elizabeth the job. This was an exceptional stroke of good fortune. 251 00:18:05,196 --> 00:18:08,316 Speaker 1: According to the law, employment and domestic service was the 252 00:18:08,436 --> 00:18:10,916 Speaker 1: only way, outside of marriage, that a woman on the 253 00:18:10,956 --> 00:18:14,356 Speaker 1: police register could have her name removed and thereby recover 254 00:18:14,436 --> 00:18:18,316 Speaker 1: her life and her reputation. That process of having one's 255 00:18:18,396 --> 00:18:21,916 Speaker 1: name struck from the register of shame required an employer 256 00:18:21,956 --> 00:18:24,916 Speaker 1: to write a letter of surety to the police. Maria 257 00:18:24,956 --> 00:18:29,636 Speaker 1: Weisner did just this. The servant maid, Elizabeth Gustafson, was 258 00:18:29,636 --> 00:18:32,036 Speaker 1: engaged in my service on November the tenth, and I 259 00:18:32,076 --> 00:18:34,716 Speaker 1: am responsible for her good conduct as long as she 260 00:18:34,796 --> 00:18:39,196 Speaker 1: stays in my service. Public Woman number ninety seven was 261 00:18:39,356 --> 00:18:44,436 Speaker 1: no more, and then Elizabeth received a further opportunity to 262 00:18:44,476 --> 00:18:49,156 Speaker 1: reinvent herself. Trade links between Gothenburg and Britain meant that 263 00:18:49,196 --> 00:18:52,916 Speaker 1: the city was home to a dynamic British community. It 264 00:18:52,996 --> 00:18:56,116 Speaker 1: was likely through this expat enclave that Elizabeth learned of 265 00:18:56,116 --> 00:18:59,036 Speaker 1: a position for a maid servant wishing to travel with 266 00:18:59,076 --> 00:19:03,356 Speaker 1: a British family back to London. Although Elizabeth was no 267 00:19:03,436 --> 00:19:06,676 Speaker 1: longer on the police register or working as a prostitute, 268 00:19:06,876 --> 00:19:10,876 Speaker 1: there were reminders of her former life everywhere in Gothenburg. 269 00:19:11,476 --> 00:19:13,876 Speaker 1: As long as she remained in the city, she would 270 00:19:13,916 --> 00:19:17,796 Speaker 1: never escape her past, and so the possibility of beginning 271 00:19:17,836 --> 00:19:21,196 Speaker 1: again in London as a housemaid to an affluent family 272 00:19:21,476 --> 00:19:26,476 Speaker 1: must have seemed a gift from providence. Elizabeth was still 273 00:19:26,516 --> 00:19:30,676 Speaker 1: just twenty two years old on the day she departed Sweden. 274 00:19:30,956 --> 00:19:34,276 Speaker 1: Snow lay thickly along the streets, and the canals were 275 00:19:34,356 --> 00:19:38,396 Speaker 1: slicked with ice. At the port dock, workers, sailors and 276 00:19:38,476 --> 00:19:42,516 Speaker 1: passengers were swathed in wool and fir against the sharp 277 00:19:42,636 --> 00:19:46,436 Speaker 1: cold as the peaks and domes of the city skyline 278 00:19:46,436 --> 00:19:50,156 Speaker 1: diminished from view. She could not have felt much remorse. 279 00:19:50,716 --> 00:19:54,676 Speaker 1: Gothenburg had left a cruel mark upon her, one that 280 00:19:54,756 --> 00:20:00,556 Speaker 1: would always remain no matter where she called home. When 281 00:20:00,596 --> 00:20:04,196 Speaker 1: she arrived in London, Elizabeth lived in an elegant townhouse 282 00:20:04,436 --> 00:20:06,996 Speaker 1: near one of the city's royal parks, where she worked 283 00:20:06,996 --> 00:20:11,276 Speaker 1: for a prosperous cosmopolitan. As a young woman in London, 284 00:20:11,356 --> 00:20:14,916 Speaker 1: with an exotic foreign accent, a high forehead, and dark 285 00:20:15,036 --> 00:20:18,436 Speaker 1: wavy hair, she would have caught the eye of many admirers. 