Jack's writing?

[Sam Flynn]

Ive been re-reading some materials and it seems fairly clear to me that most Ripperologists and most Ripper authors concede that of all the letters that were received and cataloged, From Hell is likely one of the authentic ones.

My reading of the literature is that From Hell has greater claim to authenticity than many of the others, Mike - i.e. that it is the best of a dodgy bunch. That's not quite the same as taking it as "likely one of the authentic ones".

Since it contains contrived wording, double traced characters, incorrect phonetic spelling with correct spelling adjacent, was not sent to the authorities or the press, and it is not signed from "Jack the Ripper" I tend to agree.

I don't believe it's the only one to have those attributes, though. Even if it were, such characteristics are hardly indicative of its genuineness.

[perrymason]

My reading of the literature is that From Hell has greater claim to authenticity than many of the others, Mike - i.e. that it is the best of a dodgy bunch. That's not quite the same as taking it as "likely one of the authentic ones".I don't believe it's the only one to have those attributes, though. Even if it were, such characteristics are hardly indicative of its genuineness.

Fair qualifiers Sam.

Cheers mate.

[FrankO]

Since it contains contrived wording, double traced characters, incorrect phonetic spelling with correct spelling adjacent, was not sent to the authorities or the press, and it is not signed from "Jack the Ripper", I tend to agree.

I not sure it was actually contrived, Micheal. Just look anywhere around you and you’ll quite easily find examples of writings that contain similar spelling errors (and as many), even among people who are better educated than the average working class person of the LVP. I think you don’t even have to leave the boards to find examples. I’ve seen examples of Fred West’s writings and they are far worse. There are lots of people who just aren’t interested in language, writing and correct spelling. Some people even couldn’t care less, as long as you know what they mean. I see enough of that with documents or e-mails written by colleagues (and I hear enough of it, too).

What, to me, makes it plausible for the ‘From hell’ letter to have come from the actual killer is the very fact that his letter isn’t actually littered with errors (57 words, 9 errors = 16%). I'm no expert, but, supposing the writer was a working class man, the errors he made are more or less what I would expect of such a person. Then, there’s the fact that he didn’t beat around the bush. The letter was as short as it could be without any hollow promises or tales to tell, yet the message is clear: I’m a nasty piece of work and I alone did it, not all those buggers calling themselves Jack the Ripper. The last thing is something you mentioned already: that it wasn’t signed ‘Jack the Ripper’.

An example of what I do see as contrived is the wording in the Openshaw letter. It seems that the writer misspelled just about every word he could misspell. In 83 words he made 20 errors (= 25%).

All the best,
Frank

[JTRSickert]

Hey guys. New to the forum ,ao forgive me if this question has come up already...

In the "From Hell" letter what is everyone's overall impression of the writer's vocabulary and phonetic spelling in the letter. Do you think he's:

1. An educated Londoner who wrote the letter trying to sound like someone who is uneducated or dyslexic?

2. An immigrant who wrote the letter with poor understanding of English and is writing it the way he hears it?

3. An attempt by the author to sound Irish with phrases like "T'other" and "Sor?"

[caz]

Hi All,

The strong impression I get is that the sender is having fun trying to mess with Lusk's head. I can almost hear him laughing as he composes his dark little missive and plops the offal into the package.

I really can't imagine any genuine Irishman, educated or not, actually writing like that. It would be like a Cockney writing: "Orl rite me ol coksparrer, fancy arf this ors kiddly wiv bread and dripping?"

It's a new slant - Leather Apron has been and gone, the GSG featuring Juwes and blame (whoever did it) is getting old, so some joker decides to send Lusk off on another wild goose chase, this time in hot pursuit of Paddy O'Doors, just for the craic.

But did the idea come to him because he was already in a position where he could obtain body parts like kidneys with no questions asked? Or did he have to go to some trouble to get hold of one, once the idea took hold? Or did the kidney inspire the sick little prank at Lusk's expense because the sender already had it sitting there, all dressed up with no particular place to go?

It would still have been a prank, after all, whether a hospital worker dunnit or the killer himself, and whether the kidney was Kate's or not. The killer could even have been a hospital worker (with access to other kidneys) for all we know. And if hundreds of relatively sane people that year could become sick pranksters at the drop of a jolly bonnet, I think the ripper should at least remain as a suspect for one or more of the pranks.

Love,

Caz
X

[Fisherman]

Looking at the "From Hell" letter, I always sense that I can almost feel Jack´s presence - and that is of course a stupid thing to do.
The immediate appeal this letter has, is something I think is very much connected to the visual impression it gives.

The "original" Jack the Ripper letters, where our killer was given his trade name, are just too neat and stylish to feel "Jackish". Not so for the Lusk letter; with it´s stains and it´s tormented style of writing, it has something almost pagan over it. It smells, more or less. It somehow resembles the squalid back yard of number 29 Hanbury Street and Mary Kellys sordid hellhole of a room. It fits, in a way that most other letters do not.

This, however, is of course in all probability a red herring, since we have no true idea of what and who Jack was. We certainly know, however, that some of the maddest of killers have had quite neat handstyles. So I think we need to be very careful about that appeal - that most certainly is there ...

The best,
Fisherman