Whitechapel 1888The evidence, and its limits

Scene · Elizabeth Stride · 30 September 1888

Dutfield's Yard, Berner Street — Elizabeth Stride

Then: Dutfield's Yard, a narrow cart yard beside the International Working Men's Educational Club, 40 Berner Street, St George-in-the-East. Now: Playground of Harry Gosling Primary School, west side of Henriques Street, E1 (club and yard demolished 1909).

Schematic plan

Schematic reconstruction — not a historical plan · North at top; Berner Street runs top (Commercial Road) to bottom (Fairclough Street) on the right; the yard runs west (left) from the gates. · Schematic; scaled so 18 ft (gate→kitchen door) ≈ 16% of width; width ≈ 110 ft (approx).

Berner Street (now Henriques Street)International Working Men's Educational Club, No. 40Printing office (Arbeter Fraint)Dutfield's YardDouble gates (9 ft 2 in; wicket)Club side/kitchen door (18 ft in)Three tenement cottages (left side)No. 42 Berner StreetHindley & Co. sack works / Dutfield's former cart worksBoard School (opposite)Fairclough Street (south, approx)Body (feet toward gates)

approximate uncertain · numbered circles are evidence hotspots (dashed ring: uncertain position)

Plan key: 13 drawn elements, with the basis for each

Choose a numbered hotspot on the plan, or one from this list, to see its claims and source passages.

Case overview · Map · Timeline · Inquest

Time window

Scene summary (research team's compilation)

Marshall c.11.45 p.m.; Wess in yard c.12.15; PC Smith sees Stride with a man c.12.30–12.35; Eagle through the yard c.12.40; Schwartz (gateway) and Brown (Board School corner) both c.12.45; Diemschutz finds her at 1.00; Blackwell 1.16.

Last reported sighting
“12:45 AM (approximately) — Schwartz / about a quarter to one — Brown” ≈ 00:45 (claim; claim)
Discovery
“exactly at one o'clock” ≈ 01:00 (claim)
Police beats
  • PC William Smith (452H): Beat past Berner Street took 25–30 minutes; in Berner St c.12.30–12.35; at the Commercial Road corner again at 1.00 (claim)
  • PC Henry Lamb (252H): Not on the Berner Street beat; passed the end of the street in Commercial Road 6–7 minutes before being called (claim)

Events at this scene

  1. "about a quarter to twelve o'clock"23:40–23:50 Marshall, standing at his door (64 Berner St), sees a man and woman between his house and the club, kissing; hears the man say "You would say anything but your prayers" (inquest).
  2. "at a quarter-past twelve"00:10–00:20 Wess crosses the yard from the printing office to the club / leaves; "nothing whatever in the yard"; gates open.
  3. "about half-past twelve or twenty-five minutes to one o'clock"00:30–00:35 PC Smith, on his beat, sees a woman (identified by him as the deceased) with a man carrying a parcel, opposite the club.
  4. "about twenty minutes to one"00:35–00:45 Eagle returns, goes in through the yard by the side door and sees and hears nothing unusual.
  5. "12.45 a.m. 30th."00:40–00:50 Schwartz (police statement as summarised by Swanson): turning into Berner St from Commercial Rd, sees a man stop and speak to a woman in the gateway, pull her, turn her round and throw her down; she screams three times "not very loudly"; a second man lighting a pipe opposite; "Lipski" called; Schwartz walks away, is followed and runs to the railway arch.
  6. "about a quarter to one"00:40–00:50 Brown, going to a chandler's shop for supper, sees a man and woman against the Board School wall at the Fairclough St corner; hears the woman say "No, not to-night, some other night"; he believes she was the deceased.
  7. "shortly before one o'clock"00:55–01:05 PC Lamb, in Commercial Road between Christian St and Batty St, is approached by two running men and goes to the yard.
  8. "exactly at one o'clock" (inquest) / "reaching Berner-street at 1 o'clock" (Times)00:58–01:02 Diemschutz drives his pony cart into the gateway; the pony shies; he finds the body, goes into the club, returns with a light (Kozebrodski strikes a match).
  9. "I consulted my watch on my arrival, and it was 1.16 a."01:15–01:17 Blackwell arrives and checks his watch.
  10. "About half-past four" / "at half-past five o'clock"04:25–05:35 Body removed to the mortuary c. 4:30; PC Collins washes away the blood at 5:30.