286 00:20:18,836 --> 00:20:21,356 Speaker 1: A policeman courted her for a while, but due to 287 00:20:21,396 --> 00:20:26,316 Speaker 1: the long hours she worked, this relationship failed blossom. It's 288 00:20:26,356 --> 00:20:30,036 Speaker 1: possible that an all too familiar scandal led Elizabeth to 289 00:20:30,116 --> 00:20:33,916 Speaker 1: eventually quit or lose her job. She has been linked 290 00:20:33,956 --> 00:20:37,116 Speaker 1: to her employer's brother, though we cannot be sure what 291 00:20:37,276 --> 00:20:42,036 Speaker 1: occurred or who instigated it. Next, Elizabeth went to work 292 00:20:42,116 --> 00:20:45,556 Speaker 1: for one Missus Bond, who ran a genteel lodging house 293 00:20:45,596 --> 00:20:48,716 Speaker 1: near the furniture district, with a scent of freshly cut 294 00:20:48,716 --> 00:20:53,636 Speaker 1: mahogany and oak perfumed the air. Missus Bond let furnished 295 00:20:53,716 --> 00:20:58,476 Speaker 1: rooms through a respectable clientele as a well trained Swedish maid, 296 00:20:58,636 --> 00:21:02,756 Speaker 1: Elizabeth would have conferred a certain sophistication on her establishment, 297 00:21:02,956 --> 00:21:06,236 Speaker 1: though the drudgery of her chores would have been no different. 298 00:21:07,436 --> 00:21:10,876 Speaker 1: One day, Elizabeth was noticed by a forty seven year 299 00:21:10,916 --> 00:21:15,196 Speaker 1: old carpenter named John Stride. Perhaps they crossed paths on 300 00:21:15,316 --> 00:21:18,796 Speaker 1: multiple occasions, on the street moving to and from work, 301 00:21:18,996 --> 00:21:21,596 Speaker 1: or in the wooden stalls of the local coffee house, 302 00:21:21,716 --> 00:21:25,596 Speaker 1: drinking a dark sugared brew, whatever the case. By the 303 00:21:25,676 --> 00:21:29,076 Speaker 1: early months of eighteen sixty nine, the pair was engaged. 304 00:21:29,196 --> 00:21:32,076 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was twenty five at this point, and her fiance, 305 00:21:32,436 --> 00:21:37,276 Speaker 1: almost twice her age, was likely turning gray. John, who 306 00:21:37,316 --> 00:21:39,516 Speaker 1: had been a bachelor for many years, would have had 307 00:21:39,596 --> 00:21:43,396 Speaker 1: money put aside. He was also a teetotaler from a 308 00:21:43,476 --> 00:21:49,556 Speaker 1: religious Methodist family. After Elizabeth's tumultuous past and her experiences 309 00:21:49,556 --> 00:21:52,156 Speaker 1: of the harm that men could do her, he may 310 00:21:52,196 --> 00:21:57,396 Speaker 1: well have seemed like a safe and solid choice as 311 00:21:57,436 --> 00:22:00,876 Speaker 1: a woman, and one on her own in a strange country. 312 00:22:01,516 --> 00:22:05,676 Speaker 1: Elizabeth knew she would have to marry soon. They wed 313 00:22:05,796 --> 00:22:09,356 Speaker 1: quickly on the register. Elizabeth gave a false name for 314 00:22:09,396 --> 00:22:12,636 Speaker 1: her father, a move typical of an immigrant who wished 315 00:22:12,636 --> 00:22:15,396 Speaker 1: for no shadows of her former life to fall upon 316 00:22:15,516 --> 00:22:20,876 Speaker 1: this new chapter. This fresh beginning was marked by a 317 00:22:20,956 --> 00:22:25,156 Speaker 1: new adventure for the Strides. They opened their own coffee house. 318 00:22:25,996 --> 00:22:30,636 Speaker 1: These establishments offered simple meals of chops, kidneys, bread and butter, 319 00:22:30,836 --> 00:22:34,756 Speaker 1: pickles and eggs, along with cups of sugared coffee. No 320 00:22:35,156 --> 00:22:39,836 Speaker 1: alcohol was served. One observer notes they are convenient to 321 00:22:39,996 --> 00:22:43,116 Speaker 1: thousands of persons who have not the comforts of domesticity 322 00:22:43,156 --> 00:22:46,516 Speaker 1: at home. The food, fire, the bright light, the supply 323 00:22:46,556 --> 00:22:49,916 Speaker 1: of newspapers and magazines, and the cup of simple beverage 324 00:22:49,956 --> 00:22:53,876 Speaker 1: are obtainable for a few pence. The strides hours were 325 00:22:53,956 --> 00:22:58,836 Speaker 1: long ones, but for the first time, Elizabeth scrubbing, cooking, 326 00:22:58,996 --> 00:23:02,076 Speaker 1: