Jack the Ripper: Written In Blood

[PaulB]

I am satisfied that the article relates to Frederick Best, the Star Reporter.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

It's good that you are satisfied, Trevor. You're probably right.

[Wickerman]

. . .

"Returning homewards with me, Best discussed murders, the Whitechapel Murders in particular. With much-amplifying detail, he talked of his days as a penny-a-liner on 'The Star' newspaper. As a freelancer, he had covered the Whitechapel murders from the discovery of Tabram. He claimed that he, and a provincial colleague, was responsible for all the Ripper letters, to 'keep the business alive'.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

Sometime back I posted on a video that has since disappeared from YouTube, Ben Holme first posted it here, the essence of which I summarized in a post . . .

Kelvin McKenzie, a former tabloid editor was researching into the role the Star newspaper played in publishing stories of the Whitechapel Murders, and their lack of regard for the truth.

McKenzie meets up with Andrew Cook who was also conducting research into the Star newspaper when he found a shareholders letter which contained a very important sentence concerning certain dubious activities of one of their journalists - Frederick Best.

The letter, written by the senior shareholder reads, in part:

"I have submitted on a number of occasions that Mr. O'Connor's former use of compatriots such as Messrs Best and O'Brien have not only been responsible for several potential legal actions against the Star, but in the unfortunate case of Mr. Parke, a somewhat more serious consequence in January last.

Furthermore, Mr. Best's attempt to mislead Central News during the Whitechapel Murders should have led to an earlier termination of his association with the newspaper."

This letter appears to refer to the writing of the Dear Boss letter, that was sent to mislead Central News. An agency which provides newspaper stories by wire across the country, and is on what might be described as 'intimate' terms with Scotland Yard.

What is more, Cook managed to locate an actual letter written by Best from his estate and taken had it taken to a graphologist to compare with the Dear Boss letter.
The conclusion was, the graphologist was "as sure as she can be that Frederick Best wrote the Dear Boss letter."

Incase you were not aware, The Star was almost taken to court by John Pizer for publishing accusations that he was the murderer known as Leather Apron. They settled out of court.
The Star newspaper was a radical tabloid that didn't let the truth get in the way of a good fictional story."

https://forum.casebook.org/forum/ripper-discussions/letters-and-communications/dear-boss-letter/754849-submitting-the-dear-boss-envelope-for-dna-testing?p=757078#post757078

I don't think the involvement of the graphologist was even necessary, Fred Best was the most likely to have created this diversion.

---

[PaulB]

Sometime back I posted on a video that has since disappeared from YouTube, Ben Holme first posted it here, the essence of which I summarized in a post . . .

Kelvin McKenzie, a former tabloid editor was researching into the role the Star newspaper played in publishing stories of the Whitechapel Murders, and their lack of regard for the truth.

McKenzie meets up with Andrew Cook who was also conducting research into the Star newspaper when he found a shareholders letter which contained a very important sentence concerning certain dubious activities of one of their journalists - Frederick Best.

The letter, written by the senior shareholder reads, in part:

"I have submitted on a number of occasions that Mr. O'Connor's former use of compatriots such as Messrs Best and O'Brien have not only been responsible for several potential legal actions against the Star, but in the unfortunate case of Mr. Parke, a somewhat more serious consequence in January last.

Furthermore, Mr. Best's attempt to mislead Central News during the Whitechapel Murders should have led to an earlier termination of his association with the newspaper."

This letter appears to refer to the writing of the Dear Boss letter, that was sent to mislead Central News. An agency which provides newspaper stories by wire across the country, and is on what might be described as 'intimate' terms with Scotland Yard.

What is more, Cook managed to locate an actual letter written by Best from his estate and taken had it taken to a graphologist to compare with the Dear Boss letter.
The conclusion was, the graphologist was "as sure as she can be that Frederick Best wrote the Dear Boss letter."

Incase you were not aware, The Star was almost taken to court by John Pizer for publishing accusations that he was the murderer known as Leather Apron. They settled out of court.
The Star newspaper was a radical tabloid that didn't let the truth get in the way of a good fictional story."

https://forum.casebook.org/forum/ripper-discussions/letters-and-communications/dear-boss-letter/754849-submitting-the-dear-boss-envelope-for-dna-testing?p=757078#post757078

I don't think the involvement of the graphologist was even necessary, Fred Best was the most likely to have created this diversion.

---

Except that Best told Nigel Morland that he'd used a battered Waverley pen to write the letter. This does not correspond with Dear Boss or Saucy Jacky, but sounds more like the Lusk letter. The Waverley pen could have been an invention of Morland's but as the very least it casts doubt on Best being the creator of Dear Boss and Saucy Jacky, and as for Dear Boss being the 'attempt to mislead Central News', Dear Boss wasn't an attempt, it did mislead Central News). I wonder what the 'serious consequences' involving Ernest Parke could have been in the previous January?

[jmenges]

I wonder what the 'serious consequences' involving Ernest Parke could have been in the previous January?

Perhaps his January, 1890 conviction for libel stemming from his reporting on the Cleveland Street Scandal?

JM