Free Abberline: The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper by Peter Thurgood Page A

rain as Abberline made his way out of the theatre and a crowd was building up under cover of the theatre’s awning. Hansom cabs were few and far between on such a night, and especially in weather like this, so Abberline turned his coat collar up, patted his hat down firmly upon his head and stepped out into the pouring rain. He had only just made it across the road when he heard a scream, followed by a lot of shouting. He turned to see a young man pushing and shoving his way through the crowd, and then starting to run. The man was carrying a ladies’ purse in his hand, which he had just stolen, and the victim, who was screaming and attempting to run after him, was none other than the young lady Abberline had given his ticket to.
    Without hesitation, Abberline took up the chase after the man, who, obviously not knowing who Abberline was, had run across the road, in Abberline’s direction. As the man reached a horse-drinking trough, Abberline threw his walking cane at him, catching him between the legs and causing him to stumble. By the time the man had started to pull himself back to his feet, Abberline was upon him, causing the man to stumble back, half falling into the horse trough and enabling Abberline to retrieve the purse and make an arrest.
    Cases like this were dealt with very quickly during this period, and within a couple of weeks the man had been tried in court and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. During the course of preparing the case, Abberline got to know the young lady victim of the crime: her name was Emma Beament, a 32-year-old daughter of a merchant from Hoxton New Town, Shoreditch.
    The criminal case against the man might well have been over, but Abberline’s case for Emma Beament was only just beginning. As shy and awkward as he was with women, Abberline made sure not to lose contact with Emma, first calling on her on the pretext of seeing how she was bearing up, to use his own words, after the terrible ordeal she had been through. Her father was very impressed with Abberline, firstly for going to the aid of his daughter and apprehending the criminal, and secondly, for having a man of such distinction visiting his house, even if it was, as he quite rightly suspected, to court the favours of his daughter.
    The relationship between Abberline and Emma continued to grow, but after the terrible calamity he had experienced with his first wife, he was adamant that nothing like that would ever happen again, and so it took him nearly three years to pluck up the courage to ask Emma to marry him, which she immediately accepted. They were married on 17 December 1876.
    On 8 April 1878, Abberline was promoted yet again, this time to local inspector in charge of H Division’s CID. His reputation for hard work was obviously starting to grow, with his name cropping up more and more on various documents and cases. On 26 February 1887 Abberline was transferred to A Division (Whitehall), and then moved to CO Division (Central Office) at Scotland Yard on 19 November 1887.
    On 17 December 1887 the East London Observer reported on a guest of honour celebration at the Unicorn Tavern, Shoreditch, where Abberline was honoured with promotion to Scotland Yard from H Division:
On the occasion of a dinner and a presentation to Detective Inspector Abberline, late of the H Division of police but now attached to the central office, Great Scotland Yard. The chairman, Mr. George Hay Young said, ‘The inhabitants felt they could not let such an officer leave them for another district after being many years in their service without some little souvenir of their esteem and regard, and in recognition and appreciation of his services’.
    Turning to Abberline, Mr Young presented him with a beautiful gold keyless hunting watch and a purse full of gold. On the watch was engraved ‘Presented together with a purse of gold to Inspector F.G. Abberline by the inhabitants of Spitalfields, Whitechapel etc, on his leaving the district after