Post by hi224 on Jul 12, 2019 6:23:31 GMT
From May until July of 1887, several dismembered pieces of a young woman washed up on the edges of the River Thames. It's believed by many to be the work of a murderer attempting to dispose of the body in a piecemeal fashion.
This unidentified body was the first in a speculated list of victims of the "Thames Torso Killer"
I made this write-up for Wikipedia but got tired and decided to not bother posting it because citing things is difficult, all my sources are actual newspaper articles from the British Newspaper Archive.
The Torso - Wednesday, May 11th
Lighterman Edward Hughes of 6 Pickford Terrace, Victoria Docks, at approximately 11:30AM, was aboard his barge at Rainham Ferry. He noticed a parcel being brought in by the tide and retrieved it from the water at the shore. Inside he discovered the partial remains of a human female.
The constabulary arrived at approximately 12:30 at Rainham Ferry, describing the body being stored in a canvas bag tied with a length of cord in simple knot (as opposed to a sailor's knot). They seized the remains and employed Dr. Edward Calloway to perform an autopsy on the body (or rather, what remained of it). He declared that the body was that of a young woman between the ages of 28 and 30, she was well nourished in life, and he stated as well that the body had been mutilated with surgical precision, leading him to the conclusion that the person who committed this act might have been a doctor or surgeon, at the very least he was well versed in anatomy and surgical practices. The cuts on the skin were likely performed with a surgical blade and the bones were cut with a surgical saw, he further decreed that the person had certainly done it before as the cuts were smooth and not jagged, too clean to have been the work of an commoner. The spine was severed in the middle of one of the lumbar vertebrae, again cut with surgical precision, the hip bones were cleanly removed from their sockets.
The cause of death and time of death was unclear, however both the coroner, C.C. Lewis and Dr. Calloway agreed that it had to have been quite recent, and the body had not been in the water for long, it was clear that the woman was not dissected for scientific reasons.
It was later stated after a re-opening of the inquest, that based on the rate of decomposition and the condition of the body, the dissection had to have been commited immediately after the murder, and that the woman was likely killed around May 1st but no later than May 2nd.
The Thigh - Sunday, June 5th
Nearly a month later, a pierman named J. Morris discovered a similar parcel, wrapped in rough canvas and tied with a cord floating at the Temple Pier Victoria Embankment. The police later collected the thigh for further examination, upon examination by police surgeon Hammerton, he concluded that the thigh had been cleanly removed from its socket, similar to the body found further up the river in Rainham.
The Thorax - Wednesday, June 8th
On the Evening of Wednesday, June 8th, a bag was discovered on the shoreline of Battersea Park by an unidentified individual, the bag was identical to that of the previous two, canvas tied with cord in a simple knot. The bag contained the thorax of a woman believed by the investigators and doctors to be that of the woman found in Rainham and Temple Pier. One interesting detail mentioned about this particular piece however was the description given by some newspapers of the condition of the dorsal spinal vertebrae, being cut very roughly, in stark contrast to the clean and meticulously performed cuts of the earlier body parts, however the validity of this claim is uncertain.
The District Coroner, A. Braxton Hicks, declined to open an inquiry into the newly discovered remains however he did instruct a constable to place the bodyparts in spirits of wine to preserve them for later examination.
It's important to mention however that at this point the thigh had been misplaced by the City Mortuary and was, according to an employee at the Mortuary, sent to the City of London cemetery at Ilford to be buried in a paupers grave.
Dr. Calloway was later re-employed to inspect the body parts together and confirmed that the torso and thorax were once connected.
The Head (Unverified) - Tuesday, June 14th
There is an unconfirmed report that the head of a woman was discovered in Barking, Essex, however contemporary newspapers seem to think this was a hoax, as the Barking Police Department were quoted by the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser as being unaware of any remains, human or otherwise, being found in their district.
The "Bladebone" - Thursday, June 23rd
On Thursday the 23rd of June some workmen at Rainham Ferry found a "Bladebone" or Scapula in the same area where the body had been found on the 11th of the previous month, the article also states that the bone had been sawn in two and was in an advanced stage of decomposition.
The article also reports on a head being found however there is no reference to when, only that it was found "off Rainham."
