The Dear Boss letter was sent to the Central News Agency on the 27th of September in 1888. It was sent just before the Double Event, at the height of the Ripper murders. The Double Event is the term used to describe the night that Jack the Ripper murdered two women. The two women that Jack the Ripper killed that night were Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddows. This was the height of the Ripper murders. The Double Event happened in the early hours of the morning of the 30th of September 1888. Before this, Jack the Ripper had murdered two other women previously. The first victim of Jack's, Mary Ann Nichols, was murdered in the early hours of the morning on the 31st of August. The second victim of Jack's, Annie Chapman, was in the early hours of the morning of the 8th of September 1888. Most historians and Ripperologists agree that Jack murdered five women in total. These five women are known as the Canonical Five, to Ripperologists. However, not everyone agrees that Jack murdered five women, some believe he murdered more women than that. Before the Double Event murders, someone sent a letter to Central News Agency in London. Originally the Dear Boss Letter was thought to have been a hoax. Since then, it has been debated whether or not it was a hoax. Perhaps it was written and sent by a journalist, who knew how the media worked. Or, could the letter have been written and sent on behalf of the Ripper? The Forensics Linguistics Institute has an interesting take onthis. The reason for the latter, that the Dear Boss Letter was written on behalf of Jack the Ripper is, what is in the letter. In the letter, the Ripper states that he will ''cut the ladies ear off.'' Which did happen a few days later. Was this just a coincidence? Or, did the writer of the letter know what was going to happen? Perhaps this question could be answered by a professional who is trained in linguistics or trained in statement analysis. A statement analysis approach to the letter could also tell us whether or not this was written by Jack. An expert in this field would be able to analyse it and reach the truth. Here is the Dear Boss Letter in full: ''25 Sept.1888.Dear Boss, I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they have look so clever and talked about being on the right track. That joke about Leather apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. you will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper Red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha.ha. The next job I do I shall clip the lady s ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldnt you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck. Yours truly Jack the Ripper Don't mind me giving the trade name Source: Courtesy of the National Archives.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2023
Categories
All
← Resize me
|