Favoured Suspect...

[John Wheat]

There's a scenario whereby Bury wrote the chalk messages in Dundee and was also the author of the Dear Boss letter; his handwriting is pretty close in comparison; as shown by Bern Irca over on Forums.

That would make one automatically claim that it was case closed and that Bury was the Ripper...

However, even if Bury did write Dear Boss and effectively invent the term "Jack the Ripper," it still wouldn't prove he was the man who murdered those innocent women; ergo, the "Whitechapel Murderer."

Imagine a scenario whereby Bury took notice of the murders of Nichols and Chapman, and then felt compelled by them to the point he became obsessed; a Ripper fantasist.

Bachert was also a Ripper fantasist of sorts.

There were likely several men who fantasised that they were the real killer.

After Dear Boss, Bury then writes several more correspondences to keep up with the fantasy... and then at the point he murders his wife, he has a choice to make...
But he soon realises that he doesn't have the balls to either dismember her, or cut her throat down to the bone and instead resorts to making a deliberate post-mortem cut as a means of wanting to feel like the real killer.

But he lacks the attibutes of the real killer and ends up just awkwardly bundling her into a box while he considers his options.

There is also a possibility that his wife was aware he was obseessed with the murders to a macabre level, and chose to commit suicide as a means of escape. Bury then tried to backtrack and make her death as close to a Ripper murder as possible, because he was desperate for his efforts to actually mean something.

He writes the chalk messages as a last attempt for the world to see him as the real killer.

The idea that he told James Berry that he was the Ripper has zero foundations of any proof and in reality Bury went to his death as just another number.

So we have a scenario whereby Bury, the writer of Dear Boss, the inventor of the term "Jack the Ripper" and a man who fantasised about being the killer, was indeed the man who called himself "Jack the Ripper"...but all the while, the real killer (who wrote From Hell) makes no claim to the name "Jack" and goes about his business under the radar...continuing his killings long into the 1890's and possibly beyond.

Bury may have indeed been Jack the Ripper...but that doesn't make him the real Whitechapel murderer, who; unlike Bury, could slice, cut, stab, chop and sever without a moments hesitation.

When Bury inflicted wounds deemed similar to those inflicted by the Whitechapel Murderer, he was aiming to mimic the real killer, but his attempts were lacklustre and I imagine at some point he must have realised that being the real killer was harder than he could ever had envisaged; in a practical sense at least.

Perhaps he should have stuck to writing letters as a confidence trickster and conman, rather than try and be the real Whitechapel Murderer.

If one wants to search for the fantasy and adhere to the myth of "Jack the Ripper," then look no further than Bury, as he's as good a suspect as anyone.

But if one wants to find the truth, and know who actually murdered those poor women; then looking past Bury is a must.

I think your totally wrong. Bury is the best suspect by some distance.

[rjpalmer]

At that point, the author of the gsg - ripper or not - would not have known if the Dear Boss letter would ever see the light of day.

I can see Abby's side of it.

The Dear Boss author fully expected the letter to see the light of day, not only sending it to where it would achieve maximum attention but also politely imploring Central News to keep his letter "back," which of course, would also keep his name back until he had a chance to prove he was the real deal.

"Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight."

He even drops a clue to how Central News will know it will be him."The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you."

Having failed to clip Kate Eddowes' ears off in Mitre Square, he has failed to secure his proof, but with chalk still in pocket, what better way to still demonstrate his authorship than to sign the graffito 'Jack the Ripper'--a name only known to Central News?

Rather than in character, the lack of a bold, bloody flourish to the chalk message might strike others as decidedly out of character when compared to the gleeful 'Dear Boss' author, a person who was clearly in full command of the English language.

[rjpalmer]

Straying off topic...but...

I don't know how much international publicity it has achieved, but the top news story in the U.S. over the past week has been the murder/assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in Manhattan--shot down by a masked figure who was caught on surveillance video. This led to a great deal of idle speculation about what sort of person the killer would be.

The shooter left messages for the police--engraved on the bullet casings found at the crime scene---and when they found his backpack in Central Park it was filled with Monopoly money which many took to be a mocking joke at the expense of the police and the medical insurance companies.

Because of this, and also due to the lack of sympathy many have for CEOs in the medical industry, he gained a sort of folklore status in social media before his capture (not unlike Jack the Ripper did) some people imagining him as a Robin Hood or Jesse James or John Brown, avenging all those who were ignored or denied by the medical industry. I think it is fair to say that some people were literally cheering him on, which is an odd bit of sociology in itself.

Yet, it's hard not to notice that once captured, and even before his capture judging from the CCTV footage in the restaurant where he was found, there was nothing jocular about him. He raged and shouted during his 'perp walk'-- with a sour and disheveled look on his face--and had been carrying a rambling three-page 'manifesto' that hadn't been sent to anyone---leaving one to wonder if what certain members of the public had previously interpreted as a 'fun loving' and daring attitude may have been entirely misinterpreted and were merely the symptoms of a mental disorder.

This made me wonder. As jocular as the 'Dear Boss' letter seems to many, if the general wisdom is wrong and the letter was written by the killer, how jocular would the person have been in the flesh? With his mask down, would he only seem angry and frightened and confused?

[Abby Normal]

all great points!
thanks caz, rj and frank! fascinating discussion.

and john wheat... yes i do see the similarity between the chalk written gsg and apparent chalk written messages at burys residence in dundee so for me yes another check mark for burys candidacy for the ripper (but a small check mark compared to his other big ones!)