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Why disguise the fact that JtR was educated?

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  • Why disguise the fact that JtR was educated?

    In the first letter received from Jack the Ripper 'Dear Boss', he appears to be a well educated individual in the way he writes and his layout, ending the letter with 'Yours truly'. However, in the following postcard that is sent to George Lusk there are numerous grammatical and spelling errors. The handwriting on both the letter and postcard are identical so we know (if not assume) that it is defiantly from Jack the Ripper or at least the same person.

    My question is: Why did he feel the need to disguise the fact that he was educated?

    LMS

  • #2
    Hi intheshadows.

    Saucy Jack was the postcard. From Hell was the Lusk Letter.

    Far from being an uneducated work, I see From Hell employing insidious Jokerish Gamesmanship.

    Comment


    • #3
      If the writer of the Lusk letter and the 'Dear Boss' communication were two separate individuals there wouldn't be a problem. One, maybe a journalist, was educated, the other, as you can see from the general layout and penmanship, was probably semi-literate.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by intheshadows View Post
        In the first letter received from Jack the Ripper 'Dear Boss', he appears to be a well educated individual in the way he writes and his layout, ending the letter with 'Yours truly'. However, in the following postcard that is sent to George Lusk there are numerous grammatical and spelling errors. The handwriting on both the letter and postcard are identical so we know (if not assume) that it is defiantly from Jack the Ripper or at least the same person.

        My question is: Why did he feel the need to disguise the fact that he was educated?

        LMS
        G'day shadows.

        Welcome to casebook.

        As others have said I think you are confusing 3 letters as two.

        Dear boss introduces the name Jack.

        Saucy Jack is the Postcard

        Both of these may be in the same hand.

        Lusk is the one where he seems an illiterate Irishman "Dear Sor" if that is the right reading, the writings I don't think are the same.

        But it is still a good question why try and appear illiterate, if that is what the author did (and I think that there are suggestions he did).
        G U T

        There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

        Comment


        • #5
          Hello, intheshadows, and welcome to the forum! I was rude in my post, and didn't say hi!

          Comment


          • #6
            I see, I was confusing the letters and I do see the possibility of it perhaps being two individuals instead of the one person. I think I was focusing more on the two communications alone rather than the three as a whole. And reading From Hell again I do see the 'insidious Jokerish' side of his communication, and the sense of it being an Irishman whom wrote it.

            Thank you.

            LMS

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by intheshadows View Post
              I see, I was confusing the letters and I do see the possibility of it perhaps being two individuals instead of the one person. I think I was focusing more on the two communications alone rather than the three as a whole. And reading From Hell again I do see the 'insidious Jokerish' side of his communication, and the sense of it being an Irishman whom wrote it.

              Thank you.

              LMS
              Of course the question is which, if any, we're written by Jack?
              G U T

              There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

              Comment


              • #8
                The simple fact that the dear boss letter was addressed to a news agency screams journalist .
                Three things in life that don't stay hidden for to long ones the sun ones the moon and the other is the truth

                Comment


                • #9
                  There is just one letter in a few thousand correspondences that claimed it was accompanied by a piece of a Ripper victim, a piece that through analysis, could neither be proven nor disproven to have come from Kate Eddowes.

                  For me, that in and of itself makes the "Catch me when you can" signed letter the most tantalizing.

                  I cant for the life of me imagine anyone going to such lengths as to obtain a section of a human kidney, immerse it in spirits for approximately the elapsed time from the Eddowes murder to Lusks receipt of the package, simply for a lark. Sending an anonymous letter would have been much easier and cheaper, as evidenced by the many, many hoax letters that were sent.

                  Why Lusk? That's an interesting question.

                  Cheers
                  Michael Richards

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Michael W Richards View Post
                    There is just one letter in a few thousand correspondences that claimed it was accompanied by a piece of a Ripper victim, a piece that through analysis, could neither be proven nor disproven to have come from Kate Eddowes.

