1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,160 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Eves. I just wanted to let you 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: know that you'll be hearing an episode from me and 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: an episode from Tracy V. Wilson today. I hope you 4 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: enjoyed the show. Welcome to this Day in History class 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: from how Stuff Works dot com and from the desk 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: of Stuff you Missed in History Class. It's the show 7 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: where we explore the past one day at a time 8 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: with a quick look at what happened today in history. Hello, 9 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and 10 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: it's August thirty one. The body of Mary Anne Nichols, 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,199 Speaker 1: who was known as Polly, was found on this day 12 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: in eight She was the first of the five canonical 13 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: victims of Jack the Ripper. Those five canonical murders happened 14 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,239 Speaker 1: between August thirty one and November n in order of 15 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: when their bodies were found. They were Maryanne Nichols and Chapman, 16 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Stride, Catherine ETOs and Mary Jane Kelly. And these 17 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: five murders happened with a series of other killings in 18 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: Whitechapel in the East end of London. Sometimes eleven total 19 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: murders are looped together as the White Chapel murders. Sometimes 20 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: all eleven are attributed to Jack the Ripper, but those 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: five are considered the canonical five. All of them were 22 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 1: or had been sex workers. All but one was killed 23 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: while soliciting customers. They were all also intoxicated at the 24 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: time or were known to abuse alcohol. When Nichols was murdered, 25 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: she was in her early forties and she had five children. 26 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: She and her husband had separated, and she had fallen 27 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: on really hard times. She was living in extreme poverty. 28 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: She was living in a series of workhouses, and she 29 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: was getting lodging in rooming houses when she had the 30 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: money to do it. That money mostly came from begging 31 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: and from sex work. But if she didn't have any money, 32 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: and if there was no room in the workhouse, she 33 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: had nowhere to stay. And about two o'clock in the 34 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: morning on August thirty one, she was thrown out of 35 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: the kitchen of the rooming house where she had been 36 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: staying because she didn't have the money to pay. But 37 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: she said she would go get the money, and she 38 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: went out into the street to look for clients. Somebody 39 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: else from the rooming house saw her a little bit later, 40 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: and she was very clearly intoxicated. Then, at about three 41 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: forty five in the morning, two carters were on their 42 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: way to work through bucks Row, which was basically an alley. 43 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 1: One of them saw what looked like a tarp or 44 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: pile of rags, went over to investigate, and he called 45 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: the other one over when he realized that it was 46 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: a woman. They weren't entirely sure whether she was alive 47 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: or not. They didn't stay to help because they were 48 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: late for work, but they didn't tell a constable what 49 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: they had seen. When the constable came, he realized this 50 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: was a dead woman, that her throat had been cut 51 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: from ear to ear, her abdomen and her groin had 52 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: also been mutilated. And the wake of nichols murder and 53 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: the killings that followed, the people in Whitechapel were terrified. 54 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: It became a public panic about the possibility of a 55 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: brutal serial killer who could have been anyone. It could 56 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: have been somebody that you know, And in spite of 57 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: extensive investigations and increased police patrolling in the area, he 58 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: was never captured. One day, the killings just stopped because 59 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: nobody knew it was the last killing. They kept waiting 60 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: for the next killing. We don't know who Jack the 61 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: Ripper is. Of course, he's generally believed to be a man. 62 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,679 Speaker 1: The name was coined in a letter purportedly from him 63 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: to the Central News Agency, although probably this was concocted 64 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:32,399 Speaker 1: as a publicity stunt by the staff, and since, hundreds 65 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: of people have been brought forth as suspects for being 66 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: Jack the Ripper. A lot of these suspects have been 67 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: doctors or butchers, because the killer seemed to have some 68 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: familiarity with human anatomy. But really they just range all 69 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: over the place, everybody from Louis Carroll to H. H. Holmes, 70 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: who later lured victims into a so called murder castle 71 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: during the Columbian Exposition. This one led to an exhimation 72 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: of his remains on a whole TV series about it, 73 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: and the Jack the Ripper murders continue to be entrenched 74 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: in the public imagination. There are hundreds of books about 75 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: the actual murders and about fictionalized versions of the murders, 76 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: or novels that based themselves off of the Jack the 77 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: Ripper story in some way, and of course there are 78 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,919 Speaker 1: also dozens of movies. Thanks to Christopher Haciotis for his 79 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: research or work on today's episode. You can subscribe to 80 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: the Stay in History Class on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, 81 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: and wherever else you get your podcasts, and you can 82 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow for a terrifying dive and a dramatic rescue. 