In 1889, the American Journalist Richard Harding Davis (1864 - 1916) visited London in order to research an article on the Jack the Ripper murders.
Making his way to Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, he met with the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, Dr. Robert Anderson, who arranged for him to be shown around Whitechapel by Inspector Henry Moore, who had just been put in charge of the on the ground investigation into the crimes.
Davis met Moore at Leman Street Police Station, and the two men headed to Castle Alley, which had recently been the scene of the murder of Alice McKenzie. Here, more held forth on his opinion of the criticism that was being levelled at him and his fellow detectives because of their failure to catch Jack the Ripper.
In the course of their tour of the district, they paid a visit to Dorset Street, and they even went inside 13 Miller's Court, the scene of the murder of Mary Kelly the previous November. Some of the myths about her murder that are still circulating can, in fact be traced back to Moore's comments as he stood in that room with Davis.
Returning to America, Davis's article was published, and was then reproduced in newspapers, both in America and Britain. We thus have an intriguing historical record of the murder sites in 1889, and of some of the measures that the police were adopting in order to try and catch Jack the Ripper.
Although Richard Harding Davis was American, I have decides not to attempt and American accent in the narration of his article!
3 июл 2024
