From Hell (Lusk) Letter likely Fake

[Rainbow]

I am of the strong opinion that the Lusk letter is the only genuine letter. Everything about it is genuine. Timing, circumstances, addressee, package, stylistics, knowledge, but most of all the way it seemed to be writtn in a style with nothing to prove unlike every other letter. This is why it is different. At the same time it was playful. Read very deeply into the line "I will send you the knife" and you will realise that this is a man that knows he can get away with it because it is someone who is very much "on the ball". He is not someone wandering the streets zombie-like looking for the next victim but rather somone who knows exactly what he is doing. I am starting to come to the conclusion that perhaps that it is a man who is so calculated that he is able to orchestrate two murders in the same night only 45 minutes apart.

Excellent post!

Thanks.

[Pcdunn]

Hmm... interesting, Yom.
Consider: we have the word "signed", followed on the same line by-- a blank space, which could be seen as nothing.

Remember when Kate Eddowes was arrested for being drunk and disorderly? Upon being asked her name, she answered "Nothing."

Pure coincidence, I'm fairly sure, but interesting...

[YomRippur]

Are you suggesting The Ripper was "normal"?

I think this particular killer could have some moments of normalcy in order to carry out his deeds. I'm just wondering why he wrote "Signed" and didn't really sign his name. Yes, it's possible he was just abnormal enough at that moment to do an illogical thing like that. But still, something that happened with no apparent reason could still be a significant thing. Maybe it was written by a forger who had wanted to sign with the sender's name but changed his/her mind at the last moment and signed with no name at all in order to perhaps provide fewer clues as to who the sender was. If it was written by the murderer, maybe he didn't sign his name due to some personal issues that could be significant -- e.g. self hate that made him not want to write his name, perhaps. All speculative, of course. But this odd thing of "Signed"-but-not-signed could just be a significant thing.

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

They wrote “Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk” because they couldn't accurately copy the JtR signature on the Dear Boss letter.

Regards,

Simon

[Pcdunn]

But the writer did write "Signed". And then, he didn't really sign, and suddenly addressed Lusk again. That's a little puzzling to me... Is it normal to write "Signed" and not write your name after it?

Are you suggesting The Ripper was "normal"?

[YomRippur]

No, no. The writer is addressing Mr. Lusk, as he has been all along. The sentence:
"Catch me when
you Can
Mishter Lusk."

Should be read as: "Catch me when you can, Mr. Lusk."

But the writer did write "Signed". And then, he didn't really sign, and suddenly addressed Lusk again. That's a little puzzling to me... Is it normal to write "Signed" and not write your name after it?

[Pcdunn]

P.S. This may be trivial or even silly, but isn't the name at the bottom of a letter supposed to be the sender's name? So did Lusk send the letter to himself??

No, no. The writer is addressing Mr. Lusk, as he has been all along. The sentence:
"Catch me when
you Can
Mishter Lusk."

Should be read as: "Catch me when you can, Mr. Lusk."

[YomRippur]

My gut feeling is that this killer was just not the boastful, letter-writing type. The horrific mutilations created enough boastfulness for him, in my mind. And if he did want to brag some more, he had already done it with the Goulston Street graffito, so why do it again with the kidney? Also, a killer of this sort usually keeps the victim's organs as trophies and is unlikely to send them away.

P.S. This may be trivial or even silly, but isn't the name at the bottom of a letter supposed to be the sender's name? So did Lusk send the letter to himself??

[Batman]

The GSG was written in Cockney with bad spelling much like this letter.

[GUT]

In other words: would a medical student hoaxer have known enough to avoid a 'Dear Boss'/'Saucy Jacky' template?

Hard to say but I have to assume that back then, as is now, you have to be pretty smart to get into medical school.

c.d.

Unfortunately not, more a case of having the $$$ and/or the connections.

[c.d.]

In other words: would a medical student hoaxer have known enough to avoid a 'Dear Boss'/'Saucy Jacky' template?

Hard to say but I have to assume that back then, as is now, you have to be pretty smart to get into medical school.

c.d.

[Amanda]

Reasons...?

Interesting way to look at it. I can't think of an answer. Some people have gone so far as to falsely confess to horrific crimes and risk the punishment, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that a person would obtain a body part in furtherance of a hoax. That does sound highly unlikely though.

My gut says the Lusk letter is a great hoax, but if any letter were from the murderer, it was this one. I just don't believe Jack was at all interested in bringing more attention to himself. I think he would probably prefer all of his murders to be swept under the rug as "just another dead hooker" than to be recognized as a series by the same hand. So why feed the media frenzy which is doing nothing but making his peculiar pastime that much more difficult to indulge in?

Hi Vincenzo,
What makes you presume that Jack wanted to remain anonymous? There are plenty of criminals both past & present who contact the police and media for their own individual reasons.

Cream was a good example, even getting infuriated when his letters to the Coroner were ignored.
You could even apply this 'cry for help' to Stephenson (if you consider him a suspect) who wrote a lengthy article in the Pall Mall Gazette about the JtR murders.

Amanda

[Vincenzo]

Out of curiosity - how many examples are there of cases involving murder or serial murder, where the public has mailed "fake" body parts to the police in order to create an impression that they were from the killer?

Is this something that belongs to the practical joke tradition of Britain, or are there parallel examples from elsewhere?

All the best,
Fisherman

Interesting way to look at it. I can't think of an answer. Some people have gone so far as to falsely confess to horrific crimes and risk the punishment, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that a person would obtain a body part in furtherance of a hoax. That does sound highly unlikely though.

My gut says the Lusk letter is a great hoax, but if any letter were from the murderer, it was this one. I just don't believe Jack was at all interested in bringing more attention to himself. I think he would probably prefer all of his murders to be swept under the rug as "just another dead hooker" than to be recognized as a series by the same hand. So why feed the media frenzy which is doing nothing but making his peculiar pastime that much more difficult to indulge in?

[Abby Normal]

I tend to give 'From Hell' a lot more credence than my more skeptical Ripperological brethren, and my rationale has nothing to do with the cold cut sent out with it.

Here's why:

When 'From Hell' was dispatched to Lusk, 'Dear Boss' had already sunk deeply into the public consciousness, together with its pithy, punchy vernacular and copperplate writing. And whilst we know that the major police officials already took 'Dear Boss' for a hoax by Eddowes' murder, the overwhelming majority of laypersons seem to have accepted it as genuine: and this is why other hoaxes seem emulative of its Cockney lilt, riddled with musings against "cusses of coppers" and the like.

Not so the Lusk Letter. That it intends to project a false character of its author is undeniable - but this persona seems to be that of a morbid, blood-sated Irishman and not a streetwise Cockney tuff.

Should not our hypothetical medical student hoaxer have seen a 'Dear Boss' handbill and copied that? Perhaps "'ere's 'er bloomin' organ, govnah; tasted very keen"?

In other words: would a medical student hoaxer have known enough to avoid a 'Dear Boss'/'Saucy Jacky' template?

No.
Nor would he known enough to send only half
Nor to Not sign it jack the ripper
Nor to send to an obscure man and not to the police or newspaper

[Bridewell]

D.D.

If any of the letters is genuine (which must be doubtful) I think it is this one - for pretty much the reasons you have described.