83 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: Welcome back to this Day in History class, where we 84 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: reveal a new piece of history every day. The day 85 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: it was August one, nineteen sixty three, Prime Minister of 86 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: Singapore Lee Kuan You, declared de facto independence for Singapore. 87 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: It wasn't until two years later, on August ninth, nineteen 88 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: sixty five, when Singapore left the Federation of Malaysia and 89 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: became an independent sovereign nation. In nineteen fifty nine, Singapore 90 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: held national elections and the People's Association Party or p 91 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: a P one forty three of the fifty one seats 92 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: in the Legislative Assembly. The p a P was founded 93 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty four as a pro independence political party. 94 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: After the elections, it became the first fully elected post 95 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: colonial government. Singapore gained a great degree of self rule, 96 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: and the p a P appointed Lee Kuang You the 97 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 1: Prime Minister of Singapore. The Federation of Malaya was made 98 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: up of the nine Malay states and the Straits settlements 99 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: of Penang and Malacca. It had replaced the Malayan Union, 100 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: which was a British Crown colony, and it gained its 101 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: independence within the Commonwealth of Nations on August thirty one, 102 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven. The leadership of the p a P 103 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: thought that Singapore, which was small with few resources, would 104 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: fare better if it united with the Federation of Malaya. 105 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: In a nineteen sixty two referendum, seventy one of people 106 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 1: voted in favor of this merger, and on August thirty one, 107 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three, Prime Minister at Li Kuan You declared 108 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: Singapore's independence from British rule from the steps of City Hall. 109 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: In order to push for the merger, he pledged Singapore's 110 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: loyalty to the Federal government in Kuala Lumpur. At the 111 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: ceremonial rally, Lee said, we have the will and the 112 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: wherewithal to be a nation in our own right. That 113 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: is the right that we the people of Singapore today proclaim. 114 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: But the British government denied that this speech meant Singapore 115 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: was de facto independent. The federal and British government's questioned 116 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: the legality and validity of Singapore's claim to powers over 117 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: its defense and external affairs. The Federation of Malaysia was 118 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: supposed to be inaugurated on this day to coincide with 119 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: the date of Malayan independence, but that was postponed until 120 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: September six so that the United Nations could have more 121 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: time to determine whether people in the Borneo territories of 122 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: Saba and Sarawak wanted to be part of Malaysia. On 123 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: September six, Singapore united with the Federation of Malaya, Saba 124 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: and Sarawak to form Malaysia. The p a P one 125 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: thirty seven seats in a general election five days later, 126 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: but that union did not last long. Malay and in 127 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: Singaporean leaders could not agree on political approach and economic 128 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: and racial policy. Singaporean politicians were unhappy with provisions in 129 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: the Malaysian constitution that gave the ethnic Malay majority special privileges, 130 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: and Malaysian politicians thought that Singapore's mostly Chinese population was 131 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: a threat to their Malay heritage. The P A P 132 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: and the United malays National Organization, the other major political 133 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: party in Malaysia, accused one another of communalism, racial violence 134 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 1: broke out in Singapore in nineteen sixty four, and Malaysia's 135 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: parliament voted to expel Singapore from Malaysia. The two parties 136 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: agreed to a two year truth in September of nineteen 137 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,320 Speaker 1: sixty four, but tensions did not ease by nineteen sixty five. 138 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:58,319 Speaker 1: On August nine, nineteen sixty five, Singapore separated from Malaysia. 139 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: The proclaim nation declaring Singapore's independence was announced on Radio 140 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,839 Speaker 1: Singapore at ten am that day. Singapore TV also aired 141 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: a press conference that Lee called for. He explained that 142 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: the separation needed to happen even though he believed in 143 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: the merger. Lee's statements had a much sadder tone than 144 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: his announcement on August thirty one, nineteen sixty three, and 145 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: the initial response was disappointment. Now National Day in Singapore 146 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,599 Speaker 1: is celebrated on August nine. Independence Day in Malaysia is 147 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: August thirty one. I'm Eave Jeffcode and hopefully you know 148 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 149 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: You can learn more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 150 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: and Instagram. At t D I h C podcast. Come 151 00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: back tomorrow for another tidbit from history. Yeah, For more 152 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 153 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.