The Canonical Five

From 1888 to 1891, a killer stalked the streets of London, praying on prostitutes and young women. The killer’s real name is unknown, but the press dubbed him, “Jack-the-Ripper”. Eleven people turned up dead near the Whitechapel district, giving the killings their name. Though, many believe that Jack had only killed five of those victims, which are now called, “The Canonical Five.” Despite that, I will explain all of the events. The first death was Emma Elizabeth Smith. She was sexually assaulted and beaten, with a blunt object being shoved into her. She died after slipping into a coma the next day, on April 4, 1888. Though the press grouped her death with the other Whitechapel murders, many believe that this was an act of gang violence,

She had been stabbed 39 times in the throat, chest, and lower abdomen. It appeared that the wounds had been inflicted by a small knife-a pocket knife. The exception to this was a large violent through her chest that seemed to be inflicted by a large knife or bayonet. The stab wounds caused people to think she might have been connected to the Jack-the-Ripper murders as well, but the police determined that the wounds weren’t similar enough. The Canonical Five are considered to be the work of one killer: Jack the Ripper. Sir Melville Macnaghten, who had been Assistant Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police Service and Head of the Criminal Investigation Department, wrote a report in 1894 that stated: “the Whitechapel murderer had 5 victims – & 5 victims only”. These are considered “Jack” murders because of their similar wounds and death

The first woman to be killed on September 30, 1888 was Elizabeth Stride. Her throat had been quickly slashed, but her abdomen was not cut at all. This caused many to believe that she was not killed by Jack-the-Ripper, but the police can agree that her throat was slashed similarly to Mary Ann Nichols. But, the difference between this killing and the other killing was the proximity to another killing. Just forty-five minutes after Stride had been found, the body of Catherine Eddowes was found. Catherine’s throat had been severed and her abdomen torn open with a deep, jagged wound. Her kidney and parts of her uterus had been removed with surgical precision. A note was sent to the press the morning after that was signed Jack-the-Ripper, and part of it was, “...you'll hear about Saucy Jacky's work tomorrow double event this time…”. News of the two murders hadn’t gotten out yet, so the police believe that this letter was from the famous