At the height of the Jack the Ripper case, the main man in charge of the Metropolitan police was Sir Charles Warren. He was originally a popular commissioner when he was appointed, but his reputation was soon tarnished when in November 1887 he sent a number of baton-wielding police officers in to a socialist demonstration in Trafalgar square on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” He became the target for the radical press, who blamed him for the police’s inability to catch the ripper.
Warren soon decided to put someone in charge who would not be concerned with any other case but that of the ripper. Every piece of evidence was to be given straight to Chief Inspector Donald Sutherland who assumed complete control over every aspect of the case. This was until Dr. Robert Anderson returned from a recuperative break in Switzerland. Anderson was a Dublin born lawyer who took on the role of Assistant Commissioner already suffering from exhaustion and left for Switzerland after only a week in the position.
The ripper case was investigated by two police forces, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police. The Metropolitan Police was broken down into divisions responsible for policing different areas. The two divisions investigating the Whitechapel murders were “J” division and “H” division. The rippers first victim, Mary Nichols fell under the jurisdiction of J division while the others were investigated by H. Inspector Edmund Reid was a popular detective of the time and was in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department of H division. It was decided early on that experienced officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Scotland Yard headquarters would supplement these two local forces. Chief Inspector Moore, Inspector Abberline and Inspector Andrews were sent in to head the investigation on the ground. Inspector Abberline was the senior of the three officers and it was he who took overall control of the investigation.
“H” Division in the mid 1870’s, Inspector Frederick George Abberline
is front row sixth in from the left.
The murder of Catherine Eddowes took place in Mitre Square in the City of London, therefore her murder was investigated by the City of London Police. The Acting Commissioner of this force was Major Henry Smith, while the head of their detective department was Inspector James McWilliam. Hundreds of police officers worked tirelessly on the Jack the Ripper investigation, but due to the sporadic nature of the murders and no pattern emerging, it was incredibly difficult to catch him. There was no forensics, or CCTV, and the police had to rely solely on catching people in the act so to speak. In the end a lot of it came down to luck, and unfortunately, luck was not on their side in this case.
On September 10th 1888, in the wake of the murder of Annie Chapman, a group of local businessmen and tradesman got together to form the Mile End Vigilance Committee. Local builder Mr George Akin Lusk was elected as president, and they set about aiding the police in bringing the killer to justice. They organised patrols of the area by night in the hope of catching the ripper in the act and raised money to offer rewards for information in the day. Lusk was sent threatening letters, supposedly from the killer, for his endeavours. The infamous “From Hell” letter was sent to Lusk with half a human kidney on the 16th of October 1888. Many scholars of the murders regard this letter as the one most likely to have been sent by the killer. Private detectives and concerned citizens also took to the street at night making things very difficult for patrolling police who could not tell the difference between these odd characters and the indigenous cranks and crackpots who called the area home.
In my next post, I will begin to analyse the murders, starting with those generally disregarded as being committed by the ripper, but important nevertheless.
Morbid Memoirs 