Florence Maybrick: Death Sentence Commuted

Had she known what was in store for her, Catherine Edowes ("Kate") would likely have stayed in jail for causing a drunken disturbance. But the constable let her go, thinking it was too late for her to get into more trouble. Soon she was seen, drunk, at St. Botolph's Church.

By 1:30 a.m. Edowes was at Church Passage, near the Minories. A witness last saw her talking with a man who had a fair moustache and was wearing a cloth hat. The man was the last person Kate Edowes ever spoke with. The description, matching that of James Maybrick, is further evidence which diary supporters use to claim he was the Whitechapel killer.

This time, the Ripper was undisturbed. The damage he did to Kate Edowes' body was horrifying. Her body was found at Mitre Square. The next day all the world would know him by the name he had given himself: "Jack the Ripper."

When Londoners read the first edition of the Daily News, on October 1, 1888, they had access to a letter Scotland Yard had recently received. The letter was dated September 25th and was addressed to "Dear Boss." It said, in part:

Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I can't use it.

The original letter was written in red ink. The Ripper's place in crime history was now assured. (Parenthetically, the types of phrases used in the September 25th Ripper letter sound very much like the types of phrases used in the diary.)