Front cover

1888

The Illustrated Police News (22 September, 1888): front cover

This montage presents various pieces of information about the Ripper murders. In the top line is a suspect running away, armed with a knife, and to the right some remarkably well-dressed women, quite unlike sex workers of the street, arm themselves in self-defence; though the paper was more than willing to sensationalize its material, it did not face up to the hard facts of poverty and degradation. [Commentary continues below.]

Image scan and text by Simon Cooke

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