The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-08-25

crowded the courts.
The women of the district were full
Of gossip and all sorts or wild guesses
concerning the mysterious murderer.
1t was pretty generally agreed, how
ever. that the f1end was man called
Leather Apron, who had suddenly
appeared at various times TO several
women and given them awful rights
No definite description could be had Of
him. beyond the statement that he wore
a leather apron reaching from his chin
to his knees. The fact that he had
been seen in various parts Of the dis
triCt on the same night, gave strength
to the theory that he was the Ripper,
and you may wager that l kept espe-
cially keen watch for anything that
looked like leather
Well. we worked hard. we three
Americans. Every night after my
work at the theatre. I put on my slum
toys. my friends did the same. and we
started on our zig-zag saunterings
through WhitechapeL It was hard
work. for we seldom left the field of
our efforts before dawn began to send
its murky-white shafts down among
the sleeping, blear-eyed, carousing dec
izers.
Very Little Doing.
Ny only adventure during the entire
campaign was on the tenth night of
my vigil. 1t was about O'Clock in the
morning, and I was greatly fatigued,
and, 1 presume. showed my WEAKNESS
in my walk. I had djsheveled the hair
at the back Of my wig. and, as ] wan
dered carelessly along, 1 must have
been about the most detected looking
figure abroad.
I had just turned a sharp corner into
Dorset street. near the spot where one
of the murders had been committed,
when suddenly I felt, rather than saw.
a man close beside me- He appeared
81 " nd cn sill I
not form the slightest idea of where he
had come from. IT really seemed to me
as if he had sprung out of the earth.
A cold chill went over me as I got
the revolver firmly in my grasp, ready
to fire into the body of my enemy at
a seconds warning. I saw a man of
apparently 40 years glancing up at me
with a peculiar look in his eyes-a wild,
demented look. He had a stubbly, red
dish beard on his chin, and below that
leather apron extending down to his
knees.
This. then. was Leather Apron"
Would he grasp me by my head and,
passing a quick hand beneath my chin
cut my throat as he threats of others
had been cut? I had not much time ct
my dispOsal-in fact the whole thing
was over in a fash. But I did a good
deal Of thinking during that fatefui
moment. Then I made a sudden grab
at his shoulder with my diseagaged
hand, but he was too quick for me He
gave me another wild stare, turned
suddenly and was off like a shot, run
ming noiselessly but swiftly.
An Exciting Foot Race.
I ran after him, and my two friends,
seeing this, ran after me. We could
not Overtake the man. but we notified
Scotland Yard, and, by great luck more
than anything else, Leather Apron
was apprehended and the newspapers
were full of it. ali claiming that the
Ripper had been caught.
But it wasn't the Ripper at all I
went down to the court next morning
and identified him as the man / had
encountered in Dorset street. but it was
shown that he was an eccentric but
harmless employee in a harness shop
in Fleet street, and that his only OBJ
ject in stealing about at night was TO
trlShten women and sea them run.
After two weeks of this Sleuthing. my
physician told RE 1 would have to give
i, ID. The continuous excitemeut-or,
more properly, uspense-together with
the unavoidable loss of sleep, was wear
ing on me and would soon lay me on my
back, he said. 50 I gave up the cause.
But I viii never forget that experience.
one significant fact, however, marked
my connection with the case. I com
menced my search two days after the
murder Of the woman "Hippity Lip An
murders, preceding this one, had been
committed al intervals of only few
days. No murders were committed dur
ing the period Of our sleuthing. Other
murders followed close u9On the con-
cluSiOn of our vigil. NY deduction was
that the Ripper" knew of our move
ments, and I believe that to this day.
Solution of Famous Mystery.
As to the identity of Jack the Rip
No 1afc 1,o
known. But, mind you, it is only in the
last three months that this fact has
come out. At the time of which I write
London was divided in its opinions.
Some thought the work was that of a
frenzied sailOr-a butcher on one of the
cattle transports, who had taken this
form of revenge upon those poor out
casts for fancied wrong. Others held
that it was a physician who had suf-
fered in the same way. The latter sur
mise was correct: It was a physician, a
reputable man in LOndOn-a perfect
JekyH and Hyde. He had developed a
hOmicidal mania and had been confined
in q private sanitarium in a suburb of
London. How he escaped was mys-
terry. but Scotland Yard knows the man
today He is an exile from his country.
He lives at BuenOS AyreS, in the Argen-
tine republic, and there being no law
of extradition between that nation and
England. he is entirely safe there I
! have this on the best authority al
| though this is the first time the facts
have been given to the public
Jack the Ripper has not been in
evidence since DR.. E left England. I
need hardly say that he is under close
surveillance in the Argentine capital.
SO that there win be no repetition of his
OffenSe. JOHN T SULLIVAN
FRENCH VIEW OF AMERICA.