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Reconstructions:
Showing 70 of 70 events for this case. Window 22:30 the evening before to 08:30 on 31 August 1888 (times before the midnight line are on the previous day).
Time range (normalised)
Single reported time
⚡Genuine contradiction Genuine contradiction
◐Undetermined: the record cannot settle which account is right Undetermined: the record cannot settle which account is right
?Contradicting evidence, not yet classified Contradicting evidence, not yet classified
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification
“1:20 or 1:40 AM”01:20–01:40 Turned out of the lodging-house kitchen (18 Thrawl Street) for lack of doss money; shows off a new bonnet.
Charles Andrew Cross (Charles Allen Lechmere) (4)
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"About half-past three" (DT); "about half past three" (DN, Echo); "at half past three" (ES/MA); "at 20 minutes past 3" (Times); "at twenty minutes past three" (Star)03:15–03:35 Cross leaves 22 Doveton St for work at Pickfords, Broad St.
(no clock time)03:20–03:45 Cross walks via Parson St, crosses Brady St into Buck's Row (his own account).
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"about 3.40am" (Abberline report, secondhand); no clock time in Cross's testimony03:36–03:45 Cross notices a figure at the gateway ("thought it was a tarpaulin"), walks into the middle of the road, hears a man ~30-40 yards behind.
"at 4 o'clock" (Times); "at four o'clock" (Star, Echo)03:55–04:10 Cross arrives at Pickfords, Broad Street.
Robert Paul (3)
◐Undetermined: the record cannot settle which account is right"about a quarter to 4" (Times 18 Sep); "just before a quarter to four" (DN 18 Sep)03:38–03:47 Paul leaves home (30 Forster St) for Corbett's Court.
◐Undetermined: the record cannot settle which account is right"exactly a quarter to four when I passed up Buck's-row" (Lloyd's, 2 Sep)03:40–03:47 Paul enters Buck's Row and sees a man (Cross) - "standing where the woman was" (Lloyd's) / "in the middle of the road" (inquest) - who touches him and asks him to look.
(no clock time)03:46–04:00 Paul leaves Cross at the corner of Hanbury St and turns into Corbett's Court.
PC John Neil (97J) (2)
"about a quarter-past three, or half an hour before I found the body" (DT); "last on the spot... at 3.15" (MG, police-sourced)03:10–03:20 PC Neil passes along Buck's Row on his beat, sees no one (previous round).
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"about a quarter to four" (Star 31 Aug); "reports the time as 3.45" (MG); "about 4.30" (Echo 31 Aug, error); "half an hour" after his 3:15 pass (DT)03:43–03:50 PC Neil, walking east along Buck's Row toward Brady St, comes upon the body and examines it with his lantern.
PC Jonas Mizen (55H) (2)
⚡Genuine contradiction"at a quarter to four o'clock" (DT); "about a quarter to four" (DN); "at a quarter to four" (Star); "at a quarter past 4" (Times); "at twenty minutes past four" (Echo); "at 20 minutes past four" (ES/MA)03:43–03:52 Carmen speak to PC Mizen at Hanbury St / Baker's Row. Content disputed; whether Mizen continued knocking up disputed.
(no clock time in passages accessed)03:47–03:58 Mizen reaches Buck's Row; reports blood "appeared fresh, and was still running" (ES/MA); Neil sends him for the ambulance.
PC John Thain (96J) (2)
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"It was a quarter-past 3 when he was round there before" (Times 18 Sep)03:10–03:20 PC Thain passes the Brady St end of Buck's Row (his beat passed the end every ~30 min).
"shortly before I was called by Neale" (DT)03:30–03:45 Thain sees "one or two working men going down Brady-street" shortly before Neil signalled him.
Dr Rees Ralph Llewellyn (2)
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"about four o'clock" (DT inquest); "about five minutes to four... by Police constable Thane" (ES 1 Sep statement)03:50–04:05 Dr Llewellyn called (by Thain) to Buck's Row.
"Dr. Llewellyn came in about ten minutes" (DN 3 Sep, Neil)03:55–04:10 Llewellyn arrives and examines the body; Thain returns with him and finds Neil and two workmen at the body.
Inspector John Spratling (J Division) (1)
"about half-past four" (DT)04:25–04:35 Insp. Spratling hears of the murder in Hackney Road.
Inspector Joseph Helson (J Division) (1)
"at a quarter before seven" (DT)06:40–06:50 Insp. Helson first informed.
Sergeant Kirby (Kerby) (2)
(no clock time ("Sergeant Kirby came after"))03:47–04:05 Sgt Kirby/Kerby comes to the spot after Neil and knocks (at nearby houses).
Witness accounts (29)
"heard no unusual sound during the night" (DT); "This was four o'clock" (Lloyd's)00:00–04:00 Emma Green (New Cottage, adjacent) heard no unusual sound in the night; woken by knocking about 4.
"called up by the police about 4 o'clock" (Times 18 Sep)01:00–04:00 Walter Purkiss (Essex Wharf, opposite) heard nothing; awake 1-2; wife awake most of the night; called up by police about 4.
