If the 'Dear Boss' letter is a hoax...

[Abby Normal]

If someone sends it to the police, it could be forgotten; they have the power to deem it a hoax. Someone has stated that they will kill, and it is not legal to advance criminal activity through the postal system. By sending it to Central, someone has increased the number of people knowing of it's existence from one,(police open it, deem it a hoax, it is all but forgotten)to three(Central opens, give it to police, police share with postal inspectors). Police are going to need to involve postal inspectors once that outside source, Central in this instance, brings a murder plot being sent through the postal system. Basically the "Boss" does not need to be at any set location, this is just the best path to get the letter to the most eyes possible.

Hi sleek
Interesting point. Actually four because by sending it to the CNA they would be assured that the public (you now, being a news agency and all) would also hear of it.

[sleekviper]

If someone sends it to the police, it could be forgotten; they have the power to deem it a hoax. Someone has stated that they will kill, and it is not legal to advance criminal activity through the postal system. By sending it to Central, someone has increased the number of people knowing of it's existence from one,(police open it, deem it a hoax, it is all but forgotten)to three(Central opens, give it to police, police share with postal inspectors). Police are going to need to involve postal inspectors once that outside source, Central in this instance, brings a murder plot being sent through the postal system. Basically the "Boss" does not need to be at any set location, this is just the best path to get the letter to the most eyes possible.

[Robert St Devil]

Hello Shaggyrand.

Pulling that hoax successfully and outselling the competition would occur only when DEAR BOSS is published in the newspaper. Without the murders, it would have sat in the hoax pile, and been forgotten. Until the murders happen, Central News had no reason to take it serious or distribute it thru its channels.

Why invent Jack the Ripper to increase news sales if there was the chance that the hoax may have never made it past the ,trash heap,?

[Shaggyrand]

The murders were scandalous on their own merit. Why would Central News agents need to further sensationalize them?

To beat out other agencies and get their story into as many papers as possible. The press has always loved two things- sensationalism and out selling their competitors. If you are walking home and decide to pick up the latest paper to see what grizzly detail you can chat about tomorrow, do you pick up the ones that are just repeating and rephrasing details or the ones the killer is sending love notes to? Which is the easy pick for an editor looking for the most attention getting headline?
I'd go for the folks getting juicy notes every time. That's more than enough reason to fake the letter.

[Robert St Devil]

For DEAR BOSS, Bridewell? That one arrived a few days before, right?

I,m questioning the convenience of the hoax if journalists wrote it. Letter arrives asking to be held back, few days later, double murder.
Then, the journalists take the hoax too far by mailing in a postcard, ridiculing the murders. Why?

[Bridewell]

Hoax or not, how did moore and bulling* know a murder was going to happen around the time that their letter is received?

I thought the postmark suggested that the letter could have been sent after the double event had taken place, if only by a matter of hours?

[DJA]

Perhaps Jack was continuing to create a persona far removed from who he actually was.

[Robert St Devil]

Detractions understood; still...

If DEAR BOSS was purely a hoax, what would be the purpose of following that letter with SAUCY JACKY? why would Central News agents need to revel in the fact that their hoax actually came true by falsifyng a horrifying post-script to its cold-blooded predecessor? They were all aware of the brutalities inflicted on Elizabeth and Catherine; why further disgrace these two women with "ha" and "squeal" (as if Eliz was nothing more than a pig)? That would be revolting.

The murders were scandalous on their own merit. Why would Central News agents need to further sensationalize them?

[DJA]

John Moore, who was also an ex-Met Policeman. Littlechild believed Bulling to be the originator of the letters and Moore the probable inventor.

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=10698

Ironically,it could have been meant for William Saunders.

[Robert St Devil]

Jerryd et al

When it comes to looking at the evidence, sometimes i look at what it ,is not,.

Meaning...

DEAR BOSS ,is not, random. It does not arrive on some arbitrary date weeks prior to the double event written in a generally cryptic language, such as:

Sep 11, 1888

Dear Boss, tell the people of Whitechapel to lock their doors and bolt their windows because you never know when or where Jack the Ripper will strike next.

Instead, it arrives conveniently in time for the double murders with specific instructions that practically come true: hold this back for a few days because i have work to do, it seemingly instructs.

hoax or not, how did moore and bulling* know a murder was going to happen around the time that their letter is received?



Thx. Found an archived cb thread on John Moore.
* in this case, moore and bulling merely represent anyone suspected of being the author of DEAR BOSS.

[jerryd]

I,m leaning more towards it being addressed to someone at CNA. The writer must not have been with the police nor addressing them either because he refers to them in the letter. And, the writer instructs BOSS to hold the letter back before putting it out ,,on blast,, -meaning it wasn,t addressing the public.

Question becomes, who at CNA was Boss?

John Moore, who was also an ex-Met Policeman. Littlechild believed Bulling to be the originator of the letters and Moore the probable inventor.

[Geddy2112]

Question becomes, who at CNA was Boss?

The top editor?

[Robert St Devil]

I,m leaning more towards it being addressed to someone at CNA. The writer must not have been with the police nor addressing them either because he refers to them in the letter. And, the writer instructs BOSS to hold the letter back before putting it out ,,on blast,, -meaning it wasn,t addressing the public.

Question becomes, who at CNA was Boss?

[DJA]

Dear Boss could have been intended for various people.....CNA Editor,Abberline,etc,etc.

Like GSG,it was written in a neat schoolboy hand.

Reckon it was intended for Openshaw,Jack the Ripper's protege,much like Jack was Gull's.

Gotta put some Joe Ely on
Ciao!

[Robert St Devil]

Dr Thomas Horrocks Openshaw.

Gotta ask it, DJA.. how did the writer know the letter was going to be put on blast?

If Boss is being addressed to a person in the public [ie. Openshaw], how did the writer know that it would find its way from the CNA pile to front page?

If the writer had no knowledge ,the hoax, or ,the scare, would make it that far, then the lettrr must have been intended for someone at Central News.

That or... Central News was behind it.