Читать книгу The Hunt of a pipsqueak Jack the Ripper - C. Cranston Neil - Страница 7

HENRY BIRCH, Henry Birch was the proprietor of a milk-stand in the yard of Number 2, Little Turner street, Commercial Road. He claimed to have sold a glass of milk to a "frightened", suspicious-looking man on the night after the Polly Nichols murder. His story appeared in The Star:

Not later than a quarter-past eleven a man stepped hurriedly into a yard entrance at No. 2, Little Turner-street, Commercial-road. On one side of the yard is a milk stand. The man asked for a glass of milk, and, when served, drank it hurriedly, then, looking about in a frightened manner, asked if he might step back into the yard. The proprietor, Henry Birch, did not object, but presently, his suspicions being aroused, he stepped towards the man and found him drawing on a suit of new overalls over his ordinary clothes. The pants were already on, and he was stooping to take a jacket from a black shiny bag that lay at his feet when Birch stepped up to him. He seemed to be very much upset by the interruption, and for a moment could not speak. Presently he said, "That was a terrible murder last night, was'nt it?" and before Birch could answer he had added, "I think I've got a clue," and, snatching up his bag, he disappeared down the street. Mr. Birch then thought he might be a detective, adopting a disguise for some purpose, but the police believe he was the man who assaulted the woman in Cambridge Heath-road, and that he donned the overalls to mislead anyone who might be tracing him. They have the name of the woman referred to, and her description tallies with that given by Birch of his mysterious caller. The clothing was described as a blue serge suit, and a stiff but low hat. He wore a stand-up collar and a watch-chain. He wore no beard, but a slight dark moustache and his face was evidently sun burnt. Birch says he thought he was a seafaring man, or one who had recently made a long voyage. When he got the overalls on he had the appearance of an engineer. Many points of this description correspond so well to that given of the man who made such pointed inquiries about women at the Nuns Head Tavern, Aldgate, last Saturday night, and also to another description the police have received, that they are inclined to connect the man with the latest murders.

Few newspapers picked up the story, and no mention of Birch is found among surviving police reports. The reference to the man seen at the "Nuns Head Tavern" most likely refers to the description of a man seen at the "Three Nuns Hotel" by Albert Bachert on the night of 30 September 1888.

Albert Bachert, Bachert's first connection with the Whitechapel murders occurs the night of the Double Event, 30 September 1888, in the form of an encounter with a suspicious man. The Times 1 October relates his story: I was in the Three Nuns Hotel, Aldgate, on Saturday night, when a man got into conversation with me. He asked me questions which now appear to me to have some bearing upon the recent murders. He wanted to know whether I knew what sort of loose women used the public bar at that house, when they usually left the street outside, and where they were in the habit of going. He asked further questions, and from his manner seemed to be up to no good purpose. He appeared to be a shabby genteel sort of man, and was dressed in black clothes. He wore a black felt hat and carried a black bag. We came out together at closing time (12 o'clock), and I left him outside Aldgate Railway Station. In The Times of 2 October, Bachert expanded his story, adding a match-woman and more of his conversation with the mysterious man: While in there an elderly woman, very shabbily dressed, came in and asked me to buy some matches. I refused and she went out. A man who had been standing by me remarked that those persons were a nuisance, to which I responded "Yes." He then asked me if I knew how old some of the women were who were in the habit of soliciting outside. I replied that I knew, or thought, that some of them who looked about 25 were over 35. He then asked me whether I thought a woman would go with him down Northumberland-alley - a dark and lonely court in Fenchurch-street. I said I did not know, but supposed she would. He then went outside and spoke to the woman who was selling matches and gave her something. He returned, and I bid him good-night at about ten minutes past 12. I believe the woman was waiting for him. I do not think I could identify the woman, as I did not take particular notice of her; but I should know the man again. He was a dark man, about 38 years of age, about 5ft. 6in. or 5ft. 7in. He wore a black felt hat, a dark morning coat, a black tie, and a carried a black shiny bag. On 20 October, Bachert moved from the role of witness to that of participant, when he received an alleged Ripper postcard

