Although it is apparent that the police believed the Whitechapel Murders had ended by 1892, it is apparent from several newspaper reports that the newspapers were still scouring the crime reports for any hint that Jack the Ripper had returned to his old haunts in the East End of London.
AN ATTACK ON AN UNFORTUNATE
On Tuesday 22nd November 1892 The Citizen, a Gloucester newspaper, was able to inform its readers of a “sensation – none-other than the revival of the “Jack the Ripper” scare.
The subsequent report concerned an 18 year old girl who was “of the unfortunate class” by the name of Emily Edith Smith, alias Norton, who had contacted the Criminal Investigation Department to say that she had “narrowly escaped murder in Whitechapel, at the hands of a man whom she had met in Cheapside.”
A WELL AIMED KNEE DETERRRED THE ATTACKER
The spirited Miss Norton, or Smith, was able to administer a well aimed knee to the man’s crotch, which caused him to utter “My God”, whereupon, evidently terrified by the prospect of further retribution from his victim he, according to the newspaper, “fled for his life.”
THE ONLY DESCRIPTION OF JACK THE RIPPER
What is interesting about the article is that it published a description of the man along with the claim that the description “coincided in every detail with the only one in possession of Scotland Yard of Jack the Ripper.”
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
The article is worth reading in full, and so, to that end, it is reproduced below, courtesy of the British Library Board, whose copyright it remains with all rights reserved.