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Originally posted by Michael W Richards
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Originally posted by Joshua Rogan
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Originally posted by Wickerman
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Firstly, that of Abraham Herschburg, in the Irish Times, Oct 1:
In the course of an interview with a witness shortly after 6 o'clock this morning Abraham Herschberg, a young fellow, living at 20 Berner street, said- "I was one of those who first saw the murdered woman. It was about a quarter to 1 o'clock, I should think, when I heard a policeman's whistle blown, and came down to see what was the matter in the gateway. Two or three people had collected..."
Herschburg makes no reference to any police being on site, and gets close enough to the victim to note the following details.
"...and when I got there I saw a short dark young woman lying on the ground, with a gash between 4 and 5 inches long in her throat. I should think she was 25 to 28 years of age. Her head was towards the north wall, against which she was lying. She had a black dress on, with a bunch of flowers pinned on the breast. In her hand there was a little piece of paper containing five or six cachous."
To have counted the cachous in the paper in Stride's left hand, suggests that Herschburg was able to get very close to the victim, and Lamb's testimony suggests that Herschburg probably was on site prior to his arrival...
Coroner: Was any one touching the body when you arrived?
Lamb: No. There was no one within a yard of it. As I was examining the body some crowded round. I begged them to keep back, and told them they might get some of the blood on their clothing, and by that means get themselves into trouble. I then blew my whistle.
The other reference to an early whistle comes from Edward Spooner, who of course arrived at the yard prior to Lamb. Morning Advertiser, Oct 3:
By a Juryman. - I did not meet anyone as I was hastening to Berner-street, except Mr. Harris, who was coming out of his house in Tiger Bay when he heard the policeman's whistle. He came running after me.
The point of this post and thread, is to uncover either the source of or the misconceptions behind the early whistle anomaly.
In Ripper Confidential, Tom Wescott (who claims Herschburg's real name was Abraham Ashbrigh) says:
The first police whistle was blown by PC Lamb, who stated there were about 30 people in the yard upon his arrival and more that followed him in. Unless a civilian, such as a member of the vigilance committee, was first to blow a whistle, it would have been Lamb's whistle that caught Ashbrigh's attention, in which case he was not among the first people on the scene. Being young, he may have pushed his way to the front. Even though his boasting of being one of the first at the scene might have been exagerated, there is no reason to doubt the veracity of his statement. After all, think of how many policemen were 'first on the scene' at Miller's Court. Indeed, his statement was more accurate than many of the ones given at the inquest.
Regarding Spooner and Mr Harris, Tom says:
Spooner states that as he was hurrying along, he saw was Mr. Harris coming out of his house. Spotted by Spooner, and probably addressed by him, Mr Harris stated that he had heard the police whistle and was coming out to check what the matter was. He then followed Spooner to Dutfield's Yard.
The problem with this statement is that no one had whistled.
Before agreeing with Tom, we should consider the possibility he mentions but does not follow up on - that the whistle heard by Herschburg and Mr Harris came from a member of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. The following press snippet is from the Star, Sep 8:
London lies to-day under the spell of a great terror. A nameless reprobate - half beast, half man - is at large, who is daily gratifying his murderous instincts on the most miserable and defenceless classes of the community. There can be no shadow of a doubt now that our original theory was correct, and that the Whitechapel murderer, who has now four, if not five, victims to his knife, is one man, and that man a murderous maniac. There is another Williams in our midst. Hideous malice, deadly cunning, insatiable thirst for blood - all these are the marks of the mad homicide. The ghoul-like creature who stalks through the streets of London, stalking down his victim like a Pawnee Indian, is simply drunk with blood, and he will have more. The question is, what are the people of London to do? Whitechapel is garrisoned with police and stocked with plain-clothes men. Nothing comes of it. The police have not even a clue. They are in despair at their utter failure to get so much as a scent of the criminal.
