Why Lusk letter could be genuine

[DJA]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (character) - Wikipedia

Dr J (Henry G Kill) is Gull

Mr H is Henry G Sutton

Inspector Newcomen is Major Henry Smith

Sir Danvers Carew is several clues,however based on one of Gull's clients who died from a chloral hydrate overdose

Soho Square,see Sutton Street

the trampled girl,Mary Ann Kelly

Gull resides at 8 Finsbury Square,Sutton at 9 Finsbury Square

Just for starters ..... have fun

[Lewis C]

Brilliant post!

I thought it had some form of musicality and your post proves it.

So the author was inspired by a Scottish song it seems?

Any suspects with links to Scotland?

Bury, but I imagine you're looking for someone with links to Scotland before the murders rather than after.

[DJA]

English song

[JeffHamm]

Way back in 2008, I found this song called "The Upper Denton Hornpipe", which imho was almost certainly the inspiration for the Openshaw ditty:



The lyrics are:

Did you ever see the devil with his wooden spade or shovel,
Did you ever see the devil with his tail cocked out?
The p'tatoes were so big that the devil couldn't dig,
So he ran through the fields with his tail cocked out!

Upper Denton is in Cumbria, England, although I found it in an anthology of sailors' fiddle tunes from Nova Scotia.

Fun stuff! My kids are both accomplished violinists, so I've sent them a copy of this.

- Jeff