jack the ripper tabloid killer 27/12

[dixon9]

9.pm on crime channel(sky553) has anyone seen this?
Kelvin MacKenzie explores the lies and sensation behind the story of the murderer and how much was media myth

Thanks for any info from those who have seen it.

Dixon9
still learning

[dixon9]

watched the programme in bits last night (as family still around) and the claim was a reporter named Best was behind The Dear Boss letter.
As said only caught bits of it,also had a hand writing expert on ,who said Best's handwriting matched that of The Dear Boss letters.
They showed a picture of Best(which they claimed the first time ever shown)
Looked on the tv planner and cant see that it will be aired again this week.


Dixon9
still learning

[Mike Covell]

The makers used this episode to start of a three episode "Investigation" series, where three different areas of history are looked into, JTR being the first.

Having a former Sun editor host the show and making claims such as "Tonight we will reveal Jack" just made me cringe!

[Into The Abyss]

Just watched the programme on Sky Anytime and MacKenzie, ex-editor of the Sun, claimed that Frederick Best, a journalist with The Star newspaper at the time of the Whitechapel Murders was responsible for writing the "Dear Boss" letter, possibly under the tutelage of T P O'Connor, the newspaper's editor.

Mackenzie together with a writer/historian (sorry can't remember his name) had obtained a document allegedly written by Best (I believe it was something to do with a will bequest) and had that compared with the "Dear Boss" letter. The lady graphologist they used is apparently very familiar with the DB letter and was able to show some fairly believable comparisons between both documents.

Prior to this comparison, Mackenzie had produced a letter ("never before seen") from a major shareholder of The Star to the editor, expressing concern that the newspaper had known that DB had been written by one of their reporters, but had not done anything about the matter.

This story is borne out to a degree by a section in Paul Begg's, JtR - The Facts (pages 203-4, 2009 edition) where he relates a story from an anonymous contributor to Crime and Detection in August 1966, who claims to have met with a reporter named Best ("a penny-a-liner on The Star newspaper" in 1888) who said that he and a provincial colleague were responsible for ALL the Ripper letters.

Interestingly, Harry Dam, an American reporter also working on The Star at the relevant time, has been "fingered" previously as the author of DB. Perhaps it was a joint effort between Best and Dam, with Best doing the actual writing.

NB Am I correct in thinking that Dam was suspected of being the author of the "Leather Apron" story as well?

[BillyE]

The "Dear Boss" letter bares a strong resemblance to the handwriting of one Tom Bulling, a reporter I believe for the Star Newspaper. And to me the post script of the "Dear Boss" letter doesn't look the same as the body of the letter. The post script does resemble the "Saucy Jacky" postcard that came after the Stride/Eddowes murders. If indeed two reporters were working together on some/many of the Ripper letters, my best guess would be Tom Bulling, and Frederick(?) Best.


To see a sampling of Tom Bulling's rendition of a Ripper letter, attempting to immulate the handwriting of the killer, please refer to the excellent book "Jack the Ripper: Letters From Hell" by Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner.