The Timeline For The Jack The Ripper Murders

APRIL 3RD 1888

1.30am

Emma Smith, a local prostitute, is attacked by a local gang at the junction of Osborn Street and Brick Lane.

As well as robbing her they subject her to a savage assault.

APRIL 3RD 1888

4am - 5am

Emma Smith arrives back at her lodging house, 18 George Street, where the other residents, alarmed at her distressed and injured state, persuade her to go with them to the nearby London Hospital.

APRIL 4TH 1888

9am

Emma Smith dies of her injuries at the London Hospital.

APRIL 7TH 1888

The inquest into her death is held at the London Hospital, the Jury returns a verdict of "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown."

FIRST WHITECHAPEL MURDER

Although she, almost certainly, was not a victim of Jack the Ripper, she is the first name on the Whitechapel Murders file that later included the murders by Jack the Ripper.

AUGUST 7TH 1888

Another prostitute, Martha Tabram, is found stabbed to death on a landing of George Yard Buildings.

AUGUST 31ST 1888

3.40am

The body of Mary Ann Nichols, who is commonly held to be Jack the Ripper's first victim, is found at 3.40am in Buck's Row Whitechapel

SEPTEMBER 1ST - 4TH 1888

The police begin questioning the neighbourhood's prostitutes.

They learn bout a character who the prostitutes have nicknamed "Leather Apron" who has been extorting money from them for the past 12 months.

SEPTEMBER 5TH 1888

The Star newspaper publishes a write-up on "Leather Apron", which causes the first murmurs of anti-Semitism in the district.

SEPTEMBER 8TH 1888

6.00am

The second Jack the Ripper victim, Annie Chapman, is found in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street.

SEPTEMBER 10TH 1888

Mr George Lusk, together with several other local business men, founds the Mile End Vigilance Committee, hoping to assist the police with their endeavours to catch the murderer.

SEPTEMBER 10TH 1888

6.00am

John Pizer, whom Sergeant Thick maintains is recognized as "Leather Apron," is arrested. He can, however, provide alibis for the two recent murders and is released.

SEPTEMBER 27TH 1888

A missive addressed to 'The Boss' arrives at the Central News Agency.

It is signed JACK THE RIPPER, a name which will turn the unknown miscreant into a world famous legend.

SEPTEMBER 30TH 1888

1.00am

The body of Elizabeth Stride is found in Berner Street, off Commercial Road.

SEPTEMBER 30TH 1888

1.45am

The body of Catherine Eddowes is discovered in Mitre Square in the City of London.

This means that another Police force, the City of London Police, now joins in the hunt for the murderer.

OCTOBER 1ST 1888

The police make the "Jack the Ripper" letter public.

OCTOBER 6TH 1888

The Central News Agency receive another letter that is signed "Jack the Ripper". The police ask them not make this missive public.

OCTOBER 16TH 1888

Mr George Lusk receives a letter that is addressed "FROM HELL."

It contains half a kidney. There is press speculation that it belonged to Catherine Eddowes.

NOVEMBER 9TH 1888

10.45am

25 year old Mary Kelly is found dead in her room, 13 Miller's Court, Dorset Street, Spitalfields.

She is believed by many to have been Jack the Ripper's last victim.

DECEMBER 20TH 1888

29 year old Rose Mylett (also known as Catherine Millett and Lizzie Davis), was found strangled in Clarke's Yard, off Poplar High Street.

Despite the fact that several doctors who examined her body gave it as their opinion that she had been strangled, Robert Anderson was convinced that she had accidentally hanged herself on the collar of her dress whilst drunk.

Dr Thomas Bond was, therefore, asked to examine her body and he agreed with Anderson.

However, the jury at her subsequent inquest disagreed and returned a verdict of "wilful murder against some person or persons unknown".

Her death was, therefore, added to the Whitechapel Murders file

JULY 17TH 1889

The body of Alice McKenzie is found in Castle Alley, off Whitechapel High Street.

Despite the fact that her injuries were less savage than those inflicted on previous victims, several detectives believed her to have been a victim of Jack the Ripper.

SEPTEMBER 10TH 1889

The mutilated torso of an unknown woman was found beneath a railway arch in Pinchin Street.

Although the press at the time noted that the torso bore similar mutilations to those inflicted on his victims by Jack the Ripper, the consensus amongst experts is that this was probably not a ripper killing.

FEBRUARY 13TH 1891

The body of Frances Coles is found beneath a railway arch in Swallow Gardens.

At the time there was much speculation that her killing spelt a return for the ripper.

A sailor named James Thomas Sadler was arrested, charged and later acquitted of her murder.

Today she is not believed to have been a Jack the Ripper victim. The Murder of Frances Coles