Unveiled - writing which might be Jack The Ripper's
The untidy scrawl of the person claiming to be Britain’s most infamous killer - Jack the Ripper - was unveiled today.
An envelope and letter said to have been written by the Victorian serial killer who stalked Whitechapel, East London, was among documents released by the Public Records Office.
The letter, sent to Dr Thomas Horrocks Openshaw (correct), curator of the London hospital’s pathological museum, is dated 29 October 1888.
At the time, the distinguished 32-year-old scientist was a member of the Clinical Society of London.
The untidy and smudged note, complete with spelling mistakes which mimic the cockney accent, recalls a foiled attempt by the alleged Ripper to kill again.
‘‘Old boss you was rite it was the left kidny I was goin to hopperate agin close to your ospitle just as I was goin to dror mi nife along of er bloomin throte then cusses of coppers spoilt the game but I guess I wil be on the job soon and will send you another bit of innerds.’’
It is signed ‘‘Jack the Ripper’’ and it also contained a postscript which reads: ‘‘O have you seen the devle with his mikerscope and scalpul a lookin at a kidney with a slide cocked up.’’
The letter and its envelope, which is postmarked ‘‘LONDON E. OC29 88’’ (correct), was once part of the Metropolitan Police file into the case, which disappeared.
The file re-surfaced about 30 years ago when it came into the possession of author and Jack the Ripper specialist Donald Rumbelow, who has donated it to the PRO.
Mr Rumbelow, a former police officer, would not say how he got hold of the letter.
But he said files were often mislaid before 1951, when Scotland Yard first employed an archivist.
Mr Rumbelow said: ‘‘Of course the letter is genuine in terms of it being sent in 1888 but if it is from the real killer, I do not know.’’
Stewart Evans, author of the forthcoming book Jack the Ripper, Letters from Hell, and the consultant on the forthcoming film on the notorious case, featuring Johnny Depp and called From Hell, is more convinced.
The letter was ‘‘better than most’’ of the hundreds of letters claiming to be from the killer, he said.
‘‘Openshaw’s letter has deliberate spelling mistakes which imitate the cockney accent,’’ he said.
’’Who can say it is not genuine? You cannot categorically prove it is a hoax.’’
The letter was the latest in several written by people claiming to be the Ripper. Doubt still remains on their authenticity.
One letter was received by George Lusk, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, a group of local businessmen and traders who wanted to help in the police hunt for the killer, on 16 October 1888.
The unsigned note which began with the chilling words ‘‘From hell’’ was attached to a cardboard box containing half a human kidney preserved in wine.
The original lost letter is not believed to have survived. Only a photograph of it now exists, researchers say.
Another two letters which were signed ‘‘Jack the Ripper’’ were sent to the Central News agency and published in newspapers in October 1888.
Jack the Ripper killed five prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of the east end of London between August 31 and November 9, 1888.
