seen about eight months ago he was mad. "What man," said the doctor, in concluding his story, "is more likely to have committed the crime than this maniac?" The matter is certainly one which should be sifted by the police, but Scotland-yard is perhaps too busy to attend to it, because forsooth "There's so many call here, you know." Extreme vigilance is now being exercised by the police in Whitechapel. The whole place swarms with detectives and men in uniform. Last night there was a great force abroad. It was feared that the murderer would again select Saturday morning for the perpetration of another crime, and they knew that unless he was caught red-handed they would have no evidence against him. A correspondent who was in Whitechapel last night says that detectives were walking in Commercial-road in couples, being followed by men in uniform. Some of the detectives were dressed up as dock laborers, and the disguise according to this observer was clumsy. These detectives follow every suspicious-looking person. Two of them noticed a man and woman drinking coffee at a stall. They followed the couple, arrested the man, took him to Angel-alley, and searched him, and then let him off. This correspondent while going through the streets was importuned by several women. One begged two pence of him to make up her night's lodging. Another seems to have been one of the decoy women which a private firm of detectives have out in order to try and catch the murderer.
Telegram from "Jack the Ripper."
The Press Association says : - The following postal telegram was received by the Metropolitan Police at 11.55 p.m. last night. It was handed in at an office in the Eastern District at 8 p.m. : - "Charles Warren, Head of the Police New Central Office. - Dear Boss, - If are willing enough to catch me I am now in City-road lodging, but number you will have to find out, and I mean to do another murder to night in Whitechapel. - Yours, JACK THE RIPPER."
The telegram has been proved to have been handed in at the chief office of the Eastern District in Commercial-road, but no information is forthcoming as to how it came to be accepted by the telegraphic authorities, or by whom it was handed in. A letter was also received at the Commercial-street Police-station by the first post this morning. It was written in black lead pencil and signed "Jack Ripper." It is couched in ridiculous language, and the police believe it to be the work of a lunatic.
A MAN OF DISGUISES. The Police Believe the Murderer is in the Habit of Frequently Changing His Clothes. The police have reason to believe that the Whitechapel murderer is a man of several disguises. They do not care to make public all the information they have on this point, but they will be very pleased to have any information as to what may be known about anyone changing their clothing under peculiar circumstances near or about the time of any of the murders. The first information on this point came to hand immediately after the Buck's-row murder, and there is a strong probability that facts then ascertained have a direct bearing on subsequent events. It will be remembered that Ann Nichols was murdered on the night of 30 August. On the following night it was reported that a woman was set upon by a gang of roughs in Cambridge-heath-road, one of whom had attempted to force her into an alley way. This report proved to be false as far as the gang were concerned. The police ascertained, however, that A WOMAN HAD BEEN SET UPON by a man, and that her cries had attracted a number of others, whose efforts to capture her assailant led to the gang story. The miscreant escaped in the direction of Commercial-road. That was about eleven o'clock. Not later than a quarter-past eleven a man stepped hurriedly into a yard entrance at No. 2, Little Turner-street, Commercial-road. On one side of the yard is a milk stand. The man asked for a glass of milk, and, when served, drank it hurriedly, then, looking about in a frightened manner, asked if he might step back into the yard. The proprietor, Henry Birch, did not object, but presently, his suspicions being aroused, he stepped towards the man and found him drawing on a suit of new overalls over his ordinary clothes. The pants were already on, and he was stooping to take a jacket from A BLACK SHINY BAG that lay at his feet when Birch stepped up to him. He seemed to be very much upset by the interruption, and for a moment could not speak. Presently he said, "That was a terrible murder last night, was'nt it?" and before Birch could answer he had added, "I think I've got a clue," and, snatching up his bag, he disappeared down the street. Mr. Birch then thought he might be a detective, adopting a disguise for some purpose, but the police believe he was the man who assaulted the woman in Cambridge Heath-road, and that he donned the overalls to mislead anyone who might be tracing him. They have the name of the woman referred to, and her description tallies with that given by Birch of his mysterious caller. The clothing was described as a blue serge suit, and a stiff but low hat. He wore a stand-up collar and a watch-chain. He wore no beard, but A SLIGHT DARK MOUSTACHE, and his face was evidently sun burnt. Birch says he thought he was a seafaring man, or one who had recently made a long voyage. When he got the overalls on he had the appearance of an engineer. Many points of this description correspond so well to that given of the man who made such pointed inquiries about women at the Nuns Head Tavern, Aldgate, last Saturday night, and also to another description the police have received, that they are inclined to connect the man with the latest murders. THE ONLY QUESTIONABLE POINT
appears to be in regard to the hat, and it is just there that the theory of his frequent disguises comes in. It is deemed possible also that what a neighbor in Mitre-square thought was a light paper parcel may have been a black shiny bag, which with the light of the street lamp upon its glazed surface might easily have misled one. It is from a combination of the descriptions above referred to that the police have formed a pretty good idea of one man they would like to find.
