East End Murders by Neil Storey

Author:Neil Storey
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780752484457
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-06-18T16:00:00+00:00

Richard Mansfield in the guise of Dr Jeckyll’s evil alter-ego Mr Hyde – a performance so convincing it was suggested his portrayal might be influencing the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

Then, just as the height of fear began to wane a little, came another murder. Mary Jane (or Marie Jeanette) Kelly was remembered as a striking figure in the East End. Known on the streets as ‘Black Mary’, she was younger than most of the prostitutes; she was twenty-five, blue-eyed, tall with a fine head of blonde hair almost reaching to her waist. She had come to London in 1884 and after a short period working as a domestic servant she became a high-class prostitute in a West End brothel. This life saw her turn to drink, and she soon found herself out of the brothel and down in the East End working as a common prostitute and living and working out of a dingy room, about 12ft square, at 13 Miller’s Court. This property was colloquially known as one of ‘McCarthy’s Rents’ – named after John McCarthy, who owned a chandler’s shop at 27 Dorset Street and rented out a number of properties around the locale. Miller’s Court itself was accessed through a narrow opening about 3ft wide; it was the first archway on the right off Dorset Street when approaching from Commercial Street.

In Autumn of Terror (1965), Tom Cullen recorded some of the memories of those who could recall Mary Kelly. Apparently her pitch was well known (in front of the Ten Bells on Commercial Street) – and woe betide any other unfortunate who trod on it, for she had brawled, ‘pulling hair out by fistfuls’, on a number of occasions.

Mary had been living from rent to rent in a few lodging houses with her man friend, Joe Barnett, since 1887. While at Miller’s Court, Joe lost his job as a fish porter and Mary returned to the streets. She brought girls back to the room out of the cold but, as Joe told a newspaper, he could not tolerate any more after ‘Marie allowed a prostitute named Julia to sleep in the same room. I objected, and as Mrs Harvey afterwards came and stayed there, I left and took lodgings elsewhere.’ At the inquest Barnett stated he and Kelly separated on 30 October 1888. However, they remained in friendly contact, and Barnett last saw Mary at Miller’s Court when he visited her there on the night of Thursday 8 November 1888. He stayed there for a quarter of an hour, leaving at about 8 p.m.

At about 11.45 p.m. on the same night, Mary was seen with another man, probably a client, in Miller’s Court by fellow resident and prostitute, Mary Ann Cox. Kelly and the man were standing outside Kelly’s room by Mrs Cox, who bade them ‘Goodnight’ as she passed. Somewhat incoherently, Kelly replied, ‘Goodnight, I am going to sing.’ A few minutes later Mrs Cox heard Kelly singing ‘A Violet from Mother’s Grave’. Cox went

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.