                    For me, that in and of itself makes the "Catch me when you can" signed letter the most tantalizing.

                    I cant for the life of me imagine anyone going to such lengths as to obtain a section of a human kidney, immerse it in spirits for approximately the elapsed time from the Eddowes murder to Lusks receipt of the package, simply for a lark. Sending an anonymous letter would have been much easier and cheaper, as evidenced by the many, many hoax letters that were sent.

                    Why Lusk? That's an interesting question.

                    Cheers

                    I agree on at least two counts.

                    1 Why Lusk
                    2 if any letter is real Lusk is the most likely (but Dr Openshaw must be number two).
                    G U T

                    There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hi GUT,

                      I suggest you read my book.

                      Regards,

                      Simon
                      Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Dyslectic

                        Hello GUT,

                        I did put forward some time ago the idea that JTR was possibly dyslectic. A great many of the mistakes in the letters corresponding with the list of signs of dyslexia compiled by the Swedish expert in dyslexia, Sigrid Madison. forum.casebook.org/archive/index.php/t-4731.html (hope that's the right link). There is no actual proof that the letters were written by a journalist, merely speculation. I believe that the Dear Boss, Sailor Jack and Lusk letters were written by the same person, the handwriting deteriorating as his mental state worsened. The Openshaw letter shows none of the characteristics of dyslexia, but the "threatening letter" does.

                        Best wishes
                        C4

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          One reason is certainly to hide who the author is. IIRC, at least one person was arrested and convicted (I assume fined, not jailed) for writing a false Ripper letter. If any of the letters we're discussing were written after the conviction, there was very good reason to disguise the author, but even if not, there are still good reasons for wanting to hide one's identity. For one thing, a journalist might have had an identifiable style as well as handwriting, and be trying to alter both. Another reason is that if the writer of the hoaxes, assuming they are hoaxes, presumed that JtR lived where he "worked," then he'd presume an uneducated Jack, and write as an uneducated person, to make the letter more believable.

                          If JtR did write the letters, he'd have good reason not to send the police evidence leading directly to him, so he'd want to disguise his handwriting and voice.

                          It's easier to sound less educated than one is, than to sound more educated, so that explains why the author chose to sound semi-literate. He probably was middle class with a good, but non-secondary (ie, college) education. If he had been a college professor, or otherwise highly erudite, he could have "dumbed down" to something still higher than what he did write as, and that makes sense, because large numbers of people were moderately educated.

                          One thing is for certain: the letters and cards were not written by an immigrant who was still learning English, and who spoke Yiddish as a first language. I'm very familiar with how people like that write. The only thing that remotely represents it is the Goulston St. graffito. Now that doesn't mean JtR wasn't Jewish; it just means that if he was a recent Jewish immigrant, he didn't write any of the missives.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Logic

                            I think the key to this is how he wrote. An educated man trying to "dumb down" would be more likely to write "nife" than "knif", while a dyslectic is likely to remember the k but drop the final e. An educated man trying to feign ignorance would put in some bad grammar. This doesn't happen except in missed apostrophes and starting sentences with a small letter, both of which are typical for dyslectics.

                            Best wishes
                            C4

                            P S I see I have written Sailor Jack by mistake in my first. Probably a freudian slip - I must try to get out more!
                            Last edited by curious4; 08-25-2015, 08:17 AM.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Not to put to fine a point on it, but someone, like a schoolteacher, which one suspect was (which doesn't mean anything-- I'm not suggesting Druitt wrote any letters-- it's just an example of how many teachers were about at the time), who had experience with the kind of mistakes that people make when they are still learning would know to write "knif." Ditto someone who wasn't an immigrant, but worked with or around them, and knew what kind of mistakes people just learning English make might also know to write "knif.

                              I've known dyslexics, and every one avoided writing tasks like poison ivy. I know you really want the letters to be genuine, and also genuinely by a dyslexic, so you can make assumptions about a dyslexic Jack, but I personally think that if JtR were dyslexic, he wouldn't have chosen to write letters to anyone.

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