Editing Mary Ann Nichols (section)

=== Walker, Edward (Sep 2) ===
First witness called.  "I live at 15, Maidwell-street, Albany-road, Camberwell, and have no occupation. I was a smith when I was at work, but I am not now. I have seen the body in the mortuary, and to the best of my belief it is my daughter, but I have not seen her for three years. I recognize her by her general appearance and by a little mark she had on her forehead when a child. She also had either one or two teeth out, the same as the woman I have just seen.  My daughter's name was Mary Ann Nichols, and she had been married twenty-two years. Her husband's name was William Nicholls, and he is alive. He is a machinist. They have been living apart for some length of time, about seven or eight years. I last heard of her before Easter. She was forty-two years of age. 

* Coroner: How did you see her?
* Walker: She wrote to me.
* Coroner: Is this letter in her handwriting?
* Walker: Yes, that is her writing
* Coroner: (The letter, which was dated April 17, 1888, was read by the Coroner, and referred to a place which the deceased had gone to at Wandsworth.)  When did you last see her alive?
* Walker: Tow years ago last June
* Coroner: Was she then in a good situation?
* Walker: I don't know. I was not on speaking terms with her. She had been living with me three or four years previously, but thought she could better herself, so I let her go.
* Coroner: What did she do after she left you?
* Walker: I don't know
* Coroner: This letter seem to suggest that she was in a decent situation.
* Walker: She had only just gone there.
* Coroner: Was she a sober woman?
* Walker: Well, at times she drank, and that was why we did not agree.
* Coroner: Was she fast?
* Walker: No; I never heard of anything of that sport. She used to go with some young women and men that she knew, but I never heard of anything improper.
* Coroner: Have you any idea what she has been doing lately?
* Walker: I have not the slightest idea.
* Coroner: She must have drunk heavily for you to turn her out of doors?
* Walker: I never turned her out. She had no need to be like this while I had a home for her.
* Coroner: How is it that she and her husband were not living together?
* Walker: When she was confined her husband took on with the young woman who came to nurse her, and they parted, he living with the nurse, by whom he has another family.
* Coroner: Have you any reasonable doubt that this is your daughter?
* Walker: No, I have not. I know nothing about her acquaintances, or what she had been doing for a living. I had no idea she was over here in this part of the town. She has had five children, the eldest being twenty-one years old and the youngest eight or nine years. One of them lives with me, and the other four are with their father.
* Coroner: Has she ever lived with anybody since she left her husband?
* Walker: I believe she was once stopping with a man in York-street, Walworth.  His name was Drew, and he was a smith by trade. He is living there now, I believe. The parish of Lambeth summoned her husband for the keep of the children, but the summons was dismissed, as it was proved that she was then living with another man. I don't know who that man was.
* Coroner: Was she ever in the workhouse?
* Walker: Yes, sir; Lambeth Workhouse, in April last, and went from there to a situation at Wandsworth.
* By the Jury: (seems to be Walker's response) The husband resides at Coburg-road, Old Kent-road.  I don't know if he know of her death.
* Coroner: Is there anything you know of likely to throw any light upon this affair?
* Walker: No; I don't think she had any enemies, she was too good for that.