The night of Saturday 5th of November of 1887 she had been drinking and she was attacked by some men she didn’t know. By this time, she had been resident of 19 George Street lodging house in Spitalfields for three or four years, since she and her husband separated. She was around 26 or 27 and was said to have acted as charwoman for a living.
Eliza Ryan, the deputy of 19 George Street at the time testified that she discovered the dead body of Emily Horsnell in her bed on the morning of Thursday November 10th 1887, but it was George Satchell, the keeper of the lodging house, the person who last saw her alive, the previous night. Satchell said he saw her on Wednesday night, when she was in the corner of the room in a doubled-up position. According to him, she told him she had been kicked about the stomach by some men, whom she did not know.
Dr. William Dukes of 75 Brick Lane was called to attend her, but she was already dead when he arrived. He found marks of severe bruises down her right side, and her stomach was enormously distended, probably caused by peritonitis (inflammation of the intestines). According to him, she had been suffering for some days.