In this vide we take a close look at the “Dear Boss” “Jack the Ripper” letter that was received by the Central News agency in September 1888.
It was this letter that imbued the perpetrator of the Whitechapel murders with the name with which he has come down to posterity – Jack the Ripper – despite the fact that the author of the letter and the miscreant responsible for the atrocities were almost certainly two different people.
Having discussed how and why the missive was released to the public, and the startling impact it had, we then look at some of the possible contenders who may have written the letter, any one of which may well have been the real “Jack the Ripper.”
00:00 – Introduction
00:00:30 – The Name “Jack The Ripper” first used
00:00:46 – The Dear Boss Letter
00:01:36 – The letter handed to the police
00:02:03 – The murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes
00:02:20 – The “Saucy Jacky” postcard
00:02:50 – Jack the Ripper letter made public
00:04:04 – Who wrote the Jack the Ripper letter
00:04:24 – Sir Charles Warren’s opinion
00:04:54 – It was written by a journalist
00:05:39 – George Sims gives his opinion
00:07:00 – An excerpt from “Police!”
00:07:29 – Senior Police officers opinions
00:07:44 – Sir Robert Anderson’s opinion about the writer
00:08:39 – A Wide-Awake Eastender writes
00:10:02 – Sir Melville Macnaghten’s Opinion
00:11:31 – Detective Chief Inspector John Littlechild’s opinion
00:12:09 – Thomas Bulling named as the author of the letter
00:12:26 – A third letter from Jack the Ripper
00:15:18 – John Moore suspected by Littlechild
00:15:47 – More hoax letter sent
00:16:14 – Truth’s opinion on the letters
00:17:02 – A journalist named Best suspected
00:18:00 – The Star newspaper and “Leather Apron”
00:19:15 – Frederick Best put forward as the writer
00:20:18 – Americanisms in the Dear Boss letter
00:20:53 – Harry Dam suspected
00:24:14 – Conclusion
00:26:26 – End credits
source