Was it kept quiet?

[Writerboy]

Never heard this question raised before: when was the Goulston Street graffito first made public? Was it reported in the press of the time? If so, it rather made Warren's desire to keep it from the public for fear of racist reactions happening.

[Hunter]

The Central News Agency distributed a report on the finding and removing of the writing in Goulston St. on October 8.
It was published in the Pall Mall Gazette and the Evening News on that date.

Courtesy of Casebook press reports:

The Central News Agency says:--"A startling fact has just come to light. After killing Katherine Eddowes in Mitre-square, the murderer, it is now known, walked to Goulston-street, where he threw away the piece of the deceased woman's apron upon which he had wiped his hands and knife. Within a few feet of this spot he had written upon the wall, "The Jews shall not be blamed for nothing." Most unfortunately one of the police officers gave orders for this writing to be immediately sponged out, probably with a view of stifling the morbid curiosity which it would certainly have aroused. But in so doing a very important link was destroyed, for had the writing been photographed a certain clue would have been in the hands of the authorities. The witnesses who saw the writing, however, state that it was similar in character to the letters sent to the Central News and signed 'Jack the Ripper,' and though it would have been far better to have clearly demonstrated this by photography, there is now every reason to believe that the writer of the letter and postcard sent to the Central News (facsimiles of which are now to be seen outside every police-station) is the actual murderer...

[Hunter]

The rumor that something had been written on the wall was mentioned as early as Oct. 3, although the conclusions were wrong for reasons later ascertained (It had, indeed, been erased).

From The Daily News, Oct. 3, 1888
Courtesy of Casebook Press Reports:


'Another allegation was that the murderer, having committed the dastardly deeds, inscribed in chalk on the brick wall words calculated to provoke local antagonisms. It was added in this connection that Sir Charles Warren when he saw the writing on the wall early on the Sunday morning, ordered it to be washed out, and that the direction was followed out by the police. A careful examination of the wall, however, clearly establishes the fact that the whole story is a fabrication.'