1. Catherine Eddowes was the fourth of the canonical five victims of the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have killed and mutilated a minimum of five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London from late August to early November 1888.
Catherine Eddowes was the second woman killed within an hour; the night having already seen the murder of Elizabeth Stride within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police.
The author of this letter claimed the section of kidney was from Catherine Eddowes, whose left kidney had been removed, and that he had fried and eaten the other half.
Catherine Eddowes was born in Graiseley Green, Wolverhampton on 14 April 1842, the sixth of twelve children born to tinplate worker George Eddowes and his wife, Catherine, who worked as a cook at the Peacock Hotel.
Catherine Eddowes herself died of tuberculosis on 17 November 1855 at the age of 42.
All four Catherine Eddowes siblings admitted to this workhouse attended a local industrial school in efforts to teach them a trade.
Catherine Eddowes relocated to Wolverhampton, residing with her aunt in Bilston Street and working at the Old Hall Works as she continued her education at Dowgate Charity School.
The fact Catherine Eddowes lost her employment is believed to have caused tensions between her and her aunt, as shortly thereafter, she relocated from Wolverhampton to Birmingham, where she briefly lived with an uncle named Thomas Catherine Eddowes, who worked as a shoemaker.
Catherine Eddowes soon found employment as a tray polisher at a firm in Legge Street in Birmingham, although after approximately four months, she chose to return to Wolverhampton, where she resided with her grandfather, who found work for her as a tinplate stamper.
Catherine Eddowes later had Conway's initials crudely tattooed in blue ink on her left forearm.
The precise reason why Catherine Eddowes chose to relocate from Chelsea to the East End of London is unknown, although by 1881, she was living with a new partner, John Kelly; a fruit salesman whom she had met as both lodged at Cooney's common lodging-house at 55 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, at the centre of London's most notorious criminal rookery.
The deputy of this lodging-house, Frederick William Wilkinson, later stated Catherine Eddowes seldom drank to excess, although contemporary records indicate she was brought before Thames Magistrates' Court upon a charge of being drunk and disorderly in September 1881.
Catherine Eddowes was discharged without being fined for this offence.
Catherine Eddowes primarily attempted to borrow from her older sister, Elizabeth Fisher, who lived in Greenwich, and whom she visited socially on occasion.
En route to Hunton, Catherine Eddowes purchased a jacket from a pawnshop and Kelly a pair of boots from a shop in Maidstone.
Catherine Eddowes was facing the man, with one hand on his chest, although not in a manner to suggest to Lawende she was resisting him.
Catherine Eddowes was one of the first policeman to arrive at the crime scene in response to Morris's police whistle.
Catherine Eddowes must have been dead most likely within the half hour.
Kelly testified Catherine Eddowes typically earned her living by hawking goods, that she never lived "by immoral purposes", and that she seldom drank.
Wilkinson confirmed Catherine Eddowes typically returned to the lodging-house in the early evening.
Catherine Eddowes's testimony was followed by that of an Inspector Collard of the City Police, who described responding to the crime scene, the subsequent actions of police, and his accompanying Drs Sequeira and Brown to the Golden Lane mortuary in the presence of Eddowes's body.
Catherine Eddowes's identification was confirmed by Catherine Eddowes's older sister, Eliza Gold.
Goulston Street was within a quarter of an hour's walk from Mitre Square, on a direct route to Flower and Dean Street where Catherine Eddowes had lodged, indicating that her murderer likely resided nearby and had headed in the direction of his home after the killing.
Catherine Eddowes was buried on the afternoon of Monday, 8 October 1888.
Today, the section of the cemetery where Catherine Eddowes was interred has been re-used for part of the Memorial Gardens for cremated remains.
In 2014, mitochondrial DNA matching that of one of Catherine Eddowes's descendants was extracted from an 8-foot section of shawl said to have come from the scene of her murder.