On the evening of November 21st 1888 a ripple of horror ran through the district when the Evening News reported that:-


As we were about to go to press this morning news reached us from several sources that another murder and mutilation, similar to those which have already been perpetrated, had been committed at the East-end.

They immediately sent a reporter to the East End to visit the scene of the crime. Upon his return he stated that the woman had not been killed but had only been wounded.


According to the reporter a man, in the company of a woman named Farmer, had rented a bed in a common lodging-house in George Street at 8pm the previous evening.

At around 9.30pm the woman was heard screaming and the man came rushing out. The woman was discovered bleeding profusely from a wound in her throat. However, it transpired she wasn't dead only severely injured and, having bandaged the wound, the residents carried here to Commercial Street Police Station, pictured above.

The crime immediately sparked fears in the neighbourhood that Jack the Ripper had returned and, according to the Evening News, crowds were blocking the street where the attack had occurred.

The reporter managed to achieve a scoop by getting a glimpse of the woman as she was carried along Commercial Street on a stretcher.
He stated that:-

"It is difficult to guess her age, for want and sordidness have left their mark upon her to such an extent that even the most experienced would be baffled."

The reporter was scathing of the police stating that:-

We frankly confess to not indulging in hopes of being able to inform the public as to the real story, for no doubt the clever guardians of our lives and property will sequestrate the latest intended victim of "Jack the Ripper." As it is at present they look at you, smile, and assume an important demeanour. One might as well try to obtain information from a sphinx.

Commenting on the excitement generated around the house where the attack took place, the newspaper reported that:-

The police are extremely reticent, and prevent any one entering the house, while an excited crowd surrounds the place, but from one of the residents in the house the Central News learns that a woman, whose name has not yet transpired, was drinking in a public house with a man in Spitalfields. At ten o'clock, he accompanied her home to her lodgings in George-street, Spitalfields, and directly after that appears to have suddenly made an attempt to cut her throat. The woman, however, became aware of his design before he could carry it out, and struggled with the man, at the same time screaming loudly. The throat was wounded but slightly, and the woman was thus able to exert all her strength to cope with her assailant. The man, seeing the alarm was given, sought at once to make good his escape, and, relinquishing his victim, fled from the house. A few persons, attracted by the screams, and seeing the man running, pursued him for 300 yards, but he was then lost sight of. The police were on the spot within a few minutes, and were able to get from the woman a full description of the would-be murderer. The victim is between 40 and 50 years of age, and is now carefully guarded by police. In the district the belief is universal from all the facts surrounding the case that the work is that of Jack the Ripper, and the excitement consequently is intense. If this surmise be correct it is the first of his victims who has escaped. The woman's description of the man, however, will be invaluable to the police, and he should be apprehended within the next few hours. There is, of course, a possibility that after all this may not be the fiend who has already committed so many fearful deeds, but no one in the district entertains this idea.

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