Miriam Angel

I went a little off script this week.  

I've been working on a series about 

the victims of Jack the Ripper.

Almost every investigative book only concerns itself 

with the identity of Jack.  His victims are 

dismissed as aging, alcoholic prostitutes.  

While I am fascinated by an historical murder mystery, 

I don't like the glossing over of the victims.  

No matter their age, or what they had to do 

to survive in the dangerous world of 

London's Victorian East End, at least the victims 

of Jack the Ripper were not murderers.  

Their stories are more worthy of exploration 

than that of the brutal animal that killed them.

That noted, I stumbled on another Victorian murder 

case which bears a tangential relationship to 

that of Jack the Ripper: the puzzling murder 

of Miriam Angel.

Her convicted killer was named Israel Lipski.  

One of the potential witnesses to 

the killer of Elizabeth Stride heard one of the 

two men near her utter the name, "Lipski".

Was Lipski the name of her killer?  

Was Lipski used as a derogatory word aimed at 

the passerby witness?   125 years after the last 

of the Ripper slayings, the debate rages on.

What of Miriam Angel?

Six months pregnant, Miriam Angel resided 

in a boarding house at 16 Batty Street on the East End 

of London.  On June 28, 1887, someone forced her 

to consume nitric acid, resulting in the 

death of herself and her unborn baby.

Israel Lipski, an umbrella stick salesman, was 

found under her bed with acid burns in his mouth.  

Lipski was arrested despite his insistence that  

his employees, Harry Schmiss and Henry Rosenbloom, 

had actually killed the young woman, forced him 

to also consume some of the nitric acid 

and then fled the scene.

Lipski was quickly found guilty and sentenced 

to hang although there was a great deal of 

public debate in regard to his guilt.

The case was reopened but Israel Lipski broke 

down during the investigation and made a complete 

confession to the crime.

Doubt about his guilt continues to this day. 

Israel  Lipski was the subject of an 

investigative book in 1984 as well as 

a 2011 publicly conducted debate.  

A wonderful discussion of the whole of his case 

as well as the racially charged atmosphere of 

Victorian London can be found HERE.

But, again, what about Miriam Angel?  Her life and 

death are given but the most brief mention 

before moving on the interesting bit 

about her murderer.

Who was Miriam Angel?  Was she married?  

What did she do to support herself?

Why was living alone?  Where was the father of her baby?

We shouldn't just be glossing over the identity 

and life of a young woman.

She deserves better.