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Unsolved case · 1915
Also known as 1915 New York child murders · Jack the Ripper letters case (1915)
The short answer
Two young children were stabbed to death in Manhattan tenement hallways in the spring of 1915, and letters signed "Jack-the-Ripper" were sent to their mothers taunting police. Despite mass hysteria and numerous arrests, no one was ever convicted, and the case remains unsolved.
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Suggest coverage for New York Ripper murdersThe case file
In the spring of 1915, two children were killed in separate attacks on the East Side of Manhattan, New York City. On the evening of March 19, 1915, five-year-old Leonore Cohn was sent by her mother, Anna Cohn, to buy a pail of milk. As she returned to her family's apartment, she was choked unconscious, stabbed multiple times with a sharp knife, and mutilated. A neighbor, Augusta Johnson, found her still alive after hearing whimpering, but Leonore died shortly after an ambulance surgeon arrived. Investigators found a clump of gray hair clutched in her hand, bruising suggesting a large-handed assailant, fingerprints on her body and on the milk pail, and a piece of lemon candy she had been eating, though no local store sold that variety. Twenty detectives were assigned to the case.
On May 3, 1915, four-year-old Charles Murray was strangled, stabbed, mutilated, and disemboweled beneath a staircase in his family's tenement at 270 First Avenue. His family discovered his body after failing to find him following play outside. His sister reported seeing a "strange" man leave the building, though police later dismissed this account. The murder was linked to Leonore Cohn's killing, and eighty additional detectives were assigned, bringing the total investigative force to one hundred. Shortly before Charles's murder, a six-year-old girl nearby was accosted by a well-dressed, mustached man in a black derby hat, who fled when neighbors responded to her screams.
Following Leonore's death, her mother began receiving letters signed "Jack-the-ripper," referencing the London serial killer, boasting the writer would evade capture and threatening further child murders. Police forwarded the letters to federal postal inspectors. On April 29, 1915, 27-year-old Edward Richman was arrested in connection with the letters but was cleared after further letters arrived disclaiming his involvement. Fingerprints on the letters were too blurred for identification. A separate letter, written in pencil rather than ink and with distinct handwriting, was sent to Charles Murray's mother, prompting her collapse upon reading it.
The murders caused widespread hysteria across New York City and the surrounding tri-state area. Residents chased, beat, and threatened to lynch several men wrongly suspected of being the perpetrator, including one incident on May 7, 1915, involving a stabbed twelve-year-old boy. Rumors of an arrest on May 17 drew a crowd of roughly 1,000 people to a police station. Several hoax letters and notes were traced to local individuals, including two girls and an eighteen-year-old woman, who admitted writing them as pranks or out of spite. In Newark, a large group of schoolchildren and police detained multiple suspects, all of whom were later cleared. Despite the extensive investigation, no perpetrator was ever identified or convicted, and the murders remain officially unsolved.
9 dated entries · 1915
Five-year-old Leonore Cohn is attacked and fatally stabbed in a tenement stairwell after being sent to buy milk; she is found alive by a neighbor but dies shortly after.
Edward Richman, 27, is arrested in connection with letters signed "Jack-the-ripper" sent to Leonore Cohn's mother.
A new letter arrives at Anna Cohn's home claiming Richman is innocent and that the true writer remains at large.
Four-year-old Charles Murray is strangled, stabbed, and mutilated beneath a staircase at 270 First Avenue; a nearby six-year-old girl is also attacked by an unidentified man shortly before.
A twelve-year-old boy is stabbed in the thigh, triggering a mob chase of a wrongly suspected man in the ensuing panic.
Fifty people attack a man accused by two boys of acting suspiciously; he is rescued by police.
Two housewives find threatening notes on their doormats warning of child kidnappings; the notes are later traced to two local girls.
A note purportedly from the Ripper is traced to an eighteen-year-old woman who wrote it out of spite toward her employer.
A patrolman is arrested for domestic violence; rumors spread that the Ripper is in custody, drawing roughly 1,000 people to a police station.
3 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Four-year-old boy strangled, stabbed, mutilated, and disemboweled beneath a tenement staircase on May 3, 1915.[3]
Five-year-old girl stabbed and mutilated in a tenement stairwell on March 19, 1915; died shortly after being found.[3]
Arrested on April 29, 1915, in connection with letters signed "Jack-the-ripper"; cleared of involvement after further letters disclaimed his authorship and no evidence was found linking him to the murders.[3]
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Official / agencychroniclingamerica.loc.govAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Pressjerseydigs.comAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
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