The Limbs - Thursday, June 30th
On Thursday, June 30th, around 2PM, 2 parcels wrapped in the same way as the previous parcels were discovered in the Regent's Canal by some young boys who were out fishing, and a passerby named Henley each containing a human leg, two arms were later found in the same area which were matched by one Dr. Thompson of 70 Oakley Square and two other doctors, Dr. Jaskins and Dr. Maughan, who examined the legs and arms respectively, to the Rainham body. They stated that the limbs had evidence of the same surgical removal and that they were well proportioned, and that the hands were as the woman who possessed them had never done a days work in her life. They also stated she had varicose veins on her legs and her right arm was longer from the shoulder to the elbow than her left, and had an abnormally large shoulder ball joint.
Dr. Galloway later investigated and confirmed that he had no doubt that the limbs belonged to the same woman who he'd examined earlier on.
The Other Thigh - Saturday, July 16th
A left thigh was discovered in Regents Canal, wrapped in the same fashion as the earlier parts however an unnamed medical examiner claimed he thought it wasn't likely it was apart of the same body, as it appeared much older than the original, its possible the skin was just affected differently by decomposition while being underwater for a prolonged time, making it appear old, the examiner said it'd likely been underwater for 4-6 weeks.
I also made this handy dandy chart to help with you visual learners out there: imgur.com/IpS7Gvb
The Thames Torso murders are in my opinion unconnected, a couple of them might be related, but the overarching idea that all of the murders were done by one serial killer seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
EDIT: So some people seemed confused with my last paragraph, by murders in the plural form I am referring to the Thames Torso Murders, an umbrella term for a series of murders committed between 1887 and 1889 whereupon 4 people, including this case's victim were allegedly killed, dismembered and dumped in the River Thames by a single serial killer.
This case is the first of the 4 "canonical" Thames Torso Murders (there are 3 more that took place in 1873, 1874 and a final one in 1902, however I don't know that they are considered to be among the same murders by scholars) which were carried out over a period of about 3 years, starting with the Rainham Mystery (This one), followed by the Whitehall Mystery in October 1888, a far more competently documented event, The murder of Elizabeth Jackson in June 1889, and concluding with the Pinchin Street Torso Murder in September 1889.
Sorry if the briefness of my final word there caused any confusion!
This unidentified body was the first in a speculated list of victims of the "Thames Torso Killer"
I made this write-up for Wikipedia but got tired and decided to not bother posting it because citing things is difficult, all my sources are actual newspaper articles from the British Newspaper Archive.
The Torso - Wednesday, May 11th
Lighterman Edward Hughes of 6 Pickford Terrace, Victoria Docks, at approximately 11:30AM, was aboard his barge at Rainham Ferry. He noticed a parcel being brought in by the tide and retrieved it from the water at the shore. Inside he discovered the partial remains of a human female.
The constabulary arrived at approximately 12:30 at Rainham Ferry, describing the body being stored in a canvas bag tied with a length of cord in simple knot (as opposed to a sailor's knot). They seized the remains and employed Dr. Edward Calloway to perform an autopsy on the body (or rather, what remained of it). He declared that the body was that of a young woman between the ages of 28 and 30, she was well nourished in life, and he stated as well that the body had been mutilated with surgical precision, leading him to the conclusion that the person who committed this act might have been a doctor or surgeon, at the very least he was well versed in anatomy and surgical practices. The cuts on the skin were likely performed with a surgical blade and the bones were cut with a surgical saw, he further decreed that the person had certainly done it before as the cuts were smooth and not jagged, too clean to have been the work of an commoner. The spine was severed in the middle of one of the lumbar vertebrae, again cut with surgical precision, the hip bones were cleanly removed from their sockets.
The cause of death and time of death was unclear, however both the coroner, C.C. Lewis and Dr. Calloway agreed that it had to have been quite recent, and the body had not been in the water for long, it was clear that the woman was not dissected for scientific reasons.
It was later stated after a re-opening of the inquest, that based on the rate of decomposition and the condition of the body, the dissection had to have been commited immediately after the murder, and that the woman was likely killed around May 1st but no later than May 2nd.
