Whitechapel 1888The evidence, and its limits

Case · 30 September 1888

Elizabeth Stride

Dutfield's Yard, beside the International Working Men's Educational Club, 40 Berner Street

Her life

Born
1843-11-27 (Stora Tumlehed farm, Torslanda parish, near Gothenburg, Sweden)
Died
1888-09-30 (c. 12.45-1.00 a.m., Dutfield's Yard, 40 Berner Street, St George-in-the-East)
Age
44
Also known as
Long Liz; née Elisabeth Gustafsdotter

Editorial biographyCompiled by the research team from the sources listed below. It summarises those sources and is not itself evidence.

Elisabeth Gustafsdotter was born on 27 November 1843 on a farm in Torslanda parish near Gothenburg, Sweden. She went into domestic service in Gothenburg, was registered by police as a prostitute in 1865, and that year gave birth to a stillborn daughter and was treated for venereal disease. In 1866 she moved to London, reportedly in service with a family, and registered with the Swedish Church in Prince's Square. In March 1869 she married John Thomas Stride, a carpenter, and they ran coffee shops in Poplar until about 1875. The marriage failed; John died of heart disease in 1884, although Elizabeth told people he and their children had drowned in the 1878 Princess Alice disaster and that she had been kicked in the mouth escaping, a story the post-mortem disproved. From about 1882 she lodged on and off at 32 Flower and Dean Street, and from 1885 lived with waterside labourer Michael Kidney in a stormy relationship. She earned money by sewing and charring, received alms from the Swedish Church, and had frequent convictions for drunkenness. Known as 'Long Liz', she was described as quiet and willing to do 'a good turn for anyone'. Her throat was cut but she was not mutilated, leading some to doubt she was a Ripper victim. She was buried at East London Cemetery, Plaistow, on 6 October 1888.

Last known movements

Compiled timelineEntries are the research team's summaries of the cited sources, not quotations. The time on the left is as reported, and the ≈ line is this site's interpretation of it.

Times in 1888 came from witnesses' estimates, church clocks and police beats, and they rarely agree to the minute. Open an entry to see how its time was read and which testimony mentions the people involved.

  1. Tue 25 Sep(time not stated)

    Leaves Michael Kidney after he last sees her on friendly terms in Commercial Street; she moves into 32 Flower and Dean Street.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    25 September 1888 (time not stated). Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: date only: whole day. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  2. Sat 29 Sep, afternoon12:00–18:00

    Cleans two rooms at the lodging house for deputy Elizabeth Tanner and is paid 6d.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    29 September 1888, 12:00–18:00. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "afternoon" read as 12:00–18:00. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  3. c. 6.30 p.m.18:15–18:45

    Drinks with Elizabeth Tanner at the Queen's Head, Commercial Street, then returns to the lodging house.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    29 September 1888, 18:15–18:45. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "c." read as ±15 min. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  4. c. 7.00-8.00 p.m.19:00–20:00

    Leaves the lodging house, giving Catherine Lane a piece of velvet to keep and showing her 6d; asks Charles Preston for a clothes brush.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    29 September 1888, 19:00–20:00. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: stated range kept as given. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  5. c. 11.00 p.m.22:45–23:15

    Labourers J. Best and John Gardner say they saw her leaving the Bricklayer's Arms, Settles Street, with a short man with a dark moustache (press report; did not testify).

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    29 September 1888, 22:45–23:15. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "c." read as ±15 min. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook: Jack the Ripper, victim page "stride"
    Related testimony
    none linked yetLinked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  6. c. 11.45 p.m.23:30 – 30 September 1888 00:00

    William Marshall sees her outside 63-64 Berner Street with a man in a cutaway coat and sailor-like cap: 'You would say anything but your prayers.'

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    29 September 1888 23:30 – 30 September 1888 00:00. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "c." read as ±15 min. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  7. Sun 30 Sep, c. 12.30-12.35 a.m.00:30–00:35

    PC William Smith sees her opposite the club with a man about 28 carrying a newspaper parcel.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    30 September 1888, 00:30–00:35. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: stated range kept as given. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  8. c. 12.40 a.m.00:25–00:55

    Morris Eagle walks through the gateway into the club and notices nothing on the ground.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    30 September 1888, 00:25–00:55. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "c." read as ±15 min. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  9. c. 12.45 a.m.00:30–01:00

    Israel Schwartz sees a man stop and speak to a woman in the gateway, then throw her down; she screams three times 'but not very loudly'; someone shouts 'Lipski'. Schwartz did not testify. At about the same time James Brown sees a couple at the Board School corner in Fairclough Street ('No, not to-night, some other night').

