Dear Boss letter
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The "Dear Boss" letter was a message dated September 25, allegedly written by the notorious Victorian serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. It was postmarked and received on September 27, 1888, by the Central News Agency of London. It was forwarded to Scotland Yard on September 29.
The message, like most of the alleged 'Ripper letters' that were later received, contains a number of spelling and punctuation errors. It reads:
| Dear Boss, I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk 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 do 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 wouldn't 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. |
Initially this letter was considered to be just one of many hoaxes, but when the body of Catherine Eddowes was found on September 30 with one ear severed, the writer's promise to "clip the ladies ears off" gained attention. The Metropolitan Police published handbills with facsimiles of it and the Saucy Jack postcard (which was the first to refer to the earlier message) hoping someone would recognise the handwriting, but nothing came of this effort. Many newspapers also reprinted the text in whole or in part.
These two messages gained worldwide notoriety after their publication. It was the first time the "Jack the Ripper" name had been used to refer to the killer, and the term captured the imagination of the public. Soon hundreds of other letters claiming to be from "Jack the Ripper" were received, most copying key phrases from these letters.
After the murders, police officials stated that they believed this letter and the postcard were hoaxes by a local journalist. These suspicions were not well publicized, and the idea that the killer had sent messages taunting the police became one of the enduring legends of the Ripper case. Modern scholars are divided on which, if any, of the letters should be considered genuine, but the "Dear Boss" letter is one of three named most frequently as potentially having been written by the killer. A number of authors try to advance their theories by comparing handwriting samples of their suspects to the writing found in this letter.
Like many items related to the Ripper case, the "Dear Boss" letter is stored in the National Archives in Kew.
[edit] References
- Casebook: Jack the Ripper article on the Ripper letters
- Jack the Ripper: Letters From Hell, by Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner, Sutton Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-7509-2549-3
