Ch15: Another one bites the dust.

On July 17th 1889, PC Walter Andrews found the body of a woman called Alice McKenzie, whom locals knew as a prostitute and immediately speculation was rife that her death might spell the return of Jack the Ripper after a prolonged absence for the streets of the East End of some nine months.

That same night, PC Andrews gave his testimony at the official inquest into the death of Alice McKenzie.

About ten minutes to 1 this morning I saw Sergeant Badlam at the corner of Old Castle-street, leading into Castle alley. That was on the opposite corner of the public house. The sergeant said, "All right," and I said the same. I then proceeded up Castle-alley and tried the doors on the west side of the alley. While doing so I noticed a woman lying on the pavement. Her head was lying eastward, and was on the edge of the kerbstone, with her feet towards the building, which was a wheelwright's shop and warehouse.

Coroner:Was the body touched before the doctor arrived?

Andrews:Only by touching the face to see if it was cold. It had not been disturbed.

Coroner:How far was it from the lamp? - Almost underneath.

Andrews:About 2 ft. from the lamp post.

Coroner:Was any wagon there? -

Andrews:Two; one was a scavenger's wagon and the other a brewer's dray. They were on the same side of the way. The wagons hid the body from persons in the cottages opposite. The head was almost underneath the scavenger's wagon.

Coroner:Was her clothes up?

Andrews:Yes, almost level to the chin. Her legs and body were exposed. I noticed that blood was running from the left side of the neck.

Coroner: You said you felt her?

Andrews:I touched the abdomen. It was quite warm. I then blew my whistle, and between two and three minutes Sergeant Badlam came up. The sergeant gave me orders to stay by the body and not touch it until the doctor arrived. The body was not touched until Dr Phillips arrived about five or ten minutes past 1.

Coroner:Had you seen anyone?

Andrews:- I had not. There was not a soul in the alley that I saw. After I saw the body lying on the pavement I heard a footstep coming from Old Castle-place, and I saw a young man, named Isaac Lewis Jacobs. I said, "Where are you going?" He said, "I am going to Wentworth-street to fetch something for my supper." At the time he was carrying a plate in his hand. Jacobs came back with me and stayed there until the sergeant arrived.

Coroner:Had you been in the alley before?

Andrews - Yes. Between 20 and 25 minutes past 12. I went into the alley after Allen. After he came out I went in two or three minutes later. No one was in the alley then. After I left Allen I went into Goldston-street, then into Whitechapel High-street, down Middlesex-street into Wentworth-street again. It was there I saw the sergeant, as I have already stated.

Coroner:Did anyone attract your attention?

Andrews- No, I saw no one in Goldston or Middlesex streets.

The Foreman. - Do you think the deceased had been drawn to where you found her or murdered there?

Andrews - I think she was killed there. I should think she had been standing up against the lamppost, and then pulled or dragged down. There was no trail of blood away from the body, and no splashes of blood.

Coroner:How long have you been on the beat?

Andrews- A fortnight.

Coroner:Do people come there?

Andrews- People often come to sleep in the vans, but when we find them we turn them out. I have not seen the alley used for immoral purposes, and have not seen any women there at all.

Coroner: How many vans are there at night in the alley?

Andrews: - Six or eight, besides several costermonger's barrows.

Coroner: Did you see anyone the worse for a drink about there last night?

Andrews- I did not.

The Divisional Police Surgeon, Dr George Bagster Philips, was summoned and having examined the body, he pronounced life extinct.

It would take several hours before the body was even identified, in the meantime, a description was circulated to the newspapers, including The Western Times, which published the description on Thursday, 18th July 1889:-

The victim of the murder was about forty-five years of age and was about five foot four inches in height. She had brown hair and eyes and a fair complexion.

She is believed to have been of the "unfortunate" class but has not yet been identified.

She wore a red staff bodice, patched under the arm and a brown staff skirt. She also had on a linsey petticoat, black stockings, buttoned boots, and a Paisley shawl; but no hat or bonnet.

One peculiarity in the description that may serve for purposes of identification is that part of the nail on the thumb on the left hand is deficient.

In the same issue, The Western Times reported that the woman had been identified later on the day of the murder:-

Several hours elapsed before the woman was identified, but a man named John McCormack came forward during the day and recognised her as Alice Mackenzie with whom he had lived for six or seven years, and who has for some time lodged with him as his wife at a common lodging house in Gun Street kept by a man named Tenpenny.

McCormack stated that he did not know whether the deceased had been married and that the reason for her going out last night was that they had had a slight quarrel and that she had never, to his knowledge, been out late at night previously.

According to a press article:

McCormack told an interviewer on Thursday that he first knew the deceased woman in London about seven years ago. She had not a friend in this city, but he believed she had a son, probably in America. Before he became acquainted with her she lived with a blind man who played the concertina in the streets for a living. McCormack "took up" with her because she was homeless, and appeared to be a hardworking woman. He had often heard her say she was the last of her family and had often heard her speak of her father, who was a postman in Liverpool. McCormack never saw any of her relations. For several years he served in the army, and took part in the Crimean war, after which he was invalided, and received a pension for eighteen months

McCormack speaks of her as a hard-working woman and seems very much upset at the occurrence of this bizarre murder.

Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, published what Margaret had said about the brief encounter in its edition of Sunday, 21st July, 1889:-Mackenzie must have frequented the public houses of the locality, for nothing was seen or heard of her in the streets until half-past 11 o'clock when she was seen by Margaret Franklin.

