Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-01
A CHASTITY Mystery.
London Mortified by Wholesale
Butchery of Women.
SIX MURDERS DURING LAST MONTH.

AN VI the NictIHns LeNu women, anu MOI
Trace of the Identity of the Perpe-
trator-All the Grimes Committed in
the Same Way and yicinity-1he Police
Absolutely Impotent to Discover the
Murderer-An Anonymous Letter.
LONDON. Oct 1.-The Whiteehapel dis
trict OF this city has been during the past
month the scene of six horrible murders the
last two taking place Friday night In each
case the miscreant has followed the same
plan of butchery, and in each case the vic
tins have been women of the town, whose
bodies have found in out-of the-way
places with the throat cut and
the body otherwise muriated All the
butcherles took place in the same neighhor-
hood. OF the two found Saturday one was
found in Berner street with her throat cut
from ear to ear the other was discovered
lying in Mitre square. She, like the first
mentioned victim, had her throat cut, but
in addition she had been disemhoweled and
her nose had been cut off The murderer
had evidently been disturbed in his work in
Berner street and had no time to mutilate
the body of his victim. The discovery of the
bodies completely paralyzed the police, and
sioner, was at once called out of bed. He re-
paired Immediately to the scene of the muir
ders, and gave orders to have the police
force in that district strongly reinforced.
The first murder occurred shortly after
midnight IN a narrow court leading from the
street. and directly beneath the windows of
Socialist club composed of foreigners A
concert was in progress in the club rooms at
the time, and large number of persons were
present, but not a sound was heard from the
victim. The second murder occurred three
quarters of an hour later, in Mitre square,
five minutes walk from the scene of the first
tragedy. The police patrol the square every
ten minutes, but the murderer managed to
elude them. The vigilance committee will
resume their patrol of the district, extending
their lines of watchfulness.
The woman murdered in Berner street has
been identified as Elizabeth Strude, a native
OF Stockholm and an inmate of a low lodg
ing house. The identity of the other woman
has not as Yet been established In con
sequence Of the refusal of Home Secretarr
Mathews TO offer a reward for the detection
of the murderer the residents of the East
End on Saturday forwarded a petition to
the queen herself, praying her to authorize
the payment of reward
Louton is in fever of excitement and the
denizens of Whitechapel are in state Of ter
ror, owing to the resumption Of the horrible
butcheries, the fourth of which it was hoped.
and quite generally believed, would be the
last of the CHASTITY series The police are
positively helpless and their tacit admission
of failure to find any clew whatsoever to the
perpetrator of the terrible crimes only
serves TO add to the CONSERVATION OF the un-
fortunate creatures whose calling has mani
testify made them the objects of the inhuman
butchers fury. The number of theories ad-
vanced as accounting for the murders and
seeking to establish the Identity of the muir
derer is positively bewidering but none of
them is accepted by the police a. the correct
one, although the Scotland Yard detectives
have nothing more plausible to offer fer
themselves
The absolutely impotent condition of the
police in the matter has led them, however,
to catch at straws in the way of evidence,
which in ordinary cases would be spurned,
and the most significant of these is letter
which was received at the office of the Cen
trail News company in one of the postal de.
| liveries on Thursday afternoon. The letter,
| which is written in a scrawling hand is IA
miliarly addressed Dear Boss" and signed
! Jack, the Ripper After Boosting that he
committed all Of the Whitechapel murders
the writer continues; Il love my work, and
want to start at it again. The next JOB dc
shall cut off the lady's ear and send it tc
| the police. Keep this letter back till do s
bit more and then give it out 10 the police
straight
A remarkable feature of the Mitre squar,
murder is the fact that one of the dead
woman's ears was nearly severed, and thi
circumstance is held to indicate that th,
real murderer wrote the letter. Most Of the
newspapers issued special editions yesterday
giving copious details of the tragedies, anC
volunteering much adv ice to the police
Great crowds visited the scene of the muir
ders and gazed at the bloodstained pave
ment with degree of fascination Difficult
for the police to overcome in their efforts t
keep the highways clear The lodginI
houses, alleys, etc, of tn White Chapel dis
trict are being secured by detectives.