Domestic violence was quite common as were attacks on people in the streets.
Much of this was a direct result of the drunkenness that was endemic in certain sections of East End Society and extreme poverty.

Robbery and assault-related violence was a common issue and the district's sizable criminal population went about their nefarious business, stealing from those who were less able to defend themselves.

So, to say the least violence wasn't uncommon in the area. Indeed such was the number of attacks that caused victims to cry "Murder!" that such cries were heard many times in a night and the populace at large had long grown used to ignoring such cries, believing them to be either the result of drunken brawls or domestic violence.

So, attempting to isolate particular cases of violence in an area that was rife with such cases is a little like trying to locate a needle in a haystack.

After some time of cool and pleasant time in the city, the storm struck again. It all began on one Saturday. It was February 25th and the year was 1888. I along with some of my colleagues was smoking, just outside our office near the alley connecting Spitalfields, when we heard the news of a 38-year-old widow named Annie Millwood, widow of a soldier named Richard Millwood being brutally stabbed. She lived in White’s Row, Spitalfields. She was allegedly a prostitute and was often seen with strangers in lonely places. It wasn't a surprise, that perhaps one of her clients might have stabbed her. The news came, that she was admitted to the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary. She was suffering from stab wounds to her legs and the lower part of her abdomen. It simply wasn't new to us. There were multiple gangs who operated here and we were forced to give them protection money. They would terrorise the people living there and...