Now we have a moral to draw and a proposal to make. We have carefully investigated the causes of the miserable and calamitous breakdown of the police system. They are chiefly two: (1) the inefficiency and timidity of the detective service, owing to the manner in which Sir Charles has placed it in leading strings and forbidden it to move except under instructions; (2) the inadequate local knowledge of the police. Our reporters have discovered that the Whitechapel force knows little of the criminal haunts of the neighborhood. Now, this is a state of things which obtains in no other great city in the world but London, and is entirely due to our centralised system. In New York the local police know almost every brick in every den in the district, and every felon or would-be felon who skulks behind it. In Whitechapel many of the men are new to their work, and others who have two or three years' local experience have not been trained to the special work of vigilant and ceaseless inspection of criminal quarters.
Now there is only one thing to be done at this moment, and we can talk of larger reforms when we do away with the centralised non-efficient military system which Sir Charles Warren has brought to perfection. The people of the East-end must become their own police. They must form themselves at once into Vigilance Committees. There should be a central committee, which should map out the neighborhood into districts, and appoint the smaller committees. These again should at once devote themselves to volunteer patrol work at night, as well as to general detective service. The unfortunates who are the objects of the man-monster's malignity should be shadowed by one or two of the amateur patrols. They should be cautioned to walk in couples. Whistles and a signalling system should be provided, and means of summoning a rescue force should be at hand. We are not sure that every London district should not make some effort of the kind, for the murderer may choose a fresh quarter now that Whitechapel is being made too hot to hold him.
We do not think that the police will put any obstacle in the way of this volunteer assistance. They will probably be only too glad to have their efforts supplemented by the spontaneous action of the inhabitants. But in any case, London must rouse itself. No woman is safe while this ghoul is abroad. Up, citizens, then, and do your own police work!
Note one of the Star editorial's recommendations: "Whistles and a signalling system should be provided, and means of summoning a rescue force should be at hand."
From the Casebook bio on Charles Reeves:
Charles Reeves was a Jewish actor and founding member of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. He was almost certainly the "Mr. Reeves" mentioned in several newspaper reports as having been the first to examine the "From Hell" kidney at George Lusk's residence on October 17th, 1888. His eldest daughter Ada became a famous actress on stage and screen, and the primary source of income for the Reeves family even while she was still just a child performer.
The following is from the page Take It For a Fact - an extract from Ada Reeve's autobiography, who said:
My father was one of the original Vigilance Committee set up to patrol the streets during the time of these murders . . . and how nervous mother used to be when he was out night after night, with only a stick and a whistle as protection. Afterwards, when the series of crimes could be seen as a whole, it was realised that the `Ripper's' victims were all street-walkers, but at the time no one felt safe.
So here we have evidence that at least some members of the WVC did indeed carry a whistle, when patrolling the streets at night. Yet we need something a little more convincing than this remark from Ada's 1954 autobiography. The following report is from the East London Advertiser, Oct 13.
AMATEUR DETECTIVES AT WORK.
Should the murderer again attempt to give effect to his infamous designs in the Whitechapel district he will require, in the interests of his own personal security, not only to avoid the uniformed and plain-clothed members of the Metropolitan Police Force, but to reckon with a small, enthusiastic body of amateur detectives. Convinced that the regular force affords inadequate protection of life and property in this densely populated neighbourhood, a number of local tradesmen decided a few weeks ago to appoint a Vigilance Committee. The duties of the newly-formed band were twofold. In the first place, they were to publish far and wide their disagreement with the Home Secretary by offering a substantial reward to "anyone - citizen or otherwise," who should give information as would bring the murderer or murderers to justice: and, in the second place, they were themselves to patrol the most secluded parts of the district in the dead of night with a view to running the criminal to earth. So worthy a motive they felt confident would at once command the sympathy and support of "the tradesmen, ratepayers, and inhabitants generally." Unfortunately, however, for the realisation of their hopes, experience had proved that those to whom they appealed were more ready to commend than to co-operate. Excluding one or two subscriptions of considerable amounts they have been compelled to admit that funds have not "rolled" in. Nor has the suggestion to hold a large public meeting in furtherance of the objects of the Vigilantes been responded to with