627. Jack The Ripper: From Hell (Part 4)

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The Rest Is History 1h 8m 4 speakers 8 chapters transcribed
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Why was Mary Jane Kelly's murder considered the most appalling?

Tom Holland 0:00
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Dominic Sandbrook 1:43
Some of the reported clues must be received with caution. No end of stories are rife in the neighbourhood, told with an air of circumstantiality which on examination proves to be utterly baseless. Almost the sole testimony which seems to have any bearing on the affair is that given by a young woman named Pannier, who sells roasted chestnuts at the corner of Widegate Street, a narrow thoroughfare about two minutes' walk from the crime. Mrs. Pannier is reported to have stated that shortly after noon yesterday, a man dressed like a gentleman said to her, I suppose you've heard about the murder in Dorset Street? And when she replied that she was aware of it, he said, I know more about it than you. He then proceeded down Sandy's Row, a narrow thoroughfare which cuts across Widegate Street, looking back as if to see whether he was watched.
Dominic Sandbrook 2:33
Mrs. Pannier described this person as a man about five foot six inches high, with a black moustache and wearing a black silk hat, dark coat and speckled trousers. He carried a black shiny bag, about eighteen inches long and a foot deep. it will be remembered that this description agrees fairly well with the personage previously described and that the black bag has more than once figured in the evidence given. So that was the Daily Telegraph on the 10th of November, 1888. It was following up its reports on a hideous discovery made the day before in Millers Court, which was a small paved yard off Dorset Street in Spitalfields. Now, we finished our previous episode in Millers Court, number 13, with a terrible discovery.
Dominic Sandbrook 3:28
But just before we get into that discovery, let's talk a bit about Millers Court and Dorset Street, Tom. Because Dorset Street was notorious, wasn't it, as probably the worst street in London.
Tom Holland 3:40
Yes, that is its reputation. And Millers Court was one of a number of yards that kind of stretched off Dorset Street. that had helped to give it that reputation. And since the layout of Miller's Court is quite important to understanding the episodes that we're going to be describing in the next 20 or so minutes, let's give a description of it. So Miller's Court is accessed by a narrow covered alley that leads off Dorset Street. into what had once been a garden, but has since been lined on either side of the walls of the garden with dilapidated two-story buildings. So it is very claustrophobic, it's very airless, and even by day it is shrouded in a kind of Stygian gloom. There are three privies that are set against the back wall.
Tom Holland 4:37
So you probably don't want to be caught short in the middle of the night. There is also a single gas lamp next to where the covered passageway from Dorset Street joins the yard. So if you come out from that covered passageway, by night, it will be dark but you will step out into a kind of flickering light from the gas lamp.

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