he passed from Buck's Row in the twilight into Whitechapel Road, and was lost sight of in the morning's market traffic." Baxter further referenced the two earlier Whitechapel murders and the 8 September murder of Annie Chapman, informing the jury: "We cannot altogether leave unnoticed the fact that the death that you have been investigating is one of four presenting many points of similarity, all of which have occurred within the space of about five months, and all within a very short distance of the place where we are sitting. All four victims were women of middle age, all were married, and had lived apart from their husbands in consequence of intemperate habits, and were at the time of their death leading an irregular life." Referencing the direct similarities between Nichols's murder and the murder of Annie Chapman as opposed to the earlier murders of Emma Smith and Martha Tabram, Baxter elaborated: "The similarity of the injuries in the [murders of Nichols and Chapman] is considerable. There are bruises about the face in both cases; the head is nearly severed from the body in both cases; there are other dreadful injuries in both cases; and those injuries again have in each case been performed with anatomical knowledge ... I suggest to you as a possibility that these two women may have been murdered by the same man with the same object." Baxter further dismissed the possibility of Nichols's murder being connected with the two previous Whitechapel murders, as the murder weapon used was significantly different in both cases, and neither of these victims had received slash wounds to the throat or any disembowelment. Following a 20-minute deliberation, the jury, having been instructed to consider precisely how, when, and by what means Nichols came about her death, returned a verdict: "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown." Press reaction Nichols's murder had occurred within a 300-yard radius of the previous murders of Emma Smith and Martha Tabram, and all three murders had occurred in the space of less than five months. Although the modus operandi of all three murders differed, the geographical similarities led elements of the press to link the three murders. Editors also suggested Nichols's killing may have been perpetrated by a gang, as had earlier been speculated in relation to Smith's murder. In the days following Nichols's murder, some sections of the Radical press—in particular reporters within