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{{#seo:
|title=Annie Chapman - Jack Ripper's 2nd victim
|titlemode=replace
|keywords=Annie Chapman, Jack Ripper, Whitechapel Murders, murder, whitechapel, Hanbury Street, 1888, East End, London
|description=Annie Chapman, also known as Annie Siffey, was found dead at around 6am on the 8th September 1888. Annie Chapman's mutilated body was discovered in the back yard of 29, Hanbury Street, Spitalfields.
}}
== Annie Chapman ==
The body was then taken to the Whitechapel mortuary.
== The Inquest ==
The inquest began on 10th September, 1888 and increased panic on the streets. Dr Phillips’s testimony on the third day of the inquest made it clear that not only had Chapman been brutally mutilated, but the killer had tried to decapitate her.
Dr Phillips reported:
<blockquote>"There were two distinct clean cuts on the body of the vertebrae on the left side of the spine. They were parallel to each other, and separated by about half an inch. The muscular structures between the side processes of bone of the vertebrae had an appearance as if an attempt had been made to separate the bones of the neck."</blockquote>
According to Dr Phillips, the cause of death was a severed carotid artery resulting from a jagged left-to-right incision across the throat. Annie had been "partially strangled" before her throat was cut, and he also pointed out, "The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen." Phillips also noted that "The small intestines and other portions were lying on the right side of the body on the ground above the right shoulder, but attached".
Dr Phillips thought that providing further details would be too "painful to the feelings of the jury and the public", so stopped short of giving more detailed injuries.
A few days later Coroner Wynne Baxter called Dr Phillips back to the inquest so that "all the evidence the doctor had obtained from his post-mortem should be on the records of the Court for various reasons which he need not then enumerate, however painful it might be".
Dr Phillips detailed the following:
* The mutilation of the body was of such a character as could only have been effected by a practised hand
* It appears that the abdomen had been entirely laid open;
* The intestines, severed from their mesenteric attachments, had been lifted out of the body, and placed on the shoulder of the corpse;
* From the pelvis the uterus and its appendages, with the upper portion of the vagina and the posterior two-thirds of the bladder, had been entirely removed. No trace of these parts could be found, and the incisions were cleanly cut, avoiding the rectum, and dividing the vagina low enough to avoid injury to the cervix uteri.
Phillips’s opinion that the mutilations indicated "a practised hand" led the police to consider whether the murderer might be a doctor or someone with anatomical knowledge, such as a butcher. This has been a controversial topic ever since.
== The Police Investigation ==
Initially, [http://crimehub.co.uk/index.php?title=Chief_Constable_Adolphus_Williamson Chief Constable Adolphus Williamson] was in charge of the Annie Chapman murder investigation. Once public panic started to increase after the Annie Chapman murder Commissioner Warren decided to give responsibility for the entire investigation to Chief Inspector Donald Sutherland Swanson.
The police investigation followed general thoughts that the murderer was a madman who had escaped or been recently released from a lunatic asylum. [http://crimehub.co.uk/index.php?title=Walter_Dew Metropolitan Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew] backed this up in his memoirs stating "This angle of investigation was pursued relentlessly".
Inspector James McWilliam of the City of London CID also confirmed this theory in a Report to the Home Office on 29th October, 1888. The report stated that officers had been sent "to all the lunatic asylums in London to make enquiry respecting persons recently admitted or discharged: many persons being of the opinion that these crimes are of too revolting a character to have been committed by a sane person".
On 19th September, 1888, (day four of the Inquest) Elizabeth Long gave her evidence. She revealed that the man she saw with Annie Chapman on the morning of the murder "looked like a foreigner". Once again this stirred up bad blood with the Jewish community who had ben under suspicion already.
During the Annie Chapman investigation the [http://crimehub.co.uk/index.php?title=The_Dear_Boss_Letter "Dear Boss"] arrived. On 27th September, 1888, the Central News Agency received a letter written in red ink, from a person claiming responsibility for the crimes. It was forwarded onto Scotland Yard two days later on 29th September, 1888.
== Early Life ==
