The still-unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper killed his first known victim on this day in history, Aug. 31, 1888.
On this day, a woman named Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols, 43, was found murdered in London's Whitechapel neighborhood.
Nichols, who had a known drinking problem and previously worked as a prostitute, was last reported seen around 2:30 a.m. She had told someone that she was going out to make money to pay for lodging, according to the website Jack the Ripper 1888.
Her body was discovered lying in the streets a little more than an hour later. The man who discovered her, delivery driver Charles Cross, initially thought the body was a disposed tarp.
Due to the dark night, neither Cross nor another person he called over to observe the body did not notice that her throat had been deeply slashed, almost to the point of decapitation, said the website.