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    30 September 1888, 00:30–01:00. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "c." read as ±15 min. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook dissertation: "Interpreting Lipski"
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  10. c. 1.00 a.m.00:45–01:15

    Louis Diemschutz drives his pony cart into Dutfield's Yard; the pony shies at the body.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    30 September 1888, 00:45–01:15. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: "c." read as ±15 min. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.
  11. 1.16 a.m.01:16

    Dr Frederick Blackwell arrives and estimates death 20-30 minutes earlier. Dr Phillips arrives about 1.35.

    Evidence and interpretation
    Time interpretation
    30 September 1888, 01:16. Compiled timeline entry. Normalization: stated clock time; no widening. Underlying times are witness estimates or police timings; see related testimony.
    Cited by this site's research
    Casebook transcription: Elizabeth Stride inquest (5 transcribed reports)
    Related testimony
    Linked by matching names in the entry. This does not mean the testimony has been assessed as supporting it.

Investigate this case

Follow the evidence: places on the map, times on the timeline, each claim back to its source passage, then compare suspects and stress-test a theory.

Base map: Booth's poverty map, published 1889 (a year after the murders), georeferenced by this site to about ±10–15 m. Colours are Booth's social classes, not crime data. Details and limits

Charles Booth, Descriptive Map of London Poverty 1889, North-Eastern sheet (Whitechapel and Spitalfields extract). Wellcome Collection (L0074439), via Wikimedia Commons. Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Source file.

Derived image Georeferenced by this site: the 1889 scan was warped to fit modern coordinates using 9 surviving street junctions (RMS error about 10 m, worst 15 m).

Published 1889, the year after the murders, and drawn on an Ordnance Survey base: details may differ from August 1888. Colours show Booth's 1889 classification of each street's inhabitants (his own, now-dated categories, from black 'lowest class' to gold 'wealthy'); they are not records of the murders. Location markers are positioned from this site's readings of the 1891-5 OS 1:1,056 plan, not from this image, so marker and image can disagree by 10-30 m.

  1. Scene: Dutfield's Yard, Berner Street — Elizabeth Stride, as an interactive schematic plan
  2. Map: places, movements and uncertainty
  3. Timeline: who was where, and when
  4. Reconstruction: Schwartz incident = the attack (~12:45)
  5. Reconstruction: Schwartz incident not the attack
  6. Reconstruction: Killer interrupted by Diemschutz (~1:00)
  7. Reconstruction: Killer not interrupted (left before 1:00)
  8. Reconstruction: Minority: discovery ~12:40
  9. Suspects: compare on the evidence, focused on this case
  10. Workbench: stress-test this case's reconstructions
  11. Workbench: which crimes are linked (all five)

Inquest

Editorial summary

Baxter opened the Stride inquest at St George's Vestry Hall on 1 October, the day after the 'double event'. Members of the International Working Men's Educational Club (Wess, Eagle, Diemschutz, later Krantz) described the dark yard and the discovery at 1 a.m., and PC Lamb, Dr Blackwell, his assistant Johnston and Dr Phillips gave the scene and medical evidence: a single clean cut on the left side of the throat, no mutilation, a packet of cachous still in her hand, and death within about half an hour of 1.16 a.m. Identification caused prolonged confusion. Mary Malcolm swore repeatedly that the dead woman was her sister Elizabeth Watts until, on the final day, Watts (now Mrs Stokes) appeared alive. Lodging-house witnesses, Michael Kidney and the Swedish Church clerk Sven Olsson established her as Elizabeth Stride, née Gustafsdotter. Several witnesses (Marshall at 11.45 p.m., PC Smith at about 12.35 a.m., James Brown at 12.45 a.m.) described her with a man, though their descriptions differ. Israel Schwartz, who told police he saw her attacked at the gateway at 12.45 a.m., does not appear in any inquest report. Phillips's recalled evidence of 5 October (no damage to the palate, no grapes swallowed, the victim placed on the ground before her throat was cut) disposed of several press stories. In his summing-up on 23 October, Baxter accepted the identification as Stride, noted the absence of mutilation and the probability that the killer was a stranger to her, and the jury returned wilful murder against some person or persons unknown.

Read the inquest: 25 witnesses, with verbatim reports

Police photographs

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Mortuary photograph, 1888 (face)

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