01/08/1888

Holmes was up all night playing that damned violin of his.  I must resolve to hide it somewhere better.

02/08/1888

Holmes found the violin again, although he said nothing to me, he knows that I hid it.  His playing seemed deliberately worse, as if to spite me.

03/08/1888

Mrs Hudson brought freshly baked scones for Holmes and I to consume.  She dotes on him and sometimes I think he takes too much advantage of her kindness, but at other times I feel that it is the other way around.

04/08/1888

A truly miserable day.  Holmes called a carriage early to take him to his club.

05/08/1888

Holmes seems to be in a most deep and distressing depression.  It is as if he has lost all interest in everything but his cocaine and morphine.  I must do something to remedy his moods.

06/08/1888

I managed to persuade Homes to accompany me to the theatre this evening, but he made his excuses to me before the end of the first act and it was with much dismay that I returned to his rooms to find he had consumed more than a quarter of a bottle of Russian vodka.  The vodka in question was a gift from a certain noble whose case I won’t trouble anyone by recalling at this juncture, save to say that he was most grateful to both Holmes and myself for our assistance.

07/08/1888

The body of Martha Tabram was discovered early this morning.  While there is nothing substantial to connect it to later events I make this entry as a note to myself never to become accustomed to death.  In my line of duty it’s all too easy to develop a cold and detached perspective of even the most heinous of deaths.

I was summoned to investigate the body.  I was shocked by the violence inflicted upon a human body.  Her killer had stabbed her 39 times in the body and neck, including nine stab wounds in the throat, five penetrating the left lung, two the right lung, one the heart, five the liver, two the spleen, and six the stomach, also wounding her lower abdomen and genitals.

08/08/1888

Holmes and I took in a modern play at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.  I tried to forget about the events of yesterday but with little success.

09/08/1888

Scotland Yard asked Holmes for help with the Tabram murder, but he was in one of his dark moods and he declined, stating that they were well versed at catching a simple killer.

10/08/1888

Mrs Hudson found Holmes passed out from too much morphine.  I applied the vapours to Holmes as soon as I could and this roused him quickly, much to his distress and temper.

I then went out to meet with a mysterious contact known as Mrs. Chung Li Na.  She’s apparently a woman of Australian birth but oriental marriage.  Her husband died in mysterious circumstances only a year ago and she keeps his name to add a touch of the exotic to her reputation.

I returned back to Holmes’ rooms at a late hour to find Holmes asleep in his favourite chair.  I put a blanket over him and went to my own bed for some sleep.

11/08/1888

I took Erin for a walk along the Strand.  She has an audition tomorrow for a part in the chorus of a dancing troupe.

12/08/1888

Erin’s audition went well and she has been offered a fairly low wage but with free accommodation at a nearby house with the other dancers.

13/08/1888

A warm sunny day.  I accompanied Erin to her first day at the theatre.  Afterwards I took myself off to Bond Street to buy her a necklace.

14/08/1888

Erin was thrilled with the unexpected gift.  She took every opportunity to gaze upon her reflection and she revelled in every admiring glance as we walked arm in arm through Regent’s Park.

15/08/1888

Mrs Chung approached me with a tonic that should ease Holmes’ condition.  Erin looked divine as I watched her first dress rehearsal.

16/08/1888

Holmes seems to be recovering from his recent over use of cocaine and morphine.  I checked his pulse and his heart and pronounced him physically fit.  There is an odd look in his eyes however, I suspect that he sees something but he’s not sure what.  I can’t take any precautions and I worry about his moods.  I might cure him of the effects of his vices but what drives him to them is something that I perhaps might never fathom.

17/08/1888

Holmes spent the day at his club.  I spent the day with Erin, watching her dance.  She’s such a natural; I daresay that my feelings are more than a little obvious when we’re together.

18/08/1888

Holmes spent the day at the library of St. John the Beheaded.  It’s such a dismal place that I declined to join him.  I went instead to see Erin.  We took a walk around Hyde Park and talked about everything and nothing.

19/08/1888

Mrs Chung told Erin that she’s made some contacts in the Whitechapel area.  I fear for her, such a woman is bound to be the target of many a man who is full of drink and lacking common sense or civility.  Of course I fear for the men too, she’s got a right temper when she’s angry and I’ve heard tales from Erin that she broke a man’s arm in four places when he took undue advantage.

20/08/1888

Holmes and I read with distressed shock that there was a mutiny at Dufile, India, and that Eduard Schnitzer, the Emin Pasha, has been imprisoned.

21/08/1888

Erin’s first performance tonight.  She gave a flawless performance.  I hope she’ll be the star of the show before long.

22/08/1888

Erin informed me that Mrs. Chung had made contact with the first victim.  However I knew all too well about altering the web of time even a little.

23/08/1888

Hurt my blasted foot on Holmes’ violin.  I went to kick it towards the fire but missed and kicked the coal scuttle instead.  Holmes is non-the-wiser however.

24/08/1888

Holmes read in the Times that the naturalist Philip Henry Gosse died yesterday.  Apparently Holmes was briefly a student of his in his younger days.

25/08/1888

Took Erin for a walk in Regent’s Park.

26/08/1888

Mrs Chung has been talking to Mary Nichols but has learned little about her so far other than she looks younger than her true age, is estranged from her husband and quite a heavy drinker.  She reportedly has five children too but left them with the father so she could live with another man.

27/08/1888

Saw Erin dancing tonight, she has a beauty that is beyond me to put into mere words.

28/08/1888

Holmes arrived home from his club this afternoon in a dreadful mood; apparently he lost a considerable amount of money at chess and lost the game, one of the very few times too.  I tried to placate him with the offer of a night at the theatre but he refused and instead tortured the whole of the neighbourhood with his violin playing.

29/08/1888

Erin has been given a small rise in wages and a more prominent place on the stage.  I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before she’s the star.

30/08/1888

Mrs Chung reports that she’s going to try and spend as much time as she can with Mary before her demise.  I just hope that she doesn’t get hurt in the process.  Erin is very worried too and we met in secret at Drury Lane to discuss our concerns.

31/08/1888

Cold, miserable morning.  They found the body just before four this morning.  Another dead prostitute, but this one’s body was set upon as if by a demon from hell or maybe even Ole Nick himself had clawed his may up out of hell and took her soul back to hell with him.

Holmes dismissed the case at once; he claimed that he has more important issues preying on his mind.  I for one cannot abide any death, even one of a prostitute such as Mary Ann Nichols.

Mrs Chung reports that she saw no one mere moments before the murder.  She is as puzzled about this as everyone else.