Jack the Ripper

[Nick Adams]

Can you tell me if the poem purporting to have been sent to police by Jack the Ripper that starts with the line 'eight little whores, with no hope of heaven' and ending with the line 'and the last one's the ripest for Jack's idea of fun' is genuine?

[incitatus]

Most of the letters and poems sent in to the police or to Mr Lusk were journalistic inventions. This may even be true of the famous 'From Hell' letter, which is perhaps the most probable one. As nobody knows who he was, its very difficult to be sure of the provenance. Also it was eventually agreed that Jolly Jack only claimed five victims. The figure of eight dates the letter to a period (ending about 1915 or so) when some other victims, including Emma Smith and Martha Tabram, were added to the tally. The MO for these deaths was, however, very different.

[sgs]

For more on the letters attributed to Jack the Ripper go to the answerbank article at article 2178