The New International Encyclopædia/Jack the Ripper

JACK THE RIPPER. A name given to the unknown perpetrator of a series of ten brutal murders which occurred in the East End of London between April and September, 1888. The victims were invariably depraved women of the lowest class, and the murders were accompanied by mutilation. Through the excitement caused by these unpunished crimes, the name became a by-word, and is still familiarly applied to authors of similar attempts. From it have grown like phrases to indicate other forms of assault, as Jack the Hugger and Jack the Slasher.