Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-10-13
Jack THE RIPPER"
a Woman's story-she Is Supposed To
Have IIarbored Him.

with apparent good evidence TO support
the claim, that it was at her house that
Jack the Ripper lived during his SAN
culinary escapade thereabout.
The woman who keeps the house
came TO Mr.. Albert Backert, the chair
man of the Vigilance Committee, and
in the presence of several witnesses told
her story, and afterward swOre TO it,
The woman, who is respectable per-
son, known to the police to be quiet,
and conducting thoroughly respect
able place, says that during the period
marked by the distinctive murders Of
the Ripper, young man called at her
house and engaged bedroom.
He stated to her in reply to her Ques-
tiOns as to his business and his ability
to pay for the accommodations, that he
had been at sea up to the time OF his
coming there; that he didn't work at
all, but was in receipt OF an allowance
from his father of 81 per week, and
that his brother, who was physician,
gave him further allowance OF Il trillc
over this amount. The woman noticed,
when he took possession of the apart
ment, that he had great quantity OF
all kinds of clothing, including hunt
ing breechcs, also rcyolvers, guns and
many other articles not often found in
the outfit Of workingman.
lie asked for door key, which was
given him, and she noticed that he went
out and came in at unusual and irregu-
lar hours of the night. He was in the
habit of lying abed, generally until the
Of ,,..,,1l ,i. oh as.lncl-
and leave the house. She could not s3y
what time he returned, because She
never chaGccd TO see him when he was
re-entering the house. What first eX-
cited her suspicion that there was any
thing unusual about him was the bloody
condition in which she often found the
towels sent to his room.
For this she finally spoke TO the man,
and demonstrated with him for Soiling
the articles In such manner, and
asked what could have caused such a
prOfusion of blood as was there to be
found. This direct question he endcav-
ored to explain away by saying that he
was very fond of painting, and in his
preparations for these artistic moments
he was in the habit OF wiping his brushes
on the towels and thereby stained them
so as to give the impression that IL was
blood. Further than this, the woman
states that she knows, from her knowl-
edge, that he sent several persons pieces
of what appeared to be raw liver.
One afternoon she happened to be in
his room for the purpose Of attending to
some of her household duties, and there
she saw him with newspaper spread
out upon his table, and upon it was q
large piece of raw meat that she, at IA
distance. took to be liver. She asked
him what it was and where it came
from, and he replied that it was piece
OF frozen mutton that had been given
him by friend who was employed on a
boat that came from New Zealand bear
ing cargo of this meat.
The reasonable element IS this, and
which served to make the woman blind
to what the chunks OF meat might
really be, lies in the fact that most Of
her dodgers, this young man among
them, prepared their meals in their own
room.
Upon another occasion, somewhat
later than this, she saw the man dot 4
piece of this meat in small box, tic II
securely and address IL 70 the Shal lrillah
| : -, NigIIunCU NUuiHllltcc ana IcdNv
the house With it under his arm. She
never saw it or the box afterward. Fur
thcr even than this, the woman aflirms
that she saw the man place small bits OF
flesh in envelopes, which he addressed
to different news agencies and papers,
and aleo 20 prominent members Uf the
police with great apparent careIulneSs.
| He left these envelopes and the contents
| in the room wien he vacated it, and the
woman, discovering them when clean
ing the apartment after he had given 1t
up. threw them into the dust bin.
On two occasions he brought home
with him blood-stained aprons which he
gave to her and which she has still, and
is ready to turn over to the police, be-
lieying now that they belonged to two
of his victims. for now she is convinced
that her lodgcr was Jack the Ripper.
| She says that he always seemed to have
ample money, and spent it with de-
gree of laviShueSS not often met in that
locality.
On the morning of the Castle alley
murder, which was the last Jack has
thus far committed, her lodger left, and
has not yet returned. In addition 10
the envelopes that he left behind him,
the woman found in his closet a pair OF
silent shoes, several bags and long over
coat. all Of which she asserts are blood
stained in almost every part.
The woman gives as her reason for
not speaking earlier OF the fact that she
did not suspect the identity of the man
until after lie had got beyond her reach
and then she feared to go to the police,
but the secret has so weighed upon her
mind that she could keep it no longer,
and now she comes forward to warn
others against this suspicious lodger.