The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-10-12
JACK THE RIPPER SENSATION.
A London Lodging House Woman Claims
That He WAS Her Tenant.

Especial to The Times by Dunlap Cable Co.
LONDON. Oct. ia sensation Of the
most enormous proportions has been caused
here by the statement made to-day by q
lodging house keeper who is located In the
White Chapel district, and claims, with APP
parent good evidence to support the claim,
that il was at her house Jack The Ripper
lived during his sanguinary escapade there
abouts. The woman who keeps the house
came 10 Mr.. Albert Backet, the chairman
of the Vigilance Committee. and in
the presence of several witnesses told
her story and afterwards swore
TO IL. The woman, who Is
respectable person, known to the police to
be conducting thoroughly respectable
place, says that during the period marked
by the distinctive murders Of the Ripper "A
Young man called at her house and engaged
\ he'd room. lie stated to her in reply 10
her questions as to his business and his
ability to paw for the accommodations, that
he had been to sea up to the time OF his
coming there; that he did not work at
all. but was in receipt of an allowance
from his father Of one pound per week,
and that his brother, who was physician.
gave him a further allowance Of trlile
over this amount. The woman noticed
when he took possession of the apartment
that he had great quantity OF clothing Ol
all kinds, including hunting breeches, re-
yolvers, guns, and many other articles not
often found in the outfit OF working man.
lie asked for a dOOr-key, which was given
him, and she noticed that he went out and
came In at unusual and irregular hours OF
the night. lie was in the habit of lying
abed generally until afternoon. and would
rise about O'Clock and leave the house.
She could not say nj what time he returned
because she never chanced 10 see him wnen
be was Pe-entering the house. what irst
excited her suspicion that there was any
thing unusual about him was the bloody
condition in which she often found the tow
els sent 10 his room. For this she finally
spoke to the man, and demonstrated with
him for sOiling the articles In such manner,
and asked who could have caused such q
profusion OF blood as was there to be found
This direct question he endeaV0red u"
explain away hy saving that he was very
fond OF painting, and IN his preparations for
those artistic moments he was In tine habit
Of wiping his brushes on the towels, and
thereby staining them 50 as TO give the inn
preston that ii was blood. Further than
this the woman states that she knows from
her own knowledge that he sent several
persons pieces Of what appeared To be raw
liver. One afternoon she happened IN MS
room for the purpose Of attending to some Oi
her household duties, and there saw him
with newspaper spread out upon
his table and upon it large piece OF ra"
meat that she at II distance took 10 he liNer
She asked him what ii was ana where II
came from, and he replied that 1t was
piece Of frozen mutton that had been given
him by a friend who was employed on a
boat that came from New Zealand bringing
"A cargo OF this meat. The reasonable ele-
ment In this, and which served to make The
woman blind 10 what the chunks OF meat
mi ght really be, lies In the fact that most OF
her lOdeers, this young man among them,
prepared their meals IN their own room.
Upon another occasion, somewhat lateI
than this, she saw the man do up piece OF
lhismeat in "a small box, tie it securely,
and address il TO the chairman OF the
Vigilance Committee, and leave the house
with it under his arm, She never saw II, Ol
the box afterwards. Further even than
Ibis, the woman afrms that she saw the
man place small bits Of flesh in envelopes.
which he addressed to different news
agencies and papers, and also t.
prominent members Of the police.
With great apparent carelessness he
lett these envelopes and their contents In
the room when he vacated it, and the woman
discovering them when cleaning the<apart.
ment after he had given IL up, threw them
into the dust-bn. On two occasions hc
brought home with him blood-stained
aprons, which he gave TO her. and which
she still has, and il ready to turn over to
the police, believing now that they belonged
TO two Of his victims, for now she i con-
yinced that her lodger was Jack the Ripper
She says that he always set med to have am
pie money, and spent it with degree OF Law
ishness not often met in that locality.
On the morning OF the Castle alley mur-
der, which was the last Jack has commit
tee. the LOGGER left and has not returned.
In addition to the envelopes that he left be-
him, the woman found in his closet pair
Of silent shoes, several bags, and long
oyercoat, all Of which, she asserts, are
blOOd-smeared in almost every part. The
woman gives as her reason for not speak
ing earlier, the fact that she did not
suspect the identity Of the man
until after he had got beyond her
reach, and ihen she feared TO go for the
police. but the secret has so weighed upon
her mind that she could keep 1t no longer.
and now she comes forward TO warn others
against this suspicious lodger.