Favoured Suspect...

[The Rookie Detective]

Firstly aren't you contradicting yourself? And as you don't know who the Ripper was how do you know it wasn't Bury?

I am suggesting a balance.

I agree that Bury is a viable and valid suspect for being the man who called himself "Jack the Ripper."

He would fit into a top 10 fairly comfortably IMO

My point however, is that the man who called himself."Jack the Ripper" and gave birth to the term through a letter, may not be the same man who murdered the victims.

When we use the term "Jack the Ripper" we are in effect believing that the Dear Boss letter is authentic, as this was the first written reference to the term.

In other words...If the Dear Boss letter wasn't written by the real killer, then Jack the Ripper is a false label that is attributed to the actual Whitechapel murderer, who would have been a different man entirely.

I am suggesting that Bury may have indeed been "Jack the Ripper" because his handwriting is remarkablely close to the Dear Boss letter.

However, this doesn't make Bury the Whitechapel murderer; which should be the term used for the man who committed the murders.

The term "Jack the Ripper" was a label that was then applied to the murderer; albeit incorrectly IF the Dear Boss letter was no more than the work of a fantasist.


It is sometimes hard to distinguish between trying to chase the man, rather than chasing the myth.


Interestingly, Bury makes reference to "Jack the Ripper"...as does Maybrick (if the watch is authentic)

but it's not the men who claim to be "Jack" that necessarily have the most to say about the murders.

The real killer wouldn't need to directly reference being "Jack"

If Bury would have said "Whitechapel killer" instead of "Jack the Ripper" then his candidacy for being the real killer would be amplified considerably.

This is based on the fact that there's no evidence connecting the term "Jack the Ripper" with any of the murders, because the real killer didn't use the term to label himself; he wouldn't need to.


Unless of course the killer loved the label so much that he chose to steal if from the author of Dear Boss; in which case the waters are then muddied.

Take a room full of egotistical soccer players playing for "Ripper FC" and ask them "Who's the best player in the room?"

Now while the likes of the players Bury and Maybrick may claim to be the man; or in the case of Bury, that he's not, just to get a reaction...

...The actual best player in the room doesn't need to respond to the question of who's the best player, and he doesn't need a label to validate any insecurities he may have.

He simply is the best player, and rather than make noise, he works in the shadows and goes about his business quietly without the need to follow anyone else.