Episode 13
William Henry Bury
Thu, 2017-May-18 00:21 UTC
Length - 2:52
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Thursday, 18 May 2017 is William Henry Bury.
William Henry Bury (25 May 1859 – 24 April 1889) was suspected of being the notorious serial killer "Jack the Ripper". He was hanged for the murder of his wife Ellen in 1889, and was the last person executed in Dundee, Scotland.
Bury was orphaned at an early age and was educated at a charitable school in the English Midlands. After a few years in regular employment as a clerk, he fell into financial difficulty, was dismissed for theft, and became a street peddler. In 1887, he moved to London, where he married probable prostitute Ellen Elliot. During their stormy marriage, which lasted just over a year, they faced increasing financial hardship. In January 1889, they moved to Dundee. The following month, he strangled his wife with a rope, stabbed her dead body with a penknife, and hid the corpse in a box in their room. A few days later, he presented himself to the local police and was arrested for her murder. Tried and convicted, he was sentenced to death by hanging. Shortly before his execution, he confessed to the crime. Although Bury's guilt was not in doubt, Dundee had a history of opposition to the death penalty and The Dundee Courier printed an editorial the day after his execution decrying the "judicial butcheries" of capital punishment.
Bury killed his wife shortly after the height of the London Whitechapel murders, which were attributed to the unidentified serial killer "Jack the Ripper". Bury's previous abode near Whitechapel and similarities between the Ripper's crimes and Bury's led the press and executioner James Berry to suggest that Bury was the Ripper. Bury protested his innocence in the Ripper crimes, and the police discounted him as a suspect. Later authors have built on the earlier accusations, but the idea that Bury was the Ripper is not widely accepted.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:21 UTC on Thursday, 18 May 2017.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Bury.
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