Double Event Anniversary

[kensei]

As I write this, in just a few hours it will be the 125th anniversary of that most convoluted, mysterious, and argued about night in the history of crime, the Double Event of Jack the Ripper. Right now, Elizabeth Stride is out and about and trying to take her mind off of her recently failed abusive relationship, and Catherine Eddowes is sleeping off her last drunk in a jail cell, soon to be released, both women living out the last night of their lives. Soon both will lie in gruesome mutilated heaps- Catherine much the worse- and hundreds of police will scour the streets to no avail for a killer who avoids their dragnet despite carrying damning evidence including human organs stuffed inside his bloody clothing. A phantom, soon to be described as seeming to drop through a trapdoor in the earth. Was it the same man who killed both women within the space of three quarters of an hour, glimpsed in both cases but never found? None will likely ever know, but as the anniversary is upon us once more I thought it fitting to at least honor the victims yet again and let them know that they are still remembered.

[Observer]

A photo I took recently



At exactly this time 125 years ago, Liz Stride was drinking inside this Public House, the Bricklayers Arms.

[Observer]

At this moment in time she is leaving, and passes through that door, Best and Gardener note she is accompanied by a man

[Observer]

Errrrr...I'm 24 hours out aren't I. I blame Kensei hahahaha.

[I'veBeenToMitreSquare]

That's what I was thinking. Oh well, it's the thought that counts and I, for one have been thinking of the girls. :-(

[Observer]

It is indeed.

[kensei]

Arrgh, night of the 29th! Sorry, rookie mistake. You're right though, it is the thought that counts.

By the way, "I've been to Mitre Square" too. Three times, in fact. On a tour with Donald Rumbelow in 2004, another with Phil Hutchinson in 2008, and also in '08 my own solo tour when I decided to see how long it took to get there from the Stride murder site. At a brisk walk, I managed it in 14 minutes. The square is quite an emotional site if you let it be.

[I'veBeenToMitreSquare]

It was an easy mistake to make. I've no doubt it's been done before and will be again.
I've only ever been to Mitre Square once. It was in August when I took my daughter to London for her first visit. I had a bit of "me time" at the end of the day so I asked her if we could go on a bit of a ripper hunt.
There wasn't that much time but I did visit the square and walked along Whitechapel Road, desperately looking for a street name I would recognise. However, I never got to see any other of the sites, so to speak.

Next year will do. I'm determined to go back and this time, see all of the relevant ripper sites.

[Observer]

Hi IBTMS

Good luck with your planned Ripper hunt. Have you had a look at the East End Photographs And Drawings thread? All the sites in relationship to the murders are well covered there. It will give you a good idea as to what you are looking at when you eventually visit the area again.

Regards

Observer

[kensei]

It was an easy mistake to make. I've no doubt it's been done before and will be again.
I've only ever been to Mitre Square once. It was in August when I took my daughter to London for her first visit. I had a bit of "me time" at the end of the day so I asked her if we could go on a bit of a ripper hunt.
There wasn't that much time but I did visit the square and walked along Whitechapel Road, desperately looking for a street name I would recognise. However, I never got to see any other of the sites, so to speak.

Next year will do. I'm determined to go back and this time, see all of the relevant ripper sites.

Thanks for the nod IBTMS. Just a few words from personal experience from having visited the sites-

Polly Nicholls site- Creepy, sad, and a sense of danger if you're there late at night.

Annie Chapman site- just a very busy street adorned with lots of graffitti.

Liz Stride site- Would be more emotional if any original buildings were still there, but the fence that encloses the schoolyard kind of replicates the one that enclosed the murder site.

Kate Eddowes site, Mitre Square- Well, you've been there. Your impressions are your own.

Mary Kelly site- nothing left of her on an emotional level at the spot where she died. If you want that, stand on "Mary's Corner" in front of the Ten Bells just a couple of minutes' walk away. As you face the street, look to your left at the tower of Christchurch and picture Mary doing the same as she stood there plying her trade. It's powerful.

[I'veBeenToMitreSquare]

Observer, I've had a glance at it but haven't really gone into it so far. I will though.
There's so much to trawl through on here! Not that I'm complaining you understand. I love it!

[I'veBeenToMitreSquare]

Kensei, you and I are alike. As, I'm sure many of the people frequenting this site are.
Just standing on a spot where someone, wasn't necessarily murdered but just stood there once, really "does it" for me. It really is hard to explain to people but I think, you and the others on here get it.
"Powerful", may be the word I was looking for. :-)

[kensei]

NOT repeating my mistake of last year when I posted for the anniversary of the Double Event on the night of the 30th instead of the night of the 29th, MORNING of the 30th. 126 years ago this morning, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes came to the end of their journeys and someone in a dark coat and a peaked cap with grisly bloody trophies in his pockets skulked about the dark streets and managed to avoid a gauntlet of cops searching for him. An infamous and legendary event in the history of crime, and to me probably the signature event in the story of Jack the Ripper.

I have not yet chimed in on "Shawlgate," so I guess this is as good a place as any. In short, I'm in agreement with all those who don't buy it. I think it stands alongside the diary as a hoax and detracts from what we should be doing this morning, which is remembering what really happened and honoring the two ladies who died. As we should every year.

A line from a recent song called "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry lingers in my head this morning- "The sharp knife of a short life."