The meaning of the GSG wording

[lynn cates]

excellent

Hello CD. Thanks.

Excellent points, all.

Enjoy your day!

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

Hello Lynn,

My problem with the GSG is that if we assume that all of the Ripper letters were hoaxes, the one time that the killer attempts to communicate is while fleeing the night of the double event. And, as you say, to take that risk in order to write something that to us seems pointless doesn't really make sense.

Also, if he was willing to take the risk, his message has now been erased before it reaches the public. Yet, he apparently accepted that rather than attempt another message shortly thereafter. Just doesn't make sense to me.

c.d.

P.S. It is a beautiful day here in Washington, D.C.. I have taken the day off so I can ride my bike. Maybe we can discuss this further tomorrow.

[lynn cates]

meaningless

Hello CD. Thanks. I agree with their motive.

My dilemma is that if the killer had written it, it was futile--meaningless.

But if it were a Gentile trying to implicate a Jew, it was, again, fruitless.

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

Hello CD. Thanks. Yes.

But I refer to meaning.

1. Killer or not?

2. Jew or Gentile?

(Feel free to add here.)

Cheers.
LC

Hello Lynn,

I don't think the meaning was the issue. I think it was simply the word Juwes. A reasonable assumption on the part of the police would be that people would read the message, know that the police somehow attached importance to it and possibly conclude that it was a Jew who was doing the killing or was somehow involved. Next step retaliation against all Jews and possible riots. The police wanted to nip all that in the bud.

c.d.

[lynn cates]

meaning

Hello CD. Thanks. Yes.

But I refer to meaning.

1. Killer or not?

2. Jew or Gentile?

(Feel free to add here.)

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

Hello Lynn,

My understanding is (and I could be wrong) that some PCs were blocking it from view and that this started to draw attention because people were now aware of the double event. It would be reasonable for them to conclude that this might have something to do with it. Even if the police removed the apron and left the message, it would soon become apparent that the police attached some importance to this particular graffiti.

c.d.

[lynn cates]

equation

Hello CD.

"Wasn't this one erased because people were starting to gather and putting two and two together?"

Ah! You are the man I seek. On another site I started a thread trying to improve the GSG. As it is, it seems not damnatory of any. Perhaps you could help with the equation.

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

My apologies for somehow not mentioning Lechmere in my previous post. Is it just me or are we experiencing Lechmere mania on these boards? It seems like every damn post is Lechmere.

c.d.

[c.d.]

Hi Colin,

Again, if this was the case, one would imagine the police were routinely coming across such messages and having to sponge them off to prevent trouble. Once the apron had been whisked off to the police station there would have been nothing to distinguish this example from any other, or connect it with any of the murders, or make it a case for special treatment. Yet we simply don't hear of other messages getting the immediate attention and reaction this one did - its speedy removal.

Love,

Caz
X

Hello Caz,

Wasn't this one erased because people were starting to gather and putting two and two together? Certainly that would differentiate it from other messages.

c.d.

[caz]

I recall mention being made of Walter Dew having alluded, in his memoirs, to the fact that anti-Semitic graffiti was common in the area.

I have no personal knowledge of this but I'm sure I've seen it posted.

Hi Colin,

Again, if this was the case, one would imagine the police were routinely coming across such messages and having to sponge them off to prevent trouble. Once the apron had been whisked off to the police station there would have been nothing to distinguish this example from any other, or connect it with any of the murders, or make it a case for special treatment. Yet we simply don't hear of other messages getting the immediate attention and reaction this one did - its speedy removal.

Love,

Caz
X

[Barnaby]

If he was in the habit of carrying chalk, why no messages on the other nights? Or for that matter, in blood at the Kelly scene (oh wait FM! ).

[The Good Michael]

Does Dew talk in general about graffiti?
I just thumbed through the book, all I could find was:

"There was no reason, so far as I could see, why this particular message should have proved more useful than many others which Jack the Ripper was supposed to have written". (p.137)

Dew does pose the question as to why this graffiti should be the work of the murderer, so it was likely asked at the time. That the police were also not convinced.

Jon,

I was being somewhat sarcastic and was using what another poster said about Dew as a dismissal of anything regarding grafitti that Dew might have said. I peronally don't remember exactly what he said.

Mike

[Wickerman]

Yes. The size of the text, the ambiguity of meaning...no one has been able to show us any examples of anything similar...and contemporaneous to this grafitti. Yet, Dew says it was common, and mant casebookers say it was common. Outside of a few photoshopped, comedic pictures, there has been no evidence of anything else.

Mike

Does Dew talk in general about graffiti?
I just thumbed through the book, all I could find was:

"There was no reason, so far as I could see, why this particular message should have proved more useful than many others which Jack the Ripper was supposed to have written". (p.137)

Dew does pose the question as to why this graffiti should be the work of the murderer, so it was likely asked at the time. That the police were also not convinced.

[GUT]

G'day Mike

But would we really expect to see any examples?

[The Good Michael]

My main point was about that old chesnut about anti Semitic graffiti being common... No graffito worded like the GSG was common, that I'm pretty sure of.

Yes. The size of the text, the ambiguity of meaning...no one has been able to show us any examples of anything similar...and contemporaneous to this grafitti. Yet, Dew says it was common, and mant casebookers say it was common. Outside of a few photoshopped, comedic pictures, there has been no evidence of anything else.

Mike