The murder in Goulston Street?

[Uncle Jack]

I'm a currently reading R. Michael Gordon's The American Murders of Jack the Ripper and he briefly mentions a murder that took place in 1892 on Goulston Street, that of a four year old boy who was found with his throat cut and with "gashes" to the body. I can't say I have heard of this one. Has Gordon found another non-canonical or is this murder a well known fact and I have had my head buried in the sand again?!

The best!

[Mike Covell]

Hi Adam, I re-read the book again recently and noticed that Gordon gives sources at the back from all the newspapers he used throughout the book, but fails to mention were he found this story.

I did find a baby murdered, chopped into about 20 pieces in a drain near Pentonville but nothing on Goulston street. The article appeared in the Reynolds's Newspaper March 6, 1892.
A young girl residing in the vicinity of the murder later claimed she had been pregnant and was responsible for the murder. Eyewitnesses stated that she was pregnant and had recently given birth, a search of the house uncovered a sharp bloodstained knife!

[Uncle Jack]

Wow, that sounds pretty horrific. Thanks or the reply Mike.

[JTRSickert]

O my God!!! That is one of the most horrific and heart-breaking murders I've ever read about, Mike. What could possess someone to do that...20 pieces...to a child?!

[lynn cates]

ppd

Hello JTR. Sounds vaguely like post partum depression.

The best.
LC

[Uncle Jack]

According to R. Michael Gordon the murder of the four year old boy occured around early June 1892. I've not got the book on me but I am sure it said the boy was tied to a fence.

[Tom_Wescott]

Sounds vaguely like post partum depression.

I understand such things are legal in the UK, but not here in the states. This girl would go to prison. Probably 5-10 years.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

insanity

Hello Tom. Fascinating! I suppose much would depend on a legal definition of insanity.

The best.
LC

[Mike Covell]

I will scan the news report later and post it for all to see. It is pretty horrific and as a father of two it was quite difficult to read it.

[Howard Brown]

Philadelphia Inquirer
June 9,1892
Page 6

ANOTHER WHITECHAPEL MURDER...

THE MUTILATED BODY OF A LITTLE BOY FOUND BY POLICE.
London, June 8th-
This evening the mutilated body of a boy four years old,who had been murdered, was found by police tied to the rails in front of a house in Goulston Street in a low quarter of Whitechapel.
The boy's throat was cut and there were numerous gashes on the body.

[Cap'n Jack]

This sounds to me like one of the many blood sacrifice stories that were doing the rounds in those years, with the purpose of bashing the Jews, and Goulston Street of all places?... well, the juwes were not to blame for nothing were they?
I can find no account of it in the English press.

[Howard Brown]

Cap:

Neither can I find a British reference to that event.

When you mention blood sacrifice stories, don't forget that most of that originated when a few Jews converted and "spilled the beans" on their former religionists. There's documentation on that as being the reason for the blood libel stories. Its easy to see how that sort of thing got passed down through the years...

I've seen stories in the papers with women boiling their newborn babies, smothering them to death with their breasts ( Death, where is thy sting !? ) chopping them in pieces and leaving them all over their backyard....this one on Goulston St. is little different in my view.

[Mike Covell]

As Promised, Reynolds Newspaper March 6th 1892

[Uncle Jack]

Thanks for that Mike, great read.

[perrymason]

I would think that if Jack the Ripper killed any children a likely one would have been the boy near Bradford at the time of the slayings in London...and after a "ripper" letter saying he would rip up a male child in Bradford I believe.

Cut in half, stuffed in a barrel, his boots placed between his legs and chest.

Best regards