Room 13 Miller's Court

[Monty]

Stewart,

I remember seeing the Littlechild letter with my own eyes last year. I also remember you telling me the story (one of many I recall, some quite enlightening) of how you aqquired it.

Makes me wonder what else is out there. I mean, the Whitby-Green collection that Philip and Rob used in their book (not all the images from the collection were used in that book Folks) may just be the tip of the Iceberg. There may be other avid John Bennets and Rob Clacks from the turn of the last century, whose combined interest in this new fangled photography and Ripperology may yet hold some treasures waiting to be uncovered by family members.

Or even worst, lost.

Monty

[Observer]

Hi Chris, I hope you don't mind me re-posting your newspaper report, but I wonder if Prater who herself was a prostitute and with nobody to support her actually used the words

"she dressed poorly as of course she was badly off"

Kettle calling the frying pan black comes to mind.

Observer

[Jenni Shelden]

Hi,

re the above, I suppose if someone did have the said pictures, they would not necessarily know what they are, (I don't mean Eric I mean whoever he might have given them to/sold them to etc) increasing the chances of them being, damaged, destroyed or forgotten. I mean the one that looks across towards the bedside table, is hardly what one might describe as an easily identifiable image, especially if it were to have become seperated. Therefore - that would be my major worry should any other material be out their. it may even be mis identified as another crime scene, etc, etc, depending on where it was.

Jenni

[Tom_Wescott]

There may be other avid John Bennets and Rob Clacks from the turn of the last century, whose combined interest in this new fangled photography and Ripperology may yet hold some treasures waiting to be uncovered by family members.

I'd go so far as to say that's a definite, wouldn't you? I bet there'll be a number of new finds for us to look forward to.

Stewart,

I won't say I speak for everyone, but I'd bet I speak for most of us when I say that your 'peak behind the curtain' posts such as these are true treats for us. But let me ask you what your gut feeling is regarding Barton's Kelly photos. Does your gut tell you he really had photos none of us has seen, or does your gut tell you he may have been mistaken?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Monty]

Tom,

I'd go so far as to say that's a definite, wouldn't you? I bet there'll be a number of new finds for us to look forward to.

I believe you are correct Tom, possibly sooner than we think.

Monty

[Mitch Rowe]

Tom,



I believe you are correct Tom, possibly sooner than we think.

Monty

Hmm? I hope so. And I hope it helps us towards exposing the monster.

[Monty]

Mitch,

We just dont know what is out there. As Jenni states, the main concern is someone has that nugget and dont realise it.

I know Stewart, Rob Clack and Phillip Hutchinson trawl E bay for photos and pics, I myself can never pass an antiques shop without popping in. Im sure others are doing the same. The net is spreading and I bet there are people out there, more knowledgeable than they were 20 or so years ago, looking for any piece of information connected to these crimes.

I feel its only just begun.

Monty

[Mitch Rowe]

An idea I had was to make some videos for youtube and appeal to all who may have information or items of interest to contact Spryder.

I do hope that if any of the Authors or Historians on Casebook.org is ever granted an interview on Television or whatever that they dont miss the opurtunity to appeal for help. I myself would demand that a small blurb or something be broadcast during the show literally begging for help. It may attract a few whackos but I think we can weed them out.

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Mitch. I'm sure Stewart and Spryder will agree with me here, but whenever I'm doing a TV prog on JTR, the last thing that springs to mind is jumping off what I've been asked to talk about and putting in an appeal for info. It is something I'd love to be able to do, but it's just not possible. We're not pulling the strings. Interviews for magazines and radio are a different matter - if they give you the chance.

PHILIP

[Celesta]

Hi Mitch. I'm sure Stewart and Spryder will agree with me here, but whenever I'm doing a TV prog on JTR, the last thing that springs to mind is jumping off what I've been asked to talk about and putting in an appeal for info. It is something I'd love to be able to do, but it's just not possible. We're not pulling the strings. Interviews for magazines and radio are a different matter - if they give you the chance.

PHILIP

Hi Philip, Wouldn't it be nice to post an ad? Even if it's just a request for copies of documents and pix. There may be people who have something but don't know it. Also, a pamphlet or catolog of documents would be nice. Take care, Celesta

[Tom_Wescott]

That's been done quite a few times, Celesta. You're more than welcome to post away though! Something just might come of it. The more targeted, the better, though. An ad in a major London paper asking for info about Jack the Ripper will simply fill up your box with nonsense.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Celesta]

That's been done quite a few times, Celesta. You're more than welcome to post away though! Something just might come of it. The more targeted, the better, though. An ad in a major London paper asking for info about Jack the Ripper will simply fill up your box with nonsense.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Oh. Yes, of course it would. Duhhhh. I'm still learning here. There are so many pitfalls, aren't there? Thanks, Tom.

[Chava]

20 years ago, at the 100th anniversary, I was all over the media with Jack the Ripper. I was amazed at the interest. I did a bunch of tv, radio, print. (And got misquoted horribly in the Globe and Mail by a hack called Murray Campbell whom I still have not forgiven!) I have to say I wondered if anyone might come forward with anything at all. Although I live in Toronto. there may well have been East End immigrants to Canada who had brought with them material I hadn't heard of or seen. But I have to say, sadly, that there was nothing. I did call-in shows, the lot. I didn't ask for information because, as Tom says, what you'll get is a load of rubbish attached to a bunch of na-nas. I did hope to hear from someone with something substantive but I never did.

There must be stuff still out there--old photos, old documents, old memories. However we're not seeing it. This aspect of the case fascinates me, because the silence surrounding the victims in this case starts immediately. We don't hear about anyone coming forward to say 'I saw Nicholls at 2.45 am and she was coming out of an alley near Thrawl St'. No one admits to having served Kelly a drink on the night she died, even though she had clearly been drinking quite heavily and must have gone into a pub some time that night. No one noticed Chapman for around three hours before she was killed although she seemed to have been well-known in the area. And that silence has continued. Maybe they wouldn't come forward then because of the victims' profession, but you'd think that some aging granny who lived an interesting life when young in the '80s might have told her kids or grandkids that she had seen one of them on the murder night and so had had a lucky escape from the most notorious serial killer in history. But nothing. Nothing.

[Celesta]

Hi Chava,

You made a valiant attempt. I've been thinking there are surely old photos, etc. of the areas, but maybe people don't make the connection. They don't necessarily think about it, or don't know the age of the photo, etc. For example, someone might have a photo of sites on, say, Dorset St. It would be interesting just to see them. There was a Jewish family I read about. I can't remember the name, but they had a family story about the night Stride was murdered. It was dismissed as useless, by some, because there was nothing to back it up, supposedly. I can see why people would be reticent.

Best to you, Chava

Celesta

[Simon Wood]

Hi Chava,

You raise an excellent point about the silence surrounding the victims. It's almost as if the WM took place in a vacuum. In my thirty plus years at this lark I've interviewed/spoken to/corresponded with a score or more people whose family histories were supposedly touched by the "Ripper". However, in every instance their stories proved groundless—a mixture of garbled facts and wishful thinking usually traceable to one or more of the urban legends doing the rounds since 1888.

But there is material evidence out there. If the story Eric Barton told Stewart Evans is true [and there's no reason to believe it isn't], then someone is gloating over an album of Kelly photographs. And there's the files pilfered over the years from the Yard. They're probably valueless in themselves [no smoking guns or dripping knives], but priceless when slotted into what little we know.

Hopefully, as with the Dear Boss letter in 1989, good sense will prevail and this evidence will be returned to us. But I'm not holding my breath.

Regards,

Simon