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"About half-past two" (DT); "about two o'clock" (Echo); "positive as to the time being 2.30" (MG)02:15–02:45 Ellen Holland sees Nichols at the corner of Osborn St / Whitechapel Rd, talks with her ~7-8 min; Nichols walks off eastwards.
"not asleep between 3 and 4 o'clock" (Times)03:00–04:00 Patrick Mulshaw, watchman ~30 yards away in a straight line (Winthrop St), not asleep 3-4, heard nothing; later told by a passer-by "Watchman, old man, I believe somebody is murdered down the street."
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification(no clock time; "Not more than four minutes had elapsed from the time he first saw the woman" until they saw the policeman (Paul, DT))03:40–03:49 Cross and Paul examine the woman: hands cold, face warm(ish); disagreement over breathing; one suggests propping/shifting her, the other refuses; they decide to find a policeman.
(no clock time)03:42–03:50 Cross and Paul walk west to Baker's Row and up to the Hanbury St crossing.
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification"till twenty minutes past four" (DT); "as near four as anything" (Star); Thain passed "at about a quarter-past four" (DT)04:00–04:20 Slaughtermen at Winthrop St finish work; Thain had passed them.
Police (6)
“about a quarter-past three”03:10–03:20 Neil sees the slaughtermen at work (about a quarter past three).
"until 3.45 a.m., when he was signalled by the flash of the lantern" (DT); "It was a quarter to 4 when he was first called" (Times)03:43–03:50 Neil signals Thain with his lantern at the Brady St end; Thain is sent for the doctor.
“about a quarter-past four”04:15–04:20 Thain calls at the slaughterhouse for his cape; slaughtermen go to see the body.
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification“about half-past four (DT) / 4 30 (Times)”04:30–04:40 Inspector Spratling arrives; body already removed; blood being washed away; stains between the stones.
About six o'clock that day06:00–08:00 Spratling examines Buck's Row and Brady Street for blood; railway lines searched with Sgt Godley.
Reported events (press, inquest, later) (15)
“Thu 30 Aug, c. 11.00 p.m.”22:45 (-1d)–23:15 (-1d) Seen walking down Whitechapel Road, probably soliciting.
“Fri 31 Aug, c. 12.30 a.m.”00:15–00:45 Seen leaving the Frying Pan public house, Brick Lane / Thrawl Street; returns to the lodging house at 18 Thrawl Street.
“c. 1.20-1.40 a.m.”01:20–01:40 Turned out of the lodging-house kitchen for lack of 4d doss money; tells the deputy to keep her bed, boasting of her 'jolly bonnet'.
“c. 2.30 a.m.”02:15–02:45 Meets Emily Holland at the corner of Osborn Street and Whitechapel Road, very drunk; says she has earned her lodging money three times and spent it, and walks off east along Whitechapel Road. Last confirmed sighting.
(no time; "on the night of the murder")02:30–03:45 Great Eastern Railway watchman 50-60 yards away heard nothing (reported by Spratling).
“c. 3.15 a.m.”03:00–03:30 PC John Thain passes the end of Buck's Row and Sgt Kerby passes along it; nothing unusual seen. PC Neil had been through about half an hour before finding the body.
"I believe she had not been dead more than half-an-hour" (DT)03:25–03:45 Medical estimate: not dead more than half an hour at examination.
“c. 3.40 a.m.”03:25–03:55 Carman Charles Cross (Lechmere) finds the body in the gateway and calls over Robert Paul; they go to find a policeman.
“c. 3.45 a.m.”03:30–04:00 PC John Neil finds the body independently; signals PC Thain, who fetches Dr Llewellyn. Cross and Paul tell PC Mizen at Baker's Row.
“c. 4.00 a.m.”03:45–04:15 Dr Llewellyn pronounces her dead, believing she had been dead no more than half an hour.
“c. 4.30-5.00 a.m.”04:30–05:00 Body taken to the Old Montague Street workhouse mortuary; Inspector Spratling discovers the abdominal mutilations while taking a description.
28 event(s) without a clock time or outside this window (inquest sittings, later reports)
◐Undetermined: the record cannot settle which account is right· 31 August 1888 · “statement 31 Aug evening; published 2 Sep”
· 1 September 1888
· 1 September 1888
· 1 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 3 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 17 September 1888
· 22 September 1888
· 22 September 1888
· 31 August 1888 · "Sergeant Kerby passed down Buck's Row" (Casebook timeline; time listed "exact time unknown" in that entry; placed at ~3:15 by some secondary sources)
· 31 August 1888 · (no clock time in passages accessed)
· 31 August 1888 · “not timed”
≈Apparent conflict: clock, estimate, wording, incomplete reporting or identification· 3 September 1888 · “published 4 Sep”
Times in 1888 London were Greenwich Mean Time; normalised times ignore any offset suffix. See the map for where these events happened, and the workbench to test what a reconstruction requires. Claim pages: start from a timing claim or any event above.