At 10am on the morning of the 16th November 1888 a man bearing an uncanny resemblance to the person described by George Hutchinson was spotted on Queen Victoria Street near Blackfriars in the City of London. You can read Hutchinson's statement and description in our section about what did Jack the Ripper Look like?

Several people were struck by the resemblance and began to pay the man closer attention. to take action. Realising he was being watched the man hurried his pace and escaped into the nearest underground station.

At more or less the same time police officers in Bermondsey discovered a message scrawled in chalk on a wall of Wren's Buildings in Thomas Street. The message read

Dear Boss I am going to do three more murders. Yours, Jack the Ripper.

Evidently the name "Jack the Ripper" so beloved by composers of the Jack the Ripper Letters was filtering into the consciousness of the public at large.

The East End of London itself was fairly calm and, as the Evening News reported to its readers "The murderer appears to be as far from justice as ever"

With no information to help their investigation the police continued to draft officers into the area from all over London to investigate the numerous statements and snippets of information which were coming in from the public at large.

Most of these statements, according to the Evening News, were "without exception...absolutely worthless."

The police did make several arrests on 16th November but none of the apprehended were held in custody for more than a few hours before being eliminated from the investigation.

Meanwhile it was announced that the funeral of Mary Kelly would take place on the following Monday.

You can find more about Jack the Ripper at our dedicated online resource.