Jack The Ripper – A Love Story ( Excerpt 33 )

Jack The Ripper – A Love Story ( Excerpt 33 )

Mary Kelly’s diary 20th November 1886

I don’t know where to turn, I’m with child, Jack’s child, If I tell him will he turn me away or offer to marry me, I can’t do that to him. I might be a whore, but I’m an honest whore, I can’t and won’t abuse him. I’ve spoken to the girls, they know an old granny that helps out the girls when they have problems like this. Cathy is going to take me to see her tomorrow, I’ll get rid of it without Jack knowing.

I was working at the Infirmary, when Cathy Eddowes came bustling in, in a somewhat agitated state, ‘You must come at once, Doctor, It’s Mary, she’s in bad trouble.’ ‘What do you mean, bad trouble, I need to know more than that,’ was my answer.

‘She’s haemorrhaging, she’s losing lots of blood, looks like she’s dyin’ she does!’ ‘Where is she? take me to her at once!’ I ordered grabbing my Doctors bag and putting in some extra bandages, ‘Come woman, Take me to her.’

AS we walked to where Mary lay, in peril of her life, the story came out. Mary unbeknown to me, was carrying my child, hence the recent strangeness toward me. Damn the woman, why didn’t she tell me, we could have talked it through, I might have offered to marry her to stop our child being born a bastard. But no! she had listened to her so-called friends and they had taken her to Granny Hawkins, a back street abortionist, an amateur at best, a drunken fool at worst.

(C) Damian Grange 2018