Dear Boss P.S.

[Mike Covell]

Having a fistula on the penis does not make a man unable to make love!

[revpetero]

Having a fistula on the penis does not make a man unable to make love!

Do you want to share something?

Walter Sickert is what happens when you look for evidence after finding him guilty

[Celesta]

Hmmm, is Cornwell trying to make a connection between Dear Boss and Walter?

If so then tickerty boo but, to use a well worn phrase in the Cornwell/Sickert world, it doesnt put the knife in his hand.

Im comforted in a way that Keith is on board however Im not that comforted he will be allowed to do what he does best without someone attempting to pull him in a certain direction.

Monty

I don't know the man, but one would hope he would be more strong-minded than that! These letters are still a big issue and people get pulled all over the map because of them. It would be good if they could establish something definitive about any of them. Skinner, by now, should have made her acquainted with the facts of the cases. Hopefully he can keep her on the straight and narrow and not let her try to compile "evidence" to support her Sickert theory.

[Tom_Wescott]

Having a fistula on the penis does not make a man unable to make love!

No, but it makes it hard for him to tell whether he's cumming or going.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[MJDoe]

I do not post much but I do have a thought on the PS here. I think it refers back to the question of being caught and says that if he had been good enough to post it before he got the ink off he might have ben caught red handed. Red handed also has various sexual suggestions. It is another joke.

[paul emmett]

Hi, MJDoe.

Interesting thoughts. I too see JTR as having a sense of play. But I can't see how the "curse it" that follows the "wasn't good enough . . ." would fit in to a red handed joke. Then again, perhaps it doesn't have to,

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Merely a stray thought, but was the term "curse" used for a woman's period at the time?

Regards,

Simon

[paul emmett]

Hi All,

Merely a stray thought, but was the term "curse" used for a woman's period at the time.

Stray, perhaps, but right on. A new release, THE CURSE: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF MENSTRUATION, traces "curse" back to and forward from the Bible. This association might well tie "Dear Boss" in with other recent threads.

[perrymason]

With due respect to Simon, the more menstruation is mentioned in these threads, the greater a connection I see with the premise alleged in "Uncle Jack"...that of a man preoccupied with womens fertility in some way. Im not certain myself that extracting and taking a uterus shows us that kind of interest, and Im fairly certain slitting the throat doesnt, or slicing a face.

Its interesting to look at the known physical condition of the victims prior to their deaths and speculate whether there was any link with their "time of the month" and their murders, but I dont think other than Annie we have anyone complaining of feeling poorly or something physically symptomatic of a period onset.

The PS is most literally explained by the date of the letter itself, and the post date. But its not likely a real, legitimate excuse. So why address the discrepancy at all?

I think the author may have re-opened the letter before sending it, and was explaining the delay or posting discrepancy by claiming he had red ink on his hands.... for 2 days. The excuse is poor...but there is no doubt there is a delay in posting.

What if the suggestions were right and Bulling and another journalist wrote it.....if one wrote it and sealed it before the other could check for hoax giveways, or mistakes,... then might they open it to check? I cant believe if hoaxed there was more than one copy of it lying about someones home, so the "partner" has no idea of what the content is if sealed by the author, and the author might forget the exact phrasing he used.

Best regards.

[Roy Corduroy]

Hi Perry,

check for hoax giveways

So it's like a lottery check that bounces?

Roy

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

The position and orientation of the PS suggests it was written whilst the letter was still folded.

Regards,

Simon

[BillyE]

I'm going to propose something really radical here. I sometimes do that. After years of simply taking for granted a single authorship of the "Dear Boss" letter, I recently started looking at the post script again. Everyone believes the "Saucy Jacky" postcard to have come from the same source because the handwriting is similar. I noticed they only part of "DB" that similar to the postcard is the post script. The main body of the letter is in beautiful caligraphy, while the post script is a tad sloppy, as is the post card. I don't believe the Ripper wrote either correspondence, rather they were the work of journalists, but I'm starting to think the "DB" letter may be the work of two men working together. One wrote the body of "DB" while the other wrote the post script and the post card.

I'd heard the story of how the reporter known only as "Best" claimed authorship of most of the Ripper letters. After reading Stewart's and Keith's book "Letters From Hell" I became convinced it was Tom Bulling who wrote the letter. Now that I've come to the conclusion two men wrote the letter I'm wondering if Bulling and Best were working together to author a number of the letters. This would fit into Best's story that he and a partner wrote many JtR letters. I could be wrong, as I often am, but I simply can't shake this feeling. What do you all think?

[Sam Flynn]

Everyone believes the "Saucy Jacky" postcard to have come from the same source because the handwriting is similar. I noticed they only part of "DB" that similar to the postcard is the post script.

Hi Billy,

I posted this comparison of 4 "Ripper" missives before the Casebook "crash" earlier this year:



...all sampled alphabetical characters came from the body of each document. To my mind there is no doubt that "SJ" and "DB" were written by the same hand, and I'd bet a pound to a penny that the other two were penned by the same author as well.

[perrymason]

Hi All,

The position and orientation of the PS suggests it was written whilst the letter was still folded.

Regards,

Simon

Interesting point Simon, and not surprising really. It was obviously written and then set aside. Why add the PS I wonder? Just to explain that 2 day delay from writing to posting?

Cheers Simon.

[Lord Buckley]

im with sam on this one. definately the same person who wrote SJ and DB.