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think up the same idea and act on it during the same night, both were tried for the deaths of their wives. While Hancock was declared innocent, Phillips was found guilty of murder in the second degree. The verdict was later overturned by the Texas Court of Appeals for lack of evidence.
    JACK THE RIPPER
    His crimes have been investigated more than those of any other murderer. A whole field of study, Ripperology, is devoted to puzzling out his identity. And yet, 12 decades after his last murder, Jack the Ripper remains an elusive and mysterious figure.
    Even the number and names of the victims have been the subject of considerable debate, though the majority of Ripperologists believe there to have been five victims, the first being Mary Ann Nichols. A 43-year-old alcoholic, she had much in common with the victims who would follow in her wake. Nichols was estranged from her husband, and struggled to support herself through a variety of means. Indeed, at least four of the five women had been pushed further into poverty through the disintegration of their respective marriages. Nichols had been employed in workhouses, had worked as a domestic and had, on at least one occasion, resorted to stealing. She also tried to make ends meet as a prostitute, an occupation which, it seems, made her a target of the Ripper. Her body was discovered by two workmen in the early hours of 31 August 1888 on a back street not far from the London Hospital. Nichols had had her throat cut. She had been stabbed repeatedly in the stomach and her abdomen had been cut open.
    Eight days later, the Ripper claimed his second victim, a 47-year-old named Annie Chapman. Her body was found at about six in the morning. Like Nichols, Chapman’s throat had been slashed. Completely disembowelled, her intestines were thrown over one shoulder. Her uterus had been removed and was never found.
    At approximately one o’clock on the morning of 30 September, the body of Elizabeth Stride, a 45-year-old Swedish immigrant, was found. She, too, had had her throat slit open. However, apart from an injury to her ear, Stride’s body bore none of the butchery suffered by the previous victims. It is generally believed that the Ripper was interrupted before he could proceed any further.
    Presumably dissatisfied with having had to leave his work on Stride’s body unfinished, the Ripper struck again on the same evening. The second victim, 46-year-old Catherine Eddowes, had been picked up for public drunkenness the previous day by the Metropolitan Police. She was released at about the same time that Stride’s body was discovered. Eddowes was last seen alive at approximately 1:30, talking to an unidentified man. Just 15 minutes later, her body was discovered. Working with great speed, the Ripper had cut her throat, sliced open her abdomen, thrown her intestines over her shoulder and removed her uterus and left kidney. He had also mutilated her face.
    Following a relatively long period of inactivity, the final murder took place on 9 November. It is tempting to say that Mary Kelly was quite different from the other victims. She was, for example, at least two decades younger than the others. However, very little is known about Kelly and, as a result, many fanciful stories have been created about her life. In death, she stands apart from the others in that she was not killed in a public place, but in her own home. This gave the Ripper a great deal more time than he’d had with his previous victims, and it showed. Kelly’s body was found naked, lying on her bed. The throat had been slashed and her face mutilated. The entire abdominal cavity had been emptied of its contents. Her breasts had been cut off – one had been placed under her head, the other by her right foot. Her liver was found between her feet. Some of the flesh removed from the abdomen and thighs had been placed on a table. Her heart was never found.
    Though the number of victims claimed by Jack the Ripper pales when compared