Alayna Urquhart

Okay.

The next day, the papers reported on the assault saying, quote, she was attacked from behind, her head almost crushed, and her face beat out of all resemblance to a human being.

Oh, wow.

And she lived?

She was rushed to the hospital.

And despite the severity of her injuries, which were described right there, she was able to give a statement to police, but she never saw her assailant.

Okay.

Maddox, it turned out, was lucky.

Before the end of the year, the bodies of Ava Florence, Minnie Wise, and Mary Putnam would also be discovered in locations across Atlanta, all under the same circumstances.

Head beaten, throat slashed, all of it.

So it sounds like he comes up from behind to throw you off.

He takes them by surprise.

Then goes.

By late 1911, public outcry over the continued failure of law enforcement to catch or even identify the actual killer, as opposed to very convenient scapegoats that they were trying to shoehorn in here, had reached a fever pitch.

As the public continued to put pressure on the city government, letters from concerned citizens began arriving at City Hall with offers to help catch the Ripper.

Literally the implication is that, well, investigators don't have the ability to, so why don't I help?

Since you guys can't, step aside.

In response, Mayor Cortland Wynne published in an editorial in the City Paper to say, among other things, Atlanta is known throughout the country as one of the most law-abiding cities of its size in the United States and its police and detective departments are second to none.

According to Wells, leaders in the black community used this time to renew their calls for help and for the hiring of black detectives to assist in bringing the murders.

Because maybe black detectives would care.