And at first he thought it was a drunk.
The Ripper, killer of Catherine Eddowes, scurried along the back streets to the north of Commercial Road. His lair, 22 Batty Street, was south of the busy highway but he knew all the back alleys and passages, even though he was not originally from the Whitechapel area, or the city, or even of the country.
From the scene of the murder, he went down Church Passage leading out from the rear of Mitre Square, up Duke Street, across Houndsditch, down Stoney Lane, and onto Goulston Street where he disposed of a blood-soaked cloth used to wipe his hands, tossing it into a passageway out of sight. Wentworth Street, Old Montague Street and down the narrow stinking passage that was Black Lion Yard. Swiftly crossing over Whitechapel Road, he hurried on down Fi
