Right Track?

[The Rookie Detective]

Hi all


I wanted to look at an area that has been covered extensively over the years; but with a few questions that I feel still need to be addressed.

I require the opinions of those who believe there's value to be had from the written correspondences, and from those who dismiss them as fake Hoaxes.
That is the best way to ensure a balanced viewpoint


So I'd like to begin by asking about the correlation between the correspondences sent to George Lusk and the 16 men who formed the Whitechapel vigilance committee at the time.

In the Dear Boss letter, the author writes...
"I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they won't fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track."

Initially, I thought this referred to the police being on the right track; but now I believe that the 2nd line (I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track) was aimed towards the Vigilance Committee themselves and not the police.

I say this because I have found a newspaper report printed over 2 weeks AFTER the letter was sent to Lusk.

The report refers to the Whitechapel vigilance committee and states that... "one member of the committee honestly believes he is on the right track."

By itself, this means very little, but the choice of phrase used is identical to the phrase written by the author of the letter to George Lusk.

However, the letter was sent to Lusk before the newspaper report that mentions an individual member of the vigilance committee being on the right track.


It therefore MAY imply that one of the following statements COULD be true...


One of the 16 members of the vigilance committee publicly stated that they believed they were on the right track and the author of the letter is referring specifically to that comment.

One of the 16 members of the vigilance committee told the rest of the committee in private that he thought he was on the right track and the author of the letter is one of the 16 men making up the committee

One of the 16 members of the vigilance committee told the press that he thought he was on the right track PRIOR to the author of the letter reading the article and then sending Lusk the letter.

The author of the letter is the same person who said he thought he was on the right track because the syntax of the phrase is identical and may not be a reference from another person.


There are other possibilities of course but I feel that the coincidence between the author of The Dear Boss letter stating that those who are trying to catch him think they're on the right track (with the word RIGHT being underlined AND one of the committee members using that exact same phrase.

I feel it's more likely that the member of the committee spoke in public about believing he was on the right track and the author of the letter was in the room at the time and then used the phrase in his letter as a clue that he was in attendance.

There is also the possibility that the member of the vigilance committee who spoke publically/privately/to the press, about being on the right track is mimicking the authors' phrase in response to having read the letter.


And so the next question is; WHO was the most confident member of that committee who believed he was on the right track?

Because whoever it was who said he was on the "right track" used the exact same phrase that was written in the Dear Boss letter.

If we can ascertain WHEN he said it, then that may help to unravel a little more in times of chronological time frame.


thoughts?



RD

[Lewis C]

My view on the Ripper letters is that there's a good chance that the From Hell letter was written by the killer, but I doubt that any of the other letters were.

"On the right track" is a pretty common phrase, so I don't think that its being used in 2 different places is much of a coincidence.

As far as who "they" refers to, the writer had just referred to the police in the previous sentence, so if we take it as it reads, he means the police. If he meant the Vigilance Committee, he didn't say what he meant.

[The Rookie Detective]

My view on the Ripper letters is that there's a good chance that the From Hell letter was written by the killer, but I doubt that any of the other letters were.

"On the right track" is a pretty common phrase, so I don't think that its being used in 2 different places is much of a coincidence.

As far as who "they" refers to, the writer had just referred to the police in the previous sentence, so if we take it as it reads, he means the police. If he meant the Vigilance Committee, he didn't say what he meant.

Yes I can absolutely see your point and I may very well be looking into it too much. I just found the newspaper report of one of the vigilance committee being quoted as saying he believed he was on the right track was a particularly interesting coincidence when the author of the Dear Boss letter had used the phrase in his letter BEFORE the member of the vigilance committee had made the comment to the press. In other words, it's more likely that the individual who claimed they were on the right track is extracting the phrase directly from the Dear Boss letter as a way of mimicking the author of Dear Boss.

My initial thought was that the author of Dear Boss was closer to the committee than has been realized, perhaps even one of the 16 members.
Now the author of Dear Boss may not be the real killer and he may just have been a fantasist, as most of the letters sent from various areas of the country were hoaxes, literally hundreds of different correspondences from random people who saturated the investigation with rubbish.

However, I believe that a handful of the letters were indeed genuine.

I assume that each of the 16 individuals (including Lusk) has been fully investigated over the years?
The group consisted of various local businessmen and tradesmen, but also included an "Actor" and of course, several Freemasons.


Whomever the author of the letters was, they were aimed at trying to get the attention of the Vigilance Committee.


It's interesting how the base of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee was in Mile End Road and was set up shortly after Nichols was slain...but after her murder and the subsequent forming of the Vigilance Committee, the rest of the murders occurred further away (west) from the base of the committee in Mile End.


The author calls Lusk "Dear Boss" and states in one of his letters that he is right under Lusk's nose. And so is it possible that the author of the letters was one
of the 16 committee members?
Have they all been researched before as persons of interest?

RD

[Lewis C]

I assume that each of the 16 individuals (including Lusk) has been fully investigated over the years?
The group consisted of various local businessmen and tradesmen, but also included an "Actor" and of course, several Freemasons.


Whomever the author of the letters was, they were aimed at trying to get the attention of the Vigilance Committee.


It's interesting how the base of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee was in Mile End Road and was set up shortly after Nichols was slain...but after her murder and the subsequent forming of the Vigilance Committee, the rest of the murders occurred further away (west) from the base of the committee in Mile End.


The author calls Lusk "Dear Boss" and states in one of his letters that he is right under Lusk's nose. And so is it possible that the author of the letters was one
of the 16 committee members?
Have they all been researched before as persons of interest?

RD

I think there were changes in the committee's membership during its duration, so more than 16 members overall. I don't know how much all of them have been looked into as persons of interest, but I can tell you that a Chair of the committee, Albert Bachert, is a Ripper suspect, as is Charles le Grande, who might not have ever been on the committee, but he did work for them as a private detective.