Hump Day Horror

 

Born Mary Eleanor Wheeler, she took the name Pearcey from a man she lived with but never married.  She carried on multiple affairs until he finally kicked her out.

Then she met Frank Hogg, who also carried on multiple affairs.  When he got Phoebe Styles pregnant, he married her but kept his relationship with Mary.  Once the baby was born, Mary invited the new mom over for tea.  She slashed her throat (nearly decapitating her) and smothered the baby, throwing the body into the street.

She didn't really try to hide the crime, she made poor excuses for the blood on her clothes and had taken Phoebe's wedding ring for her own.  She went on trial in December 1890 and was executed.

"My sentence is a just one, but a good deal of the evidence against me was false."

 

All this occurred around the same time as Jack the Ripper, or Whitechapel murders.  The last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, died on November 9, 1888.  At the time, the police chief, Frederick Abberline, did have reason to suspect that perhaps a woman was responsible for these killings.  After all, a midwife would have some anatomical knowledge, and some victims specifically had their uterus removed.  There were also witness statements after Kelly's death that suggested a woman ran from the scene.

Pearcey had in fact been a suspect before killing Phoebe Hogg.

The idea that maybe she was the Ripper stems from an ad she placed in a Spanish newspaper.

"M.E.C.P. Last wish of M.E.W. Have not betrayed."

MEW could easily be her initials (as Wheeler) and the other letters could represent the victims, although it leaves out Annie Chapman.  M for Mary Jane, E for Elizabeth Stride, C for Catherine Eddowes, and P for Polly Nichols.

So was Jack actually Jill?  And was Jill Mary?

Considering the emotion of her violence against Phoebe, I tend to doubt she had killed others before, but maybe it's the emotion that led to her being less careful and concerned?

What do you think?

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