Letter to Superintendent Foster of City Police

[Monty]

Hi all,

It has recently come to light (on Facebook) that we may have a new letter in our midst addressed to Superintendent Foster of the City of London Police. As one of the people party to this information I would like to clarify the exact situation.

Rob Clack and I have been in constant contact with the Curator of the City of London Police Museum for some period. Some weeks ago, around Christmas, the Curator happened to come across some victim photographs in their archives. She was unaware they had a set and asked Rob and I where they came from. We informed her that they would have been the set Don Rumbelow kindly copied for the museum.

Late last week we contact the Curator regarding the From Hell letter. We knew there were 2 copies and we knew the Royal London has one and the City Police were supposed to hold the other. The Curator looked in the archives and lo, the copy of the From Hell letter was found (curiously with a date stamp of 1950). She texted me Wednesday to inform me.

She also said she had found a letter dated 1888 addressed to Superintendent Foster of the City Police. It read something along the lines of-

Have you considered the women were squared up?

It was signed with initials J or S them MK.

Now we have looked through Stewart and Dons Scotland Yard Investigates as it holds a catalogue of the City Letters. We could not find it there.

We also looked through the Met listed letters in Stewarts and Keiths book Letter From Hell. Again, we could not locate it.

Now, despite the claim made on Facebook, this letter may have been seen and known about. It is quite possible it slipped through Dons cataloguing and that is understandable, there are a hell of a lot of letters.

Rob and I contacted John Bennett as he has had access to some City letters and John stated he was unware of the letter. We were about to contact Stewart Evans and Don Rumbelow as the next stage to gauge their views. As stated, it may simply have been missed by either ourselves or Don/Stewart/Keith, or forgotten about.

We were in the process of following a course of investigation and hopefully present something with a little more clarity however the 'outing' on Facebook has kinda force us to show the cake half baked as it were.

Anyway, it may be something and nothing, so we plea for the community not to pass judgement until the full facts are established.

Regards

Neil and Rob

[Phil Carter]

Hello Neil, Rob,

Many thanks and the best of luck with your ongoing investigation into the matter.

best wishes

Phil

[Monty]

Thank you Phil,

Its most likely been seen before and just not noted. Something and nothing. However lets wait and see.

Monty

[lynn cates]

fantastic

Hello Neil and Rob. This is fantastic news! Not only is there a new find but it's also possible that more items were overlooked and may also turn up.

Best of luck, chaps. I daresay we are all behind you.

Cheers.
LC

[Monty]

Hey Lynn,

We must be clear on this. Its not been established if the letter has or has not been seen before.

It may have been seen and not noted. Or. alternatively, it may be sitting in some publication somewhere. Stewart, Don, Keith, Paul, etc may have seen it already, we simply do not know just yet. We only heard of it on Wednesday.

However its important to do this correctly, no matter the significance, if any.

Monty

[lynn cates]

concedo

Hello Neil. I grant that, but there is so little to be excited about some days. (heh-heh)

I suppose Mr Evans, et al, will be chatted up soon?

Again, best of luck either way.

Cheers.
LC

[The Grave Maurice]

Very interesting stuff. It (again) makes some of us wish that we lived closer to the action.

[Monty]

Apologies. When I was told the text over the phone yesterday, I misunderstood the text. I got it wrong.

Ive just text her to confirm and the actual text reads.m

Has it occurred to you that the reason your men cant find him(or jack cant recall exactly) is that he mitre squared them'.

Apologies for the error.

Monty

[Archaic]

Defintion of "Mitre Square"

Has it occurred to you that the reason your men cant find him(or jack cant recall exactly) is that he mitre squared them'.

Hi Monty and Rob. That's an interesting pun.

A "mitre square" is a tool used for squaring up and beveling the joints in woodwork.

Here's an illustration of a mitre square with a brief description of how it's used: http://emporiumindonesia.com/Woodwor...28-squares.htm

Best regards,
Archaic

PS: Just added a photo.

[The Good Michael]

Isn't that also a symbol of masonry?

Mike


Not that masonry means anything

[Monty]

Seeing as it was sent to Foster, and was found in their archives, I think its a pun on the Eddowes crime scene Mitre Square.

Monty

[Archaic]

Seeing as it was sent to Foster, and was found in their archives, I think its a pun on the Eddowes crime scene Mitre Square.

Monty

Hi Monty. I agree with you. I don't think it's any kind of freemason reference.

A "mitre square" let a woodworker make a straight corner when he joined two pieces of wood.

I think it's a pun to the effect that the killer put the police "in a corner" in the eyes of the public by committing the crime and successfully escaping even when they seemed to have him surrounded and "cornered" with all their patrols. The writer is obviously make a jibe at their expense.

The other meaning of the word "mitre", referring to the tall pointy hat worn by Bishops -and the actual origin of Mitre Square's name- is pretty difficult to use as a verb.

Best regards,
Archaic

[The Good Michael]

I agree about the Freemasonry. I was just baiting the dogs.

Mike

[Tom_Wescott]

Has there been any updates on this?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Monty]

Tom,

We are working on it, though its not going to be anything outstanding...unless

Monty