alacrity. Yet, undaunted by these disappointments, the committee have worked persistently on. Night after night, at 9 o'clock, meetings have been held in the upper room of a public-house in the Mile End-road, placed at the disposal of the committee by the landlord, who occupies the post of treasurer. The leaders of the movement are drawn principally from the trading class, and include a builder, a cigar manufacturer, a tailor, and a picture-frame maker, a licensed victualler, and "an actor." Inexperienced in practical police duty, the committee decided to call in professional assistance rather than rely solely upon their own resources. For this purpose they engaged the services of two private detectives - men who, though unattached to either metropolitan or city police forces, hold themselves out as experts in the unravelling of mysteries. At the disposal of these executive officers are placed about a dozen stalwart men possessing an intimate acquaintance with the highways and by-ways of Whitechapel. Only those have been selected who are "physically and morally" equal to the task they may any night be called upon to perform. As they were previously numbered among the unemployed, it became unnecessary to fix a high scale of remuneration. Shortly before 12 o'clock these assassin-hunters are dispatched upon their mission. Their foot-fall is silenced by the use of goloshes, and their own safety is assured by the carrying of police-whistles and stout sticks. The area over which this additional protection is afforded is divided into beats, each man being assigned his respective round. Nor is this all. At half an hour after midnight the committee-rooms close by an Act of Parliament, and thence emerge those members of the committee who happen to be on duty for the night. Like sergeants of police they make their tours of inspection, and while seeing that their men are faithfully performing their onerous duties, themselves visit the most sequestered and ill-lighted spots. The volunteer policemen leave their beats between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning. It should be added that supervision in this way by members of the committee is not forthcoming every night. The fact that most of them are engaged from early in the morning until late at night in the transaction of their own businesses obviously renders such constant effort physically impossible. Although the work of the committee has not yet been crowned with success, it is claimed on their behalf that they have gained much information that may be of service hereafter. By the regular police, it is satisfactory to add, they have not been thwarted in their endeavour to bring the criminal to justice. Suspicions, surmises, and possible clues are notified to the nearest police-stations from time to time, and one member of the committee at least honestly believes that he is on the right track.
So not only did the vigilance committee patrolmen wear galoshes, carry whistles and sticks, but the whistles are described as police-whistles. Furthermore, the WVC was for all intents and purposes, a private police force. Areas were divided into beats, and the men were assigned to respective rounds. The equivalent of sergeants toured these rounds, making sure that the men were properly fulfilling there duties.
Thus there seems little doubt that the whistling heard by both Abraham Herschburg and Mr Harris, could have come from a vigilance committee patrolman. Yet that implies the man responsible for the whistling, became aware of the murder very soon after it occurred. Is there evidence for this? The ELA article makes reference to two private detectives, and this of course refers to Charles Le Grand and J.H. Batchelor. How much of the lead-up to Elizabeth Stride's murder was witnessed by one or more of the men under their command, is strongly suggested in the Evening News, when it broke the story on Matthew Packer in its Oct 4 edition.
We are enabled to present our readers this morning in the columns of the Evening News with the most startling information that has yet been made public in relation to the Whitechapel murderer, and the first real clue that has been obtained to his identity. The chain of evidence in our possession has been pieced together by two gentlemen connected with the business of private inquiries, who, starting on the track of the assassin without any pet "theory" to substantiate, and contenting themselves with ascertaining and connecting a series of the simplest facts, have succeeded in arriving at a result of the utmost importance. There are no suppositions or probabilities in the story we have to tell; we put forward nothing but simple facts, each substantiated by the evidence of credible witnesses. What they go to establish is that the perpetrator of the Berner street crime was seen and spoken to whilst in the company of his victim, within forty minutes of the commission of the crime and only passed from the sight of a witness TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE MURDER and within ten yards of the scene of the awful deed.
It would seem our whistle-blower had observed much more than just men running for and crying 'Police!'.
This issue raises important questions. For me, the obvious one is; are any of the men known to be on or near Berner street, at around the time of the murder, actually unidentified members of the WVC's patrol?
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