An 1892 tram ticket for Inspector Spratling, investigator on the notorious Ripper murders, features in our July sale.
19/06/24
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The folding tooled leather bound pass issued by The North Metropolitan Tram Company, pass number 307, pen inscription reading - Issued to 'Inspector Spratling of Bethnal Green Police Station', it is offered together with an album of press cuttings, letters and paperwork relating to this Ripper artefact and books on the subject.
Inspector Spratling was working in the Whitechapel area during the Ripper spree, and he is well known to ripperologists for his association with the first acknowledged Ripper victim. He attended the site of Mary Nichols' murder at 4.30 a.m. on 31st August 1888, where the crime scene had been significantly contaminated, and the mortuary directly afterwards, becoming one of the first inspectors associated with the Ripper murders.
Artefacts of the period relating to the Jack the Ripper spree are extremely rare at auction and we anticipate plenty of interest for this lot. This tram pass is referenced in an article by Bernard Brown in the Ripperologist magazine issue 29, June 2000, available online at https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-spratling.html
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