Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1888-09-29 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

THE EXAMINER--SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1888.  THE EAST LONDON HORRORS.  RESUMED INQUEST ON SID.S. NICHOLLS.-VBEDICT. Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, the coroner for South-east Middlesex, has resumed and concluded the inquest in the Working Lads' Institute, Whiteclaapel, into the circumstances attending the death of Mary Ann Nicholls, who was found murdered early on the morning of the Ist September. Dr. Llewellyn stated, in reply to a juror, that no part of the body was missing in this case. A member of the jury remarked that it was stated in the newspapers that on the last occasion the foreman of the jury had offered a reward. The fact was, it was not the foreman of the jury, but another gentleman. The Coroner, in summing up, referred to the necessity of a public mortuary in Whitechapel, and continued as follows There is nothing in the evidence as to the movements of the deceased on the day before her death, except a statement by herself that she was living in a common lodging-house, called the • White House," in Flower and Dean-street, Spitalfields; but I believe her movements have been traced by the police, and are not considered to have any connection with her death. On Friday evening, Aug. 31, she was seen by Mrs. Holland (who knew her well) at the corner of Osborne-street and whitechapel-road, nearly opposite the parish church. It was then half .past two. The deceased woman was then much the worse for drink, and was staggering against the wall. Her friend endeavoured to persuade her to come home with her, but she declined, and was last seen endeavouring to walk eastward down Whitechapel. She said she had had her lodging-money three times that day, but that she had spent it; that she was without money; that the lodging-house deputy refused to trust her ; that she was going to look about and get some inoney to pay her lodgings; and that she should soon be back. What her exact movements were after this it is impossible to say. At all events, in less than an hour and a quarter after this she is found dead at a spot rather under threequarters of a mile distant. The time at which the body was found cannot kayo been far from 3.45 am., as it is fixed by go many independent data. The condition in which the body was found appears to prove conclusively that the deceased was killed on the exact spot in which she was found. There is not a trace of blood anywhere, except at the spot where her neck was lying. I think we cannot altogether leave unnoticed the fact that the death that you have been investigating is one of four presenting many points of similarity, all of which have occurred within the space of about five months, and all within a very short distance of the place where we are sitting. All four victims were women of middle age, all were married and had lived apart from their husbands in consequence of intemperate habits, and were at the time of their death leading an irregular life, and eking out a miserable and precarious existence in common lodging-houses. In each case there were abdominal, as well as other injuries. In each case the injuries were inflicted after midnight, and in places of public resort, where it would appear impossible but that almost immediate detection should follow the crime, and in each case the inhuman and dastardly criminals are at large in society. I suggest to you as a possibility that the two women —Nicholls and Chapman—may have been murdered by the same man with the same object, and that in the case of Nicholls the wretch was disturbed before liehad accomplished his object, and having failed in the open street, he tries again, within a week of his failure, in a more secluded place. If this should be , correct, the audacity and daring is equal to its maniacal fanaticism and abhorrent wickedness. It now only remains for you to say by your verdict how, when, and by what means the deceased came by her death. The jury then retired to consider their verdict, and, after an absence of over twenty minutes they returned. The Coroner Gentlemen, have you agreed u4on your verdict The Foreman Yes, sir. We are unanimously of opinion that we should give an open verdict of murder against some person or persons unknown, and we wish to thank you for your remarks with reference to the necessity for a mortuary, and for the very able way in which you have conducted the inquiry.