Jack the Ripper's First: Mary Ann Nichols Murdered
Mary Ann Nichols was found dead in Buck's Row, Whitechapel, at 3:40 a.m. on August 31, 1888, by a carter named Charles Cross. Her throat had been cut twice, and her abdomen was mutilated. She was 43, homeless, and had been turned away from a doss house because she couldn't afford the four-pence bed fee. She was the first of five women whose murders are attributed with reasonable certainty to an unidentified killer the press named "Jack the Ripper." The subsequent murders of Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly escalated in brutality. Despite the largest police investigation in Victorian history, the killer was never identified. The case remains open at the Metropolitan Police.
August 31, 1888
138 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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