washing and serving would have been performed not for the 327 00:23:02,076 --> 00:23:06,716 Speaker 1: benefit of an employer, but for herself. Sadly, the business 328 00:23:06,796 --> 00:23:10,556 Speaker 1: failed to thrive. The Stride were likely to have encountered 329 00:23:10,596 --> 00:23:15,436 Speaker 1: competition from pubs. In spite of the popularity of coffee houses, 330 00:23:15,756 --> 00:23:19,276 Speaker 1: not every working man was prepared to abandon the alcohol 331 00:23:19,356 --> 00:23:23,236 Speaker 1: and jolly camaraderie of the local public house, so they 332 00:23:23,276 --> 00:23:27,276 Speaker 1: moved the location of their establishment, hoping to attract better trade. 333 00:23:27,796 --> 00:23:31,876 Speaker 1: It's also likely that John was anticipating an inheritance from 334 00:23:31,916 --> 00:23:36,156 Speaker 1: his wealthy but miserly father. However, when the old man 335 00:23:36,276 --> 00:23:41,036 Speaker 1: passed away, John was written out of his will. The 336 00:23:41,116 --> 00:23:44,396 Speaker 1: collapse of their first coffee house would likely have left 337 00:23:44,396 --> 00:23:47,476 Speaker 1: a debt, and a second failing business would have only 338 00:23:47,556 --> 00:23:51,876 Speaker 1: increased their arrears. In order to keep his concern afloat, 339 00:23:52,196 --> 00:23:55,916 Speaker 1: John may have borrowed money, quite probably against the promise 340 00:23:55,956 --> 00:23:59,996 Speaker 1: of inheriting property. When his father's will left him disappointed, 341 00:24:00,156 --> 00:24:02,596 Speaker 1: there was nothing to be done but shut the door 342 00:24:02,676 --> 00:24:08,996 Speaker 1: for good on their hopes and dreams of betterment. John 343 00:24:09,116 --> 00:24:12,116 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth had no children in the years they were married. 344 00:24:12,596 --> 00:24:15,236 Speaker 1: Elizabeth syphilis would have put her at high risk of 345 00:24:15,356 --> 00:24:19,636 Speaker 1: miscarriage and stillbirth. She may also have been too ashamed 346 00:24:19,636 --> 00:24:22,716 Speaker 1: to confide in John about the disease, simply wishing to 347 00:24:22,756 --> 00:24:27,116 Speaker 1: bury her past. Bringing syphilis into the marital home was 348 00:24:27,156 --> 00:24:32,116 Speaker 1: a social disgrace and a tragedy, says medical historian Anne Hanley. 349 00:24:32,396 --> 00:24:36,356 Speaker 1: A woman who is seeking respectability and trying to put 350 00:24:36,596 --> 00:24:41,916 Speaker 1: an unrespectable past behind her would not want to dredge 351 00:24:41,996 --> 00:24:45,596 Speaker 1: up old ghosts when sort of embarking on their new life, 352 00:24:45,636 --> 00:24:47,996 Speaker 1: So it wouldn't surprise me that she didn't tell him, 353 00:24:48,396 --> 00:24:51,556 Speaker 1: And also when we think about the trajectory of syphilis, 354 00:24:51,876 --> 00:24:54,996 Speaker 1: with those periods of latency, passing through the secondary stage, 355 00:24:55,036 --> 00:24:58,036 Speaker 1: and then it disappearing for decades, it's possible that she 356 00:24:58,076 --> 00:25:00,556 Speaker 1: would have assumed herself to be free of disease, or 357 00:25:00,556 --> 00:25:02,556 Speaker 1: at least free of a disease that was communicable to 358 00:25:02,636 --> 00:25:04,676 Speaker 1: other people, so she may not have even seen a 359 00:25:04,796 --> 00:25:08,676 Speaker 1: need to tell him. There would have been social repercussions 360 00:25:08,676 --> 00:25:12,276 Speaker 1: for both Elizabeth and John if her syphilis and her 361 00:25:12,316 --> 00:25:15,676 Speaker 1: sexual past outside of marriage had been known. I think 362 00:25:15,716 --> 00:25:18,996 Speaker 1: there was an assumption also that a woman who deviated 363 00:25:19,076 --> 00:25:23,196 Speaker 1: from this standard role of sort of pure femininity was 364 00:25:23,276 --> 00:25:26,116 Speaker 1: in some way deranged, and a man who wanted to 365 00:25:26,156 --> 00:25:28,596 Speaker 1: marry a woman who had done this must also be deranged. 