The from hell letter

[lynn cates]

Irish

Hello Claire. I agree that those spellings are an oddity. I believe Gareth considers them an approximation of something like "stage Irish." That is, the kind of Irish a Yank might use when aping an Irish character.

Perhaps you might ask him?

The best.
LC

[claire]

Dave, I think your points about the unusual spelling are interesting, and pertinent. To me, as you imply, they don't look like 'natural' or instinctive misspellings, but are an approximation, an impression of poor English prepared by someone who was trying to disguise his own literacy. This, to me, is interesting, as we might naturally assume that the killer, in sending the kidney (were it authentic) and the accompanying letter, is in some way attempting to reveal himself. The deliberate (or what look to me to be deliberate) misspellings indicate quite the opposite: someone trying to conceal themselves.

Not, of course, that this necessarily rules the package out as a hoax: clearly the perpetrator would wish to continue concealing himself, but it is quite unusual to find the intent so at odds with the execution. That said, if one looks at a corpora of communications by killers, they often attempt to sound like someone else (either the victim, if they are trying to conceal the offence, which clearly wasn't the case here), or another person that they are trying to put in the frame.

Personally, I tend to the view that the package was sent by someone who believed they knew the identity of the killer, was savvy enough to send it to Lusk (possibly with the belief that Lusk would also be in a position to form some views about that), and seized on the opportunity that the information about Eddowes' missing kidney to make the whole communique look more authentic.

[DVV]

Well, me for a start, Dave - and I'm happy to stand by it. I believe that some medics may have suggested the same at the time, but I won't swear by it. Even Major Smith, for what it's worth, says that some "solons" (doctors) wrote saying that the kidney could have been that of a dog, but my money's on a pig.

Hi Sam,

that's the problem I have regarding the "pig solution".
The possibilty of a hoax has been seriously considered in 1888.
Thus if a pig and a human kidney are so similar, how comes that neither Openshaw nor Brown etc, did suggest that it could easily be a pig's kidney ?
Why do we hear about dogs, medical students, etc, but not about pigs ?

Amitiés,
David

[claire]

I think it was actually preserved in spirits of wine ("rectified spirit"), Claire - which had more than just medical applications at the time. Whilst it was hardly a "domestic" substance, it wasn't exactly hard to come by - even if this wasn't the case, then that just tells us about the liquor in which the piece of kidney was preserved, and little about the kidney itself.

Thanks for the clarification ...my point, though, wasn't the availability of the preserving liquid according to someone's possible profession/occupation, but rather that someone took the trouble to preserve it at all. Nevertheless, it's a bit moot for me, since there's little really to suggest that the whole package came from the killer.

[Dave James]

Letter analysis

Hi all,
This thread is getting really interesting. Here are my latest musings for your consideration.
I’ve been going through some old notes regarding the ‘From Hell’ letter and found this. You are all probably aware of it, but….
In 1968, Canadian graphologist C M McLeod analysed the letters and concluded that the ‘From Hell’ letter was genuine. The results were published in the Criminologist that year. What interested me were some of the conclusions regarding the sender.
He would be a ‘Hale fellow and well met’ type of person who liked to eat and drink.
He would attract the type of women that were his victims by animal magnetism, but was probably a latent homosexual yet passed as a ‘man’s man’, one of the boys, chauvinistic, with the ‘women are only there to be used and discarded’ attitude.
McLeod proposed that the killer could be a coach driver, someone who had a legitimate reason for being anywhere at any time. In other words he was one of the ‘invisible people’, the ones who are seen but not noticed, policemen, doctors etc.
I also found some notes of my (amateur) analysis of the letter, of the language used and spelling. The writing itself is in an educated hand which stands out against the so called spelling mistakes. It doesn’t look just like a schoolboy hand.
The spelling and vernacular(s) seem forced – Sor, Mishter (Irish?). Tother (North of England t’other).
Unobvious spelling mistakes – Kidne, surely this would have been kidny? The same with Knif more obviously nife? Then there is Whil which to my mind would have been more likely to be wile.
I know that it has been proposed several times that the writing is disguised, but to me it seems that when this letter was composed, a lot of thought went into the subject matter but the writer wasn’t familiar with vernacular and illiterate spelling (or not spelling).
I don’t claim to be an expert on this, but I did work for five years with disadvantaged unemployed youngsters, so I came across quite a lot of ‘unusual’ spelling. (Also, if it wasn’t for spellcheck and auto correct, god knows what my own writin wud luk lyk).
All the best
Dave

[Sam Flynn]

Then, gentlemen, feel free to run a Google image search of your own.

