page_title: Mary Ann Nichols
section_title: Inquest
hierarchical_section_title: Mary Ann Nichols / Inquest
caption_attribution_description: English: The Illustrated Police News - 8 September 1888 - Mary Ann Nichols
context_page_description: Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was the first canonical victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have murdered and mutilated a minimum of five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888.
  The two previous murders linked to the Whitechapel murderer are unlikely to have been committed by Jack the Ripper, although the murder of Mary Ann Nichols was initially linked to this series, increasing both press and public interest into the criminal activity and general living conditions of the inhabitants of the East End of London.
context_section_description: The official inquest into Nichols's death was opened at the Working Lads' Institute on Whitechapel Road, on 1 September. This inquest was presided over by the Middlesex coroner, Wynne Edwin Baxter.
  Inquest testimony as reported in The Times stated:
  Five of the teeth were missing, and there was a slight laceration of the tongue. There was a bruise running along the lower part of the jaw on the right side of the face. That might have been caused by a blow from a fist or pressure from a thumb. There was a circular bruise on the left side of the face which also might have been inflicted by the pressure of the fingers. On the left side of the neck, about 1in. below the jaw, there was an incision about 4in. in length, and ran from a point immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below, and commencing about 1in. in front of it, was a circular incision, which terminated at a point about 3in. below the right jaw. That incision completely severed all the tissues down to the vertebrae. The large vessels of the neck on both sides were severed. The incision was about 8in. in length. The cuts must have been caused by a long-bladed knife, moderately sharp, and used with great violence.
  No blood was found on the breast, either of the body or the clothes. There were no injuries about the body until just about the lower part of the abdomen. Two or three inches from the left side was a wound running in a jagged manner. The wound was a very deep one, and the tissues were cut through. There were several incisions running across the abdomen. There were three or four similar cuts running downwards, on the right side, all of which had been caused by a knife which had been used violently and downwards. The injuries were from left to right and might have been done by a left-handed person. All the injuries had been caused by the same instrument.
  Although Llewellyn had speculated that the attacker could have been left-handed, he later expressed doubt over this initial thought, but the belief that the killer was left-handed endured.
  After several adjournments, to allow the police to gather further evidence, the inquest concluded on 24 September. On the available evidence, Coroner Baxter found that Nichols was murdered at just after 3:00 a.m.. where she was found. In his summing up, he dismissed the possibility that her murder was connected with those of Smith and Tabram since the lethal weapons were different in those cases, and neither of the earlier cases involved a slash to the throat. However, by the time the inquest into Nichols's death had concluded, another woman, Annie Chapman, had been murdered, and Baxter noted "The similarity of the injuries in the two cases is considerable." The police investigations into the murders of Chapman and Nichols were merged.
caption: 8 September 1888 edition of The Illustrated Police News depicting the inquest into Nichols's murder
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