Dear Old Baskett

Yer only tried ter get yer name

in the papers when yer thought you

had me in the Three Tuns Hotel

I'd like to punch yer bleeding nose

Jack the Riper

The morning of Mary Jane Kelly's funeral, 19 November, Bachert claimed to be woken by an unnamed police constable who informed him that there was chalk graffiti written on the outside of 13 Newnham. As reported in The Walthamstow and Leyton Guardian of Saturday, 24 November, the writing on the Bachert home read: Dear Boss, - I am still about: Look out. - Yours, JACK THE RIPPER. Presumably while at the scene, Bachert declared that the writing resembled that of the Dear Boss letter, singling out the "B" in "Boss" and "R" in "Ripper." To discourage the crowd that had started to collect around the Bachert house, Albert's mother partially washed the graffiti away. There was another incident the following summer. the Hempstead Gazette of 20 July 1889 reported that police had received a spate of Ripper letters, which threatened more murders. Albert Bachert's name is also mentioned as having been the target of a letter that June. Evans and Skinner report that police files preserve no such communication. Some point in 1889, Bachert became chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Bachert did not join the organization until 1889, when press reports first cite his involvement.

Bachert's letter to the Advertiser:

As chairman of the last-formed Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, I have been questioned by a large number of people about this discovery (the Pinchin Street Torso). From the time our committee was formed, my colleagues and myself have done all in our power to discover the Whitechapel murderer. Night after night I have been out watching and making inquiries; but when the dock Worker's strike commenced the interest in the murders seemed to cool down, and thus several of my supporters relaxed the energy they had hitherto displayed… From inquiries, I am confident that the murderer is a Whitechapel person, or at any point he is well acquainted with the back streets. It is a curious fact that in all places where these murders have occurred the houses are such that any person can enter by pulling a string which lifts the latch. My opinion is that the murderer knows this, and that the moment he has committed a murder he enters one of these houses. I firmly believe that if the police had searched the houses in the vicinity the moment a murder was discovered, the murderer would have been captured (East London Advertiser, 14 September 1889).

The Chronicle's 21 September 1889

Bachert said that the authorities at Leman Street Police Station received a letter, which gave information that "a tall, strong woman has for some time been working at different slaughter-houses, attired as a man." Bachert also told the paper that police had made inquiries at slaughterhouses in Aldgate and Whitechapel the morning of 19 September, presumably in connection with the Ripper murders. The paper supplied no further details of the letter, or how Bachert knew about it.

Mr. Albert Bachert, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, has received the following letter: "Whitechapel, 9th October, 1889. Dear Boss, - I write you these few lines to let you know, as you are the Boss of the Vigilant Society, that the last job wasn't me. You might have known it wasn't me, for I shouldn't have made such a 'botch' of it. Never mind, young man. You can keep your lamps open for the 18th of October. I am on the job again. There's no blood knocking about or I let you see some. Never mind. Look out, old man. Your a brave sort. You thought you had me once. Don't forget the 18th. - Yours in haste, JACK THE R. - Albert Bachert." The envelope bears the East London postmark, and was posted on Saturday. The writing corresponds with that in the letters received by Mr. Bachert previously. The "B" and "R" are a facsimile of those in the two letters that were sent to Mr. Bachert before the Miller's-court and Castle-alley murders, and these two letters turned out to be true. In this instance, however, the letters "J. R." are on the envelope as well as on the address.

East London Advertiser, Saturday, 19 October, 1889.

the Port Philip Herald, 22 November 1890:

