Indeed, even before that, and as far back as May, 1788, a Mrs. Smith had been stabbed in the upper part of her thigh by a man in Fleet Street, and was even followed by him to a house in Johnson's Court, to which she was going, and watched by him until she was let in. In May, 1789, a Mrs. Godfrey was similarly stabbed in Boswell Court, Fleet Street; and another lady was left wounded at her door. In March, 1790, a Mrs. Blaney, of Bury Street, was stabbed at her door after she had knocked. Dr. Smith, seeing an account of this outrage in a newspaper, inserted a notice in the _Morning Herald_, and that journal, having made some severe remarks on the matter, public opinion began to be awakened, and numerous letters were written, on the subject, to the newspapers of the day. The thing began to be talked of in the higher circles. A young lady named Porter had been stabbed whilst, in the company of her sisters, returning from the Drawing Room at St. James's, on the 18th of January, the Queen's Birthday; and since that time, several people had been wounded by this miscreant, who, fortunately, always failed in doing serious injury to his victims. Mr. John Julius Angerstein (whose name will ever be associated with the commencement of our National Gallery) was very active, and inaugurated a subscription at Lloyd's, to which the guineas flowed merrily, for the capture, and conviction of the "Monster." The police began to bestir themselves, and they, too, issued placards. One will serve as a type of all:-- "Public Office, Bow Street, _Thursday, April 29, 1790_. "One Hundred Pounds Reward. "Several ladies having, of late, been inhumanly cut, and maimed, by a person answering the following description, whoever will apprehend him, or give such information to Sir Sampson Wright, at the above office, as may be the means of his being apprehended, shall immediately upon his committal to prison, receive fifty pounds from Mr. Angerstein of Pall Mall, and the further sum of fifty pounds upon his conviction. _N.B._--He appears to be about thirty years of age, of a middle size, rather thin make, a little pockmarked, of a pale complexion, large nose; light brown hair, tied in a queue, cut short and frizzed low at the sides; is sometimes dressed in black, and sometimes in a shabby blue coat; sometimes wears straw-coloured breeches, with half boots, laced up before: sometimes wears a cocked hat, and at other times a round hat, with a very high top, and generally carries a Wangee cane in his hand.