366 00:25:28,916 --> 00:25:31,076 Speaker 1: You know. This is all tied up with the assumption 367 00:25:31,116 --> 00:25:33,756 Speaker 1: that a woman's sexuality is very much bound to her 368 00:25:33,756 --> 00:25:36,436 Speaker 1: reproductive capacity, and that if she's not having sex for 369 00:25:36,476 --> 00:25:39,316 Speaker 1: the purposes of having children, there's something wrong with her. 370 00:25:40,076 --> 00:25:43,036 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's failure to become a mother in an era when 371 00:25:43,036 --> 00:25:46,836 Speaker 1: a woman's identity and purpose was defined by her fertility, 372 00:25:46,956 --> 00:25:51,596 Speaker 1: would have been devastating to her. The Stride's marriage soured, 373 00:25:51,836 --> 00:25:55,036 Speaker 1: the financial hardship wrought by the collapse of their business 374 00:25:55,156 --> 00:25:58,756 Speaker 1: and their inability to produce children may have contributed to 375 00:25:58,796 --> 00:26:03,516 Speaker 1: friction between them. It is also likely that Elizabeth had 376 00:26:03,516 --> 00:26:09,996 Speaker 1: begun to drink eight years after their union. Elizabeth left John. 377 00:26:10,956 --> 00:26:14,076 Speaker 1: She now had to use her wits to survive, and 378 00:26:14,196 --> 00:26:18,956 Speaker 1: she alighted on a new method of supporting herself, fraud. 379 00:26:21,636 --> 00:26:25,316 Speaker 1: The ripper retold, will be back in just a moment. 380 00:26:33,476 --> 00:26:36,116 Speaker 1: On the deck of the Princess Alice, the ship's band 381 00:26:36,236 --> 00:26:40,836 Speaker 1: played a rousing poker, and couples gathered to dance and sing. 382 00:26:41,716 --> 00:26:45,396 Speaker 1: Children chased each other across the slippery wooden floors, and 383 00:26:45,516 --> 00:26:50,716 Speaker 1: gentlemen read their newspapers. Lulled by the mild evening, others 384 00:26:50,756 --> 00:26:55,676 Speaker 1: were retiring to the cabins below deck, but the Bywell Castle, 385 00:26:56,036 --> 00:27:01,836 Speaker 1: a dark, hulking coal freighter, was closing first. Her iron 386 00:27:01,956 --> 00:27:07,836 Speaker 1: bow cut into the pleasure boat, slicing her into the 387 00:27:08,076 --> 00:27:13,156 Speaker 1: commuted water rushed into the Great yawned, and within minutes 388 00:27:13,476 --> 00:27:19,836 Speaker 1: the Princess Alice had disappeared. Panic stricken survivors clung to 389 00:27:19,996 --> 00:27:23,796 Speaker 1: any flotsam they could find, bobbing heads gasped for breath, 390 00:27:23,796 --> 00:27:26,876 Speaker 1: and the putrid water and cried out to loved ones. 391 00:27:28,156 --> 00:27:31,756 Speaker 1: Hundreds drowned or died later from the effects of their 392 00:27:31,836 --> 00:27:36,916 Speaker 1: time in the Thames. Bodies littered the river and shoreline 393 00:27:37,236 --> 00:27:44,996 Speaker 1: for days. But such chaos presents opportunities for some. There 394 00:27:45,076 --> 00:27:47,356 Speaker 1: was no headcount taken of the people who went on 395 00:27:47,396 --> 00:27:49,556 Speaker 1: the boat, so they were never entirely sure who had 396 00:27:49,556 --> 00:27:52,196 Speaker 1: been on it, which made it easier for people to 397 00:27:52,236 --> 00:27:55,156 Speaker 1: claim that, oh, my husband, my wife, they were on board, 398 00:27:55,236 --> 00:27:58,916 Speaker 1: they drowned, because how would you disprove that Nell Derby 399 00:27:59,036 --> 00:28:02,396 Speaker 1: is a crime historian. There were so many unscrupulous claims 400 00:28:02,396 --> 00:28:04,316 Speaker 1: as a result of that disaster, you know, and so 401 00:28:04,396 --> 00:28:08,036 Speaker 1: many claims rejected. And part of the issue is, of course, 402 00:28:08,076 --> 00:28:11,636 Speaker 1: that the relief was widely advertised. People knew there was 403 00:28:11,676 --> 00:28:13,716 Speaker 1: going to be money, There was going to be compensation. 