September 17th Letter

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Jon,

What's November 17th 1888 got to do with the September 17th letter?

The November 17th letter uses the (extremely rare... not!) metaphor of a "necklace" to describe a cut throat, and AP found a reference to a "red necklace of a cut throat" in an article in the Croydon Advertiser of the 15th September 1888. I seem to recall that this should be taken as an indicator that the author of the (undoubtedly authentic) 17th September 1888 letter was a Croydon man.

Or something like that...

[John Bennett]

Thank you Gareth. Obvious, innit?

[Sam Flynn]

I couldn't agree more, JB.

[Cap'n Jack]

Sam's memory is as short as 'is cheek is long.
At the time, Sam postulated that it was highly unlikely that a Jack hoperating in Whitechapel would get hold of a copy of the Croydon Advertiser.
Of course I showed this to be a false postulation as the CA was widely available throughout the entire London metropolitan area; and a very popular paper it was indeed.
In return I postulate that Jack may well have hoperated in Croydon as well.
What is obvious is that the attacker in the Croydon case was chased off by a constable, but despite that still managed to inflict a knife wound to the breast of his victim.
If he'd 'ad another four minutes the constable may well have found a mangled corpse.
But Sam enjoys a bubble bath... although I keep warning him about hot water.

[Sam Flynn]

Sam's memory is as short as 'is cheek is long.

I wasn't that far wide of the mark, AP!

Of course I showed this to be a false postulation as the CA was widely available throughout the entire London metropolitan area; and a very popular paper it was indeed.

Now this is where your memory is short, AP. It had a comparatively modest circulation, so even if it were distributed widely (which I doubt) it wouldn't mean much if not that many people read it.

[Tom_Wescott]

AP,

On another thread, you posting that very shortly we'd likely see proof that the 17 Sept. letter is genuine (i.e. from 1888). Care to share what you know regarding this new and unbelievable development?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Cap'n Jack]

It is, Tom, an outside bet on Seabiscuit.

[Cap'n Jack]

Don't blame me, a computer did it and the big boys ran away:

'The Whitechapel Murderer Still at large.

London September 17. — The WMtechapel i /mu^rer is still at large; and he' is oelieved to be an anatomist, as a portion of the intestines js missing from each victim. The panic, Js increasing and even women ares arming themselves. Several daily ; papers allege that many meinbejp^ of the police are associated with the criminal class, and instead of making efforts to trace the WhitechapeL murderer , are trying to screen him.'

'You an me know the truth dont we'

Catch me if you can.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi AP. What does that have to do with the 17 Sept letter? Nothing as far as I can tell. Where's the proof of its legitimacy you keep hinting at? Still waiting.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Cap'n Jack]

Well, Tom, it seems to imply that even by the 17th September 1888 the press felt that there was a deliberate campaign by the Metropolitan police to 'screen' the identity of the killer because there was some kind of relationship between the killer and someone in the police force investigating those crimes; and the tone of the early Ripper letters which I think are genuine - certainly seem to written by a person enjoying some kind of special and secure sanctuary.

catch me if you can.
but you can't, can you?

[Tom_Wescott]

I don't see the relationship to the 17 Sept. letter. They didn't 'screen' the Ripper letters. They posted them all over the city. I don't believe the police suspected one of their own, and if they did, it certainly wasn't that early in the game.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[DVV]

Well, Tom, it seems to imply that even by the 17th September 1888 the press felt that there was a deliberate campaign by the Metropolitan police to 'screen' the identity of the killer because there was some kind of relationship between the killer and someone in the police force investigating those crimes; and the tone of the early Ripper letters which I think are genuine - certainly seem to written by a person enjoying some kind of special and secure sanctuary.

Hi AP,
Then it would have been a "gross police negligence", had Jack been caught.

Amitiés,
David

[Cap'n Jack]

Tom, on another thread I have conclusively shown that the Metropolitan police force were reluctant - in the extreme - to take on board the concerns of solid citizens, like the religious father and leader of a parish, and dismissed letters in the name of Jack the Ripper, which had been supplied to them by that religious father and leader who suspected one of his flock to be Jack the Ripper.
At a later date such letters were submitted to the City of London police force who took them very seriously indeed.
The 17th September 1888 letter appears to fit this profile as it was written before the murder of Eddowes, and obviously the City police only became embroiled in the investigation after that murder in their territory.
Somewhere there are a number of letters written early in that Autumn of error by a person suspected of being Jack the Ripper by a respectable and well respected man who was bound by common religious law not to disclose the name of that man. But he did.
And nothing happened.
If I ever did write another book on this subject I would call it that:
'The Autumn of Error'.
For that was what it was, and this letter is very much part of that.

[Tom_Wescott]

Very good, AP. I love that title - 'The Autumn of Error'. Nevertheless, the 17 Sept letter is still a transparent modern hoax. You've been duped, good sir.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[John Bennett]

Regardless of whether the 17th September letter is fake or genuine (apparently we're all going to find out soon), it does not explain why AP continues to post completely irrelevant pieces of information which appear to prove NOTHING whatsoever about this letter, usually followed by some smug 'hmmm, see? I know something you don't' jibe.

Proving points in Ripperology is often about joining dots, however all this suggests is that AP is willing to go a bloody long way to make sure the most disparate dots join up.