Woman Weary of Life. Johanna Bethke, 32, a tall and well-looking North German, was charged at Worship-street with having attempted suicide by hanging herself. - The husband of the prisoner, Herman Bethke, said they lived in Great Chart-street, Hoxton. He did not know, he said, for what reason, but his wife was always troubled. She would cry, go into a passion, tear his clothes, and taking up a knife say she would kill herself. On Friday she took a rope and ran upstairs from him, and said she would hang. He laughed at her, but he asked a lodger to oblige him by going to see. The lodger would not go, and he (the husband) went upstairs. There he found his wife hanging from a rope round her neck over the stairs. He held her up by her legs and cut her down. She tried to hang herself twice afterwards. The woman, who cried bitterly, said that her husband was cruel to her. They had a lodging house, and she had to keep it clean - seven or eight rooms - and her husband did no work, but went to a gambling club at night and stopped in bed all day. - The lodger said, in reply to the magistrate (Mr. Williams, Q.C.), that he did not know if the husband stopped in bed all day. - The Prisoner: Yes you do; you go to the gambling club every night yourself; you are as bad. My husband beats me if I cannot give him money to gamble with. I am black and blue. I cannot bear it. I am sick of my life. - The magistrate directed Constable Manning to make inquiries, and remanded the prisoner till Monday.
CHARLES BRETTON, Witness but not not called to Mary Ann Nichols' inquest. Born 1859, Bolinger, Essex. In 1881 he was listed as a horse-keeper living at 25 Buck's Row, Whitechapel. Married to Susannah b.1863, Stepney.
Employee at Harrison Barber & Co, Horse slaughterers, Winthrop Street. At about 12.20am, 31st August 1888, Bretton and fellow worker Henry Tomkins left the slaughterhouse for a stroll to Wood's Buildings and returned to work at 1.00am. Bretton later accompanied Tomkins and James Mumford to see the body of Mary Ann Nichols in Buck's Row. In 1891, Charles a horse-slaughterer and Susannah were living at 42 Winthrop Street, almost opposite the slaughterhouse. By 1901 his wife Susannah is listed as single, working as a beer seller and living at 74 High Street, Bromley - it appears that Charles died in December 1899 in West Ham. There are no records of the couple ever having children.
SARAH COLWELL, Resident of Honey's Mews, Brady Street, which lies about 120 yards from Buck's Row. She told the press that at the time the murder of Mary Ann Nichols was allegedly committed, she heard a woman running along Brady Street shouting "murder, police!". Mrs. Colwell stated that she could only hear the one set of footsteps, despite being sure that the woman was running away from someone. Another press account has it that Mrs. Colwell was woken by her children who said that somebody was trying to gain entry to the house. This time, the scream of "Murder! Police!" was heard five or six times, gradually fading away. The shouts seemed to be going in the direction of Buck's Row. The generally accepted time of this incident is 12.00am,