404 00:28:14,596 --> 00:28:17,356 Speaker 1: Survivors and the families of the dead were urged to 405 00:28:17,356 --> 00:28:21,316 Speaker 1: come forward and claim that compensation. In the weeks that 406 00:28:21,396 --> 00:28:25,356 Speaker 1: followed the calamity, many invented sorrowful tales of their own 407 00:28:25,596 --> 00:28:29,556 Speaker 1: in an effort to cash in. Elizabeth, it seems, was 408 00:28:29,596 --> 00:28:34,436 Speaker 1: among them. She spun an elaborate yarn, colored with detailed 409 00:28:34,436 --> 00:28:39,276 Speaker 1: and drama, designed to beguile the listener. Elizabeth claimed that 410 00:28:39,316 --> 00:28:42,276 Speaker 1: she had been aboard the Princess Alice with John and 411 00:28:42,436 --> 00:28:46,316 Speaker 1: two of their nine children when the pleasure cruiser was struck. 412 00:28:46,396 --> 00:28:49,716 Speaker 1: They were separated. John had attempted to save the children, 413 00:28:49,876 --> 00:28:54,636 Speaker 1: but they were all snatched away by the river and drowned. Elizabeth, 414 00:28:54,716 --> 00:28:57,876 Speaker 1: who found herself within one of the ships collapsing funnels, 415 00:28:58,036 --> 00:29:00,396 Speaker 1: saw a rope that had been dropped by another boat 416 00:29:00,636 --> 00:29:04,036 Speaker 1: and grabbed for it. In climbing to safety, she was 417 00:29:04,196 --> 00:29:06,796 Speaker 1: kicked in the mouth by a man above her, which 418 00:29:06,876 --> 00:29:10,916 Speaker 1: damaged her palette. It's possible that at this point, in 419 00:29:10,956 --> 00:29:15,716 Speaker 1: telling her tall tale, Elizabeth revealed her syphilis ravaged mouth. 420 00:29:16,396 --> 00:29:18,596 Speaker 1: She went on to say that life as a widow 421 00:29:18,716 --> 00:29:22,476 Speaker 1: was fraught with hardship, and her remaining seven children were 422 00:29:22,516 --> 00:29:27,276 Speaker 1: in an orphanage. Elizabeth's name does not appear on the 423 00:29:27,356 --> 00:29:30,516 Speaker 1: list of survivors in the records of the relief Fund. 424 00:29:30,996 --> 00:29:33,476 Speaker 1: It is more likely that she peddled her story to 425 00:29:33,596 --> 00:29:38,916 Speaker 1: concerned individuals who might offer handouts. In the ensuing years, 426 00:29:38,956 --> 00:29:43,036 Speaker 1: she would retell this tale enough times to convince everyone 427 00:29:43,116 --> 00:29:48,396 Speaker 1: around her of its veracity. Alone, she moved to Whitechapel 428 00:29:48,436 --> 00:29:51,436 Speaker 1: and began working as a charwoman or day servant for 429 00:29:51,556 --> 00:29:57,596 Speaker 1: Jewish families there as recent immigrants who had escaped persecution 430 00:29:57,636 --> 00:30:00,956 Speaker 1: and Russia, Prussia and Ukraine. Most of these families did 431 00:30:00,996 --> 00:30:04,156 Speaker 1: not speak English, and so she learned to communicate with 432 00:30:04,236 --> 00:30:08,756 Speaker 1: them in Yiddish. Working for Jewish families would have also 433 00:30:08,836 --> 00:30:13,076 Speaker 1: offered Elizabeth some modicum of security. Fellow immigrants were not 434 00:30:13,316 --> 00:30:16,996 Speaker 1: usually eager to discuss their pasts, and they were therefore 435 00:30:17,156 --> 00:30:22,236 Speaker 1: unlikely to make any inquiries into hers. At this point, 436 00:30:22,356 --> 00:30:26,956 Speaker 1: Elizabeth had learnt that shedding identities were simple. She was Swedish, 437 00:30:27,196 --> 00:30:29,956 Speaker 1: but she could speak English well enough to fool people. 