Saucy Jacky

Martha’s maiden name was White. She was born on 10 May 1849 at 17 Marshall Street, London Road, Southwark, to Charles and Elisabeth White. She had two brothers, Henry and Stephen, and two sisters, Esther and Mary.

Martha married Henry Samuel Tabram, a foreman furniture packer, at Trinity Church on Christmas Day, 1869. The marriage produced two children, Frederick John, born in February 1871, and Charles Henry, born in December 1872.

Henry left Martha in 1875 due to her heavy drinking. Initially, he gave her an allowance of twelve shillings per week but reduced it to 2s 6d after she pestered him for more money. He discontinued his support entirely when he learned she was living with another man.

Matha lived with Henry Turner, off and on, for twelve years. Martha continued her heavy drinking while she was with Turner. At the coroner’s inquest, Turner said she generally spent the money he gave her on drink, adding that she often stayed out late at night, usually not returning before 11:00 PM, and occasionally she stayed out all night. 

In 1888, Turner could not find regular employment as a carpenter and turned to hawking cheap trinkets. The couple lodged with Mrs Mary Bousfield at 4 Star Place, Commercial Road, but left approximately four to six weeks before Martha’s murder without notice and behind in the rent.

Turner left Martha for the final time in July 1888 and went to live at the Victoria working man’s home on Commercial Street. After the separation, Martha supported herself by selling trinkets and working part-time as a prostitute, although she probably spent most of the money she made on alcohol. Turner met Martha for the last time on Leadenhall Street, near the Aldgate pump,  on August 4. She was destitute, so he gave her 1s 6d to buy trinkets to sell.

Martha lived at 19 George Street, Spitalfields (Satchell’s Lodging House), at the time of her death. She may have known Emma Smith, who lived at 18 George Street prior to her death.

On the evening of August 6, Martha went out with Mary Ann ‘Pearly Poll’ Connelly. They frequented many pubs throughout the evening, always with a soldier or soldiers. 

Pearly Poll said that she and Martha picked up two guardsmen, a Corporal and a Private, in the Two Brewers and drank with them in several other pubs, including the White Swan on Whitechapel High Street.

On 23 August, the second day of the inquest into Martha’s death , Pearly Poll gave evidence. At the suggestion of Inspector Reid, the coroner formally cautioned Connolly before she took the oath .

Pearly Poll said she had known Tabram for about four or five months, and the last time she saw her alive was around 11:45 PM on the night of 6 August. Pearly Poll and Tabram were with two soldiers – a private and a corporal. Pearly Poll did not know what regiment they belonged to, but said they had white bands around their caps. 

When they separated, Tabram went with the private in the direction of the George Yard Buildings while she accompanied the corporal up Angel Alley. 

Joseph Mahoney and his wife, Elizabeth, returned to the Buildings at about 2:00 AM on the morning of 7 August but found nothing unusual on the stairs. 

Around the same time, Constable Thomas Barrett was patrolling Wentworth Street when he came across a soldier loitering near the entrance to George Yard. Barrett said he was a Private in the Grenadier Guards. When Barrett questioned him, the soldier said he was ‘waiting for a chum who had gone with a girl’.

Around 3:30 AM, Alfred George Crow,  a cab driver, returned to his room in the George Yard Buildings. As he passed the first-floor landing, he saw a body lying on the ground. He took no notice, as he often saw vagrants sleeping there.

It was about 4:45 AM when John Reeves, a waterside labourer, left home to seek casual employment on the docks. When he reached the first-floor landing, he found a woman lying on her back in a pool of blood. He did not examine her but immediately informed the police. 

Inspector Reid located several witnesses who saw Martha with a corporal shortly before her death. Nevertheless, when presented with soldiers at the Tower and Wellington Barracks, they failed to identify the man. 

Pearly Poll picked out two men from the Coldstream Guards at the Wellington Barracks. One was with his wife from 8 PM until 6 AM the following morning, and the other was in the barracks when the unidentified soldiers were with Pearly Poll and Martha. 

On the afternoon of 9 August, Mr G. Collier, Deputy Coroner for the South-Eastern Division of Middlesex, opened an inquest into the death of a woman later identified as Martha Tabram.  

Dr Timothy Killeen testified that he performed the post-mortem on the deceased at 5:30 AM on the morning of 7 August 1888. The doctor said the body was that of a plump middle-aged woman, about 5’3″ tall, with dark hair and a dark complexion. He estimated she died about three hours before the examination, i.e. between 2:30 and 2:45 AM.

 He found thirty-nine stab wounds, including:

5 wounds (left lung)

2 wounds (right lung)

1 wound (heart)

5 wounds (liver)

2 wounds (spleen)

6 wounds (stomach)

Dr Killeen stated that the killer focused his attack on the breasts, belly, and groin area. He added that the deceased was alive when the killer stabbed her and that she died from loss of blood. In his opinion, the killer used an ordinary pen knife to inflict all but one of the wounds. The killer was right-handed and used a sword dagger or bayonet to produce the deep wound through the breast bone. 

The police were disinclined to connect Tabram’s murder with the attack on Emma Smith. Because Tabram’s killer stabbed her while the other victims had their throats cut, the police and most Ripperologists do not link Tabram’s murder with the Ripper killings.