I recommend, instead, that you go to your local market, and look at some real kidneys there. There are clearly some weird kidneys on Google.

[Marlowe]

Hi all,

Even if it was a hoax...it wasn't a hoax!!!

The "Stop Time" and "From Hell" communications contain too much "knowledge". One thing is for certain -- they are clearly linked to one another by their symbolism. What is implied was not well known back then. Even today, most people would have no idea why the letter is unsigned or why the kidney was divided in half. Perhaps a priest or exorcist had a hand in the construction of "From Hell"...but only a "hand"...

Ever wonder why Jack was so happy that Lusk was frightened? Trust me, you don't want to know....


Marlowe (back to fixing a "rip" in the Space-Time Continuum)

[Sam Flynn]

I tend, most of the time, to agree with you, Gareth. The only thing that gives me pause is its preservation in alcohol...

I think it was actually preserved in spirits of wine ("rectified spirit"), Claire - which had more than just medical applications at the time. Whilst it was hardly a "domestic" substance, it wasn't exactly hard to come by - even if this wasn't the case, then that just tells us about the liquor in which the piece of kidney was preserved, and little about the kidney itself.

[Garry Wroe]

Then, gentlemen, feel free to run a Google image search of your own.

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

[Sox]

To begin with, Sam, I thought that the mottled effect might the peculiarity of a specific breed, but it turned out to be a commonality.

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

Sorry Garry, I agree with Sam, and I spent every Saturday morning for two years in a Pork abattoir.

[Sam Flynn]

To begin with, Sam, I thought that the mottled effect might the peculiarity of a specific breed, but it turned out to be a commonality.

I'm sorry, Garry, but I really do know what pig's kidneys look like, and they do not normally look "spotted" at all. As I say, and I meant it, I've eaten enough of them to know that for a fact. Furthermore, I routinely scored over 90% at biology exams (without revising) right up to "A" level, and the anatomy and physiology of the kidney was, quite honestly, my favourite subject at the time. I'm not, therefore, arguing from a position of ignorance, nor trying to defend an optimistic hunch, when I assert - and reassert - that pig and human kidneys are very similar.

[Garry Wroe]

Garry - I've eaten a lot of offal in my time, and I swear that the red, splotched thing you posted isn't like any pig's kidney I've ever seen

To begin with, Sam, I thought that the mottled effect might the peculiarity of a specific breed, but it turned out to be a commonality.

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

[claire]

I tend, most of the time, to agree with you, Gareth. The only thing that gives me pause is its preservation in alcohol...it is quite a considered hoax, which then leads me to ponder the choice of recipient. If the target was meant to be the public in general, there must be a better choice than Lusk, his status notwithstanding. There was no guarantee that he would make it public (and, indeed, it appeared he stashed it for a while before telling anyone). Thus, the choice of recipient is a little similar to the sort of recipient a perpetrator would select...or the sender (presuming that person to not be the perpetrator) had an issue with Lusk personally.

[Sam Flynn]

Lusk thought it was a sheep's.
He didn't eat pork, I guess.

Just on that point, in case others might get the wrong impression, Lusk wasn't a Jew.

[Sam Flynn]

Has anybody suggested that it could be a pig's kidney in 1888 ?

Well, me for a start, Dave - and I'm happy to stand by it. I believe that some medics may have suggested the same at the time, but I won't swear by it. Even Major Smith, for what it's worth, says that some "solons" (doctors) wrote saying that the kidney could have been that of a dog, but my money's on a pig.