Portrait of a Killer
Jack the Ripper - Case Closed
Chapter One
MR. NOBODY
Monday, August 6, 1888, was a bank holiday in London. The city was a carnival of
wondrous things to do for as little as pennies if one could spare a few.
The bells of Windsor's Parish Church and St. George's Chapel rang throughout the
day. Ships were dressed in flags, and royal salutes boomed from cannons to
celebrate the Duke of Edinburgh's forty-fourth birthday.
The Crystal Palace offered a dazzling spectrum of special programs: organ
recitals, military band concerts, a "monster display of fireworks," a grand
fairy ballet, ventriloquists, and "world famous minstrel performances." Madame
Tussaud's featured a special wax model of Frederick II lying in state and, of
course, the ever-popular Chamber of Horrors. Other delicious horrors awaited
those who could afford theater tickets and were in the mood for a morality play
or just a good old-fashioned fright. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was playing to
sold-out houses. The famous American actor Richard Mansfield was brilliant as
Jekyll and Hyde at Henry Irving's Ly ... read full excerpt from: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed ebook
