Two more Jack the Ripper Suspects Are Arrested.

On Sunday 18th November 1888 a great deal of excitement was caused in London when a rumour circulated that a "medical man had been arrested at Euston, upon arrival from Birmingham, on a charge of suspected complicity in the Whitechapel murders."

The man had apparently been staying in a Common Lodging House in Birmingham since the previous Monday but the police were said to have discovered that he had left London by an early train on the morning that Mary Kelly had been murdered.


According to one newspaper the man was "of gentlemanly appearance and manners."
He also resembled the man that George Hutchinson claimed to have seen with Mary Kelly on the morning of her murder. If you haven't read the description yet you can view it on our online resource of witness descriptions of Jack the Ripper.


However the man was able to provide the police with a satisfactory account of where he was on the morning of the murder (9th November 1888) and was subsequently freed.

He was of course just one of many Jack the Ripper Suspects who were coming to the police's attention around this time.

A Star reported paid a visit to Commercial Street Police Station in the early hours of 18th November and discovered the police in a state of agitation in "..expectation of another murder being discovered this morning...and the detectives were mustered at the stations in readiness for any emergency. Up to twelve o'clock." However nothing happened.

It was also reported that on the previous evening considerable excitement had been generated by an arrest made in Flower and Dean Street.

A young man named Charles Akehurst went with a woman to her room in a tenement building and, to quote the Star, "...had the misfortune to make use of expressions which caused her to jump to the conclusion that she was in the hands of the murderer.."

The terrified woman ran to a policeman, who arrested the man. However he satisfied the detective, however, and was released after a short detention.


You can see the full story of the Jack the Ripper Murders on our acclaimed DVD Unmasking jack the Ripper.