Israel Lipski

Israel Lipski (1865 - 1888) born Israel Lobulsk, was a convicted murderer of Polish-Jewish descent living in the East End of London. Lipski worked as an umbrella stick salesman, [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1104739,00.html Within these walls: murder houses after the crime | Weekend | guardian.co.uk ] ] employing Harry Schmuss and Henry Rosenbloom. The series of events leading up to his execution began on June 28 1887 when police were summoned to 16 Batty Street; a young woman, Miriam Angel, had been murdered after being forced to consume nitric acid. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-2234(198602%2F04)84%3A4%2F5%3C842%3ATTOIL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G] She was 6 months pregnant at the time. The Coroner at her inquest was Wynne Edwin Baxter.

Lipski was found underneath her bed, with acid burns inside his own mouth, and was subsequently arrested. Lipski protested his innocence, claiming that Schmuss and Rosenbloom were responsible, but he was charged with murder. The ensuing trial created a storm of controversy, with suggestions that the trial was tarnished by institutionalised anti-Semitism. Home Secretary Henry Matthews was personally opposed to capital punishment, but showed apathy towards Lipski's plight. On August 21 1887 Lipski was hanged in the yard of Newgate Prison.

Connection to the Jack the Ripper case

Israel Schwartz, a man of "Jewish appearance", [ [http://www.casebook.org/witnesses/schwartz.html Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Israel Schwartz] ] , reported witnessing a woman being assaulted on Berner Street in the early morning of September 30, 1888. When the unknown man shouted out "Lipski" to either Schwartz or another man, Schwartz fled. He later identified the woman as Elizabeth Stride, who is thought to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper around that time or shortly after. Police originally investigated whether there was someone in the neighborhood by the name of Lipski. The murder of Miriam Angel had happened the year before only one street away on the same block. Police eventually decided that the term was being used as an ethnic slur against Jews, although there were several Lipskis living in the area.

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