Layout

Layout (research team's description from the cited sources)

Berner Street ran south from Commercial Road. Dutfield's Yard opened off it between No. 40 (the club) and No. 42 through a pair of wooden gates about 9 ft wide, one with a wicket. Entering, the two-storey wooden club and its printing office ran along the whole right-hand side; the club's side door (to the kitchen) was 18 ft in. On the left were three tenement cottages; at the far end, Hindley's sack works (and the disused cart works of A. Dutfield). The yard was unlit: the only light came from the club's and cottages' windows, and from the upstairs club room where members were singing. The gutter was paved with large stones and the centre with smaller ones; a cart-wheel rut ran down it. Opposite, across Berner Street, stood a board school, at the Fairclough Street corner.

  • Retrieved approximate Gateway 9 ft 2 in wide (Eagle) (claim)
  • Retrieved approximate Gate to club kitchen door 18 ft (Wess) (claim)
  • Retrieved Well supported No lamp in yard (claim)
  • Inference approximate Compass orientation of yard (west side of Berner St) (claim)
  • Inference approximate Plan spacing schematic (claim)
How the body lay (position only; no injury detail)

On her left side just inside the gates, close to and facing the club wall, feet toward the street, legs drawn up; left hand on the ground holding cachous; right hand on the chest; clothes not disturbed; bonnet a few inches from her head.

Street names: Berner Street → Henriques Street (1961, after Basil Henriques)

People at the scene

Witnesses
William Wess (West), Morris Eagle, Louis Diemschutz, Edward Spooner, William Marshall, James Brown, Israel Schwartz
Police
PC Henry Lamb (252H), PC William Smith (452H), PC Albert Collins (12HR), Detective Inspector Edmund Reid (H Division), Inspector Charles Pinhorn
Medical
Dr Frederick William Blackwell, Dr George Bagster Phillips

Images

Period photographs, plans and press illustrations, with their licences. Illustrations are artists' impressions. Images flagged as graphic stay hidden until you choose to see them.

Berner Street and Dutfield's Yard as it was in 1909, 21 years after the murder of Elizabeth Stride. Dutfield's Yard is directly underneath and behind the suspended cart wheel. The International Workingmen's Club is immediately to the right of it (three storey building).
Berner Street and Dutfield's Yard as it was in 1909, 21 years after the murder of Elizabeth Stride. Dutfield's Yard is directly underneath and behind the suspended cart wheel. The International Workingmen's Club is immediately to the right of it (three storey building).Unknown author. Public domain · source page
Entrance to Dutfield's Yard, Berner Street: a tinted detail of a photograph of 7 April 1909, twenty years after the murder.. Photograph of 1909: the yard entrance as it was then, not in 1888
Photograph of 1909: the yard entrance as it was then, not in 1888Entrance to Dutfield's Yard, Berner Street: a tinted detail of a photograph of 7 April 1909, twenty years after the murder.Unknown author. Public domain · source page

Shows the victim (not graphic).

Penny Illustrated Paper - 6th October, 1888 - The Discovery in Berner Street.. Period illustration: an artist's impression, not a photograph
Period illustration: an artist's impression, not a photographPenny Illustrated Paper - 6th October, 1888 - The Discovery in Berner Street.Unknown author. Public domain · source page

Shows the victim (not graphic).

The Illustrated Police News - 6 October 1888 - Two more Whitechapel Horrors. Period illustration: an artist's impression, not a photograph
Period illustration: an artist's impression, not a photographThe Illustrated Police News - 6 October 1888 - Two more Whitechapel HorrorsUnknown author. Public domain · source page
View down Henriques Street . Modern photograph (2014): the site as it was then, not in 1888
Modern photograph (2014): the site as it was then, not in 1888View down Henriques Street Robert Lamb. CC BY-SA 2.0 · source page