Was the Ripper a frequent visitor of the London Subway stations?

[kiddyfur]

You know, people that follow this case thoroughly throughout the years always speak of the "walking routes" the ripper took above ground after his deeds were done. However, has anyone ever thought of perhaps thinking that the serial killer could slip away into the night by way of subway stations, and when you look at the map of the murder sites, almosts puts a subway station within three hundred yards. It would be a convenient way to exit into the night. Send me your thoughts.

[The Grave Maurice]

OK we need one of our train experts here. But I'm pretty sure several people have commented that, then as now, the Underground shut down for night at about midnight, i.e., no trains would be running when JtR committed most of his murders.

[Julius]

So long as there were no trains running, could he still move through the tunnels or was it all locked up for the night?

[The Grave Maurice]

I imagine that the stations were locked up, but there were places where he could have jumped down onto the tracks, such as behind the Board School on Buck's Row.

[ChrisGeorge]

You know, people that follow this case thoroughly throughout the years always speak of the "walking routes" the ripper took above ground after his deeds were done. However, has anyone ever thought of perhaps thinking that the serial killer could slip away into the night by way of subway stations, and when you look at the map of the murder sites, almosts puts a subway station within three hundred yards. It would be a convenient way to exit into the night. Send me your thoughts.

OK we need one of our train experts here. But I'm pretty sure several people have commented that, then as now, the Underground shut down for night at about midnight, i.e., no trains would be running when JtR committed most of his murders.

Hello all

Some of you will know that I wrote an article for the August issue of Ripperologist, No. 94, called "Escape from Buck's Row." I pointed out that the East London Railway line runs right next to the location where Polly Nichols was murdered. But you wouldn't especially know it, because the line runs under the Buck's Row (present-day Durward Street) between the murder scene in the entranceway to the stableyard and the Board School. Today, the platform for Whitechapel Tube Station has been extended almost under the spot where Polly Nichols was killed, separated from it by a wall, as it was back in 1888 of course as well.

My point was not so much that the killer could have caught the Underground to make his escape (you are right, Grave Maurice, it wouldn't have been running in the early hours of the morning) but more that he could have made his escape using the railway lines, and been out of sight for that reason. The police were aware of this, and a search was made of the railway lines and the nearby goods yard for any marks of blood the killer may have left in making his getaway if he had gone that way.

Best regards

Chris George