Ripping yarns: Jack's letters

Q. Did Jack the Ripper send any letters to the police

A. During the period the murders took place (1888-9), the police and gentlemen of the press were literally bombarded with letters from people claiming to be the killer. It is fair to say that most, if not all, of these letters were hoaxes, but a few of the letters stand out among the crowd.

�

Q. Is it true that the letters gave the murderer his name

A. Yes. The signature on the first letter was the very reason that the killer had become known as Jack the Ripper. Prior to that, Jack the Ripper had been known only as the 'Whitechapel Murderer' or 'Leather Apron' - owing to the popular suspicion that a man known as Leather Apron (his real name was John Pizer) was the killer. He was exonerated after the murderer struck during the time Pizer was in police custody.

�

Q. When did the first letter appear

A. The first letter was posted to the Central News Agency in London and was dated the 25th of September:

�

Dear Boss

I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me a real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and I want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha ha. The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldnt you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work then give it out straight. My knife's nice and sharp and I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck.

�

Yours truly

�

Jack the Ripper

�

Don't mind me giving the trade name.

�

Wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it. No luck yet. They say I'm a doctor now ha ha.

�

Q. And the next one

A. The second important piece of correspondence was a post card, which arrived after the night of the so-called 'double event', when the killer struck twice in the space of a couple of hours. What marks this piece of prose as significant is that it refers to one of the victim's ears, as mentioned in the first letter, and which had not at that stage been made public. Even if neither letter came from the killer, it seems a certainty that the same author penned both letters.

�

I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, youll hear about saucy Jackys work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldnt finish straight off. had not time to get ears for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.

�

Jack the Ripper

�

Q. And the third

A. The third missive, and probably the letter most likely to have been written by the killer, was sent to Mr George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, a collection of East End citizens formed in order to protect the people from the unknown terror stalking the back streets of the area. Accompanying the letter was half of a kidney.

�

From hell

�

Mr Lusk

Sir

I send you half the

Kidne I took from one women

prasarved it for you tother piece

I fried and ate it was very nise. I

may send you the bloody knif that

took it out if you only wate a whil

longer

signed Catch me when

you can

Mishter Lusk.

�

The handwriting on the post card was very different to that used in the first two letters, being very messy and is filled with errors. A number of commentators have noted that in the 'From hell' letter the author seemingly deliberately spells some words phonetically, yet elsewhere makes the correct use of silent letters. This suggests that the errors were staged.

�

Q. Did any other clues as to the killer's identity come out at the time

A. By far the most intriguing evidence was a chalked message written on the wall of a doorway leading into a residential dwelling block in Goulston Street. Below the message, on the ground, was a piece of an apron which had been cut away from that worn by Catherine Eddowes, who was murdered a couple of minutes' walk away. The message read:

�

The Juwes are The men that Will not be Blamed for nothing

�

The message has long been a source of confusion. Perhaps the use of the word 'Juwes' was intended to drop a clue as to the killer's race or perhaps it was used simply to incriminate the Jews. At the time of the murders racial intolerance and hatred towards the Jewish immigrants - who had recently started to move into the Whitechapel area after fleeing the pogroms in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe - was increasing to very dangerous proportions.

�

Q. So he liked to taunt the police

A. If we are to accept that each of these clues is genuine, then we have a fine case of a murderer who derived a great sense of satisfaction in teasing the police. On the other hand, the supposed correspondence from Jack the Ripper may have been little more than the attempts by individuals to gain fame - or infamy - and see their prose in print.

�

For the full story of Jack the Ripper go to http://www.crimelibrary.com/jack/jackmain.htm

�

For more on Arts & Literature click here

�

By Simon Smith