Elizabeth Stride
Elizabeth "Long Liz" Stride is believed to have been the third victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated at least five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888.
Unlike the other four canonical Ripper victims, Stride had not been mutilated following her murder, leading some historians to suspect Stride had not actually been murdered by Jack the Ripper. However, Stride's murder occurred less than one hour before the murder of the Ripper's fourth canonical victim, Catherine Eddowes, within walking distance, and her act of murder is suspected to have been disturbed by an individual entering the crime scene upon a two-wheeled cart. In addition, both women had been murdered by slash wounds to the throat, leading most authors and researchers to consider Stride to be the third of the Ripper's canonical five victims.
Stride was nicknamed "Long Liz". Several explanations have been given for this pseudonym; some believe it sources from her married surname, while others believe this is a reference to either her height, or her general facial structure.
Early life
Stride was born Elisabeth Gustafsdotter on 27 November 1843 on a small farm near Stora Tumlehed, a rural village within the parish of Torslanda, west of Gothenburg, Sweden. She was the second of four children born to Swedish farmer Gustaf Ericsson and his wife Beata Carlsdotter. As a child, Gustafsdotter lived upon this village farm. All four children were raised in the Lutheran faith, and all were required to perform numerous chores upon the farm.File:Torslanda kyrka.jpg|thumb|right|The Church of Torslanda. Gustafsdotter was confirmed at this church in 1859.
Gustafsdotter was confirmed at the Church of Torslanda on 14 August 1859 at the age of 15, with contemporary records indicating her biblical knowledge as being thorough. The following year, she chose to relocate from Stora Tumlehed to the city of Gothenburg in search of employment. Shortly thereafter, she obtained employment as a domestic worker in the Gothenburg parish of Carl Johan, being employed by a couple named Olofsson. This employment lasted until 2 February 1864, whereupon Gustafsdotter relocated to another district of Gothenburg, again securing employment as a domestic servant. She was between and in height and had curly dark brown hair, light grey eyes, an oval face and a pale complexion.
Unlike the other canonical victims of the Whitechapel murders—at least three of whom resorted to prostitution due to poverty following failed marriages—Stride turned to prostitution earlier in life. Gothenburg police records dating from March 1865 confirm her arrest upon this charge. She was treated at least twice for venereal disease. On 21 April 1865, Gustafsdotter gave birth to a stillborn girl. Seven month later, she obtained employment as a maid in the Gothenburg district of Haga.
Relocation to London
In February 1866, Gustafsdotter moved from Gothenburg to London. Her actual reason for relocating from Sweden to England is unknown, as she is known to have told acquaintances two differing stories as to why she relocated. To some, Gustafsdotter claimed she had relocated to England due to her employment in the domestic service of "a gentleman" who lived near Hyde Park; to others, Gustafsdotter claimed she had family in London and chose to visit her relatives in the city before opting to remain in England. Whatever the truth regarding Gustafsdotter's decision to relocate to London, it is likely she funded this trip with the 65 kronor she inherited following the death of her mother in August 1864, and which she had received in late 1865.Upon her arrival in London, Gustafsdotter learned to speak both English and Yiddish in addition to her native language. She is also known to have briefly dated a policeman in the late 1860s.
Marriage
On 7 March 1869, Gustafsdotter married John Thomas Stride, a ship's carpenter from Sheerness, who was 22 years her senior. They married in a modest ceremony at St Giles in the Fields Church. The couple had no children.For several years after their marriage, the couple resided in East India Dock Road, operating a coffee shop in Poplar, east London. This business was initially located on Upper North Road before the establishment relocated to Poplar High Street in approximately 1871. Their income throughout this period was also supplemented by John Stride continuing his trade as a carpenter.
By 1874, the Strides' marriage had begun to deteriorate, although they continued to live together. The following year, John Stride sold the coffee shop, likely due to financial hardship.
Separation
In March 1877, Stride was admitted to the Poplar Workhouse, suggesting that the couple had separated by this date. However, census records from 1881 indicate the two had reunited and lived together in the district of Bow, although the couple had permanently separated by the end of that year, with Stride being admitted to a Whitechapel workhouse infirmary suffering from bronchitis in December 1881. She was discharged from this infirmary on 4 January 1882, and is believed to have taken residence in one of several common lodging-houses on Flower and Dean Street, Whitechapel, shortly thereafter. Two years later, on 24 October 1884, John Stride died of tuberculosis in the Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum.File:MiddlesexStretcEddowes.Ripper..c.1890.jpg|220px|thumb|right|Middlesex Street, Spitalfields, c. 1890. Stride frequently resided in common lodging-houses within this district of London in the years prior to her murder.
In the years following the collapse of her marriage and the death of her husband, Stride is known to have informed several individuals that her husband and two of her nine children had drowned in the 1878 sinking of the Princess Alice in the River Thames. According to Stride, she and her husband had been employed upon this steamer, although she had survived the accident by climbing the ship's mast, but as she had done so, she had been kicked in the mouth by another survivor of the sinking, and this injury to her palate had caused a permanent stutter.
Common lodging residences
While residing in common lodging-houses, Stride occasionally received charitable assistance from the Church of Sweden in London, and from 1885 until her death lived much of the time with local dock labourer Michael Kidney, who resided in Devonshire Street. The couple had a tumultuous relationship and regularly separated, with Stride sleeping in local lodging houses before returning to live with Kidney. In April 1887, Stride filed a formal assault charge against Kidney, although she failed to pursue this charge in court and the case was discharged. Her relationship with Kidney continued in an on-and-off manner between 1885 and 1888.In addition to prostitution, Stride occasionally earned income from sewing and housecleaning. An acquaintance described her as having a calm temperament, though she appeared before the Thames Magistrates' Court on approximately eight occasions for both drunk and disorderly conduct and the use of obscene language, with the final occasion being on 3 September 1888. Occasionally, Stride used the alias Annie Fitzgerald at these hearings.
1888
Following an argument on 26 September 1888, Stride and Kidney again separated, and she again took residence at 32 Flower and Dean Street, informing a fellow lodger named Catherine Lane she and Kidney "had had a few words". Over the following days she regularly earned money by performing cleaning duties, both at the lodging house and for local residents, being observed by the housekeeper, Elizabeth Tanner, to be a quiet woman who occasionally performed cleaning work for the local Jewish community.29 September
On the day prior to her murder, Stride is known to have cleaned two rooms at her lodging house, for which she was paid sixpence. That evening, she wore a black jacket and skirt, with a posy of a red rose in a spray of either maidenhair fern or asparagus leaves. Her outfit was complemented by a black crêpe bonnet. In an effort to make her clothing look more respectable, she is known to have borrowed a brush from a fellow resident. At 6:30 p.m., Stride and Elizabeth Tanner briefly visited the Queen's Head pub on Commercial Street before Stride returned alone to the lodging house.Subsequent eyewitness accounts of Stride's movements later in the evening of 29 September and the early morning of 30 September indicate she may have been in the company of one or more acquaintances and/or clients. The first of these individuals is described as a short man with a dark moustache, wearing a morning suit and bowler hat, with whom she was seen at approximately 11:00 p.m. at a location close to Berner Street. A second eyewitness account by labourer William Marshall places Stride in the company of a man wearing a peaked cap, black coat and dark trousers standing on the pavement opposite number 58 Berner Street at approximately 11:45 p.m. According to Marshall, Stride had stood with this "decently dressed" individual, and the two had repeatedly kissed before the man had said to her: "You would say anything but your prayers."