The Thigh - Sunday, June 5th
Nearly a month later, a pierman named J. Morris discovered a similar parcel, wrapped in rough canvas and tied with a cord floating at the Temple Pier Victoria Embankment. The police later collected the thigh for further examination, upon examination by police surgeon Hammerton, he concluded that the thigh had been cleanly removed from its socket, similar to the body found further up the river in Rainham.
The Thorax - Wednesday, June 8th
On the Evening of Wednesday, June 8th, a bag was discovered on the shoreline of Battersea Park by an unidentified individual, the bag was identical to that of the previous two, canvas tied with cord in a simple knot. The bag contained the thorax of a woman believed by the investigators and doctors to be that of the woman found in Rainham and Temple Pier. One interesting detail mentioned about this particular piece however was the description given by some newspapers of the condition of the dorsal spinal vertebrae, being cut very roughly, in stark contrast to the clean and meticulously performed cuts of the earlier body parts, however the validity of this claim is uncertain.
The District Coroner, A. Braxton Hicks, declined to open an inquiry into the newly discovered remains however he did instruct a constable to place the bodyparts in spirits of wine to preserve them for later examination.
It's important to mention however that at this point the thigh had been misplaced by the City Mortuary and was, according to an employee at the Mortuary, sent to the City of London cemetery at Ilford to be buried in a paupers grave.
Dr. Calloway was later re-employed to inspect the body parts together and confirmed that the torso and thorax were once connected.
The Head (Unverified) - Tuesday, June 14th
There is an unconfirmed report that the head of a woman was discovered in Barking, Essex, however contemporary newspapers seem to think this was a hoax, as the Barking Police Department were quoted by the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser as being unaware of any remains, human or otherwise, being found in their district.
The "Bladebone" - Thursday, June 23rd
On Thursday the 23rd of June some workmen at Rainham Ferry found a "Bladebone" or Scapula in the same area where the body had been found on the 11th of the previous month, the article also states that the bone had been sawn in two and was in an advanced stage of decomposition.
The article also reports on a head being found however there is no reference to when, only that it was found "off Rainham."
The Limbs - Thursday, June 30th
On Thursday, June 30th, around 2PM, 2 parcels wrapped in the same way as the previous parcels were discovered in the Regent's Canal by some young boys who were out fishing, and a passerby named Henley each containing a human leg, two arms were later found in the same area which were matched by one Dr. Thompson of 70 Oakley Square and two other doctors, Dr. Jaskins and Dr. Maughan, who examined the legs and arms respectively, to the Rainham body. They stated that the limbs had evidence of the same surgical removal and that they were well proportioned, and that the hands were as the woman who possessed them had never done a days work in her life. They also stated she had varicose veins on her legs and her right arm was longer from the shoulder to the elbow than her left, and had an abnormally large shoulder ball joint.
Dr. Galloway later investigated and confirmed that he had no doubt that the limbs belonged to the same woman who he'd examined earlier on.
The Other Thigh - Saturday, July 16th
A left thigh was discovered in Regents Canal, wrapped in the same fashion as the earlier parts however an unnamed medical examiner claimed he thought it wasn't likely it was apart of the same body, as it appeared much older than the original, its possible the skin was just affected differently by decomposition while being underwater for a prolonged time, making it appear old, the examiner said it'd likely been underwater for 4-6 weeks.
I also made this handy dandy chart to help with you visual learners out there: imgur.com/IpS7Gvb
The Thames Torso murders are in my opinion unconnected, a couple of them might be related, but the overarching idea that all of the murders were done by one serial killer seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
EDIT: So some people seemed confused with my last paragraph, by murders in the plural form I am referring to the Thames Torso Murders, an umbrella term for a series of murders committed between 1887 and 1889 whereupon 4 people, including this case's victim were allegedly killed, dismembered and dumped in the River Thames by a single serial killer.
This case is the first of the 4 "canonical" Thames Torso Murders (there are 3 more that took place in 1873, 1874 and a final one in 1902, however I don't know that they are considered to be among the same murders by scholars) which were carried out over a period of about 3 years, starting with the Rainham Mystery (This one), followed by the Whitehall Mystery in October 1888, a far more competently documented event, The murder of Elizabeth Jackson in June 1889, and concluding with the Pinchin Street Torso Murder in September 1889.
Sorry if the briefness of my final word there caused any confusion!
