Victim of Jack the Ripper. At the age of 44, she was the third of five confirmed Ripper victims. Most modern investigators and researchers believe that Jack the Ripper had more victims than the five confirmed ones. Born Elizabeth Gustafsdotter in Torslanda, near Goteborg, Sweden, she had been the daughter of a farmer. At five foot two inches tall, with dark brown hair and bluish-gray eyes, she came to London about 1868 to "take a situation with a gentleman" who lived near Hyde Park. It is unknown how long the situation lasted, but in 1869 she married a carpenter, John Thomas Stride. She told people that John Stride and their children died in an accident when a collier ran into the passenger ship, Princess Alice, sinking it and over 640 passengers drowned. She explained that in the panic of the sinking ship, another struggling passenger kicked her in the mouth, knocking out her two front teeth. However, her husband actually died in a hospital for the poor on October 24, 1884, and when the local church discovered the truth about her husband's death, they stopped paying her financial assistance. Without financial help, she turned to what few jobs she could find, sewing, cleaning lodging rooms and prostitution. In early September 1888, she had been living with Michael Kidney, a waterside laborer, when they had another of their frequent arguments and she moved out. At her inquest, Kidney would testify that she often wanted her freedom to indulge her "drinking habits," but that after a spell, she would always come back to him. Several people saw her out with different men the night of September 29-30, and she was last observed about 12:35 am walking with yet another man on Berner Street in the Whitechapel area of London. Her body was found just before 1:00 am by Louis Diemschutz in the shadows of the clubhouse yard of the International Working Men's Educational Club (IWMEC), located at 36 Berner Street. The IWMEC was a group of mostly poor eastern European Jews that supported socialist principles. They had met that evening to discuss political events, and the meeting ended after midnight with most of the members leaving for their homes. As there were about thirty men still inside the clubhouse discussing politics, Diemschutz immediately alerted them to the situation just outside their building. Apparently Diemschutz's arrival had happened just as the Ripper had cut her throat, as Elizabeth was still bleeding heavily when discovered, and no other damage was done to her. Several men immediately ran for the police, and Constable William Smith arrived within several minutes. He also alerted other policemen in the vicinity to come to his assistance. A woman living several doors down from the club had seen a man carrying a black Gladstone bag, leaving the area just as the commotion began. Shortly after Elizabeth Stride's death, the Ripper would kill again, the only time it is believed that he killed twice in the same evening. The next victim would be Catherine Eddows; most modern investigators believe that the Ripper killed Catherine Eddows because he was interrupted before he could dismember Elizabeth Stride.