from RipperLady
Today's blog (and the next) will be about the creation of a villain through the use of language and innuendo. But first, a little bit of background information.
On Hollywood Ripper, we have a listing of the women that nearly everybody agrees were killed by Jack the Ripper. We call them The Canonical 5. Martha Tabram is not on that list. This will be important information a little bit further down on the page.
Martha Tabram was murdered probably sometime between 2:00-3:30am on August 7, 1888. Her body was found on the first floor landing of the George Yard Buildings in Whitechapel. Here is a description of her wounds:
"The post-mortem examination of Martha Tabram was held by Dr. Timothy Robert Killeen (also spelled Keeling or Keleene) at 5:30 AM on the morning of August 7th. Tabram was described as a plump middle-aged woman, about 5'3" tall, dark hair and complexion. The time of death was estimated at about three hours before the examination (around 2:30-2:45 AM). In all, there were thirty-nine stab wounds including:
5 wounds (left lung)
2 wounds (right lung)
1 wound (heart)
5 wounds (liver)
2 wounds (spleen)
6 wounds (stomach)
According to Killeen, the focus of the wounds were the breasts, belly, and groin area. In his opinion, all but one of the wounds were inflicted by a right-handed attacker, and all but one seemed to have been the result of an "ordinary pen-knife." There was, however, one wound on the sternum which appeared to have been inflicted by a dagger or bayonet (thereby leading police to believe that a sailor was the perpetrator). "
(For more info, see Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Martha Tabram)
Martha Tabram was stabbed multiple times by her attacker, but her throat was not slashed. She had not been cut open. There were no organs missing from her body. She is generally viewed as the victim of some other killer, or an early "piece of work" by Jack the Ripper before he got his infamous modus operandi down.
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