Elizabeth Stride and Jack the Ripper

As soon as the newspapers hit the streets on October 1, 1888, Elizabeth Stride became world renowned as the third victim of Jack the Ripper. Reportedly, Stride was killed only an hour before fellow victim Catherine Eddowes, becoming a key player in the legendary “double event” of Jack the Ripper’s brief but notorious killing career.
This book tells the complete life story of Elisabeth Gustafsdotter, beginning with her birth in Sweden during the winter of 1843. The author describes Stride’s reported “habitual drunkenness,” her brief career as a prostitute, and the public aftermath of her untimely death. Period photos and sketches are included throughout the work, along with several appendices and an index.

Dave Yost works in the engineering and design fields. He is a coauthor of The News from Whitechapel (2002) and lives in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

Dave Yost
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 228
Bibliographic Info: 17 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3318-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Introduction      1

1. The Good Ol’ Days      3

2. A Prelude to Murder      16

3. Death Becomes Her      31

4. The Aftermath      43

5. He Saw Liz      60

6. She Said Watts      75

7. I Need a Detective      88

8. The Swedish Connection      103

9. A Wilful Murder      115

10. The Mysterious Liz      126

11. Packer and the Grapes      143

12. The Secrets of Berner Street      163

13. A Killer in Whitechapel      177

Epilogue      191

Glossary of Names, Things and Terms      195

Appendix: Conversion Rates      202

Recommended Reading      203

Chapter Notes      204

Bibliography      209

Index      215