Jack the Ripper Tours Final Section

JACK THE RIPPER WALK

THE AFTERMATH OF MARY KELLY's MURDER

The week that followed Mary Kelly’s murder saw am intense flurry of police activity. A hasty inquest was held on Monday the 12^th of November and was brought to a close that same day, probably at the request of the police in order to starve the press of the salacious gossip and gory detail of which they had made so much during the protracted inquests into the previous murders. The number of plain clothes officers in the area was increased from 89 to 143 and these men patrolled the streets of Whitechapel once darkness had fallen.

Meanwhile the Home Office authorised Sir Charles Warren - who despite his resignation still remained at his post - to issue a notice offering a pardon to any accomplice who would give information that would lead to the discovery and conviction of the killer. And the fresh panic that was now gripping the Capital even snapped the patience of Queen Victoria who fired off an angry missive to her Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury in which she insisted that all the back streets and courtyards of Whitechapel be lit and the detective department be greatly improved.

MARY KELLY IS LAID TO REST

At noon on Monday 19^th November the bell at St Leonard’s church in Shoreditch (pictured above) began to toll a mourning knell as a coffin of elm and oak, borne on the shoulders of four men, was carried out of the gates in front of a crowd some several thousand strong. Men and women alike could barely control their emotions as the funeral procession set off for St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Leyton. It was with great difficulty that the police forced a path for the cortege as onlookers jostled to touch the coffin and read its simple brass plate “Marie Jeanette Kelly, died 9^th November 1888, aged twenty five years”

JACK THE RIPPER'S REIGN OF TERROR ENDS

What nobody could have realised as Mary Kelly was laid to rest, was that in Miller’s Court Jack the Ripper had performed his swansong. That knowledge would be the knowledge of hindsight. And over the weeks that followed, the panic and fear that had gripped the neighbourhood throughout the autumn began to abate as the residents turned their attentions once more to their everyday struggle for survival, and the press began to focus on other matters and other areas.

Indeed, what is also noticeable in the case of Mary Kelly is that when all the theorising and the inquest had finished it’s almost as if somebody had just switched off a switch and the whole interest in the case virtually died. It was revived over the next few years every now and again but after that one flurry that one burst of press interest the whole thing just died.

DIRECTIONS TO THE END OF THE JACK THE RIPPER TOUR

Continue along the un-named thoroughfare to pass through the barrier at its far end. Pass to the left of the Providence Row Night Shelter and go ahead along Artillery Lane. Keep to its left side and pass through the wonderfully atmospheric Artillery Passage. Cross Sandy’s Row into Widegate Street, keep ahead into Middlesex Street, cross Bishopsgate and turn left to end the walk at Liverpool Street Station.