Annie Austin
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Annie Austin (c. 1873-May 30, 1901) was the victim of an unsolved murder and, at the time speculated by the press, of being connected to the slayings by Jack the Ripper committed more then a decade before.
A resident of London's Spitalfield's district, the 28-year-old Austin had been living in a local loging house after seperating from her husbund only 10 days before. On the morning of May 26, 1901, a tenant found Austin sprawled on a bed covered in blood after hearing moans coming from one of the occupied cublicles.
Taken to London Hospital, doctors observed she had suffered deep stab wounds. Although police were called to the scene, none were sent to question Austin regarding her attacker by the time she died four days later.
However, one of the hospital physicians claimed Austin had told her account of the attack while treating her. Her claim, he stated, was that she had brought a man back to her apartment on the night of May 25 and, sometime during the early morning, she heard her guest preparing to leave when she felt herself being stabbed. She did not know the unidentified man's name, however she described him as a short man with dark hair and a moustache as well as having a "Jewish appearance".
At the official inquest, a police pathologist reported he had found no sign of a struggle and that the victim had been generally healthy with the exception of an advanced case of syphilis. One of the prime suspects, Austin's estranged husbund, had an alibi as well as did lodging owner Henry Moore and his brother-in-law Daniel Sullivan who were suspected after they had given the wrong room number to police as 44 instead of 15.
Unable to find any other suspects, Inspector Thomas Divall expressed his frustration and criticized many of the witnessess credibility in his final report.
[edit] References
- Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2004. ISBN 0-8160-4980-7
