Mary Jane Kelly was the last victim of the Victorian serial killer, Jack the Ripper. The four women murdered before her were: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
In the month before Mary Jane Kelly was murdered, there were no ripper murders. Throughout October 1888 in Whitechapel, Jack the Ripper did not murder anyone, that we know of. There could be several reasons for this. He could have been ill, or he could have been out of town, or not in the country during that month. Another reason why he might not have murdered that month was that of what happened on the night of the Double Event. The Double Event happened in the early morning hours of the 30th of September. It was when Jack had killed two women, in a little under two hours that night. It's not the events themselves that might have made Jack the Ripper stop for a few weeks, it was probably that he was nearly caught that night: twice. If he wasn't mentally unwell, as some theories suggest he was mentally unwell, then, he would have been fully aware that he was close to being caught that night. Therefore, if this was his thinking, it must also have been his thinking that he would lay low and not attract attention to himself. If he wrote the Dear Boss letter in the month of October, then he was getting more confident, more confident that he wasn't about to get caught. There were many letters sent to the police in the month of October 1888, claiming to be from Jack the Ripper. However, most of these are thought to be hoaxes. The Dear Boss letter stands out, however, as it was sent to the police with a human kidney.
Sending a human kidney alongside a letter to the police goes further than just a hoax. The Dear Boss letter was sent just a few weeks before the murder of Mary Jane Kelly.
Who Was Mary Jane Kelly? Mary Jane Kelly was born on 1863, in Ireland. Compared with the other victims of Jack the Ripper, there isn't much known about Mary Kelly's life, or origins. Part of that is due to their being little to no evidence about her, and part of that is due to her being young, she was only around 25 when she died. We do know that she moved from Ireland to Wales when she was young; still a child. Mary's father was called John Kelly, though, it's unclear what her mother was called. She several brothers and one sister. Mary married a man called Davies, at the age of 16 in 1879. The marriage only lasted around two or three years. She could have had a child with Davies, though, it is uncertain. The marriage didn't last long because Davies was killed in an explosion. Moving to London It is thought Mary moved to London in 1884. Before hand, she was living in Cardiff. Some of her time in Cardiff was spent working as a prostitute, and some of her time was spent being ill while in an infirmary. There's is no indication that she moved from Cardiff to London with anyone else. By the time she got to London, she was working in a brothel. Other than this, there's nothing we really know about her. In the next blog, we are going to look at the last hours and murder of Mary Jane Kelly.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2023
Categories
All
← Resize me
|