The "Jack The Ripper" murders contain an intriguing mystery within an unsolvable mystery. Did the character "Jack The Ripper" actually exist? Or was he no more than a convenient composite used to link together a number of unrelated murders? The case, which provided a template in journalism for reporting serial killers, dates back to 1888. There had been a large number of attacks on prostitutes, and violence, and other crimes in London slums that had been swollen by waves of impoverished Irish and Jewish immigrants. The murders became the focus of a take-no-prisoner circulation war between "penny" newspapers which proliferated after they were freed from heavy British taxes. Then, on September 28th, a taunting letter signed "Jack The Ripper" found its way to the Central News Agency, which was supplying stories to subscribing newspapers. Its clients, including "The Star," whose circulation was badly faltering, used the letter to give a diabolical name, if not a face, to whoever was the perpetrator of a number of ghastly murders in the Whitechapel area. Within weeks, as the Central News Agency syndicated the story to newspapers around the world "Jack The Ripper" became one of the most feared villains in history.
The problem was that this letter, and a postcard that followed it a few days later with the signature "Jack The Ripper" in a similar handwriting, constitute the only evidence as to the murderer’s identity. But when the letter was forwarded to Scotland Yard, the Criminal Investigation Department, which had received dozens of other letters claiming credit for the killings, concluded that it was a hoax, forged by someone inside the Central News Agency, which, on previous occasions, had famously fabricated stories to increase their appeal to its clients. In his memoirs, Sir Robert Anderson, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, stated "the 'Jack-the-Ripper' letter which is preserved in the Police Museum at Scotland Yard, is the creation of an enterprising London journalist." Another top Scotland Yard official, Sir Melville Macnaghten went even further about the "Jack the Ripper" letter, writing in his autobiography, "I have always thought I could discern the stained forefinger of the journalist - indeed, a year later, I had shrewd suspicions as to the actual author." (One suspect was Thomas J. Bulling, a deputy editor at the Central News Agency.)
If the letter was indeed a journalistic invention, all that linked the murders to a single killer was a similar modus operandi. To be sure, eleven of the murders had clear similarities. The victims were all women prostitutes whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. But in these eleven murders included in a London Metropolitan Police Service investigation of, Sir Melville Macnaghten, who ran the Criminal Investigation Department found only five victims actually fit the same pattern. They were Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. He noted in his official report "the Whitechapel murderer had 5 victims—and 5 victims only." Even that number may have been too high, according to Dr Percy Clark, the assistant to the examining pathologist. He found that only three of the victims conformed to the pattern, and he suggested the other murders were perpetrated by copy cat killers.(As the gory details of each murder had been published in the press, it was impossible to exclude copycat killers.)
Since all the murders occurred in deserted streets at night, no passerby actually saw the killer attack a victim. One victim, Emma Elizabeth Smith, actually lived long enough to describe the attack. She said she was stabbed by two to three men, including a teenager. But while this fit the pattern of gang assaults, it didn't fit the image of a solitary "Jack The Ripper" .
At the time, fingerprints, hair and fiber analysis, and DNA identification did not yet exist. And the killer left no weapons, clothing, or other tell-tale clues at the crime scene. The absolute dearth of creditable evidence did not prevent the burnishing of Jack The Ripper in the popular imagination, but it leaves unresolved the mystery of whether there actually was a solitary serial killer.
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The theories of the case can be found here
The problem was that this letter, and a postcard that followed it a few days later with the signature "Jack The Ripper" in a similar handwriting, constitute the only evidence as to the murderer’s identity. But when the letter was forwarded to Scotland Yard, the Criminal Investigation Department, which had received dozens of other letters claiming credit for the killings, concluded that it was a hoax, forged by someone inside the Central News Agency, which, on previous occasions, had famously fabricated stories to increase their appeal to its clients. In his memoirs, Sir Robert Anderson, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, stated "the 'Jack-the-Ripper' letter which is preserved in the Police Museum at Scotland Yard, is the creation of an enterprising London journalist." Another top Scotland Yard official, Sir Melville Macnaghten went even further about the "Jack the Ripper" letter, writing in his autobiography, "I have always thought I could discern the stained forefinger of the journalist - indeed, a year later, I had shrewd suspicions as to the actual author." (One suspect was Thomas J. Bulling, a deputy editor at the Central News Agency.)
If the letter was indeed a journalistic invention, all that linked the murders to a single killer was a similar modus operandi. To be sure, eleven of the murders had clear similarities. The victims were all women prostitutes whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. But in these eleven murders included in a London Metropolitan Police Service investigation of, Sir Melville Macnaghten, who ran the Criminal Investigation Department found only five victims actually fit the same pattern. They were Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. He noted in his official report "the Whitechapel murderer had 5 victims—and 5 victims only." Even that number may have been too high, according to Dr Percy Clark, the assistant to the examining pathologist. He found that only three of the victims conformed to the pattern, and he suggested the other murders were perpetrated by copy cat killers.(As the gory details of each murder had been published in the press, it was impossible to exclude copycat killers.)
Since all the murders occurred in deserted streets at night, no passerby actually saw the killer attack a victim. One victim, Emma Elizabeth Smith, actually lived long enough to describe the attack. She said she was stabbed by two to three men, including a teenager. But while this fit the pattern of gang assaults, it didn't fit the image of a solitary "Jack The Ripper" .
At the time, fingerprints, hair and fiber analysis, and DNA identification did not yet exist. And the killer left no weapons, clothing, or other tell-tale clues at the crime scene. The absolute dearth of creditable evidence did not prevent the burnishing of Jack The Ripper in the popular imagination, but it leaves unresolved the mystery of whether there actually was a solitary serial killer.
***
The theories of the case can be found here
