The 'Moab & Midian' Letter

[Mascara & Paranoia]

Thoroughly interesting stuff.

Assuming that was written by the original Dear Boss author, then wow, I never pegged that particular person (who I believe to be a hoaxer) to go down the religious route with his/her Jack the Ripper character.

Cheers for sharing!

[jmenges]

Dear Mr Williamson

At 5 minutes to 9 oclock tonight we received the following letter the envelope of which I enclose by which you will see it is in the same hadwriting as the previous communications

"5 Oct 1888

Dear Friend

In the name of God hear me I swear I did not kill the female whose body was found at Whitehall. If she was an honest woman I will hunt down and destroy her murderer. If she ['was an honest woman' deleted] was a whore God will bless the hand that slew her, for the women of of [sic] Moab and Midian shall die and their blood shall mingle with the dust. I never harm any others or the Divine power that protects and helps me in my grand work would quit for ever. Do as I do and the light of glory shall shine upon you. I must get to work tomorrow treble event this time yes yes three must be ripped. will send you a bit of face by post I promise this dear old Boss. The police now reckon my work a practical joke well well Jacky's a very practical joker ha ha ha Keep this back till three are wiped out and you can show the cold meat

Yours truly
Jack the Ripper"

Yours truly
T.J. Bulling

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi MP,

Yes, and I would have liked to have posted a copy of the letter with more details pertaining to it, however I am without any notes or books, so what I wrote was from memory.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Mascara & Paranoia]

Do you know the contents of the letter, what it said et cetera?

[Tom_Wescott]

MOVED FROM THREAD 'Swanson Said Dear Boss Letter Writer Was Known?'

FROM CHRIS GEORGE:

Hi Tom

You know, Tom, I rather think the opposite, and that the "Moab and Midian" letter adds extra complexities and some rather strange psychology not present in the original Dear Boss letter and postcard where the writer comes across more as a street-smart small time crook with a simple and joshing tone.

If the coppers (i.e, Anderson/Swanson, Macnaghten, and Littlechild) were right and Bulling and the Central News Agency were responsible With "Dear Boss", why would they complicate matters? They had got away with it. It doesn't quite make sense.

I think the Moab and Midian letter throws a monkey wrench into the works and makes it less plausible Bulling and colleagues actually were responsible for Dear Boss.

Best regards

Chris

[Tom_Wescott]

Hello all,

To avoid misdirecting the flow of another thread, I'm moving over a couple of posts from myself and Chris George to start the talk fresh here. I'm surprised there's not a thread about this letter already.

For those not aware, the 'Moab & Midian' letter is the alleged third communication from the 'Dear Boss' author. Like the original letter and its sister postcard, it was 'received' by the Central News Agency and forwarded to the police.

Unlike the original two missives, Tom Bulling only forwarded the envelope the letter came in, and strangely hand-copied the text of the letter for the police, inexplicably chosing not to hand over the actual letter.

I have personally always found this to be a very strange and odd move. And in light of the fact that certain officials found cause to later suspect Bulling of originating the 'Jack the Ripper' letters, I suspect it might have been the 'Moab & Midian' debacle which ignited this fuse of suspicion.

However, while I believe that Bulling did, in fact, hoax the 'Moab & Midian' letter to keep the business alive, I also see in his actions reasons to believe he was not involved in the original letter and postcard. For instance, if one were trying to copy a by then well known handwriting, it would be a much easier task to labor on a mere envelope than to try to keep the game up for a lengthy letter. To my mind, this is likely why Bulling turned over only an envelope to the police to 'prove' it was from the same hand as the 'Dear Boss' letter.

Next, I will post some thoughts from Chris George on the matter.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

P.S. I'm a bit under the weather, and it's probably coming through in my writing, so please forgive.