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This article claims to tell the background story to the creation of the name Jack the Ripper and names the alleged author of the letters saying, although he is "no criminal" he is "Jack the Ripper"!
This article was written in the aftermath of the Carrie Brown murder.
Burlington Hawkeye
28 April 1891
ORIGIN OF "JACK THE RIPPER"
The Name Was Merely an Enterprising Newsman's Advertisement
New York, April 27.
This city is full of "Jack the Ripper." The name is in everyone's mouth. There are those who firmly believe the London Whitechapel fiend has transferred his field of operation to New York, and, consequently, there is much excitement among the lower classes. The main difference which the crime of Thursday night presents from the London butcheries lies in the fact that the victim was strangled, whereas the murderer's work in London was invariably begun by cutting the throat. This may be explained by the difference in circumstances surrounding the crime. In London, with the murder done on the open street, it was necessary to prevent even the slightest outcry, such as might have resulted from fairly skilful strangulation. Therefore, the cutting of the windpipe was an invaluable and necessary preliminary. That was not so in the New York crime, the murderer being safe from observation and in a place where almost any outcry would fail to attract attention.
There is probably not one person in ten thousand who reads of "Jack the Ripper" knows the true origin of the term. Mr. Brisbane, who was a London journalist at the time of some of the atrocious Whitechapel murders, enlightened the reporter today.
"The story of the title," said he, "and all of the Ripper literature is a curious tale of an Englishman's enterprise and has never been told. When the Whitechapel murders began the Central News and the Press Association were two rival London companies, bitterly fighting each other in the work of supplying news to English publications. The Press Association was much the older, more powerful and more widely known, until one fine morning a postal card came to the Central News written in blood, telling in free language what the Whitechapel fiend's future plans of slaughter were, and signed "Jack the Ripper." That afternoon the famous name "Jack the Ripper" was in every one's mouth. The big Press Association was compelled humbly to get the "Jack the Ripper" postal cards as fast as they came in from their young rival and to advertise everywhere the name of the Central News. The Central News advertisement was complete when the police authorities reproduced the Ripper postal cards, Central News address and all, on gigantic scale and plastered the walls of all England with them. Somehow it did not seem strange to the English public that an ignorant Whitechapel murderer should write his communication to a news agency which he could not possibly know anything about, instead of to the Pinkun, or to whatever was his favorite publication. It was observed by some of the friends of Mr. John Moore, manager of the Central News, that "Jack the Ripper's" postal cards did not seem to surprise him as they might have done, but only gratified him, and investigation revealed the interesting fact that "Jack the Ripper." though illiterate, wrote a hand marvellously like that of the refined Mr. Moore.
Mr. Moore was no criminal, but he was "Jack the Ripper." This fact was not mentioned in London, as public feeling would not have endured being imposed upon to that extent nor have accepted business enterprise as an excuse.
This article was written in the aftermath of the Carrie Brown murder.
Burlington Hawkeye
28 April 1891
ORIGIN OF "JACK THE RIPPER"
The Name Was Merely an Enterprising Newsman's Advertisement
New York, April 27.
This city is full of "Jack the Ripper." The name is in everyone's mouth. There are those who firmly believe the London Whitechapel fiend has transferred his field of operation to New York, and, consequently, there is much excitement among the lower classes. The main difference which the crime of Thursday night presents from the London butcheries lies in the fact that the victim was strangled, whereas the murderer's work in London was invariably begun by cutting the throat. This may be explained by the difference in circumstances surrounding the crime. In London, with the murder done on the open street, it was necessary to prevent even the slightest outcry, such as might have resulted from fairly skilful strangulation. Therefore, the cutting of the windpipe was an invaluable and necessary preliminary. That was not so in the New York crime, the murderer being safe from observation and in a place where almost any outcry would fail to attract attention.
There is probably not one person in ten thousand who reads of "Jack the Ripper" knows the true origin of the term. Mr. Brisbane, who was a London journalist at the time of some of the atrocious Whitechapel murders, enlightened the reporter today.
"The story of the title," said he, "and all of the Ripper literature is a curious tale of an Englishman's enterprise and has never been told. When the Whitechapel murders began the Central News and the Press Association were two rival London companies, bitterly fighting each other in the work of supplying news to English publications. The Press Association was much the older, more powerful and more widely known, until one fine morning a postal card came to the Central News written in blood, telling in free language what the Whitechapel fiend's future plans of slaughter were, and signed "Jack the Ripper." That afternoon the famous name "Jack the Ripper" was in every one's mouth. The big Press Association was compelled humbly to get the "Jack the Ripper" postal cards as fast as they came in from their young rival and to advertise everywhere the name of the Central News. The Central News advertisement was complete when the police authorities reproduced the Ripper postal cards, Central News address and all, on gigantic scale and plastered the walls of all England with them. Somehow it did not seem strange to the English public that an ignorant Whitechapel murderer should write his communication to a news agency which he could not possibly know anything about, instead of to the Pinkun, or to whatever was his favorite publication. It was observed by some of the friends of Mr. John Moore, manager of the Central News, that "Jack the Ripper's" postal cards did not seem to surprise him as they might have done, but only gratified him, and investigation revealed the interesting fact that "Jack the Ripper." though illiterate, wrote a hand marvellously like that of the refined Mr. Moore.
Mr. Moore was no criminal, but he was "Jack the Ripper." This fact was not mentioned in London, as public feeling would not have endured being imposed upon to that extent nor have accepted business enterprise as an excuse.
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