Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: London by Editors of David & Charles Page B

victim, within eight days, was Anne Chapman on 8th September, in a yard behind 29, Hanbury Street, within 300 yards of the first. The murders were linked because of the mutilations inflicted on the victims. Just over three weeks later, on 30th September, Elizabeth Stride was murdered at 40, Berner Street (now Henriques Street) and the same night Catherine Eddowes met her end at Mitre Square, just within the City boundary about three-quarters of a mile to the west. All these murders were carried out in streets, in some haste. There was then an interval of nearly six weeks before the last and most horrific of the canonical murders. Mary Jane Kelly took her murderer back to her room at Miller’s Court behind Dorset Street (later Duval Street) where, in the privacy of her room, he had time to mutilate her to a greater extent than any of the previous victims. Duval Street no longer exists, its site occupied by a multi-storey car park south of Spitalfields Market close to White’s Row.
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    So who was Jack the Ripper? A small and continuing industry has arisen devoted to identifying him, some of the suggestions involving a high level of imagination and the occasional forgery. Many candidates have been put forward, the most fanciful being the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of Edward VII, who died before he could inherit the throne which passed (together with his fiancée Mary of Teck) to his younger brother George V. Other imaginative suggestions have included the artist Walter Sickert, the mild and shy Lewis Carroll (author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), and a Liverpool cotton merchant called James Maybrick whose wife was later convicted of poisoning him. The person upon whom fell the suspicions of the police was a Jew of Polish origin called Aaron Kosminski who was later committed to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum by his family, the suggestion being that they did this to shield him from the law. He died shortly afterwards and was the suspect named with some confidence by Chief Inspector Donald Swanson (1848-1924) of the Metropolitan Police who supervised the investigation. According to this account Kosminski was not prosecuted because the only witness to the murders, Israel Schwartz, was himself a Jew who would not testify against a fellow Jew. There are serious doubts about this claim.

The long and short arms of the law
London’s police forces
    F ew citizens realise that, as well as Britain’s largest police service, London also accommodates the smallest, the City Police. The Metropolitan Police took office in September 1829, created by the Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel whose name was immediately adopted by the public to describe the new constables (‘Bobbies’ or ‘Peelers’). They replaced the old system of local watchmen known as Charlies who had been established during the reign of Charles II and consisted mainly of elderly and feeble men. They gave us the expression ‘Proper Charlies’, signifying someone ineffective. The new constables were given a uniform (with a top hat) which was deliberately unmilitary in appearance since opponents of the new force feared that it would be used to oppress the population. They were paid three shillings a day, a poor wage even for 1829 and within four years fewer than 500 of the original 3,000 constables were still in the service. The headquarters of the new force was at 4, Whitehall Place, adjacent to a police station entered from Scotland Yard, a name quickly associated with the new force. In 1842 a detective department was established. In 1830 William IV became King and constables were issued with a wooden wand of office which signified their authority. Around the top of the wand was a copper band engraved W IV R (William IV Rex). William IV was commonly referred to as ‘Old Bill’ or ‘Silly Billy’; the constables became known as Coppers or the Old Bill, names which have stuck.
    The Bow Street Runners had been set up in the 1750s by Henry Fielding