In connection with the late Whitechapel murders, the most remarkable and sensational statement was made to me this morning at my place. At eleven o'clock this morning a very respectable middle-aged woman called at my house, and wished to see me. She was asked in, and then made the following statement to me, which she declared was all quite true: About two years ago, she said, she was living in the model dwellings close by here and had a bedroom to let, furnished. A young man called and engaged the room. After living some time with her he stated that he had been to sea, and that at the present time he was receiving £1 a week from his father, and was also receiving an allowance from his brother, who was a doctor, and that he did not work himself. She also noticed that he had plenty of clothes, including hunting breeches, revolvers, guns, and many other articles, which an ordinary working man would not have. He had the door key, and could go out and in at all hours of the night, and used generally to get up about 5 p.m., but she could not say what time he arrived home at night. On several occasions she noticed that his towels were very bloodstained, for which he accounted by saying that he was fond of painting, and had wiped his brush on them. She also stated that she knew he had sent the liver, because one afternoon she happened to go to his room, and saw him with several pieces of liver on a newspaper, which he stated he had got from a New Zealand boat, as he knew a friend who was on board a frozen mutton boat. She saw him pack it in the box and address it to the then Chairman of the Vigilance Committee. He also put some papers into different envelopes, which he intended sending to the Central News and the Press Association, and the police, but he forgot them, and she threw them into the dustbin. She noticed also that he had several brass wedding rings on the mantel shelf, and on one or two occasions he brought home a white apron blood stained, and gave them to her, which she has at the present time. He always seemed to have plenty of money, and on the morning of the last murder (the Castle Alley) he left and has never returned. He left a pair of silent shoes, several bags, which she says are blood stained, and a long overcoat, which is also blood stained. I asked her if she had been to the police, and she said she had not, as she was afraid of getting into trouble for not having given information before. She said she could hold the secret no longer, and also feels convinced that the man she had lodging with her was the real "Jack the Ripper" and Whitechapel murderer. I feel sure that she was in earnest about this statement and she appeared very nervous, and did not wish her name to be published. I have no doubt that the police will make inquiries into the statement at once, and I directed her to go to Leman street to give all particulars. I may add that there was another person present when this statement was made this morning. An journalist from the Herald succeed in locating the woman and received further details of her story, which the paper relates in the same issue. Her story seems culled from various newspaper reports, and two details are striking in connection with Bachert: the boarder "was in the habit of spending his evenings at the Tuns. . . ." and that he frequently used the term "Boss." They recall the "Toby Baskett" letter of October 1888.

In February of 1891, excited talk concerning a possible return of Jack the Ripper resumed when Frances Coles was found murdered in Swallow Gardens and police arrested Thomas Sadler for her murder. Albert Bachert was present for at least part of the Coles inquest, and possibly was there to witness Joseph Lawende's attempted identification of Sadler as Catherine Eddowes' assailant (Lawende was unable to make the identification). On 16 February, when the inquest reconvened after an adjournment, Coroner Wynne Baxter found himself short of jurymen to hear the case. Bachert offered himself as a substitute but Baxter, seemingly all too familiar with Bachert's reputation, refused him. Bachert was furious and demanded an explanation:

Mr. Backert. - Why?

The CORONER. - Because I decline.

Mr. Backert. - You decline simply because I happen to be chairman of the Vigilance Committee, and you think I shall fully investigate this matter. I have a right to be on the jury.

The CORONER. - I have decided you are not to serve on this jury.

Mr. Backert. - Yes; because you know I shall inquire into the case.

The CORONER. - You have already been told I shall decline to accept you.

Mr. Backert (walking to the back of the court). - You will hear more of this.

The jury, having been sworn, proceeded to view the body. On their return Mr. Backert, addressing the Coroner, said:- "It was only after you heard who I was that you would not allow me to serve on the jury."

The CORONER. - If you do not keep quiet I will have you ejected from the room. (The Times {London}, 16 February 1891).

It's clear from the exchange that Wynne Baxter did not have a high regard for Albert Bachert. One wonders if other authorities felt the same. Indeed, by 1893, even the press would describe him as an "agitator" (The Times {London}, 8 March, 1893). At some point prior to March 1893, Bachert took a salaried position (25s. a week) as secretary of the Unemployed and Investigation Relief Committee (or Tower Hamlets Unemployed Investigation and Relief Society). The organization, formed to distribute food and clothing to the poor of Whitechapel, was at the time temporarily headed by the Reverend Richard Wilson (acting for his brother Harry, who was ill that March). Rather than provide materials directly to applicants, the Relief Committee instead gave them written orders, which they could then redeem with participating tradesmen. On March 8, Albert Bachert was indicted for providing false orders to benefit a Mrs. Avenell, for six loaves of bread and six quarterns (quartern=quarter pound) of flour. Bachert had obtained the orders from Rev. Wilson with the understanding that Mrs. Avenell's case was "urgent and deserving" and that Bachert had done so with the approval of the committee. However, it transpired that Bachert had never approached the committee with Mrs. Avenell's case and they knew nothing of her, a situation that was quickly remedied. Mrs. Avenell was found to be not deserving of charity-she was a widow who kept a beer shop and whose actual name was, aptly, Beers (Avenell was the name of a former husband). Bachert's defense called two witnesses, but they were unable to contradict the prosecution's evidence. Albert Bachert was found guilty and sentenced to three months imprisonment with hard labor (The Times {London}, 8 March 1893 and East London Advertiser, 11 March 1893).

