One-on-One with Andrew Cook

[Tom_Wescott]

That's exactly right, Rob. But Dr. Phillips felt the killer would have significantly handicapped himself, so in all likelihood would not have used a rounded knife. This makes sense given that the knife used on Stride was sharp.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[robhouse]

My understanding on the Stride knife confusion was that it was theorized that the knife did not necessarily have to be pointed, since there was only the slicing cut across the throat. In other words, there were no stabs. So the knife could have been either pointed or rounded, but there is no proof either way. So I do not see this as any evidence that a different knife (or a rounded end knife) was used.

Rob H

[Tom_Wescott]

I would like to commend Pirate Jack for his performance on this thread. Remarkably, his posts are thus far the most accurate and valuable. He is correct in that it is a total myth that Stride was killed by a different knife than Eddowes. There really is no way to know. Thomas Coram found a bloodstained knife in a neighboring street the next day that Phillips felt was not the murder weapon. It almost certainly bears no relation to the murder. Because Stride was not stabbed, but only cut, all we know is that a sharp knife was used. If Mr. Cook is putting forth the tired old myth that Stride was killed with a different weapon, based on the confusion over the Coram knife, then he really is not qualified to be publishing a book knocking far more educated authors.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Jeff Leahy]

Hi Jonathon

Firstly may I applaud your efforts in making this poscast and the speed in which you put everything together.

I was however confused, having listened a couple of times by Andrew Cooks reply to ‘check out SYI and LFH’, as this would verify his position on the matter.

However as I understand his actual position is that Best was responsible for the ‘Dear Boss’ letter while neither of these books appear to support that claim, in fact the opposite.

Are you saying that you believe this was just genuine confusion on Cooks part?

Not that I guess you’re a spokesman for your guests position, but perhaps you can help.

Many thanks again for your sterling work

Pirate

[jmenges]

I read Mr. Cook all 3 of Paul Begg's questions in full before the official start of the interview and it does mention the Crimes and Detection article. During the interview, Cook had the habit of referring to questions posed to him that I had not actually asked yet "on-air". So if I recall, I repeated the question from Begg after Cook was speaking to it. Paul Begg's questions to Andrew Cook, which again, Cook was asked verbatim, were the following:

1. John Brunner wrote to Massingham on 7 July 1890 '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.' If this was not to do with authoring ‘Dear Boss’, what else could it have been about?

2. Why didn’t Cook include or make mention of Best’s own confession to have written the Jack the Ripper letters?

A writer in Crime and Detection, August 1966, described the ‘very spry and clear-minded’ seventy-year-old ex- journalist Best who he met in 1931 and who talked of being a a penny-a-liner on the Star and claimed that he and a provincial colleague were respons ible for all the ‘Ripper’ letters, to ‘keep the business alive.’ The trouble for Mr Cook is that Best said they use a pen ‘called a ‘Waverly Nib’ and was deliberately battered to achieve the impression of semi-literacy and ‘National School’ training!’ This does not suggest the ‘Dear Boss’ letter, so is it – an admission by Best himself – evidence that Best did not write ‘Dear Boss’?

3. [W]hy Cook made no mention at all of Lincoln Springfield’s claim that the Leather Apron story was invented by or worked-up by American Harry Dam, and that if anyone on the Star was responsible for ‘Dear Boss’ it would have been Dam?

Would it not also be fair to say that as murders were infrequent in the East End, two or three brutal deaths within the space of a month would have led any socially conscious journalist, as the radical pressmen working for O’Connor presumably were, to think that a single killer was at large? Could it not be argued that the Star was simply more aware than other newspapers and that the idea of a lone killer need not have been to consciously increase sales?

JM

[Chris]

I gather that Paul Begg has just posted a reply to my questions on JtR forums:

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=6365

The really puzzling thing is that Paul Begg says that Andrew Cook "makes a reasonably good case" for the "Dear Boss" letter having been written by Frederick Best, but doesn't mention Best's admission to that effect (presumably meaning the 1966 Crime and Detection article). That would certainly be weird.

[Christine]

I'm confused; I thought the consensus was that a different knife was used on Stride than on Eddowes, but that it is unlikely that the rounded knife had anything to do with either of them.