438 00:30:30,476 --> 00:30:33,436 Speaker 1: She may also have claimed to be Irish at times, 439 00:30:33,756 --> 00:30:38,996 Speaker 1: using the name Annie Fitzgerald. And then, in eighteen eighty three, 440 00:30:39,436 --> 00:30:42,796 Speaker 1: fate through the thirty nine year old Elizabeth into the 441 00:30:42,916 --> 00:30:47,036 Speaker 1: path of a woman named Mary Malcolm A Taylor. S 442 00:30:47,956 --> 00:30:52,276 Speaker 1: years spent squinting over a needle had ruined missus Malcolm's eyesight. 443 00:30:52,996 --> 00:30:57,236 Speaker 1: Her attraction to the bottle probably didn't help matters. One day, 444 00:30:57,396 --> 00:31:00,356 Speaker 1: perhaps on the street or in a pub, she glimpsed 445 00:31:00,356 --> 00:31:04,956 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's stride and was convinced it was her estranged sister. 446 00:31:05,716 --> 00:31:10,316 Speaker 1: Mary had probably called out her sister's name, and Elizabeth 447 00:31:10,396 --> 00:31:15,276 Speaker 1: had duly and conveniently answered. The mistaken identity stuck in 448 00:31:15,436 --> 00:31:19,676 Speaker 1: part because Elizabeth was all too pleased to use this 449 00:31:19,716 --> 00:31:24,116 Speaker 1: new relationship to her advantage. Knowing that her real, long 450 00:31:24,156 --> 00:31:27,556 Speaker 1: lost sister had led a hard life, including at least 451 00:31:27,596 --> 00:31:31,396 Speaker 1: two marriages and a period spent in an asylum, Mary 452 00:31:31,556 --> 00:31:35,276 Speaker 1: was inclined to believe that the by now bedraggled and 453 00:31:35,396 --> 00:31:41,556 Speaker 1: impoverished Elizabeth was this same person. Mary felt compelled to 454 00:31:41,596 --> 00:31:44,476 Speaker 1: assist her, and for the next five years, the two 455 00:31:44,516 --> 00:31:48,356 Speaker 1: women met at least once a week. Every Saturday. At 456 00:31:48,396 --> 00:31:52,676 Speaker 1: four o'clock, Mary handed over two shillings the equivalent of 457 00:31:52,796 --> 00:31:57,996 Speaker 1: over fifty dollars today. At one point, Elizabeth left a 458 00:31:58,196 --> 00:32:03,836 Speaker 1: naked baby girl outside Mary's door. Mary naturally concluded that 459 00:32:03,836 --> 00:32:08,436 Speaker 1: this was Elizabeth's child and therefore her niece, though it 460 00:32:08,556 --> 00:32:12,396 Speaker 1: was more likely that Elizabeth had temporarily acquired the infant 461 00:32:12,596 --> 00:32:16,396 Speaker 1: for the purposes of begging. Such begging scams were common. 462 00:32:16,596 --> 00:32:19,316 Speaker 1: They were one of the many ways that destitute women 463 00:32:19,356 --> 00:32:24,956 Speaker 1: made ends meet. Crucially, women tended to target other women. 464 00:32:26,676 --> 00:32:29,036 Speaker 1: Prostitution was very much a last resort for these women 465 00:32:29,156 --> 00:32:31,396 Speaker 1: if they could find another way. To get some money 466 00:32:31,396 --> 00:32:33,796 Speaker 1: in then that's what they would do. So you've got 467 00:32:33,916 --> 00:32:36,956 Speaker 1: women who go out claiming that their husband's broken, their leg, 468 00:32:37,116 --> 00:32:40,876 Speaker 1: can't work anymore, and they need financial support. You've got 469 00:32:40,876 --> 00:32:43,556 Speaker 1: women claiming that they've been left stranded in England and 470 00:32:43,556 --> 00:32:45,316 Speaker 1: they need to get back to their country of origin. 471 00:32:45,396 --> 00:32:47,636 Speaker 1: Can they have some money to help them do that? 472 00:32:47,996 --> 00:32:51,356 Speaker 1: And these women tend to target other women who are 473 00:32:51,356 --> 00:32:55,116 Speaker 1: just passing by. They'll see the women and they immediately 474 00:32:55,116 --> 00:32:58,836 Speaker 1: start feigning illness or feigning some sort of situation to 475 00:32:58,956 --> 00:33:02,196 Speaker 1: get those women sympathy. And as part of that, you've 476 00:33:02,196 --> 00:33:04,876 Speaker 1: then got these begging scams where they kind of use 477 00:33:04,956 --> 00:33:08,516 Speaker 1: a child or the pretense of a child to get sympathy. 