Read Online Abberline: The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper by Peter Thurgood - Free Book Online Page B

that the police did manage to get either of the gangs into court, the case would invariably collapse, with witnesses intimidated into silence. The climax eventually came when the two gangs held a meeting, which was to supposedly sort out their differences. The meeting took place in a hall over the York Minster public house in Philpot Street. Needless to say, neither gang would give ground to the other, and within thirty minutes, the 200 gang members present erupted into violence. One man, known as Kid McCoy, who, despite his name, was a Jewish boxer, killed one of his rivals and the police were called in. This time, the evidence was there before them and people started to come forward to add their testimony. A case was brought not just against Kid McCoy, but against the leaders of the gangs as well. The case ended up in court and both gangs were eventually smashed.
    Smashing the Bessarabians and the Odessians did not, however, solve the overall problem of protection gangs in the East End, for no sooner had these gangs been sent off to prison, than others were jumping eagerly into their shoes. The Strutton Ground Boys were one such gang, who decided to take over the stallholders and shopkeepers of Petticoat Lane market.
    The Strutton Ground Boys were a motley collection of youths, with no real experience of organised crime. They had heard of the demise of the Bessarabians and the Odessians, and had decided to take over where they had left off. All six of them swaggered into Petticoat Lane market one Sunday morning and started throwing their weight around, demanding protection money from the street’s traders. The traders were not quite as hapless, however, as the Strutton Ground Boys thought they would be, and told this motley bunch of would-be gangsters, in no uncertain terms, to clear off or face the consequences.
    This wasn’t quite what the gang had in mind, and so they took to their heels, running as fast as they could through the crowded market street, overturning stalls, throwing goods into the gutters and shoving the traders over wherever they could. As they departed they shouted that they would return the following week, and if their demands were not met, then the traders could expect more of what they had just received.
    Unbeknown to the gang, the street traders were so incensed at the way they had been treated that they called a meeting that same day after the market had finished. One of the traders had recognised one of the youths as coming from an area close to Westminster, where Strutton Ground was, and where the gang had got their name from. The traders were not prepared to wait until the following week and lay themselves open to attack again, so they decided there and then to take the battle direct to the gang. They armed themselves with clubs, sticks, rocks and any other weapon they could lay their hands on, and proceeded to Strutton Ground, where they located the homes of the youths in the gang and duly started wrecking them. The Strutton Ground Boys got wind of what was going on and hurriedly returned to their homes to find the market traders still in action, smashing their properties to pieces. A fierce fight developed and the local police were called, who eventually arrested all concerned, including the market traders. However, when the facts were established the traders were released and the gang members were charged and imprisoned, ending yet another attempted gangland coup in the East End.
    Petticoat Lane, however, was still not devoid of its criminal groups. A twenty-strong group of pickpockets, called the Blind Beggar Gang, after the famous or now infamous pub of that same name, were happily plying their trade there in broad daylight. This was until undercover police officers, using Abberline’s plain-clothes techniques, finally busted them.
    Abberline’s persistence and dogged determination were starting to pay off. Whitechapel was beginning to get an air of normality about it. This is not to say