Elizabeth Stride was the third victim of Jack the Ripper; she was murdered in the early morning hours of the 30th of September 1888. The murder of Elizabeth Stride, was the first of two murders on the 30th of September 1888; the second woman murdered that night was Catherine Eddowes.
The night or early morning hours of Catherine Eddowe's and Elizabeth Stride's death is known as 'The Double Event.' Why is it known as 'The Double Event?' The night is known as The Double Event because there was not just one woman murdered by Jack the Ripper that night; there were two women murdered by Jack the Ripper. Elizabeth Stride was the first woman to be murdered that night, the second woman who was murdered that night was Catherine Eddowes, who was murdered just a short time after Elizabeth Stride was murdered. Why Was There Two Murders That Night? There were two murders that night, because it is thought that Jack the Ripper was disturbed during his first murder that night. The man who found Elizabeth Stride's body believed that the killer, Jack the Ripper, was still in the yard when he found Stride's body. Therefore, it is believed that Jack the Ripper wasn't finished with Stride and there is evidence to suggest this. Unlike the other victims of Jack the Ripper beforehand, Stride only had her throat cut, there was no mutilations to her body, like their was with Jack the Ripper's first two victims, Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman. Therefore, it is thought that he was 'unhappy' with the killing of Elizabeth Stride that night, because he never got the chance to mutilate the body of Elizabeth Stride, which is why he went on to kill another woman that night: Catherine Eddowes. Jack the Ripper was infamous for his mutilations. He mutilated his first two victims, Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman. Later he went on to mutilate his last two victims, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. However, he did not mutilate Elizabeth Stride, who was his third victim. It was a Louis Diemschutz, a horse cart driver, who discovered the body of Elizabeth Stride. He was turning into Dutfield's Yard at around 1 AM on the morning of the 30th of September 1888. His horse stopped at the entrance to the yard. As the horse refused to go any further, Louis Diemschutz stepped off of the horse and cart and went forward into the yard. It is there he found the body of Elizabeth Stride. Though, as it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything, he had to light a match. The match didn't light for very quickly, within a few seconds it blew out. But in that brief period, he discovered the body of Elizabeth Stride. At first, he thought Elizabeth Stride's dead body was something else blocking the yard entrance, however, when he lit his match, he saw Elizabeth's dead body lying in the yard. Jack the Ripper Hiding in Dutfield's Yard Upon finding that there was a body in the yard, Louis Diemschutz went off to find a police officer, along with two other men that morning. Stride's body was still warm when Diemschutz just found her, indicating that she was just killed - and she was just murdered. Louis Diemschutz thought that the killer was still in the yard when he entered it. We will probably never know for certain if that was true or not, it's very likely that Diemschutz was right and that Jack the Ripper was just under his nose - lurking beneath the shadows of the dark yard. What we can be certain of, was that it was the first indication that Jack the Ripper was out of control that night. The second indication that he was out of control that night comes from the fact that he went on to kill another woman that night; Catherine Eddowes. He was obviously out of control, because the police were already aware that the killer was active that night. There were also patrols to catch the killer, both by the police and by members of the public. His attempt to murder once that night was risky enough for him, much more risky than the previous two murders, because of the heightened attention on capturing the killer, but going on to kill again that night, was even more riskier. Jack also killed earlier that night, than at any other night. All of his killings were done in the early morning hours, like Stride's. The murder of Stride took place just before 1AM on the 30th of September 1888. The Last Hours Of Elizabeth Stride The events leading up to that night for Stride started at 6.30 PM on the 29th of September 1888. She was drinking early that night; possibly, she was drinking early that afternoon. At 6.30 PM Elizabeth Tanner, the woman who Elizabeth Stride had just finished working for, had seen Stride drinking in the Queen's Head Public House, Tanner joined Elizabeth for a drink at that time. Once both of them had finished drinking in the Queen's Head Public House, sometime between 6.30 PM and 7 PM that night, both of them headed back to the lodging house at 32 Flower and Dean Street. Between 7 PM and 8 PM, Elizabeth is seen leaving 32 Flower and Dean Street by Catherine Lane and Charles Preston. Her night began out on the street at this hour. By 11 PM, Stride was spotted by John Gardner and J. Best when they were going into the Bricklayer's Arms Public House, near Commercial Road and Berner Street. She was seen with a man with a moustache, with sandy coloured eye lashes and who was small. The man was wearing a coat, a billycock hat and a morning suit. This was around two hours before her murder. The man who was with Elizabeth Stride stood with her outside the entrance of the pub with the man for a while. Before John Gardner and J. Best finally went into the pub, they joked to Elizabeth that ''That's Leather Apron getting around you.'' Leather Apron is another name associated with Jack the Ripper, and which is sometimes used to refer to Jack. The two men had said that ''He and the woman went off like a shot soon after eleven,'' towards Berner Street. In other words, Elizabeth Stride went off with this man towards Berner Street soon after 11 PM. Around 45 minutes later, Stride was seen again on Berner Street, this time she was seen with another man, near the International Working Men's Educational Club. The man that Stride was with at 11.45 AM, was not the same man that she was seen with earlier, outside of the Bricklayer's Arms Public House. She was seen talking to this man outside of 63 Berner Street, with the man, he was wearing a short black coat and a sailors hat. The man who sees the pair is William Marshall who was standing outside 64 Berner Street, he overhears the man saying to Stride, ''You would say anything but your prayers.'' Just over a half an hour later, at 12.35 AM on the 30th of September 1888, Stride is seen again with another man, by PC William Smith. We know this is a different man than the one which was seen with Stride thirty minutes before hand, because of the description of the man. He was said to have been wearing a deerstalker hat, along with a dark coat, he was young and in his late 20s. At around 12.45 AM, just ten minutes later, a man called Israel Schwartz seen Stride being attacked by a man just outside of the entrance of Dutfield's Yard, just outside of the area that her body was found just 15 minutes later at 1 AM by Louis Diemschutz. A Home Office file reported that: "Israel Schwartz of 22 Helen Street, Backchurch Lane, stated that at this hour, turning into Berner Street from Commercial Road, and having gotten as far as the gateway where the murder was committed, he saw a man stop and speak to a woman, who was standing in the gateway. He tried to pull the woman into the street, but he turned her round and threw her down on the footway and the woman screamed three times, but not very loudly. On crossing to the opposite side of the street, he saw a second man lighting his pipe. The man who threw the woman down called out, apparently to the man on the opposite side of the road, "Lipski", and then Schwartz walked away, but finding that he was followed by the second man, he ran as far as the railway arch, but the man did not follow so far. Schwartz cannot say whether the two men were together or known to each other. Upon being taken to the mortuary Schwartz identified the body as that of the woman he had seen." The term 'Lipski' was an anti-Semitic reference. The eye witness testimony of Israel Schwartz has been debated, with some seeing his statement as accurate, while others arguing that his eye witness statement was questionable. If Israel Schwartz was being authentic in his testimony, about seeing an attack on a woman outside the yard, then it's possible, if not most likely, that the man he saw attacking the woman (Stirde), was most likely Jack the Ripper. Making him one of the most important witnesses in the Ripper case. Elizabeth Stride the 30th of September 1888
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