478 00:33:09,236 --> 00:33:11,996 Speaker 1: Get some women who go along with their own children 479 00:33:12,356 --> 00:33:14,716 Speaker 1: and saying, oh, my son or daughter's ill, can you 480 00:33:14,756 --> 00:33:17,676 Speaker 1: give me money. But then you've got women who also 481 00:33:17,796 --> 00:33:20,516 Speaker 1: kind of bundle up rags, hide them under their shawl, 482 00:33:20,556 --> 00:33:23,836 Speaker 1: and when they see a woman walking past, pretend to 483 00:33:23,836 --> 00:33:26,796 Speaker 1: be talking to the child and saying, oh, you know, 484 00:33:26,916 --> 00:33:29,876 Speaker 1: my poor child, they're really ill, they're really sick, can 485 00:33:29,916 --> 00:33:32,996 Speaker 1: you give me money. Some women would even go out 486 00:33:33,036 --> 00:33:36,356 Speaker 1: and hire sick children, particularly those were a bad cough, 487 00:33:36,836 --> 00:33:38,916 Speaker 1: They would take the child with them and knock on 488 00:33:38,996 --> 00:33:41,956 Speaker 1: doors asking for money. This was a well known ruse 489 00:33:42,316 --> 00:33:46,036 Speaker 1: designed to tug on both the heart and the purse strings. 490 00:33:46,476 --> 00:33:50,356 Speaker 1: Elizabeth eventually returned for the baby. Later, when Mary asked 491 00:33:50,396 --> 00:33:53,156 Speaker 1: after the infant, Elizabeth lied and said that she had 492 00:33:53,196 --> 00:33:55,796 Speaker 1: taken the girl to live with family in another city. 493 00:33:56,916 --> 00:34:00,596 Speaker 1: Mary would meet Elizabeth in secret, and she never invited 494 00:34:00,636 --> 00:34:05,156 Speaker 1: her into her home. Perhaps deep down, Mary had her 495 00:34:05,196 --> 00:34:09,436 Speaker 1: suspicions about Elizabeth's true identity, but so long as she 496 00:34:09,516 --> 00:34:13,996 Speaker 1: kept Elizabeth at arm's length, she could continue to fool herself. 497 00:34:15,316 --> 00:34:19,676 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was secretive and deceitful. She'd learned how to milk 498 00:34:19,876 --> 00:34:24,316 Speaker 1: human gullibility for financial gain. There may have been something 499 00:34:24,396 --> 00:34:28,556 Speaker 1: else going on here too, see I wonder where Elizabeth, 500 00:34:28,716 --> 00:34:32,116 Speaker 1: whether it's also about her identity, trying to find an 501 00:34:32,196 --> 00:34:35,716 Speaker 1: identity for herself, trying to get sympathy or affection of 502 00:34:35,916 --> 00:34:37,916 Speaker 1: other people in a way that she hadn't had in 503 00:34:37,956 --> 00:34:40,916 Speaker 1: her earlier life. When she comes to London, she's always 504 00:34:40,916 --> 00:34:43,116 Speaker 1: trying to seek that, trying to get sympathy for people, 505 00:34:43,316 --> 00:34:47,036 Speaker 1: not just for monetary reasons, but she's trying to recreate 506 00:34:47,076 --> 00:34:49,156 Speaker 1: herself in a way, trying to get herself an identity 507 00:34:49,156 --> 00:34:53,356 Speaker 1: where people care about her and worry about her. Then 508 00:34:53,436 --> 00:34:56,196 Speaker 1: Elizabeth lost one of the few people in her life 509 00:34:56,196 --> 00:35:00,356 Speaker 1: who had cared about her. John's health had been deteriorating 510 00:35:00,396 --> 00:35:03,756 Speaker 1: for some time. He was admitted to a workhouse infirmary, 511 00:35:03,876 --> 00:35:09,316 Speaker 1: where he died of heart disease age sixty three. Over 512 00:35:09,356 --> 00:35:12,876 Speaker 1: the years, John and Elizabeth had reconnected again and again, 513 00:35:13,356 --> 00:35:17,356 Speaker 1: and then separated again and again too. After his burial, 514 00:35:17,596 --> 00:35:23,196 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's life began spiraling rapidly downward. Desperate from money, she 515 00:35:23,236 --> 00:35:25,996 Speaker 1: appears to have returned the