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The Legend of Jack the Ripper Ch 6
In the aftermath of the murder of Annie Chapman, several women came forward to give accounts of meetings with sinister strangers in the neighbourhood where the murder had occurred.
One of these was a young woman who had encountered a man that got her suspicious, to say the least, and gave her cause for concern in the Queen's Head pub on Commercial Street.
The Fife Herald published the following account of the encounter:-A representative of the Press Association, in pursuing his investigations in the same district on Sunday night, heard the following statement made in the presence of the police.
The informant, he says, was a woman named Lyons, of the class commonly known as unfortunates or fallen ones.She stated that at about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, she met a strange man in Flower and Dean Street, one of the worst streets in the East End of London. He asked her to go to Queen's Head public house at half past six and have a drink with him.Having obtained from the young woman a promise that she would do so, he disappeared but was present at the house at the appointed time.While they were conversing, Lyons noticed something really strange, and odd about that situation. There was a large knife in his right-hand trousers pocket. Lyons signalled another woman and called another woman's attention towards the astonishing fact.A moment later, Lyons was startled by a remark in which the stranger addressed her. "You are about the same style of woman as the one that's murdered," he said. "What do you know about her?" asked the woman, to which the man replied, "You are beginning to smell a rat. Foxes hunt geese, but they don't always find 'em." Having uttered these words, the man hurriedly left. The strange reply and the knife made Lyons suspect him to be the alleged killer. So she decided to follow him.
Lyons followed that man until she reached somewhere near Spitalfields Church. The light of the gas lamps fell on Lyons, and the man managed to notice her shadow. Having been alerted to her presence, the man stood still for a while and turned around to face Lyon. Seeing that the strange man turned around and looked at her, she was startled for a moment or so. She stepped a step behind, for just in case he ran for her. The man, realising the fact that the woman was behind him, he turned his face on the road and ran swiftly into Church street, and was lost from sight.
While i was studying the case through,I too uncovered a noteworthy fact in this story is that the description of the man's appearance is, in all material points, identical with the published description of the unknown and, up to the present undiscovered, Leather Apron."Apparently, this man was known to try to extort money from them by pulling out a knife and threatening to "rip them apart" unless they handed over what cash they had made in the course of their nighttime activities. My good friend, Will says, one night when he was walking down the alley, he saw a guy aggressively holding a woman. He was pushing her against the wall. The woman was afraid and scared. The man was demanding money from her. When will got closer, the man ran away.
Following the investigation of this possible suspect, on 10th September, the police arrested a guy called John pizer, who was also known as Leather Apron. At that time, he was arrested only as a suspect in the murder of Polly Nichols. Pizer was arrested by Police Sergeant William Thicke. Pizer was a Polish Jew who worked as a bootmaker in Whitechapel and was believed by Thicke to have committed a slew of minor assaults on prostitutes.
Although the investigating inspector in the early days of the Whitechapel Murders had stated that "there is no evidence whatsoever against him", many locals suspected Pfizer was the killer. Pfizer was later cleared of suspicion when it was realized that he had alibis for two of the murders. He'd been staying with relatives at the time of one of the canonical five murders and was talking with a constable while witnessing a raging fire on the London docks at the time of another murder.Having known Thicke for years, Pizer claimed that he had been detained by Police as a result of Thicke's animosity towards him, rather than any substantial evidence. Although he did have one prior conviction for a stabbing...
One of these was a young woman who had encountered a man that got her suspicious, to say the least, and gave her cause for concern in the Queen's Head pub on Commercial Street.
The Fife Herald published the following account of the encounter:-A representative of the Press Association, in pursuing his investigations in the same district on Sunday night, heard the following statement made in the presence of the police.
The informant, he says, was a woman named Lyons, of the class commonly known as unfortunates or fallen ones.She stated that at about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, she met a strange man in Flower and Dean Street, one of the worst streets in the East End of London. He asked her to go to Queen's Head public house at half past six and have a drink with him.Having obtained from the young woman a promise that she would do so, he disappeared but was present at the house at the appointed time.While they were conversing, Lyons noticed something really strange, and odd about that situation. There was a large knife in his right-hand trousers pocket. Lyons signalled another woman and called another woman's attention towards the astonishing fact.A moment later, Lyons was startled by a remark in which the stranger addressed her. "You are about the same style of woman as the one that's murdered," he said. "What do you know about her?" asked the woman, to which the man replied, "You are beginning to smell a rat. Foxes hunt geese, but they don't always find 'em." Having uttered these words, the man hurriedly left. The strange reply and the knife made Lyons suspect him to be the alleged killer. So she decided to follow him.
Lyons followed that man until she reached somewhere near Spitalfields Church. The light of the gas lamps fell on Lyons, and the man managed to notice her shadow. Having been alerted to her presence, the man stood still for a while and turned around to face Lyon. Seeing that the strange man turned around and looked at her, she was startled for a moment or so. She stepped a step behind, for just in case he ran for her. The man, realising the fact that the woman was behind him, he turned his face on the road and ran swiftly into Church street, and was lost from sight.
While i was studying the case through,I too uncovered a noteworthy fact in this story is that the description of the man's appearance is, in all material points, identical with the published description of the unknown and, up to the present undiscovered, Leather Apron."Apparently, this man was known to try to extort money from them by pulling out a knife and threatening to "rip them apart" unless they handed over what cash they had made in the course of their nighttime activities. My good friend, Will says, one night when he was walking down the alley, he saw a guy aggressively holding a woman. He was pushing her against the wall. The woman was afraid and scared. The man was demanding money from her. When will got closer, the man ran away.
Following the investigation of this possible suspect, on 10th September, the police arrested a guy called John pizer, who was also known as Leather Apron. At that time, he was arrested only as a suspect in the murder of Polly Nichols. Pizer was arrested by Police Sergeant William Thicke. Pizer was a Polish Jew who worked as a bootmaker in Whitechapel and was believed by Thicke to have committed a slew of minor assaults on prostitutes.
Although the investigating inspector in the early days of the Whitechapel Murders had stated that "there is no evidence whatsoever against him", many locals suspected Pfizer was the killer. Pfizer was later cleared of suspicion when it was realized that he had alibis for two of the murders. He'd been staying with relatives at the time of one of the canonical five murders and was talking with a constable while witnessing a raging fire on the London docks at the time of another murder.Having known Thicke for years, Pizer claimed that he had been detained by Police as a result of Thicke's animosity towards him, rather than any substantial evidence. Although he did have one prior conviction for a stabbing...
