In early October, 1888, all manner of rumours were circulating around the country concerning the Whitechapel murderer, and frequent arrests were being made.
The Manchester Times, on Saturday the 13th of October, 1888 published the following roundup of that week’s news:-
THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS
The police have under close observation, in connection with the Whitechapel murders, an inmate of the East End Infirmary, who was admitted since the murders.
MAN WITH HIS ABDOMEN RIPPED OPEN
Some sensation was occasioned in Spitalfields yesterday morning by a story which rapidly spread that a man had been found with his abdomen ripped open.
The excitement increased when it was suggested the man was a victim of the unknown Whitechapel murderer.
Upon inquiry, however, it was found that the unfortunate man, who was a butcher, was cutting a quarter of beef into joints, when his knife slipped, inflicting a very serious wound in the abdomen.
He was conveyed in great pain to the London Hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.
THE SUSPECTED LODGER
The Central News says that the deputy of the Beehive lodging house, Brick Lane, on Thursday informed the police of the peculiar behaviour of a lodger named Andrews, known as “Parnell.”
Inquiries were instituted and “Parnell” was requested to give an account of himself.
If his statements be proved to be correct he will probably be soon released.
The people at the lodging house state that he did not sleep there on the nights of the Hanbury And Mitre Square murders.
THE GOULSTON STREET MESSAGE
The Central News learns that the police authorities attach a great deal of importance to the spelling of the word “Jews” in the writing on the wall at the spot where the Mitre Square murderer threw away a portion of the murdered woman’s apron.
The language of the Jews in the East End is a hybrid dialect known as “Yiddish,” and their mode of spelling the word Jews would be “Juwes.”
This the police consider a strong indication that the crime was committed by one of the numerous foreigners by whom the East End is infested.
SLAUGHTERER’S KNIVES
The Jewish Chronicle says:-
“We are authorised by Dr. Gordon Browne, the city divisional surgeon, to state with reference to the suggestion that the city and Whitechapel murders were the work of a Jewish slaughterer that he has examined the knives used by the Jewish slaughterers, all of which have been submitted to him by the city detectives, and he is thoroughly satisfied that none of them could have been used.
JOHN FOSTER ARRESTED
A Belfast correspondent telegraphs that a man who gives his name as John Foster was arrested shortly before midnight on Thursday on suspicion of being the Whitechapel murderer.
He had in his possession a bag containing a spring knife and three razors, one of which is stained with blood.
He is 5ft. 8in. to 5ft: 9in, in height, and states that he has been in Belfast since Sunday, and has previously been in Glasgow and Edinburgh, but declines to give any further information.
HIS COURT APPEARANCE
A later telegram says:-
The suspected man was charged at the Belfast Police Court, yesterday, with being the Whitechapel murderer.
Constable E. Cartand, who made the arrest, said that the accused would give no further account of himself than that he was the son of a London brewer, that he had an income and that he had been in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Greenock.
FURTHER EVIDENCE
Farther evidence went to show that the accused, who first gave the name of William John Foster, but afterwards said it was John Foster, had informed the police that he Was a watchmaker, but did not work at his trade.
Prisoner, who is about 30 years of age, wears a slight sandy moustache, and speaks with a Cockney accent.
He was remanded for a week.
He wore a white turned-down collar, marked with small bloodstains.