The Letter From Jack the Ripper.
THE LEGEND OF JACK THE RIPPER IS BORN In the wake of the double murder Sir Charles Warren gave permission for a letter to be released which on the 27th of September had been sent to the Central News Agency. Written in red ink and addressed to The Boss, the letter read:-  
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 ladies 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.
Don't mind me giving the trade name wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it. No luck yet. They say I’m a doctor now ha ha.
With the publication of this letter, the murderer was given the name that would launch him into legend. A name that would become so well known the world over that the very mention of it, even to those who have little knowledge of the actual murders, could summon up vivid images of gas lit, foggy streets and of an unknown terror stalking the night shadows on a murderous and chilling quest. The legend of Jack the Ripper was born.
DID THE JACK THE RIPPER LETTER ACTUALLY COME FROM THE MURDERER? However, the Dear Boss letter almost certainly wasn’t from Jack the Ripper for its highly unlikely that the murderer injected himself into the investigation in that way at all. Indeed several detectives on the case were convinced that the letter was the work on an "enterprising" London journalist, and Chief Inspector Swanson later claimed that the journalists name was "known to senior Scotland Yard detectives."
The release of the Jack the Ripper letters proved to be a disastrous mistake. The resultant publicity did nothing to unmask the killer nor for matter the letter’s author. What it did do, however, was inspire imitations and the police found themselves inundated with bogus Jack the Ripper correspondence all of which had to be read, assessed, and wherever possible, followed up. Thus the resources and time of the already overstretched detectives were strecthed almost to breaking point. Indeed Inspector Abberline was brought to the verge of a breakdown with the stress of following up the clues that were now inundating the investigating officers. THE BLOODHOUNDS ARE TESTED. One of the more famous and misreported initiatives of the Metropolitan Police, that of using bloodhounds, originated around this time. The suggestion had been given to Sir Charles Warren by the Home Office. Warren was not overly convinced that bloodhounds would be of any use and queried how a dog could be expected to track the killer without a piece of his clothing or a trace of his blood on pavements where people had been walking all night long. Notwithstanding his reservations, trials were held in two London parks and Warren certainly found the results encouraging. Indeed, he was sufficiently impressed to give instructions that, in the event of another murder, the body must not be touched until bloodhounds could be brought and put on the scent. THE RETURN OF ROBERT ANDERSON On the 6th October Robert Anderson returned from leave and took overall charge of the police investigation. He quickly brought himself up to speed on the known facts and from that point on he, like Swanson, became familiar with every facet of the case. THE POLICE STEP UP THE HUNT FOR JACK THE RIPPER. On the 13th October the police began a massive search of some of the areas worst slums. For almost a week officers entered every room of every house. They searched under the beds and looked inside the cupboards. They scrutinized every knife they could find, and they interviewed hundreds of landlords and their lodgers. But the killer remained at large and letters purporting to come from him continued to frustrate the police investigation. MR GEORGE LUSK RECEIVES A GRUESOME PACKAGE. Of all the correspondence sent in the wake of the original Jack the Ripper missive, one letter has been the subject of intense debate ever since. On the 16th of October Mr George Lusk, President of the Mile End Vigilance Committee, received a small package in the evening mail. He opened it and there inside was a letter addressed ‘From Hell‘. Wrapped inside it was half a human kidney. The letter read:
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer
Signed Catch me whenyou can
Mishster Lusk
Convinced it was a practical joke Mr Lusk placed the box and the kidney in a draw. But it played on his mind and a few days later he showed it to other members of the Vigilance Committee. They decided to take the kidney to a local medic and a few days later it was handed over to the City Police in whose jurisdiction Catherine Eddowes had been murdered. To this day there is considerable debate as to whether or not this letter did come from the murderer.
The evidence just simply isn’t sufficient as to whether or not it did come from Jack the Ripper. Generally speaking, however, the consensus is that it wasn’t sent by the Whitechapel murderer and one senior detective was convinced it was sent to Mr Lusk by a medical student who had purchased it in his hospital's pathology department. HAVE THE JACK THE RIPPER MURDERS ENDED? Despite lurid rumours and several scares, the intensification of police activity appears to have deterred the “Ripper” and October passed with no further murders, although the atmosphere remained tense. As one newspaper article pointed out:
"The police were nervously apprehensive that the night would not pass without some startling occurrence. The most extra-ordinary precautions were taken in consequence, and so complete were the measures adopted.. that it seemed impossible for the murderer to make his appearance in the East End without detection. Large bodies of plain - clothes men were drafted to the Whitechapel district from other parts of London, and these, together with the detectives, were so numerous that in the more deserted thorough - fares almost every man met with was a police officer..”
By early November the area as a whole had breathed a huge sigh of relief as it seemed that the nightmare had ended.
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