Victorian Nocturne

A howl rose from the bowels of a house on Goulston Street, on the western end of Whitechapel. Though a fearsome sound, it was lost in the commotion of carts and street vendors and horse hooves outside. The torture of a human being was perhaps best-suited for night, in terms of atmosphere, but the noise of a mid-afternoon on a working day obscured the sounds quite well.

Albert Brewer was an unlucky soul, whose job it was to make sure the gas lamps were properly lit in a particular neighborhood. He had walked for no longer than twenty minutes when a sack was thrown over his head and he was taken. The men who nabbed him did not do as he expected; they didn't empty his pockets or slash his throat or bash his skull (in fact, they were quite careful of that part of him, if no other). He was conscious throughout the long, jostling trip in a carriage. At a private residence, they hefted him over a shoulder and descended a flight of stairs. He was fastened to a bed that could be cranked upright and left in that lightless state for hours (he could not accurately guess how many). It was only upon their return that the sack came off and he was certain he was going to die, for his attackers made no attempt to cover their faces.

They were not brutes. In fact, they were a well-spoken and sharply dressed group of men numbering seven. They each removed a hat and a high-collared coat, which they hung on rows of hooks before approaching Albert. "Pain is a conduit," one of them said. "It is a path to the pure and unqualified knowledge to which every human should aspire. To sacrifice oneself in the pursuit of it is a commendable thing, Mr. Brewer. Let's have those answers, shall we?"

He was not sure what the man meant. The first of many howls was not in response to pain afflicted, but the sight of an implement so gruesome, Albert thought it unfit for the worst of criminals. Later, in the dead of night, his body was thrown in the Thames and left for a tradesman to discover.


[Submitted by Moderator]

July 21, 1891

Yesterday afternoon, Mr. James Radford, Deputy Coroner, opened an inquiry regarding a man who was found dead in the Thames River early yesterday morning. On behalf of the Criminal Investigation Unit, Detective-Inspector Howard Grant, who worked closely on the Whitechapel murders last year, watched the case.

Edward Smith, tradesman, 42, revealed that he discovered the body floating face-down in the river at quarter past 4 in the morning. Smith pulled the victim from the river and sent for a doctor and the police at once. The victim, who was reported to have been gouged and burned multiple times, was pronounced life extinct. A portion of the skull had also been cut away.

The case will be left in the hands of Detective-Inspector Howard Grant.



[Submitted by Moderator]