Bodies in the water!

We are all familiar with the infamous crimes of Jack the Ripper, who proweld the streets of Victorian London, murdering and butchering his victims at will, he was never caught and there have been numerous names and theories as to their identity.

But another killer was lurking in the background of Jack, plying their trade on the waterways around London, having began their work a whole years before Jack and 10 months after Jack’s last kill, let me introduce you to the Thames Torso Murders!

On the 5th September 1873, around 6am a police constable was summoned to the upper shore of the Battersea water works to be shown what was to be the first of many body parts to wash onto the shore of the mighty Thames river. The constable was to be shown the part dismembered torso of what would later be identified as a female.

At about 10.30am that same morning, another constable was to find the corresponding torso at the Brunswick Wharfe, shortly after a set of lungs were then located under the arches of the Battersea-bridge, strangely, as if this wasn’t strange enough, another set of lungs were then found under another bridge close by.

By the weekends end, the face and scalp were also found and reported in the paper as having been done so to prevent identification, these parts laid in Clapham workhouse in the hope that someone may identify the victim. The police assembled what remains they had and it is said even went as far as to stretch the face over a block of wood in the hope it may yield some clues as to the person identity, the various surgeons all agreed that the body had been sawn and hacked in a very amature way and was done so by mean of anatomical study.

Police set about attempting to identify the mystery remains, she was said to be stout with short black hair and a burn mark over one nipples, said to be from childhood along with a mole on the torso, but after nearly a month no one came forward to claim the unknown victim, she was buried at Battersea cemetery.

In June of the following year (June 1874), another body or parts of were to be found, on Friday morning a Robert Nicholls was out on the waterway when he spied what appeared to be a body floating in the water, he approached and found a torsi missing a leg, head, shoulders and arms. Once brought ashore a police surgeon set about examining the torse.

He concluded that this was again that of a female, adult age but could offer little insight into their identity than this. He believed that the remains had been covered in lime in the hope of decomposing them before being placed in the water. The torso was missing the intestines and again was not dissected during anatomical study, no cause of death could be concluded and the jury at the inquest reported back as ‘found dead’, I mean come on guys, pretty sure they didn’t just die there, but still.

It wasn’t until May 1887 when a lightman named Edward Hughes noticed something floating in the river, when he approached and fished the bundle of material out and onto his boat, he was to be faced with a grizzly scene, it was that of a female torso, it seemed the killer had started again.

Between May and June of 1887 more body parts were to be found along the Thames, Edward Callaway carried out a thorough post mortem and concluded that this victim was between 27 and 29 years of age, she had been well nourished and in good condition, the victim had been dismembered some time soon after her death but a cause of death could not be established, again the surgeon stated it was not carried out by means of anatomical study but felt a certain level of medical knowledge was needed in order to carry out the task as the wounds appeared more clean and careful, it seems our killer may have used their absence to learn new skills and methods in order to further their goal.

To throw in an extra element of thought to this, during the gap between murders (approx. 2 years) there were a number of short wars fought by the British against various countries, opening up the possibility that the killer was absent fighting abroad and potential gained skills as a barber surgeon or butcher during the conflict and explaining the apparent improvement in skill.

June 1889.

John Albert Regan, s dock worker was called by some children playing by the waters edge, they had spied a package floating and thinking it suspicious called over an adult, John along with a number of other workers, manhandled he package onto the side and unwrapping it, were horrified to discover the remains of another torso, this one had been cut in 2 and was wrapped loosely in the remains of a woman’s undergarment. Police happened to be passing on a boat and quickly took over, the body appeared to have been very recently placed into the water.

As the police had begun to examine this package, another was then found at the almost the same time further along the river, this one containing a left leg and thigh of what was thought to have been the same person. Dr Bond, of Westminster hospital was charged with examining the body and discovered that they had been wrapped in portions of the same material and did belong to the same unfortunate sole.

On further careful examination, L. E. Fisher was discovered embroidered into the fabric but they could not confirm this as being the identity of the body, they believed she had been dead or placed into the water within 48hrs and was likely she had recently been pregnant, the belief an illegal abortion was performed and death resulted, the mutilated corpse having been done to prevent discovery of the victim.

July 1889

Coroner Braxton-hicks held an inquest into the recent discovery of the body, she had now been identified as Elizabeth Jackson, daughter to a respectable Mr and Mrs Jackson who had last seen their daughter alive in May of that year and the relationship had been strained and difficult, she reported that the description matched that of the remains and when last seen, she confirmed that she had been pregnant and named the father father as one Jack Fairclough, a stone mason who Elizabeth had reported to others as ill treating her, Fairclough had also apparently abandoned the mother of his child and seemingly vanished. Elizabeth was also identified by the scar to a wrist she had sustained during service as a maid.

10th September 1889.

Constable William Pennett was patrolling in the area of Whitechapel, when he spotted a package under the railway arch of Pinchin Street, he discovered the body of another woman, arms attached but missing both the head and legs.

This time, the body had been dead at least 4 days being partially decomposed but having only been placed there that night, her stomach had been, what was described as, mutilated and cut open, having been carried there in rough sack or cloth, at the time, the Ripper was in full swing and the body was discovered only a short distance away from where one of the rippers victims has been found and year to the day ago.

Of the four initial cases linked by police, a further 4 more were associated with the same killer, and although it has been linked to Jack the Ripper, police at the time dismissed this, one author in his book ‘The Thames torso murders of London, R Michael Gordon also goes further suggest a link to a further 2 murders, one in Paris in 1886 and another in London in 1902.

No suspect was ever identified in any of the cases and the killer seemingly stopped towards the end of the 1800s, Elizabeth Jackson being the only victim identified.