Judge, Jury, and Jack the Ripper

Griffin Ziemba.

Mutilation of bodies. One of the most unsettling cases to ever take place. It is a difficult concept to comprehend, knowing that another human was capable of an act so immoral. A terrifying notion knowing this person had substantial knowledge of human anatomy. Prostitutes around the Whitechapel District of London were terrorized by this psycho. Despite the work of the London Metropolitan Police Service, the identity and motives of this monstrosity were unknown. The killer taunted the police with letters, going down in history as the infamous Jack the Ripper.

In the late 1800s, the Whitechapel district of London’s East End was disrupted with murder and mutilation of prostitutes. The wicked efforts of Jack the Ripper have shaped the genre of true crime to this day. What separates Jack the Ripper from other murderers aren’t the murders themselves, rather the anatomic work he conducted on the bodies of the victims. Since this was during 1888, the police in London lacked forensic endeavors, such as fingerprinting and blood sampling, which had them at a complete loss for suspects. Over the course of investigation, they questioned dozens of possible suspects. The police received letters with information that only they and the killer would know. They were signed by the name Jack the Ripper.

During this Victorian era, the poor populated the majority of the rough and poorly lit area of Whitechapel. Because of this, many women were forced to resort to prostitution. Jack the Ripper targeted five women, as they were victims of his butcherings. These murders have been described has some of the most brutal, savage murders of all time. People believed that he was surgically trained due to the incision and removal of specific organs from the bodies of his victims. Due to these suspicions, various medical doctors were put on the list of possible suspects. One of these men, known as Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, was a medical student who later became an abortionist. With the news of an unwanted child, Cream performed an abortion on his wife and nearly killed her. He was recognized as the Lambeth Poisoner. Cream was blamed for many of the deaths of his patients who were victims of his fatal poisoning. Responsible for four deaths of London prostitutes, he was hanged. In his final breath, he claimed to be Jack the Ripper. It was discovered that Cream was incarcerated during Jack the Ripper’s killing spree, ruling him out from the suspect list.

Jack the Ripper’s casualties were found with cut throats, from ear to ear, and intestines ripped out from their stomachs. One of these victims were discovered without a uterus or kidney and was left completely eviscerated. A package sent to George Lusk, the Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, contained half of the missing kidney. In the letter, Jack states that he preserved it for said Chairman and that he had eaten the other piece. About four out of the five killings were determined to have transpired on Dorset Street in the East End of London. Studies have claimed that this location was chosen by the killer carefully, considering features surrounding the area such as the overcrowded houses that lined up on the narrow street scene. He wanted a site in which he’d be able to easily blend into the surroundings where he couldn’t be depicted.

During this Victorian era, a new area of business set into place: body dealing. As the number of medical students was on the rise, the need for cadavers to dissect for educational purposes increased as well. Countless amounts of dealers were generally paid by anatomists who worked at hospitals in the East End, such as the St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, the London Hospital, and Guys Hospital. Body dealers usually contained a tight knit group of accomplices who they could trust to not go to the police. Although it was legal to supply bodies for anatomy, profiting off of these transactions was an illegal activity. The anatomy trade system was the cause that motivated Jack to be able to go under the Metropolitan’s Police radar. It has been stated that if Jack the Ripper did bear medical skills, then body dealing would’ve been an excellent cover for his brutal illustrations.

Stemming from the suggestion that Jack the Ripper was a body dealer, it was suspected that he may have worked in a slaughterhouse. The meat industry was booming at the time, yet it was a highly dangerous environment for workers. Not only was their risk of increased accidents, but it also took a toll on their psychological health. It was a tremendous underpaying occupation, with long, dreadful work hours. Studies have proven that arrests for crimes such as rape and other sex offenses were increased among slaughterhouse workers. In addition to these violent crimes, it’s suspected that these may have originated from forms of animal cruelty. The effects that slaughterhouses had on both humans and animals are deeply disturbing to learn about. Even with all this evidence, there was a large number of slaughterhouses that dwelled in many of the districts in which the murders took place.

The fascination of Jack the Ripper doesn’t string directly from the need to uncover his true identity. What’s truly captivating is the story of his crimes in the society and times in which they took place. For over a century, people have been intrigued with his obscure creations. More movies and books have been made about Jack the Ripper than any other murderer in history. The fabrication of interest with Jack the Ripper stems from the fact that no one was ever charged with these crimes.

Citations

History.com Editors. “Jack the Ripper's First Victim Murdered.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb. 2010, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jack-the-ripper-claims-first-victim.

History.com Editors. “Jack the Ripper.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 8 Nov. 2010, https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/jack-the-ripper.

Hurren, Elizabeth. “Dissecting Jack-the-Ripper : An Anatomy of Murder in the Metropolis.” Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, Droz, 1 Dec. 2018, https://journals.openedition.org/chs/1667?lang=en.

Knight, Andrew, and Katherine D. Watson. “Was Jack the Ripper a Slaughterman? Human-Animal Violence and the World's Most Infamous Serial Killer.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 10 Apr. 2017, https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/7/4/30/htm.

MedicalBag.com Editors. “The Doctor Is Cleared: Jack the Ripper Reportedly Identified.” Medical Bag, 14 Jan. 2019, https://www.medicalbag.com/home/features/despicable-doctors/the-doctor-is-cleared-jack-the-ripper-reportedly-identified/.