type of labor she had 516 00:35:26,036 --> 00:35:32,676 Speaker 1: abandoned so many years ago in Sweden, selling sex. Elizabeth's 517 00:35:32,756 --> 00:35:35,236 Speaker 1: name appears on the ledgers of the magistrates court for 518 00:35:35,316 --> 00:35:38,876 Speaker 1: soliciting sex on the street in eighteen eighty four. The 519 00:35:38,996 --> 00:35:41,596 Speaker 1: court felt there was enough evidence to convict her, and 520 00:35:41,716 --> 00:35:46,836 Speaker 1: she was sentenced to seven days hard labor. Shortly afterwards, 521 00:35:46,956 --> 00:35:50,756 Speaker 1: Elizabeth met another man, a dock worker called Michael Kidney. 522 00:35:51,756 --> 00:35:55,756 Speaker 1: Their relationship was a violent one. The pair rented a 523 00:35:55,796 --> 00:36:00,236 Speaker 1: series of dingy rooms together in Whitechapel. Both enjoyed drinking 524 00:36:00,236 --> 00:36:03,396 Speaker 1: to excess, and in the years leading up to her murder. 525 00:36:03,636 --> 00:36:07,956 Speaker 1: Elizabeth was repeatedly arrested not for soliciting, but for drunken 526 00:36:07,956 --> 00:36:14,196 Speaker 1: disorderliness an obscene language. Her erratic and violent behavior can 527 00:36:14,236 --> 00:36:17,276 Speaker 1: be attributed in part to her drinking, but there may 528 00:36:17,316 --> 00:36:21,316 Speaker 1: have been something else at work here too. It had 529 00:36:21,356 --> 00:36:25,236 Speaker 1: been over twenty years since Elizabeth had contracted syphilis, and 530 00:36:25,316 --> 00:36:28,036 Speaker 1: the disease may well have been attacking her brain and 531 00:36:28,156 --> 00:36:32,276 Speaker 1: nervous system. As part of its final phase. She had 532 00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:37,796 Speaker 1: also begun to suffer from epileptic seizures. Elizabeth had recognized 533 00:36:37,836 --> 00:36:40,636 Speaker 1: that the world didn't care about her or about what 534 00:36:40,796 --> 00:36:43,676 Speaker 1: happened to her, and she chose to use this to 535 00:36:43,756 --> 00:36:49,156 Speaker 1: her advantage. She weaponized her anonymity, reinventing herself at will. 536 00:36:50,396 --> 00:36:54,956 Speaker 1: Did anyone truly know Elizabeth Stride? As the summer of 537 00:36:55,036 --> 00:36:59,076 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight turned autumn, the opportunities for anyone to 538 00:36:59,196 --> 00:37:03,036 Speaker 1: forge a genuine connection with this sick and troubled woman 539 00:37:03,156 --> 00:37:08,436 Speaker 1: were fading fast. Elizabeth's shadowy life on the margins was 540 00:37:08,476 --> 00:37:12,516 Speaker 1: about to at her directly into the path of a murderer. 541 00:37:25,036 --> 00:37:27,076 Speaker 1: Bad women. The Ripper were told is brought to you 542 00:37:27,156 --> 00:37:30,636 Speaker 1: by Pushkin Industries and me Hallie Ribbinhold and is based 543 00:37:30,676 --> 00:37:33,476 Speaker 1: on my book The Five. It was produced and co 544 00:37:33,596 --> 00:37:36,356 Speaker 1: written by Ryan Dilley and Alice Fines, with help from 545 00:37:36,356 --> 00:37:39,956 Speaker 1: Pete Norton. Pascal Wise Sound designed and mixed the show 546 00:37:40,236 --> 00:37:43,476 Speaker 1: and composed all the original music. You also heard the 547 00:37:43,556 --> 00:37:47,596 Speaker 1: voice talents of Soul Boyer, Melanie Gutridge, Gemma Saunders, and 548 00:37:47,676 --> 00:37:51,236 Speaker 1: Rufus Wright. The show also wouldn't have been possible without 549 00:37:51,236 --> 00:37:55,996 Speaker 1: the work of Mia LaBelle, Jacob Weisberg, Jen Guerra, Heather Fane, 550 00:37:56,396 --> 00:38:02,116 Speaker 1: Carlie Migliori, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano and Daniella Lakhan were 551 00:38:02,196 --> 00:38:05,596 Speaker 1: special thanks to my agents, Sarah Ballard and Ellie Karen 552 00:38:26,076 --> 00:38:26,116 Speaker 1: Do