JtR identity ‘revealed’ as £240 note on eBay gives hope the case is finally solved

[richardh]

A letter found in an old book in Australia talks about Aaron Kosminski, one of the prime suspects in the east London murders.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/32351258/jack-the-rippers-identity-revealed/

[JeffHamm]

A letter found in an old book in Australia talks about Aaron Kosminski, one of the prime suspects in the east London murders.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/323512...tity-revealed/

Interesting. While The Sun implies the letter links Kosminski to the JtR murders, what it reports about the letter actually talking about is Kosminski attacking a woman with a pair of scissors, and it alludes to him attacking his sister. There is a reference to the letter writer saying ""It's a wonder he hasn't hung for what he did to those poor girls.", but that doesn't mean he's referring to the C5 as "those poor girls" and he could just be referring to the above two attacks.

Unfortunately, the full text of the letter isn't reported. Has its content been transcribed anywhere? Given this letter seems to have been kept by the PC, it may at most indicate that Kosminski was of police interest to some extent at the time the letter was written. Ostrog's photo may have been kept only because McNaughten included him. Or, perhaps, he just still had the Kosminski letter, and then kept it more purposefully because he too was mentioned.

I'm not sure, based upon the limited information in the article, quite what to make of the letter but any new information is always a good thing.

- Jeff

[rjpalmer]

Interesting. While The Sun implies the letter links Kosminski to the JtR murders, what it reports about the letter actually talking about is Kosminski attacking a woman with a pair of scissors, and it alludes to him attacking his sister. There is a reference to the letter writer saying ""It's a wonder he hasn't hung for what he did to those poor girls.", but that doesn't mean he's referring to the C5 as "those poor girls" and he could just be referring to the above two attacks.

Unfortunately, the full text of the letter isn't reported. Has its content been transcribed anywhere? Given this letter seems to have been kept by the PC, it may at most indicate that Kosminski was of police interest to some extent at the time the letter was written. Ostrog's photo may have been kept only because McNaughten included him. Or, perhaps, he just still had the Kosminski letter, and then kept it more purposefully because he too was mentioned.

I'm not sure, based upon the limited information in the article, quite what to make of the letter but any new information is always a good thing.

- Jeff

Hi Jeff.

This is old news going back to 2019. You can find a transcript of it (along with discussion) here:

Kosminski Letter - Jack The Ripper Forums - Ripperology For The 21st Century


P.S. Here's another link, to the original discussion in March 2019.

Alleged Letter Mentioning Kosminski * EBay - Jack The Ripper Forums - Ripperology For The 21st Century

[Darryl Kenyon]

There is a detailed blog on the Dott family history dated 21 February 2019. I haven't had chance to read it all yet but it seems very thorough on the Reverend Dott and his family. The letter mentioning Kosminski seems to have appeared on Ebay in March the same year . Coincidence or not ?

Regards Darryl

[JeffHamm]

Hi Jeff.

This is old news going back to 2019. You can find a transcript of it (along with discussion) here:

Kosminski Letter - Jack The Ripper Forums - Ripperology For The 21st Century


P.S. Here's another link, to the original discussion in March 2019.

Alleged Letter Mentioning Kosminski * EBay - Jack The Ripper Forums - Ripperology For The 21st Century

Thanks rj! I thought it sounded familiar. Reading the full letter doesn't really clarify if the "poor girls" refers to the c5 or if perhaps Kosminski was known to scare women with his scissors. The scissors are spoken of in a way that sort of implies the scissors were a particular, and known, pair. If so, that suggests he may have a reputation for doing similar things on other occasions. This sort of behavior could be what is alluded to by McNaughton.

Anyway, it does at least mean Aaron K was known to be aggressive towards woman by members of the public, and so unlikely to have escaped police attention. Whether or not that is worth much is anybody's guess.

- Jeff

[rjpalmer]

There is a detailed blog on the Dott family history dated 21 February 2019. I haven't had chance to read it all yet but it seems very thorough on the Reverend Dott and his family. The letter mentioning Kosminski seems to have appeared on Ebay in March the same year . Coincidence or not ?

Regards Darryl

Thanks, Darryl. I hadn't seen that mentioned before.

Personally, I suspect that a more significant 'coincidence' is the letter showed up on eBay in March 1997, shortly after news of the Kosminski/Eddowes shawl once again had made international news because the Journal of Forensic Sciences was publishing a report on it that month.

The timing struck several of us as suspicious, much like when the Maybrick watch showed up for the first time in 100 years right after the announcement of Jack the Ripper's diary hit the newsstands.