Cook apparently believes that the rounded knife was used on Stride. Can anyone clarify?

[Jeff Leahy]

Hi all

I gather that Paul Begg has just posted a reply to my questions on JtR forums:

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=6365

I’m not certain whether I am aloud to create a link or not and apologize if I have broken any rules. But it does seem to confirm that Andrew Cook appears to have made a mistake.

Pirate

[Chris]

few people do?...hes just writen a book on the subject and the world are about to be informed by channel five that Jack the Ripper didnt exist. Can we at least get the basics right.

If "Letters from Hell" doesn't mention Harry Dam, then it is difficult to understand what Andrew Cook said. I did notice that he was asked about Springfield's claim about Harry Dam having invented Leather Apron, but then referred to it as a question about Frederick Best and Lincoln Springfield "and so on". But even if he was confusing Dam and Best, I agree it seems strange for him to be endorsing a sceptical view about Best, when the press reports give the impression that the identification of Best as the author of the letter is his key discovery.

[Jeff Leahy]

Hi Jon

And firstly many thanks for your supplied information. The point I was trying to make in relation to Mr Cooks podcast is that ‘experts should be very careful claiming to have written a book that is different from all the other books that 'exploit the Myths' when clearly repeating those Myths that suit their/his argument for dismissing the victims as Jack the Ripper victims. (please note that I use the name JtR to refer to the Whitechappel serial killer and his and their in relation to the TV documentary that commissioned the book).

I’m saying that as a respected historian it simply isn’t good enough to say ‘well hey at some point someone has come up with a theory that X wasn’t a victim so its possible X wasn’t a victim’. Wasn’t it Mr Cook that said we should go back to the source material and work it out for ourselves?

I kind of think that argument rings a bell in the back of my head? It is a good argument and one that makes me wonder how much source material Andrew Cook got through in three months?…

Re: Letters From Hell

I took it apron myself to do some digging. The book was penned by Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner. Strangely it would appear that in the book Evans and Skinner are somewhat dismissive of Best saying, the story ‘lacks any first-hand credibility and contains telling errors’ In fact the book casts considerable doubt on whether Best wrote the letters at all?

and as I understand the book doesnt reference Harry Dam which was the source of the question..

few people do?...hes just writen a book on the subject and the world are about to be informed by channel five that Jack the Ripper didnt exist. Can we at least get the basics right.

Is this the position fully endorsed by Andrew Cook? I’m even more confused now.

Pirate

[Chris]

As I said, probably the discussion he was referring to will be in "Letters from Hell". And I would guess the reason he also mentioned "Scotland Yard Investigates", even though it doesn't discuss Harry Dam, may be that he doesn't have 100% perfect recall of the contents of all the Ripper books he's ever read. Few people do.

[Jon Guy]

Hi Jeff

I agree, Andrew Cook does misunderstand what Phillips says about the rounded knife produced at the inquest. Phillips actually says that the knife produced could have been the weapon used on Stride but the position of the body near the wall and the angle of incision showed that a smaller knife was used.

Regarding the length of the knife used on Eddowes, it`s length could be estimated by medics from the cuts that opened the abdomen, but obviously, he could not say for certain that the same knife produced the facial wounds because there is no depth to the wounds.

In "Letters From Hell" on page 51 there is a mention of the journalist, Best.

[truebluedub]

Sounds like he is suggesting that the ripper was largely being a moral panic, though that is being played up.

regards,
Chris Lowe

[Jeff Leahy]

Yes, I thought as much P140 SYI which says little more than:

“if it were the work of a pressman, which seems more than likely, it was a master stroke. According to Chief Inspector John Littlechild, head of special branch, senior officers at Scotland yard believed Tom Bulling and possibly his manager, Mr Moore, penned the letter.”

Not a single mention of Harry Dam, Best or Springfeild?

What the hell was Cook on about?

Pirate

[Chris]

Any ideas which page I should be looking at in Scotland Yard Investigates?

As you've pointed out, he referred to what was said in two books - "Scotland Yard Investigates" and "Letters from Hell". As you will have seen, there's some discussion of the authorship of the letter on p. 140 of SYI, but no mention of Harry Dam there. So probably where you should be looking for that is in "Letters from Hell", which will obviously go into more detail.