In 1894, the residents of the district of Kensington, in west London, were subjected to series of unprovoked attacks by a mysterious veiled woman who stabbed several women with a sharp object.
The attacks for a time caused a great deal of consternation in the district and were, in some ways, on a par with the Jack the Ripper atrocities of six years previously.
The Tamworth Herald took up the story in its edition of Saturday the 8th of December, 1894:-
MYSTERIOUS OUTRAGES IN LONDON
A fortnight ago a Mrs. Haynes, caretaker, who is employed in one of the adjacent mansions, was proceeding through Stanhope Gardens towards her home between ten and eleven o’clock at night, when she was accosted by a woman dressed in black, wearing a thick veil, and apparently about thirty years of age, who stopped her with an enquiry respecting some place in the locality.
After a few moments the unknown woman, who spoke in a somewhat husky voice, said abruptly:- “Is this the way to Queen’s Gate?”
Mrs. Hayes replied in the affirmative, at the same time indicating with her arm the direction in which she was to proceed.
A VIOLENT BLOW WITH A SHARP OBJECT
Almost instantaneously, and without another word, the woman raised her hand and struck Mrs. Haynes a violent blow with some sharp instrument in the face, inflicting a wound just below one of the eyes.
The woman at the same time exclaimed, “Take that,” and walked away.
NO SIGN OF THE WOMAN
Mrs. Haynes screamed loudly, and in a few moments a constable arrived.
The constable made a hurried search for the woman, who by this time had completely disappeared. He then again turned his attention to the victim, who was bleeding profusely from the wound in her face.
Assistance was procured, and she was conveyed to St. George’s Hospital, where she was detained as an in-patient.
ANOTHER ATTACK
About eleven o’clock, a week later, a girl employed at a house in Stanhope Gardens was returning to her employer’s residence, when she was accosted, in precisely the same manner as Mrs. Haynes had previously been, by a woman whose description she has been able to give, and which closely tallies with that of Mrs. Haynes’s assailant.
The strange woman asked the girl the nearest way to Stanhope Gardens.
The girl replied, “This is Stanhope Gardens.”
STABBED IN THE FACE
Thereupon the woman immediately made an attack upon her, stabbing her in the face with some sharp instrument, and inflicting a wound, which, however, is not of a very serious character.
In striking the blow, the woman, used precisely the same words as in the case of Mrs. Haynes.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE ATTACKER
The following is a description of the assailant:-
About 30 years of age, 5ft. 2in. in height, dressed in a dark jacket and dress, wearing a thick black veil.
AN INTERVIEW WITH MRS. HAYNES
Mrs. Sarah Haynes, the victim of the first affair, was interviewed in Cholmondeley Ward of the St. George’s Hospital.
In the course of it she said:- “Is this Prince’s Gate?”
It was undoubtedly a woman’s voice.
I turned a little to one side intending to say, “No; this is Queens Gate.”
THE ATTACK BEGINS
Before I could even catch a glimpse of her face or get further than the word ‘Queen’s,’ her left arm was thrown around my neck, and in a moment I was stabbed with some sharp instrument through the eye.
She plunged the weapon into my forehead just above the right brow, and I am told by the doctors that it passed through the back of the eye. It was a terrible gash.
She caught me from behind with her left arm, and stabbed me twice in rapid succession.
She did not draw out the weapon after the first blow, but partly drew it out slowly and then plunged it in again, at the same time exclaiming, ‘Take that, old woman.’
She then let and ran back towards “Sussex Place.
The eye was removed by the doctors here.”
A great sensation has been caused in the vicinity by the affairs.