Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 November 2010
New Jack the Ripper Theory
The unsolved story of Jack the Ripper has gripped
the public imagination for more than a century;
now, a new theory says he was not alone
A lot of what people “know” about Jack the Ripper is actually opinion generated by scores of writers and investigators who have tried to unravel the mystery over the years. However, there are several generally accepted facts.
Between August 31, 1888 and November 9 of the same year five women were murdered in the impoverished East End of London. Although even this “fact” is in dispute.
Philip Sugden in his 2002 book, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper, equivocated in answering the question of the number of Ripper victims: “There is no simple answer. In a sentence: at least four, probably six, just possibly eight.”
The Signature of Jack’s Murders
All the five widely accepted victims were prostitutes and they were all killed within a mile of each other.
Casebook: Jack the Ripper claims to be “the world’s largest public repository of
Ripper-
Police Receive “Ripper” Letters
About a month after the first killing (September 27) the London Central News Agency received a letter from someone claiming to be the culprit.
The letter (below), addressed to “Dear Boss,” was signed “Jack the Ripper” and that was the first time that title was used.
At first, police thought the letter, like hundreds of others they had received, was a hoax. But the letter writer predicted that the next victim would have an ear lobe cut off and that is what happened to Catherine Eddowes, one of two women murdered on September 30.
London’s Metropolitan Police Jack the Ripper website says, “The two murders of 30 September 1888 gave the letter greater importance and to underline it the unknown correspondent again committed red ink to postcard and posted it on 1 October. In this communication he referred to himself as ‘saucy Jacky...’ and spoke of the ‘double event…’ He again signed off as Jack the Ripper. The status of this correspondence is still being discussed by modern historians.”
Is the Ripper Mystery Solved?
Now, historian Dr. Andrew Cook says he has uncovered the identity of the letter writer. In his 2009 book Jack the Ripper: Case Closed Dr. Cook says the letter was written by Frederick Best a reporter for The Star newspaper. He says the reason Jack was never caught was because he never existed; he was an invention of London’s newspapers to boost circulation.
Writing about the book in The Daily Telegraph (May 2009) Matthew Moore comments that “Senior police officers who investigated the 1888 prostitute killings were convinced they were not the work of a single man…”
Dr. Cook found the transcript of an interview given by Percy Clark an assistant police surgeon at the time of the murders. In the interview given 18 years after the events of 1888 Clark said “I think perhaps one man was responsible for three of them. I would not like to say he did the others.”
Ripper Story Probably not Finished
Hundreds of books have been written about the Ripper saga and hundreds of people have been unmasked at the perpetrator.
Crime writer Patricia Cornwell boasted that she had cracked the crime in 2002. In her book, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed Ms. Cornwell identified the famous painter Walter Sicket as the culprit, a conclusion rejected by most Ripperologists.
Dr. Andrew Cook may face the same fate and the Jack the Ripper story role on for more publishing industry profits.
Sources
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper. Philip Sugden, Da Capo Press, 2002.
Jack the Ripper: Case Closed. Dr. Andrew Cook, Amberley Publishing, 2009.
“Jack the Ripper ‘Was Several Different Killers’ ” Matthew Moore, Daily Telegraph, May 1 2009.
Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed. Patricia Cornwell, G.P. Putnam and Sons, 2002.
© Canada and the World, August 2010
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Among the many names put forward as suspects in the Jack the Ripper murders have been Queen Victoria’s grandson the Duke of Clarence and Alice In Wonderland author Lewis Carroll.
The Canadian doctor and murderer Thomas Cream has been suggested as being responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders. He was convicted of murdering a London prostitute in 1891. He was hanged in November 1892 and, as the noose tightened around his neck he is claimed to have said, “I am Jack.”
At least four men falsely confessed to being Jack the Ripper.