Horror Upon Horror

As I research stories to post, and read through multiple newspapers, I sometimes come across other interesting stories. As I read through the Leadville Chronicle to see their side of the White Ash disaster, I found just above it a grisly account of one of the Whitechapel murders. This murder falls out of the canonical five killings attributed to Jack the Ripper, but it's still possible. As the Chronicle reports Sept. 11, 1889:


Horror Upon Horror
...Police found the body of a fallen woman...An examination of the remains showed that the head and arms had been cut off and carried away. The stomach was ripped open and the intestines lying on the ground...Those on duty last night say they saw nothing suspicious. Physicians who examined the body state that in their opinion the murder and mutilation occupied nearly an hour. It is surmised that the murderer carried off the head and arms in a bag. The murder is the worst of the whole series of Whitechapel murders.

The manner in which the limbs were severed from the body shows that the murderer possessed some surgical skill. The woman was about 30 years old. She was dressed shabbily and was evidently a hard drinker. The remains have not been identified.

Later details show there was no blood on the ground where the body was found, nor on the body. The trunk was nude. A torn and bloody chemise was found near the body. It is believed the woman had been dead two days.
Image: Stock image of police finding a Jack the Ripper victim

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