A DOCTOR'S CLUE.

HE GIVES INFORMATION OF A MAD MEDICAL ASSISTANT.

Just Such a Man as Archibald Forbes Described - The Practical Joker Threatens Another Murder - A Night of Comparative Quiet. A medical gentleman called at The Star office yesterday to give us some important information regarding a suspicion which he entertains as to the murderer. But his first words were of protest against the manner he was received at Scotland-yard. He went there in company with another medical gentleman and announced that he had some important information to communicate. He was shown into an underground room where two or three police clerks were standing about. He was not attended to, and after waiting some minutes he said to his friend, "Well, if this is the way we are to be treated I am going." Thereupon one of the subalterns said, "Beg pardon, sir, but we are very busy." This came from one of the men who was busy talking to his colleagues. At last the doctor received some, but not too polite, attention. He was conducted upstairs to see "SOMEONE IN AUTHORITY," but that "someone" refused to see him. His statement was then taken down in a perfunctory manner. "The man," he says, "didn't put down half that I told him, and I was disgusted at the manner we were received and at the careless way Scotland-yard does its duty." The only explanation they gave to his protests was that "There's so many people call here, you know." Having extricated himself from Scotland-yard red tape and Warrenism, the gentleman came with his story to the Star office, not because he sympathies with the paper politically, for he is a "rank Conservative," but because of the importance he attaches to the news. It has been more than once suggested that the murderer is a MONOMANIAC WITH MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE. The doctor had an assistant who has gone mad recently, and who is exactly the sort of man Mr. Archibald Forbes had in his mind in his diagnosis of the murders. "Clearly," said Mr. Forbes, "the murderer is a man familiar with the geography of the Whitechapel purlieus. Clearly he is a man not unaccustomed in the manner of accosting these poor women as they are wont to be accosted. Clearly he is a man to whom the methods of the policeman are not unknown - the measured pace, the regular methodic round, the tendency to woodenness and unalertness of perception which are the characteristics of that well-meaning individual. "Probably, a dissolute man, he fell a victim to a specific contagion, and so seriously that in the sequel he lost his career. What shape the deterioration may have taken, yet left him with a strong, steady hand, a brain of devilish coolness, and an active step, is not to be defined."

"The man's physical health ruined," continues Mr. Forbes, "and his career broken, he has possibly suffered specific brain damage as well. At this moment - I cannot use exact professional terms - there may be mischief to one of the lobes of the brain. Or he may have become insane simply from anguish of body and distress of mind. Anyhow, he is mad, and his mania, rising from the particular to the general, takes THE FELL FORM OF REVENGE

against the class, a member of which has wrought him his blighting hurt, against, too, the persons of that class plying in Whitechapel, since it was from a Whitechapel loose woman that he took his scathe." Now this exactly describes the man whom the doctor suspects. He is a man of about 35. He was not a fully qualified surgeon, but had a certain amount of anatomical knowledge, and had assisted at operations, including ovariotomy. He was the assistant to a doctor in Whitechapel, and KNOWS EVERY ALLEY AND COURT in the neighborhood of the places where the murders were committed. He has been the victim of "a specific contamination," and since then has been animated by feelings of hate, not to say revenge, against the lower class of women who haunt the streets. When seen about eight months ago he was mad. "What man," said the doctor, in concluding his story, "is more likely to have committed the crime than this maniac?" The matter is certainly one which should be sifted by the police, but Scotland-yard is perhaps too busy to attend to it, because forsooth "There's so many call here, you know." Extreme vigilance is now being exercised by the police in Whitechapel. The whole place swarms with detectives and men in uniform. Last night there was a great force abroad. It was feared that the murderer would again select Saturday morning for the perpetration of another crime, and they knew that unless he was caught red-handed they would have no evidence against him. A correspondent who was in Whitechapel last night says that detectives were walking in Commercial-road in couples, being followed by men in uniform. Some of the detectives were dressed up as dock laborers, and the disguise according to this observer was clumsy. These detectives follow every suspicious-looking person. Two of them noticed a man and woman drinking coffee at a stall. They followed the couple, arrested the man, took him to Angel-alley, and searched him, and then let him off. This correspondent while going through the streets was importuned by several women. One begged two pence of him to make up her night's lodging. Another seems to have been one of the decoy women which a private firm of detectives have out in order to try and catch the murderer.