Author Question on Availability of Letters

[BCollins]

Hi all –

I’m an author working on a novel for a major publisher that features Jack. The piece is fiction, and I make no pretence about that, but I’d like be reasonably accurate.

The story takes place in NYC in 1895. An important question I’m trying to answer is how easy it would be for a member of the public to find an actual reproduction of the “Dear Boss” letter, so they might see the handwriting?

I know from scouring this excellent site that the letter was circulated by Scotland Yard at the time of the murders, and that it was partly reproduced in a few US papers at the time (oddly, I haven’t found a NYC reproduction.)

But, seven years later, I don’t believe there was any easy way to get a look at the actual handwriting on the letter, other than contacting authorities or experts. Is this true?

Any assistance in terms of data, or a direction I might be pointed in would be greatly appreciated!

[JTRSickert]

Hey BCollins. I may be able to help you. There is a new book out in the US by Richard Jones called Jack The Ripper: The Casebook. Inside it are various reproductions of important documents relating to the case, including the "Dear Boss" letter and various other letters. It can be found in Barnes & Noble in the True Crime section. If they don't have it, they should have no problem ordering it.

I hope this helps.

[Monty]

Ripper letters

Hi,

Check out the lists on the top left hand og this page.

Look for 'Ripper letters' and click on that.

There you will find a copy of the letter you are enquiring about.

Cheers
Monty

[BCollins]

Thanks to you both, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

I've seen the letters myself, what I'm trying to find out is how easy it would have been for someone in 1895 NYC to see them.

[ChrisGeorge]

Thanks to you both, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

I've seen the letters myself, what I'm trying to find out is how easy it would have been for someone in 1895 NYC to see them.

Hello BCollins

The facsimile of Dear Boss was first published in the Evening News of 4th October 1888. See Dear Boss Letter. I am not sure whether an American newspaper published the facsimile or just transcriptions. The Metropolitan Police also put original Dear Boss and the Saucy Jack postcard on a broadside asking if anyone recognized the handwriting so I suppose it is not unimpossible that a copy of the poster could have crossed the Atlantic.

All the best

Chris

[Mike Covell]

Many of the letters were present in publications across the world but most of them appeared as text, and not facsimilies of the actual writing. I have only seen the copies of the posters circulated to the police and a couple of British reports that feature the facsimilies of the writing.

Maybe the killer travelled forward in time, got Richard Jones excellent tome, and Letters from Hell, then went back and carried out the murders and sent the facsimilies to the police.

[Garry Wroe]

The following report was carried by the Illustrated Police News in, I believe, October, 1888:-

Superintendent Farmer, of the River Tyne Police, has received information which, it is considered, may form a clue to the Whitechapel Murders. An Austrian seaman signed articles aboard a Faversham vessel in the Tyne on Saturday, and sailed for a French port. Afterwards it was found that his signature corresponded with the facsimile letters signed ‘Jack the Ripper,’ and that the description of the man also corresponds with that of the Whitechapel murderer circulated by the Metropolitan Police.

Given that Tyneside is situated in north-east England, the Dear Boss facsimile certainly appears to have been circulated nationwide. If so, there seems to be no reason to suppose that it couldn't have made its way to America by way of a journalist or even a seaman.

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

[perrymason]

The facsimile printed in the papers might also have been hand carried across the pond, there are several different police investigations going on during the Ripper crimes and some required officers to travel to New York as part of the investigation. Some officers were based in New York at the time.

I can see a copy making its way across the pond even as a souvenir carried by someone sailing to the US.

But were copies formally supplied to Police agencies across the UK and abroad as a means of "pursuing" the criminal,.. probably not.

Best regards

[BCollins]

Thanks, all!

I'm actually hoping it *wasn't* easy.

The character in question, not a policeman, won't discover he's dealing with the Ripper until late in the book, and the handwriting is key to that discovery.

From what everyone's saying, it wouldn't have been a simple matter, and not unbelievable that someone wouldn't recognize the handwriting off the bat -- which works for me!

Sorry to be vague about plot, etc. The publisher asked me to keep quiet about details until they're ready to announce.

Best -

[Garry Wroe]

Just out of interest, BC, are you aware of the overwhelming probability that the Dear Boss letter was a hoax communication?

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

[lynn cates]

sad but true

Hello Garry. Alas! What you say is true. But that one letter sparked the fascination I now possess. Had I only known years ago what I suspect now . . . .

The best.
LC

[BCollins]

Hi Gary -

Yes, indeed I am. But as I said in my initial msg, the piece is fiction. Associating the letter with the killer absolutely will probably be the least historically improbable happening.