Why disguise the fact that JtR was educated?

[RivkahChaya]

It would be ironic if the lives of five plus poor London women might have been saved if a) the Victorians had known about dyslexia and b) he had had a sympathetic teacher.

It wouldn't be ironic, it would just be sad.

[Pcdunn]

I wonder if such a thing as "numerical dsylexia" exists? I am a very good reader and speller (most of the time), but struggled with my math problems consistently in school. I find it hard to do mental math as I can't hold all the numbers in my memory long enough to work them out. Even with pencil and paper, I'm stumped by division of any kind.
And when writing down phone numbers I hear, I sometimes transpose numerals.
The battery-operated calculator was a great thing.

Getting back on topic, I don't think JtR was well-educated.

[GUT]

I wonder if such a thing as "numerical dsylexia" exists? I am a very good reader and speller (most of the time), but struggled with my math problems consistently in school. I find it hard to do mental math as I can't hold all the numbers in my memory long enough to work them out. Even with pencil and paper, I'm stumped by division of any kind.
And when writing down phone numbers I hear, I sometimes transpose numerals.
The battery-operated calculator was a great thing.

Getting back on topic, I don't think JtR was well-educated.

Yes there is.

I actually suspect he may have been.

But them I'm not CONVINCED and o the communications were from him.

[curious4]

Hello PC Dunn

Dyscalculia. I don't pretend to know anything about it though, except that my daughter needed a doctor's note to be tested and I think he mentioned it.

[url]www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/dyscalculia[/
Best wishes
C4

[curious4]

Hype

Hello GUT

This probably belongs on another thread but I have always thought that the enterprising journalist story was a red herring. In the first place the story was on-going and interest was far from waning, so didn't need to be revived, which would be the main reason for writing them. Secondly anyone of a reasonably good education could have found out that a letter to the Central News Agency would be a quick way to spread news rather than a single newspaper. Thirdly, if you compare the JTR murders to the Ratcliffe Highway murders, they were widely reported and discussed without any extra additives.

But if we all thought alike the boards would be no fun.

My belief in the letters stems from a visit to Madam Tussauds when I was living in a student hostel right in the middle of all the murder sites when I saw what I believed to be the original Dear Boss letter. Made my hair stand on end! Possibly celtic second sight (or an overactive imagination).

Best wishes
C4

[RivkahChaya]

The journalist theory comes from a combination of the destination of the central news agency, and the address "Dear Boss." The theory is that only a reporter would call the CNA "Boss." That seems like pretty sloppy hoaxing to me, and I don't buy that particular reasoning. Now, I have heard that one cop suspected a particular person, for some other reason, and he was a journalist, but with no more detail, like what the reason was, or who the cop was.

I don't know any other reason for the word "Boss," though-- I don't buy this one, but I don't know why that particular word, which does seem an unusual choice. I heard a theory that it's an Americanism, and the hoaxer was American (or JtR was). The word may be more common among Americans, but as far as I know (and I've read a lot of books written in the late 19th century), it doesn't mean anything other than the plain meaning; it's not a form of address like "Dude," or "Comrade," or "Guv'nor." (And I can't swear Brits really say that last one.) So whoever the writer expected would get the letter, the writer thought of as a boss, or superior, somehow.

I can't explain it, but honestly, it's so sloppy, it seems more like someone is trying to frame a journalist, than that the hoaxer actually is a journalist.

[curious4]

Hello Rivkah,

You do have a point here.

Best wishes
C4

[GUT]

My biggest problem is which of the hundred, nay thousands, of letters do we attribute to him.

We focus on four, "Dear Boss" "Saucy Jack" "Lusk" and the GSG, with maybe "Yarmouth" getting a mention now and then, or even Dr Oppenshaw the hundreds of others need to be explained too.

[RivkahChaya]

My biggest problem is which of the hundred, nay thousands, of letters do we attribute to him.

We focus on four, "Dear Boss" "Saucy Jack" "Lusk" and the GSG, with maybe "Yarmouth" getting a mention now and then, or even Dr Oppenshaw the hundreds of others need to be explained too.

The Lusk letter is the only one I take seriously. Even if that wasn't Eddowes kidney, that was a human kidney, and that was clearly an attempt at intimidating the vigilance committee. If the package and letter weren't from Jack, I'd like to know where the kidney came from, and why someone wanted to intimidate Lusk.

[Wyatt Earp]

The Lusk letter is the only one I take seriously.

It’s too bad we don’t have an image of the “box of toys” postcard for comparison, as it was supposedly received by Lusk a few days before the “From hell” letter and recognized by him as coming from the same person. While it uses the word “Boss,” it interestingly, and like the “From hell” letter, is not signed with “Jack the Ripper.” Instead, and like the “From hell” letter, it concludes with a farewell message that includes the recipient’s name (“Bye-bye, Boss”). There are no misspellings, however, in the Star transcription reproduced in the Evans and Skinner book Letters from Hell, which, if the transcription is accurately recording the spelling, would be a significant difference (any “box of toys” experts out there know if there are alternate transcriptions?).

[RivkahChaya]

Is the "double event" post card the main reason Stride was considered a victim? Personally, I find the arguments against her being a victim pretty compelling. Was she considered a Ripper victim as soon as the body was found, or did the "double event" missive put the idea in people's heads? Is it possible that she was initially considered a victim, but once Eddowes' body was found, doubts about Stride set in, and then once the "double event" card was received, she went back on the victim list, but no one thought to reconsider her again when doubts about the letter began?

[Shaggyrand]

I think the writer of those three letters, if we accept it is the same person, is more likely dysgraphia/agraphia than dyslexia/alexia. While it's common with dyslexia, they aren't the same and are different conditions being effected by different parts of the brain. Since it's thought that the author probably wrote multiple drafts it fits. Many dysgraphics have handwriting that is illegible with early drafts while they are still sorting their thoughts but it can greatly improve the more copies they make. It also would explain the change in the handwriting's look from Dear Boss to From Hell, he/she simply wrote fewer copies.

[curious4]

Handwriting

Hello Shaggyrand

That's certainly an interesting point and would account for the differences in the handwriting.

Best wishes
C4

[Pcdunn]

Is the "double event" post card the main reason Stride was considered a victim? Personally, I find the arguments against her being a victim pretty compelling. Was she considered a Ripper victim as soon as the body was found, or did the "double event" missive put the idea in people's heads? Is it possible that she was initially considered a victim, but once Eddowes' body was found, doubts about Stride set in, and then once the "double event" card was received, she went back on the victim list, but no one thought to reconsider her again when doubts about the letter began?

The newspaper reports from pretty early on after "the double event" seem to think the two murders were by the same hand, and I get the impression the police believed this as well. Maybe the postcard streghened this idea, but I have not read of any evidence that Stride wasn't considered a Ripper victim in contemporary times.

[curious4]

My biggest problem is which of the hundred, nay thousands, of letters do we attribute to him.

We focus on four, "Dear Boss" "Saucy Jack" "Lusk" and the GSG, with maybe "Yarmouth" getting a mention now and then, or even Dr Oppenshaw the hundreds of others need to be explained too.

Hello GUT

I would put those three letters plus the "threatening" letter in the category of most likely to have been written by the killer, mainly because it seems that the police at the time did so. And also because somehow they ring true to me. Now that "Letters from Hell" has come up I feel compelled to reread it to see if anything changes. Obsessive compulsive, me.

As I have said before, I believe the deterioration in the handwriting reflects his worsening mental state, but that doesn't have to be the case.

I believe the GSG handwriting was said to resemble the handwriting in the "dear Boss" letter.

Best wishes
C4