What I'd dearly love to know is when the 'Jack the Ripper' letter was published in the press. I've been through a bunch of newspapers (thanks guys for the transcriptions!) but can't find reference to the letter at the time it was sent. So I don't know when the name 'Jack the Ripper' was publicized. However it's possible that the name was at least known anecdotally by the time the From Hell letter was sent in mid-October. If everyone was referring to 'Jack the Ripper' by then, I think it's possible that the From Hell letter was sent as an indication that the killer had not himself chosen the name Jack the Ripper and didn't appreciate someone else appropriating his voice and his exploits. If that's the case, the point of the kidney was not to amaze and horrify, but to warrant that the letter had come from the actual killer of Catherine Eddowes.
Now what (else) did I find by poring over the text of the communication?
- The writer refers to 'one woman', not 'the woman' or 'that woman'. Does that speak to the idea that he actually killed two women that night? Or is it simply a reference to the fact that he has 'prasarved' other bits and pieces he took from other women. And going on from that...
- The Jack the Ripper letter was sent September 27th. The From Hell letter was sent October 16th. If he really is interested in making a clear difference between him and the writer of the prior letter, and preserved the kidney for that purpose, he waited quite a while to send it. It's more likely that he preserved his trophies and used this one when he found out about the Jack the Ripper thing because it was handy to prove his own identity. Which tells me that he did keep his anatomical specimens and had somewhere private to do so. Wouldn't be easy to keep a jar full of nasty in a doss-house trunk where people might see it. The dossers were always trying to steal each others' stuff. Someone might break the lock of a trunk or box and find more than they bargained for. There were rewards out for the capture of the killer.
- Also, there's a two week hiatus between the JTR letter going out and being spoken of and the FH letter. Did FH find out about the JTR letter and stew about it for ten days or so? Or was he out and about away from newspapers etc and only found out about it when he came back? In which case we can look at a two-week break between the Double Event and the letter, with a further three-week break between the letter and MJK. Which is a bit more manageable and explainable than a six-week break between murders.
- Why was this sent to George Lusk? Why was it not sent to the Central News Agency, one of the newspapers, or the police? I think there's more going on here than a casual choice of recipient. The letter begins and ends with his name. Not 'Catch Me When You Can' but 'Catch Me When You Can Mishter Lusk'. It's a direct challenge and I'm not sure why. Lusk and his Vigilante Committee were a bit of a joke as far as I can see. They did their best and held nightly sessions, but I don't think they were taken seriously. So maybe the killer didn't take them seriously either. Given that he was running rings around the police force, which were much more fun to confuse than a bunch of businessmen playing detective, I'm surprised he targetted Lusk for his game. Therefore I think it's pretty good odds that he knew Lusk personally, or had at least had some dealings with him. One more thing on that subject: given the 'I'm drunk!!' spelling of 'Mishter', which people believe goes with the slightly cod-Irish usage, does anyone know of George Lusk's drinking habits? Because it's just as possible that the killer is taking a swing at a man known to over-indulge as pretending to be drunk himself.
- Lastly, I don't think anyone believes that the Jack the Ripper letter and the From Hell letter were sent by the same person. Apart from anything else, the JTR letter is spelled correctly. However the letters do share some interesting elements. JTR talks about 'saving some of the proper red stuff' in order to write to the police. FH talks about 'prasarving' a kidney. JTR says he'll send a woman's ears to the police. FH sends a kidney to George Lusk. Both letters end by referring to the knife. What this means I don't know. But I strongly believe that FH had the text of the JTR letter strongly in his mind when writing his letter. Either consciously or unconsciously he's echoing it in various ways.
Now what (else) did I find by poring over the text of the communication?
- The writer refers to 'one woman', not 'the woman' or 'that woman'. Does that speak to the idea that he actually killed two women that night? Or is it simply a reference to the fact that he has 'prasarved' other bits and pieces he took from other women. And going on from that...
- The Jack the Ripper letter was sent September 27th. The From Hell letter was sent October 16th. If he really is interested in making a clear difference between him and the writer of the prior letter, and preserved the kidney for that purpose, he waited quite a while to send it. It's more likely that he preserved his trophies and used this one when he found out about the Jack the Ripper thing because it was handy to prove his own identity. Which tells me that he did keep his anatomical specimens and had somewhere private to do so. Wouldn't be easy to keep a jar full of nasty in a doss-house trunk where people might see it. The dossers were always trying to steal each others' stuff. Someone might break the lock of a trunk or box and find more than they bargained for. There were rewards out for the capture of the killer.
- Also, there's a two week hiatus between the JTR letter going out and being spoken of and the FH letter. Did FH find out about the JTR letter and stew about it for ten days or so? Or was he out and about away from newspapers etc and only found out about it when he came back? In which case we can look at a two-week break between the Double Event and the letter, with a further three-week break between the letter and MJK. Which is a bit more manageable and explainable than a six-week break between murders.
- Why was this sent to George Lusk? Why was it not sent to the Central News Agency, one of the newspapers, or the police? I think there's more going on here than a casual choice of recipient. The letter begins and ends with his name. Not 'Catch Me When You Can' but 'Catch Me When You Can Mishter Lusk'. It's a direct challenge and I'm not sure why. Lusk and his Vigilante Committee were a bit of a joke as far as I can see. They did their best and held nightly sessions, but I don't think they were taken seriously. So maybe the killer didn't take them seriously either. Given that he was running rings around the police force, which were much more fun to confuse than a bunch of businessmen playing detective, I'm surprised he targetted Lusk for his game. Therefore I think it's pretty good odds that he knew Lusk personally, or had at least had some dealings with him. One more thing on that subject: given the 'I'm drunk!!' spelling of 'Mishter', which people believe goes with the slightly cod-Irish usage, does anyone know of George Lusk's drinking habits? Because it's just as possible that the killer is taking a swing at a man known to over-indulge as pretending to be drunk himself.
- Lastly, I don't think anyone believes that the Jack the Ripper letter and the From Hell letter were sent by the same person. Apart from anything else, the JTR letter is spelled correctly. However the letters do share some interesting elements. JTR talks about 'saving some of the proper red stuff' in order to write to the police. FH talks about 'prasarving' a kidney. JTR says he'll send a woman's ears to the police. FH sends a kidney to George Lusk. Both letters end by referring to the knife. What this means I don't know. But I strongly believe that FH had the text of the JTR letter strongly in his mind when writing his letter. Either consciously or unconsciously he's echoing it in various ways.
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