By Brad Dison
For more than 60 years, people have accused Eddy of at least five murders, but the evidence against him is only circumstantial. When confronted with evidence which proves Eddy’s innocence, people who believe in Eddy’s guilt cry conspiracy, of which there is no evidence. Let us take a brief look at Eddy’s supposed crime spree.
The first murder happened at about 3:40 on the morning of August 31. A man named Charles Allen Cross was walking to work when he discovered what he initially thought was a tarpaulin on the ground at the entrance to a horse stable. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was the body of a woman later identified as 43-year-old Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols. Polly was lying on her back with her eyes open. Her legs were straight, and her skirt was raised above her knees. Another man on his way to work, Robert Paul, approached and spoke briefly about the deceased woman. They pulled her skirt down to preserve her dignity, then ran to fetch policeman Jonas Mizen who was only a short distance away. When the policeman arrived, Polly’s legs were still warm. Surgeon Dr. Llewellyn determined that Polly had been dead for approximately 30 minutes. Eddy was over 200 miles away at the time of the murder.
At about 5:15 on the morning of September 8, Albert Cadosch, a resident of 27 Hanbury Street went into his yard to urinate. He heard a woman say “No, no!” Then he heard something hit the fence dividing his property with 29 Hanbury street. He thought little of it at the time and went back inside. The mutilated body of 47-year-old Annie Chapman was discovered less than 45 minutes later by John Davis, an elderly resident of 29 Hanbury Street. Again, Eddy was over 200 miles away at the time of the murder.
At about 12:35 on the morning of September 30, policeman William Smith saw Elizabeth “Liz” Stride with a man at number 40 Berner Street. The man was carrying a package that officer Smith later said was about 18 inches long. With no reason to suspect anything, officer Smith continued on his patrol. Approximately 25 minutes later, Louis Diemschutz drove his horse and two-wheeled cart into the poorly lit Dutfield’s Yard. His horse abruptly shied to the left to avoid a dark object lying on the ground. Louis struck a match and saw a dead body lying on the ground. She was still bleeding from a single knife wound on her neck. Louis ran for help. When police arrived, parts of Liz’s body were still warm. They suspected that the killer had been interrupted by Louis.
At precisely 1:44 on the same morning, just 44 minutes after Liz’s body was discovered, policeman Edward Watkins discovered the mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes lying on her back in the southwest corner of Miter square. Officer Watkins had passed through Miter Square 14 minutes earlier, but the body was not there at that time. (According to google maps, the average person can walk the distance between the location of Liz’s and Catherine’s murders in just 17 minutes.) At the time Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were killed, Eddy was over 500 miles away.
Sometime between 3:30 and 4 o’clock on the morning of November 9, Elizabeth Prater, who lived directly above Mary Jane Kelly’s apartment, along with a guest, Sarah Lewis, heard a scream. This being the roughest part of the city at the time, screams during the night were nothing new. They thought little about it at the time. At about 5:30 that morning, Elizabeth walked past Mary’s door but saw nothing out of the ordinary. At about 10:45 that morning, Thomas Bowyer went to Mary’s room to collect the rent which was six weeks overdue. He knocked on the door but got no response. He went to the window, but the curtains were drawn. He removed a piece of cloth which had been used to plug a broken windowpane and pulled back the curtain. Thomas was shocked to see the extensively mutilated body of Mary Jane Kelly.
Investigators believed Mary had died sometime between 1:45 and 8:00 a.m. that morning. They determined that her body was so badly mutilated because the killer struck in a private room which enabled the murderer to take his time. The murder of Mary Jane Kelly is considered by most to be the last of the murders some claim Eddy committed. Eddy was over 100 miles from the scene of the murder.
Eddy was never questioned by police, nor was he a suspect during his lifetime. Three years after the last murder, Eddy was engaged to be married. By all substantiated accounts, Eddy was in perfect health until a couple of weeks before his wedding date. Eddy became ill with influenza which turned into pneumonia. He never recovered and died at the young age of 28. Could Eddy have been the murderer?
For any investigation, police try to determine whether a suspect has an alibi and must judge the strength of the alibi. Eddy had many alibis. In fact, his movements were being tracked by newspapers all over the country, not because he had done anything wrong, but because of who he was. Based on newspaper accounts alone, Eddy could not have been the murderer. Even the Queen of England could have vouched for Eddy. In her journal, she recorded that on September 30, 1888, the date that the killer murdered two women in less than an hour, she had lunch with Eddy over 500 miles away. You see, Eddy was the family’s nickname for Prince Albert Victor. He was the grandson of Queen Victoria and second in line to the English throne. Despite the numerous books and films on the subject, Eddy, Prince Albert Victor could not have been the murderer known as Jack the Ripper.
Sources:
1. Western Daily Press (Bristol, England), August 28, 1888, p.3.
2. The North Star (Darlington, England), September 8, 1888, p.4.
3. The Yorkshire Herald and the York Herald, September 29, 1888, p.16.
4. The Gloucestershire Echo, November 5, 1888, p.3.
5. “Casebook: Jack the Ripper – Prince Albert Victor,” Casebook.org, 2019, https://www.casebook.org/suspects/eddy.html.
