'Jack the Ripper Letter' Tells Grisly Tale
April 20 -- In a scrawled, smudged letter written in Cockney English, a man claiming to be the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper described a foiled attempt to kill a woman and promised to find another victim soon.
The eerie note to a London doctor, made public by the governmentThursday, is filled with spelling errors mimicking the Cockneyaccent and gives the gruesome details of an attempted murder.
"I was goin to hopperate agin close to your ospitle just as Iwas goin to dror mi nife along of er bloomin throte then cusses ofcoppers spoilt the game," it said. "But I guess I wil be on thejob soon and will send you another bit of innerds."
The letter, dated Oct. 29, 1888, and once part of the originalpolice file, was released Thursday by Britain's public recordsoffice under rules which require many government documents to bemade public eventually.
It was given to the public records office about 30 years ago byDonald Rumbelow, a police officer. Rumbelow would not explain howhe got the letter, but said police files were often mislaid beforeScotland Yard hired its first archivist in 1951.
The letter also refers to a human kidney that had been sent toauthorities in a cardboard box.
"Old boss you was rite it was the left kidny," the writersays.
The letter, signed "Jack the Ripper" was sent to Dr. ThomasHorrocks Openshaw, curator of a London hospital's pathologicalmuseum.
The Most Famous Unsolved Mystery
It is one of many letters purporting to be by the Victorianmurderer, who killed at least seven prostitutes in London's EastEnd during a three-month period in 1888.
A person claiming to bethe killer wrote a series of taunting notes to police, but themurders remain one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in Britishcriminal history.
"Of course the letter is genuine in terms of it being sent in1888, but if it is from the real killer, I do not know," Rumbelowsaid.
Stewart Evans, author of the forthcoming book Jack the Ripper,Letters from Hell, said it was "better than most" allegedRipper letters.
