London had begun to forget all about the horrible Whitechapel murders, when one morning not long ago the great metropolis was shaken from the innermost recesses of the city to the elegant suburbs that have been lately built for the occupation of the wealthy and cultivated by the announcement that Sir Charles Warren’s dogs were loose.
Michaelmas is celebrated on 2 dates of the year. They are the dates that the Ripper went out to murder his victims. There were numerous newspaper reports stating that a garment was discovered that had ‘Michalemas daisies and golden lillies’ at the murder scene of Catherine Eddowes on the night of the ‘Double Event’.
It is often said that Jack the Ripper had five victims, collectively known as the ‘canonical five’; they are Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Kelly, all murdered in a ten week period in that fateful year of 1888. However, the Whitechapel murders, as they were considered at the time, before the case began to be dissected by ex-police officers and theorists, were a much larger series of crimes, beginning in April 1888 with Emma Smith and ending in February 1891 with Frances Coles.
His family probably shuttled him around between their homes. The date was 4 February 1891, and it appears that his mental health had now deteriorated to a state that the family, who had been sheltering and supporting him, could no longer cope. On his admission, the register of patients stated that he was suffering from ‘mania’ and he was examined by a doctor, Edmund Houchin, who wrote a report on his findings and declared Kosminski insane
As has already been pointed out, the ‘Whitechapel murders’ did not just consist of the crimes attributed to Jack the Ripper and there has been much debate as to whether any of the others could have been committed by him. In fact, the blame for any act of random violence against women would at that time be, for a moment at least, firmly laid at the feet of the Ripper. Two murders, subsequent to that of Mary Kelly, did have many guessing, however.
