The atrocities collectively known as the Jack the Ripper murders did wonders for the newspapers of London, which sold frequent updates to an ever-eager public, issuing new editions at the slightest hint of any scant scrap of new evidence, or (more likely) speculation, gossip, and outright creative fantasy.
Fifty daily newspapers in that overcrowded city vied for the attention of readers, sending out newsboys in droves, screaming out the latest headlines. Each murder was a boon to Fleet Street, and none capitalized on it more than the relatively staid Times. Even at the height of the frenzy for greater and greater titillation as reporters struggled to outdo each other with more and more lurid descriptions of the grisly slaughters, The Times continued its reportage with adherence to rudimentary journalistic practices of accuracy and as much completeness as possible under the circumstances.
The following narrative provides much of the basic information as it came to light in contemporary accounts published in The Times. They were collected and reprinted as a single chapter (one of twenty-eight) in a book edited by Richard Barker (1902–1968) more than a half century later, reflecting the reading public’s never-ending interest in Red Jack.
“The Jack the Ripper Murders” accounts were first published in The Times (London, August 10–November 22, 1888); they were first collected in The Fatal Caress, edited by Richard Barker (New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1947).