It’s The Night of the Double Murder

Today, September 30th, is the anniversary of the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. So what better night to take a Jack the Ripper Tour through the very streets where the murders occurred.

As the 29th September gave way to the 30th September in 1888, the people of the East End had begun to believe that their ordeal was over. There had, after all, been no further murders since that of Annie Chapman on the 8th of the month.

The local prostitutes, many of whom had withdrawn from the streets of the area in the wake of the murder of Annie Chapman, were beginning to solicit openly on the streets once more.

At 1am on the 30TH, a carter, hawker and club steward turned his pony and cart into a dark gateway in Berner Street. As he did so, his pony shied and stopped. Climbing down from his cart the man discovered the body of a woman lying on the ground. Her name was Elizabeth Stride and her throat had been cut, but the rest of her body had not been touched.

This led the police to the supposition that the murderer had been interrupted by the arrival of the pony and cart and that he had then fled the scene without carrying out his intended mutilations.

However, the murderer wasn’t finished yet. Just 45 minutes later, and a short distance to the north west of Berner Street, PC Watkins of the City Police, turned into Mitre Square and found the horrifically mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes.

It transpired that the general sigh of relief that the area as a whole had recently breathed in the belief that the killing spree had ended was premature. The murderer was back. Furthermore, within a few days of what became known as the “double event”, the police would make public a letter that the murderer may have sent to a London News Agency.

That letter bore the chilling signature ‘Jack The Ripper.’ The Whitechapel Murderer was about to be given the name that would elevate him into the realm of legend.

Our Jack the Ripper Walk will be taking place tonight at 7pm.