This woman, a plainly-clad, strong, pleasant-featured person, stated that she had been acquainted with the deceased for many years. She had always been known to her by the name of Alice Bryant, and she believed that she lived with a man of that name. On that point, however, she was not quite positive.

According to the reports,on Tuesday 16th July at about 4 pm.McCormack returned to the doss house from his early morning shift at work.He was somewhat drunk and sets himself down in bed. He gave Alice 1s. 8d. to pay Mrs Ryder for the rent, and a shilling to spend on other necessities. Alice then left the room with the money but did not pay the rent.

According to the Pall Mall Gazette, at about 7.10 pm Alice took a blind boy named George Dixon, another resident at Mr Tenpenny's, to the Royal Cambridge Music Hall.

At about 8:30 P.M. Elizabeth Ryder saw Alice at the house, 'more or less drunk,' and watched her leave Gun Street after having had some sort of argument with McCormack.This would negate his statement that the last time he saw Alice alive would have been 4:00 P.M. and hence he was deemed as a potential suspect.

At about 11:00 P.M. McCormack emerged from the room and proceeded downstairs, passing Mrs Ryder who informed him that Alice had indeed not paid their rent.

By 11.40 pm of the night, A friend of Alice's named Margaret Franklin was sitting with two other women named Catherine Hughes and Sarah Mahoney, on some steps in front of a barber's shop at the Brick-lane end of Flower and Dean Street when Alice passed by walking hurriedly. Margaret shouted out "Hulloa Alice", to which she replied, "I can't stop."

She was by herself and was going in the direction of Whitechapel. She stopped, although she had said she was in a hurry, and exchanged a few words with them, then left them and walked on.

According to the three ladies, Alice was not wearing a bonnet, but rather a 'light-coloured shawl' around her shoulders. She seemed to be in her usual cheerful condition, and, to all appearances, she was not the worst for drinking.

The deceased, according to Margaret's knowledge, at one time resided at 11, Kate-street, and, so far as she knew, she was living at the time of her death at Tenpenny's lodging-house, in Gunn-street.

She knew that the deceased had been accustomed to working for foreigners."

The Suffolk And Essex Free Press published a verbatim account of Margaret Franklin's inquest testimony in its edition of Wednesday, 24th July 1889.

Margaret Franklin, in answer to the coroner, said:- "I live at 54, Flower and Dean-street.

Coroner: "Are you married?"

Witness: "Yes."

Coroner: "What is your husband?"

Witness: "He is a porter."

Coroner: "What is his name?"

Witness: "George."

Coroner: "Are you living with him now?"

Witness: "Not now; he dropped down dead on the 31st March last.

Coroner: "Then you are a widow?"

Witness: "Yes; I believe that's what you call it. I have known the deceased for the. past 15 years."

Coroner: "Has she been living in this neighbourhood all this time?"

Witness: "Yes. I cannot say that she was a married woman, nor do I know that she had been a mother. I was told that she had had two children, but I have never seen them."

Coroner: "Did you see the deceased on Tuesday night?"

Witness: "Yes, between half past eleven and twelve."

Coroner: "Where did yen see the deceased?"

Witness: "At the top of Flower and Dean-street. She was going towards Whitechapel. When I saw her, I said to her, "Hello, Alice, how are you?" She said, "I'm quite well. How are you?" I replied, "Quite well." She then said, "I can't stop; I must go." That's all she said to me."

Coroner: "Was she under the influence of drink, do you think?"

Witness: "No; I don't think that she was."

Coroner: "Did it strike you as being unusual for her to be out as late as that?"

Witness: "Oh, no; I have often seen her out as late, and later than that."

Dr Phillips later reported that the woman's injuries did not suggest to him that this was the work of Jack the Ripper.

There was, however, disagreement as to whether Alice McKenzie's murder marked the ripper's return.

James Monro, who had taken over as Police Commissioner from Sir Charles Warren, arrived at the scene of the murder just after 3 am.

Later that day he reported to the Home Office that "every effort will be made...to discover the murderer, who, I am inclined to believe, is identical with the notorious "Jack the Ripper" of last year."

Dr Thomas Bond, who examined the body of Alice McKenzie at the mortuary, was also of the opinion that the injuries suggested that this was another Ripper killing.

Dr Philips, on the other hand, opined that the wounds were not severe enough to suggest a Jack the Ripper-style killing.

Robert Anderson, who was away on holiday at the time of Alice McKenzie's murder, was later adamant that this murder was not the work of the ripper and stated that "..the murder of Alice McKenzie was by another hand."

Anderson also suggested that Monro had later changed his opinion and had come to believe that her murder was "an ordinary murder and not the work of a sexual maniac."

On the 25th of July, Mr Braxton Hicks opened his last inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of Elizabeth Jackson. Inspector Tunbridge stated that after exhaustive efforts by police, the exact whereabouts of the man Faircloth, at the time of the murder of Elizabeth Jackson had been confirmed without a doubt. He was found to have been nowhere in the vicinity of London or within travelling distance for some time before the murder. Faircloth had a solid and witnessed alibi for the days leading up to the murder of Elizabeth. The Coroner then stated that was all the evidence. He remarked that this case was somewhat different to the cases that had unfortunately occurred in Whitechapel. This was a case in which a woman had died under circumstances that in themselves were excessively suspicious. He went on to say that everything on the body pointed to the conclusion that the body was that of Elizabeth Jackson and suggested to the jury that a verdict of wilful murder, by some person or persons unknown should be returned. A verdict following the coroner's direction was reached and the jury complimented the police engagement in the case on their vigilance and the ability they had shown in bringing the matter to an issue.