What was Jack the Ripper's motive for killing?

Jack The Ripper was a murderer who brutally murdered at least five prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of ??East London from August 7 to November 9, 1888. Generation name. During the crime, the murderer repeatedly wrote letters to relevant units to provoke him, but he was never brought to justice. His bold crime methods, which were repeatedly exaggerated by the media, caused panic in British society at that time. To this day he remains one of the most notorious killers in European and American culture.

Although it has been over a hundred years since the crime was committed, there are an increasing number of books and related research on the case. However, due to lack of evidence, there are different stories about who the murderer is, and there is no overlap, making the case even more confusing. However, Jack the Ripper continues to appear in today's popular culture through media, rock music, toys and other items.

◆The process of committing the crime

The Ripper’s crimes were concentrated near Whitechapel in the East End of London. This was a famous immigration center at the time, with tens of thousands of immigrants from as far away as Russia and Eastern Europe settling here. Due to the meager income, this area has long become a hotbed of poverty and crime, with homeless gangsters and prostitutes living on the streets. Although Scotland Yard established a city-wide patrol network in 1829, the weak police force was still unable to maintain security in the East End, where tens of thousands of prostitutes visited every night.

Whitechapel Serial Murders

The first message "Dear Boss" sent by the suspected murderer. On August 7, 1888, a female body was found lying in Whitechapel, East District. The deceased was a middle-aged prostitute named Martha Tabram. She was stabbed thirty-nine times, nine of which passed through her throat. At 3:45 a.m. on August 31 of the same year, another prostitute, Mary Ann Nichols, was found dead in Bucks Row near Whitechapel. She was 43 years old. Not only was her face bruised and some of her front teeth missing, but her neck was also cut twice. But the most cruel thing is that the abdomen was cut open, the intestines were dragged out, and the vagina was severely stabbed with a sharp knife.

Since homicides rarely occur near the church, these two cases and several previous murder cases have attracted public attention. Some media even dubbed them "the Whitechapel murders". It was said that it was the same murderer. Such vivid descriptions caused panic among local residents, so the police deployed more plainclothes detectives to patrol the area, and local residents also organized patrol teams to maintain law and order. This gives people confidence that such cases will not be repeated.

Jack the Ripper

Unexpectedly, eight days later, at 5:45 a.m. on September 8, a man living at No. 29 Hanbury Street An old coachman found a female body in the fence behind his low-rent apartment. The deceased was 47-year-old prostitute Annie Chapman. Like the previous deceased, her throat was slit and her abdomen was disemboweled. Her intestines were thrown onto her right shoulder, and part of the uterus and abdominal flesh were cut away by the murderer. There were obvious strangulation marks on his neck. It is said that he called for help before his death, but no attention was paid to him. Since this was the first time the murderer committed a crime near a house, and the time was close to before 5 o'clock in the morning, but he did not make any noticeable noise, this case became the most famous case committed by the murderer who would later be known as the Ripper.

On September 27, the Central News Agency received a letter written in red ink and stamped with fingerprints, signed "Jack the Ripper". In the letter, he jokingly stated that he was the murderer of the prostitutes and claimed that he would continue to kill more prostitutes before being arrested. Since the letter started with "Dear Boss", this was how the first letter sent by the murderer was called in the future.

At one o'clock in the morning on September 30, a coachman discovered the body of Elizabeth Stride near her home. Unlike the first two victims, the 44-year-old Swedish prostitute had her throat cut but was not caesareaned. Instead, she died of excessive blood loss from the left carotid artery. Due to different criminal methods, some people suspect that the murderer in this case is not directly related to the previous two murder cases of dissection.

Just when a large number of police arrived at the burial place of Elizabeth Stead, 46-year-old prostitute Catherine Eddowes was found lying around at about 1:45 in the morning. The body is in Miter Square. In addition to having her throat cut and her intestines thrown out to her right breast, part of her uterus and kidneys were also taken away. Since the patrolling police claimed that there was nothing unusual here at 1:30, they determined that the deceased was killed between 1:30 and 1:45, and his abdomen was cut open. The murderer's neatness of execution led most people to believe that he might be a professional surgeon.

At three o'clock in the morning, a police officer searching for a suspected suspect found a piece of blood-stained clothing near Goulston Street, which was identified as Kathleen Eddowes wearing an apron. part.

On the high wall near where the clothes fell, a line of chalk written by the suspected murderer was found: "The Juwes are not The men That Will be Blamed for nothing.", but Another detective remembers it as "The Juwes are The men That Will not be Blamed for nothing."). Later, Police Inspector General Thomas Arnold visited the scene and saw the message. He was worried that the graffiti on the wall would be seen by passers-by after dawn and might arouse anti-Semitic sentiments, so he ordered it to be wiped off on the spot.

The last victim

The next day, October 1, the Central News Agency received another postcard, the content of which was also written in red ink. In the letter, the writer calls himself "saucy Jacky" and mentions that he plans to "do two more things the next day" - generally believed to be Elizabeth Stead and Kathleen in the early morning of September 30 ·The two murders of Eddos. In addition, the letter writer mentioned that he planned to cut off the deceased's ears and send them to the police, which is similar to the damage to the outer ear of Kathleen Eddowes' body. Finally, the writer also left the genus name "Jack the Ripper". The letter was later called "Saucy Jacky", as the writer called himself.

On October 15, a letter sent to the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee (Whitechapel Vigilance Committee) formed voluntarily by residents in the Whitechapel area once again attracted everyone's attention. The letter contained half a kidney and was written in black ink. The writer claimed to be "from hell" and said the kidney had been taken from "some woman" (generally believed to be Katharine Eddowes), half of which he had fried and eaten. Unlike the previous two letters, this letter did not have any signature. In the future, people named this letter with the "From Hell" at the beginning. Compared with the previous two letters, it is generally believed that this letter is most likely to be written by the murderer himself.

On November 9, a landlord on Dorset Street asked his assistant to go to Mary Jane Kelly’s room to collect six weeks’ unpaid rent. However, the 25-year-old young prostitute was found dead on the bed through the window: she was naked, with marks on her neck, her chest and abdomen were cut open, and her face, ears, nose and breasts were also cut off. It is believed that the murderer took her to the side It was roasted and eaten in the fireplace (but some people think it was cut off and taken away by the murderer). A neighbor claimed to have seen Kelly alive last night, November 8, at 8:30 pm (however, her description of Kelly’s appearance was not entirely correct). Another neighbor claimed to have heard something at around 4 a.m. that day. A miserable female scream. But what is certain is that Kelly appeared in the bar at 10pm the night before the body was found.

After the murder of Mary Jane Kelly, Jack the Ripper seemed to disappear: similar murder methods did not appear again in London, and the media's interest in the murder gradually faded. However, the police mobilized a large number of manpower but were unable to solve the case. They were criticized by people from all walks of life in the UK, including Queen Victoria, which led to changes in the top police circles. In 1892, the police announced that they would stop investigating the Whitechapel serial murders.

◆Victims

The identified victims are all middle- and lower-class prostitutes, and except for Mary Jane Kelly, they are all middle-aged but have no fixed residence. . The victims were all killed in secret or semi-secret places, and most of them were drunk before they died. The remains of the deceased showed that the victim's throat was slit, the abdomen was often dissected after death, and some victims even had their vulva cut off by the murderer. Many people now believe the victims were strangled to death in the first place to prevent them from calling for help. The internal organs of some corpses were removed, and based on the wounds on the corpses, the murder weapon was believed to be a knife as sharp as a scalpel. Therefore, it is inferred that the murderer had a considerable degree of surgical and medical skills, and his occupation may be a doctor or butcher.