How strange is this

[Sally]

Chris - thanks very much for posting the press report detailing the letter

Richard -

I don't often see a nearby neighbour of mine, but I know her name, she knows mine, and I can identify her easily , even if I have hardly conversed with her.
So I cannot see the angle with Maxwell

I agree with you. You know your neighbours by sight at the very least. Its possible that Maxwell mistook Kelly for another Mary (as discussed ad nauseum) But then - how about Morris Lewis? Its a mystery. Were they both mistaken? Both untruthful?

I think that, although this letter allegedly coming from 14 Dorset Street may be coincidence; there is likely more to the story than that. As I say, whether it'll prove possible to take it any further at this remove is another matter. I think it would be useful to see if this press account was reproduced in any of the London papers - and which, if it was.

Whatever the answer, I think it would be premature to dismiss it as a hoax written by a bored young woman. Whoever wrote it was probably aware of earlier publicised 'Ripper' letters - hence the red ink, presumably.

[Chris Scott]

Hi guys
Very interesting discussion - thanks for all the info
Below is the original article mentioning this letter. This is from the Ipswich Journal of 2 Nov 1888

[Errata]

I think it's fair to say that the letter is suspicious. I think it's probably way too early to say that it leads to the Ripper. It could be a letter from Maxwell. It could be because she had a desperate need to be impotant. It could be a malicious hoax targeted at someone who lived at 14 Dorset st. It could be a letter from someone convinced that the Ripper lived at 14 Dorset. It could be a cry for help from someone who thought they lived with the Ripper. It could be a cry for help from someone who lived with a real bastard, and having him locked up as the Ripper seemed like a good way out. I think it's fair to say it could be anything.

But any theory has a logical means of pursuit. Starting with the police. Did police at that time try to track down the authors of these letters, and did police talk to the residents of 14 Dorset st? Was anyone in that building arrested for any reason following this letter?

[richardnunweek]

Hi Michael,
Yes indeed quite a few roads lead to Dorset street, we have Pearly Poll[ Tabram's pal],Annie Chapman, possibly Eddowes, and of course last, but not least Mary Kelly.
I have read the vast majority of Ripper correspondence , and I have yet to find another letter headlined Dorset street, sent to the police.
As for Maxwell's knowledge of MJK.she did explain her sighting , and living opposite, would at the very least, have known her by sight, she admitted that she did not know her well, but explained she had spoken to her a couple of times.
I don't often see a nearby neighbour of mine, but I know her name, she knows mine, and I can identify her easily , even if I have hardly conversed with her.
So I cannot see the angle with Maxwell.
If she was being honest , its a mystery, if she was telling fibs, then she must have had a real good reason, maybe the answer lies in that property?
I can't help having a suspicious mind Mike.
Regards Richard.

[Michael W Richards]

Hi,
A rather good guess by the writer of the 14, Dorset street letter, do you not think? right opposite where the next murder happened, and where Mrs Maxwell of the same address , saw Kelly at a much debated time.
I have heard of strange coincidences, but surely this one has implications?
Regards Richard.

Hi Richard,

Yes, there are connections of many figures in these cases to Dorset Street, going right back to Martha. That a hoax letter would also originate from an address on that street is interesting, but nothing more.

Remember, thousands were sent in.

As for Mrs Maxwell, we know that she likely barely even knew Mary by sight, having spent months across the street from each other without talking or chatting. Odd that the morning of her death Mary is now speaking with her and calling her "Corrie".

