The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-09-27 00:00:00

THE "THAMES MURDER."

Though the /efforts of the police to run down the
murderer of the woman found in the Thames have, up
to the present time, been unavailing, untiring endea-
vours are being made for the purpose. Nearly all the
"information received" on matters which seemed to
indicate a connexion with this terrible crime has been
exhausted—in other words, all the statemente made
regarding women missing, men who have suddenly die.
appeared after being seen with a person after the style
of the deceased, women seen on barges up to a certain
date, and not even afterwards, and others, have all
been closely investigated, and every person has been
satisfactorily acceunted for.
The mutilated corpse, in the condition in which the
pieces have been skilfully put together by Dr. Haden,
has been most successfully photographed, and the fea-
tures are so characteristic and pronounced that any one
who knew the woman could hardly fail to recognize
her. Indeed, reaignition by the portrait will be far
less &Moult than by viewing the corpse. There is no
intention on the part of the police to keep this photo.
graph entirely to themselves, but they desire that it
should not be made a means of merely gratifying
morbid curiosity, and any persons who Lsatisfy the
police that they have proper reasons for inspecting the
remains will be permitted to see the picture.
_ _

The earch in ihe Thames has been continued, in the
hope that the hand, or some remnants of clothing,
would be discovered. The hands would have enabled
some judgment to be formed as to the condition in life
of the murdered woman ; but it is not improbable that
thin was purposely made impossible by the murderer,
and that the hands have been ea effectually destroyed
out was intended the face should have been. It would
have been impossible at any time to identify the
women but for the discovery of the face and scalp,
and these had • narrow canape of being swept out to
sea, where, it is feared, the clothing must have gone,
even if it were cast into the river at the same time as
the pieces of the body.
It is a matter of remark that the police have had
fewer communications concerning this murder than in
any other previous ease of "mystery." In all cases of
doubt hitherto, besides communications containing
pieces of information of more or lose interest, some
people, and not • few, fired with the desire of emu-
lating Edgar Allan Poe in the Mystery of Marie Roget,
have written their views of probable theories. In
nearly all cases hitherto there has been some clue, how.
ever slight. In the case of the "Waterloo tragedy"
there was the carpet-bag in addition to the remains,
while in the case of the Coram street murder the
woman was known and the man was both seen and
heard. But in this case there are only the pieces of
flesh.

In regard to the weak idea which tint arose empecting the
whole thing being the work ot a medical student, the Brit igh
Medioal Journal lays :
-- - -

'The possibility that the mutilated portions of •
human body recently found in the Thames might be
the remains of a subject supplied to some worthless
medical student, of morbid habits anu revolting prac-
tices, is one which can never have been seriously enter-
tained by persons knowing with what precautions the
supply of subjects fur dissection is surrounded."

On the same sullact the Lancet makes the following re.
marks :
- - - -

-
"The public has, happily, in the course of 30 years,
learnt to dissociate the medical student from the
barker, who may now be fairly said to be extinct. But,
as recent events seem to show, there is still a tendency
to make the student the scapegoat of any horrid
murder or frightful mutilations. This is to be regretted
for more reasons than one, but chid), because it inter-
feres with the course of justice by leading it off Its
proper track. To those who know the workings of the
Anatomy Act, and the severe legal restrictions on ob-
taining bodies for purposes of dissection or operative
surg.ry, it must appear absurd in the highest degree
to suppose that the recent mutilation was • hoax of
medical students. There is very strong evidence that
the woman met with a violent death, and that in the
fleet instance severe blows were dealt on the right
si le of the head with some heavy blunt instrument;
but, in the absence of the skull, it is im.
possible to determine positively the extent of
the injury. It would appear that after the victim had
thus been stemma, the body was immediately
deprived of all its blood by • section of the carotid
arteries in the neck, failed there were no clots in any of
the veins of the body. The tissues were, moreover,
divided while they still preserved their vital contracti-
bility ; for, according to the evidence of Dr. Kempster,
the muscles in the portions of the body that were first
examined were leech and retracted, so that death must
hove occurred within a very few hours. The scalp and
skin of the face were probably next rsonoved by
making a longi udinal iocision through the scalp at the
top of the head, acil a boric tel incision behin.i. rhe
skin and pen i ranial tissues were then forcibly drawn
forwaid, and the skull thus laid bare, occasional touches
of the knife berg neceseary to remove the skin of the
face. Where the integument was thin or firmly adherent
to the subjacent tissues, it was button-holed,' and
Jorge portions thus remained attached to the bones.
The face as in this manntr accidently, perhaps,
rather than purposely—being rendered incapable
of identilcation. The upper part of the nose
is absent, as well as the inner part of the right
cheek and the lower lip and chin, all of which
would have required some time for their complete
removal. Contrary to the popular opinion, the body
has nt been hacked ,but di xterously cut up; the joints
have been opened, and the bones neatly dimarticulated,
even the complicated joints at the ankle and the elbow,
and it is only at the articulations of the hip joint and
shoulder that the bones have been sawn through. In
the trunk tbe sections have all been made in the most
favourable parte. This is clearly shown on the left side
of the trunk, for after the body had been ciivided longi-
tudinally the right side was severed into three portions.,
thoracic. an abdominal, and a pelvic. To make these
divisions, an incision had been commenced too high,
and the knife coming in contact with the lower part of
the c Nita' arch, a fresh incision was therefore made
lower down, in order to clear the t ihs. Notwithstanding
the fact that Mr. Haden has skiff ul ly Adjusted the various
parts of the body which have up to the preseut time
been found, we fear that idem i ification s text to
impossible, except to those who are accurately sc.
ouainted with the very few marks which the body pre-
sents—namely, a scar as of &burn on the thorax, which,
however, is very common in girls and women ; a small
prominent fibroma, which in the official description of
the body is said to be a pale mole, on the inner side of
the right nipple ; and the cicatrix over the inner con-
dyle of the right femur. It is not a little remarkable,
however, that although the right leg b-tween the knee
and the ankle is perfect, on the left side the leg has been
sawn in two, and only the upper part has been found.
It is possible that there may have been soo e mark on
the lower portion of this leg, which the murderer has
taken the precaution to destroy. The hands
also are, unfortunately, missing. It ix clear,
then, that this is not • practical joke, and such an
hypothesis must appear preposterous if, in addition to
the evidence that the death was a violent one it is
borne in mind that the body bears no trace of dissec-
tion, or of having been used for operative surgery;
for although we have said that the bones have been
skilfully theartieulated, it is in a manner different from
what obtains in the performance of any o eration, for
there are no flame. Further, there is the distinct state-
meat of the Inspector of Anatomy that no body was
given out by him for anatomical purposes during the
week in which the mutilated remains of this woman
were discovered ; so that no recent body could have
been obtained from any of the dissecting rooms, all of
which are indeed at present closed."