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I first picked up on this case, which I haven't read about before, from the MEPO report from 1891 (which referred to the statistics for 1889) as below:
The Times
3 February 1891
THE METROPOLITAN POLICE
Colonel Sir Edward Bradford, Commissioner of Police of the metropolis, has presented his report for the year 1889 to the Secretary of State.
The criminal returns for the year show a marked improvement upon the statistics for 1888. It is noticed that 17 murders were recorded without a single conviction having been obtained. The explanation given of this may be interesting:-
"In eight of these cases the persons actually causing deaths were made amenable, but escaped the capital penalty; two of them on the ground of insanity, and the others because the homicides were held not to amount to murder. In four of the nine remaining cases the persons against whom coroners' juries found verdicts of wilful murder had committed suicide before their crimes were discovered. In one the murderer was tracked to New York and arrested there, but committed suicide in prison. There are four cases only, therefore, to be accounted for. One of these was the case of a prostitute who was found lying in Algernon Road, Lewisham, on the 10th of February, and who died on the 14th from a fracture of the skull, supposed to have been caused by a blow. The second was the case of Elizabeth Jackson, also a prostitute, portions of whose dismembered body were found, some in Chelsea, and some in the Thames. The next was the case Alice M'Kenzie, whose death in Castle Alley, on the 17th of July, was the last of the crimes known as the Whitechapel murders. And the last was a case where a portion of a woman's body was found in a railway arch in Pinchin Street, St George's East, on the 10th of September."
The inquest into the death in Lewisham in February reads as follows:
The Times
20 February 1889
INQUESTS
Mr Wood, deputy coroner for West Kent, held an inquest at Lewisham Workhouse on the body of Louisa Smith, aged 35, of 7 Giffin Street, Deptford. The evidence showed that she lived there with a labourer named John Luxford, and on Saturday morning was with a woman named Emily Atkinson, who left her at a quarter to 11 at night, talking to another woman, named Emma Maguire, at a corner near Hilly Fields at Lewisham. Shortly after, John Brown, living at Lee's Fields, Lewisham, saw the deceased and a man near the gate, and turned them outside. On Sunday morning, about half past 12 o'clock, John Cheeseman, of 171 Algernon Road, Lewisham, found the deceased lying about a yard from the kerb, about 150 yards from Lewisham Road; and Police Constable Davis, 7P, on being called, found her on her back, unconscious, with her mouth cut and bleeding. She was taken on an ambulance to Lewisham Police Station, where she was seen by Dr Visger, who ordered her removal to the Lewisham Union Infirmary. The constable had been unable to obtain evidence as to how the injuries were occasioned. Mr Lewis Robinson, surgeon at the infirmary, said deceased was admitted about 3 o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 10th, insensible and bleeding from the mouth and right ear, behind which there was a depression, and above that a bruise. Her face was paralysed. She died last Thursday evening. He had made a post mortem examination of the body. There was a cut on the outside of the lips, and the inside was cut by the teeth, which were not loosened. That indicated that no great force had been used. The membranes of the brain were full of blood, with clots of blood in the lower part of the brain, which was lacerated. There was a fracture of the base of the skull. The blow must have been given with tremendous force, the weapon probably having a smooth surface. He thought the cut on the lip was caused when the deceased fell, on being struck from behind. The jury returned a verdict of "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown."
The Times
3 February 1891
THE METROPOLITAN POLICE
Colonel Sir Edward Bradford, Commissioner of Police of the metropolis, has presented his report for the year 1889 to the Secretary of State.
The criminal returns for the year show a marked improvement upon the statistics for 1888. It is noticed that 17 murders were recorded without a single conviction having been obtained. The explanation given of this may be interesting:-
"In eight of these cases the persons actually causing deaths were made amenable, but escaped the capital penalty; two of them on the ground of insanity, and the others because the homicides were held not to amount to murder. In four of the nine remaining cases the persons against whom coroners' juries found verdicts of wilful murder had committed suicide before their crimes were discovered. In one the murderer was tracked to New York and arrested there, but committed suicide in prison. There are four cases only, therefore, to be accounted for. One of these was the case of a prostitute who was found lying in Algernon Road, Lewisham, on the 10th of February, and who died on the 14th from a fracture of the skull, supposed to have been caused by a blow. The second was the case of Elizabeth Jackson, also a prostitute, portions of whose dismembered body were found, some in Chelsea, and some in the Thames. The next was the case Alice M'Kenzie, whose death in Castle Alley, on the 17th of July, was the last of the crimes known as the Whitechapel murders. And the last was a case where a portion of a woman's body was found in a railway arch in Pinchin Street, St George's East, on the 10th of September."
The inquest into the death in Lewisham in February reads as follows:
The Times
20 February 1889
INQUESTS
Mr Wood, deputy coroner for West Kent, held an inquest at Lewisham Workhouse on the body of Louisa Smith, aged 35, of 7 Giffin Street, Deptford. The evidence showed that she lived there with a labourer named John Luxford, and on Saturday morning was with a woman named Emily Atkinson, who left her at a quarter to 11 at night, talking to another woman, named Emma Maguire, at a corner near Hilly Fields at Lewisham. Shortly after, John Brown, living at Lee's Fields, Lewisham, saw the deceased and a man near the gate, and turned them outside. On Sunday morning, about half past 12 o'clock, John Cheeseman, of 171 Algernon Road, Lewisham, found the deceased lying about a yard from the kerb, about 150 yards from Lewisham Road; and Police Constable Davis, 7P, on being called, found her on her back, unconscious, with her mouth cut and bleeding. She was taken on an ambulance to Lewisham Police Station, where she was seen by Dr Visger, who ordered her removal to the Lewisham Union Infirmary. The constable had been unable to obtain evidence as to how the injuries were occasioned. Mr Lewis Robinson, surgeon at the infirmary, said deceased was admitted about 3 o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 10th, insensible and bleeding from the mouth and right ear, behind which there was a depression, and above that a bruise. Her face was paralysed. She died last Thursday evening. He had made a post mortem examination of the body. There was a cut on the outside of the lips, and the inside was cut by the teeth, which were not loosened. That indicated that no great force had been used. The membranes of the brain were full of blood, with clots of blood in the lower part of the brain, which was lacerated. There was a fracture of the base of the skull. The blow must have been given with tremendous force, the weapon probably having a smooth surface. He thought the cut on the lip was caused when the deceased fell, on being struck from behind. The jury returned a verdict of "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown."
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