45
3
2
1
2
3
4
5
33
ENGLAND — LONDON.
Unfortunately for Joseph Rumbold (1865–88), he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it cost him his life. He was walking out with his sweetheart Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Lee (dates unknown) in Regent’s Park in May 1888. The couple were ‘double dating’ with her sister Emily (dates unknown) and her young man, Alonzo Byrnes (dates unknown). The four were loosely connected to a local youth gang, the ‘Lisson Grove Lads’. Like several other big cities in the 1880s, London had a well-publicized ‘gang’ problem. These gangs (usually termed ‘roughs’ in the media, then later ‘hooligans’) laid claims to territory, dressed in a distinctive group style and sometimes armed themselves with weapons and studded leather belts. Anti-social behaviour, petty crime and violence were commonplace, but deaths were rare.
The previous evening two members of a rival gang (known as the ‘Tottenham Court Road Lads’) were attacked near Madame Tussauds. Beaten and bloodied, but mostly affronted, they demanded immediate revenge. In the late evening of 24 May,
several lads chased Rumbold out of the park to York Gate, where he was stabbed to death.
The Old Bailey dock was packed as ten young men faced trial for the killing. They were a mixture of working-class youths, but none fitted the media depiction of them as unemployed wastrels. In the end, only one was convicted: George ‘Garry’ Galletly (1871–unknown). Galletly had publicly boasted that he would ‘do for them’, borrowing a knife from another boy as they gathered to settle their score with their rivals. As the youngest member of the gang, he may have felt obliged to prove his mettle. His death sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment on account of his age. •
Below. the penny illustrated paper, 2 june 1888. george galletly in the dock at the old bailey with
his fellow gang members.
regent’s park, marylebone.
May .
englandlondon.
GEORGE GALLETLY.× Joseph Rumbold.
weapon.knife.
typology.gang.
policing.n/a.
BRIDPORT STREET.
the street where
joseph rumbold lived.
MARYLEBONE LANE.
the lane where joseph rumbold and alonzo
byrnes worked.
BARRETT’S COURT.
the court where lizzie
and emily lee lived.
CORNWALL TERRACE.
the road where the gang attacked
joseph rumbold.
YORK GATE.
the place where joseph rumbold
collapsed.
34
PART ONE — EUROPE.
In 1888, London was shocked by a series of brutal murders that left the police baffled and East Enders terrified. No one was ever successfully caught and convicted of the so-called ‘Whitechapel Murders’, allowing historians and amateur sleuths to speculate on the true identity of the killer known as ‘Jack the Ripper’ ever since.
Most researchers agree that ‘Jack’ killed five women between August and November 1888. Others argue that there could be as many as eight or nine murders committed by the same killer. What is not in dispute is the brutality of these killings, which were out of the ordinary and well beyond the usual domestic homicides that blighted
life in this desperately poor community. All the murders took place in a geographically small area: Whitechapel and Spitalfields were home to tens of thousands of Queen Victoria’s poorest subjects, many crammed into dingy lodging houses where rooms could be rented for a few pennies a night. Prostitution was rife in the East End and most researchers believe that the women the ‘Ripper’ targeted were selling sex in order to find the money they needed to put a roof over their heads.
The first of the ‘canonical five’ victims was Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Nichols (1845–88), whose dead body was found by two workmen, Charles Cross (1849–1920) and Robert Paul (dates unknown), on their daily commute at just after 3:30 a.m. on 31 August. Cross had seen what he thought to be a tarpaulin lying close to the gates of a stable yard on Buck’s Row. Examining the bundle, he soon realized it was a body and called Paul over. While the pair went off in search of a policeman, the local beat bobby, Police Constable 97J John Neil (1850–unknown), arrived and blew his whistle for help. Polly had
whitechapel & spitalfields.
–.JACK THE RIPPER .× 5. +
englandlondon.
weapon.knife.
typology.sexual.
policing. criminal profiling.
BCEF
D
31 August 1888.buck’s row,
whitechapel.
8 September 1888.29 hanbury street,
spitalfields.
30 September 1888. dutfield’s yard, berner street,
whitechapel.
9 November 1888.
miller’s court, dorset street,
spitalfields.
30 September 1888. mitre square, mitre
street, aldgate.
BCEF
D
Mary Ann Nichols.Throat twice-cut, abdomen mutilated.
Aged 43.
Annie Chapman.Throat cut, body mutilated,