Best regards,

Mike R

[richardnunweek]

Hi ,
Yes definitely ''Fishy''.
It is a fact [ actual newspaper account] that a letter claiming to be from the killer, was addressed 14,Dorset street, and was published exactly one week prior to the Kelly murder in Yarmouth, and we now know that number 14 was approx opposite Millers court .
I am of the opinion that is beyond coincidence, it surely was not a wild guess by some prankster, Whitechapel/Aldgate is a vast area, and to advertise an address right opposite the next Ripper site, has to be far from a red herring..
We even have Mrs Maxwell living there, and although yet to be ascertained, possibly a family born in Yarmouth, or at least one Miss Smith aged 24 , in the 1991 census of the same heritage.
What it all means is even beyond, my imagination .it could be a bored resident, a grudge, or malicious doing, or a cry for help ,if not from the killer themselves, a tormented partner, but a lucky guess surely not..
Regards Richard.

[Cogidubnus]

No 14

I still feel it's a red herring...but oh well!

All the best

Dave

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
A rather good guess by the writer of the 14, Dorset street letter, do you not think? right opposite where the next murder happened, and where Mrs Maxwell of the same address , saw Kelly at a much debated time.
I have heard of strange coincidences, but surely this one has implications?
Regards Richard.

[Cogidubnus]

I just found a web site with a Goad Fire Insurance plan/map of Dorset st with the street numbers on not sure what year the maps from but its helped me to understand where number 14 Dorset st was in relation to Millers court.

Hi La Fee Verte

I'm not sure why you're that interested in Number 14 Dorset Street, but it was almost opposite the arched entrance to Millers court, (which ran between numbers 26 and 27 Dorset Street)...Funny old source that PDF...I haven't read it in any detail but note that it describes the murder of MJK as having taken place in No 9 Millers Court rather than 13...Sounds like the researcher might've been on the old Green Fairy too!

Cheers!

Dave

[Sally]

Yeah. There's more to this than meets the eye, I think. Whether it'll be possible to find out what; or to even come close to finding out - well, that's another matter.

[La fee verte]

Hi

I just found a web site with a Goad Fire Insurance plan/map of Dorset st with the street numbers on not sure what year the maps from but its helped me to understand where number 14 Dorset st was in relation to Millers court.

link below hopefully-

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/4844/1/4844.pdf

The map on page 7

[Errata]

Hello Errata. Well spoke. Yes, I suppose Mr. Maxwell deserves a closer look. But if the letter were to divert attention, it may not have worked.

Cheers.
LC

Although it could have been the wife. There's really no reason that Jack the Ripper couldn't have been a woman, thought I gotta say that whoever killed Mary Kelly was almost certainly not a woman.

It's not statistically likely, since women tend not to kill that way. Though we do have a recent spike of women murdering pregnant women and taking the babies. The argument could be made that a little further down the pit of crazy and a woman might take a uterus to replace her own. But Mary Kelly is different. Her murder and mutilation required a whole lot of deadlifting and raw upper body strength. The other C5 victims could have been killed by someone substituting body weight for strength.

As for not being a successful diversion, I'm not sure it matters, since clearly they didn't convict someone based on the letter, nor did they convict someone for killing Mary Kelly. If the person who wrote it meant for it to be some sort of insurance against getting caught, as far as they are concerned, it worked. They didn't get caught. Probably had as much to do with his continued freedom as his choice of socks, but whatever. It's called magical thinking. "I clap my hands five times every time I use the toilet, and I've never fallen in." Okay special guy. You show 'em who's boss.

[richardnunweek]

Hi.
Why is it I believe we are about to enter new avenues of this case?.
Talk about all roads lead to Dorset street.
Regards Richard,

[Bridewell]

Coincidences

I agree with Lynn Richard,... less coincidental might be that variations of Marys name and Dorset street address were used 2 times by the preceding "Ripper" victim as aliases in her last 24 hours.

That street may link more than we now know.

Hmm.

Best regards,
Mike R

Hi Mike,

There's another Eddowes coincidence: one of her children was born in Great Yarmouth.

Regards, Bridewell.

[lynn cates]

Maxwell

Hello Errata. Well spoke. Yes, I suppose Mr. Maxwell deserves a closer look. But if the letter were to divert attention, it may not have worked.

Cheers.
LC