Today In Jack the Ripper's London.

Following the night of the double murder on September 30th 1888 (which to be more precise was the morning of the double murder as the two killings took place at 1am and 1.45am)the police flooded into the streets of Whitechapel and Spitalfields. Uniformed constables walked their beats night after night throughout October and plain-clothes detectives were drafted into the district wearing all manner of disguises, some even dressed up as prostitutes, so it is rumoured.

Although the increased police activity did not result in the ripper being caught it appears to have made it difficult if not impossible for the killer to strike and thus the whole of October passed with no further killings. As we say on our Jack the Ripper tour by November the area as a whole had breathed a huge sigh of relief as it was believed that the killings had ended. But Jack the Ripper was only biding his time and as was to be revealed in early November his murderous reign was not over yet.

On 5th November 1888 the Evening News reported that another letter signed by Jack the Ripper had been discovered. According to the article late on the previous Saturday night the constables on the beat were informed that "a piece of paper was picked up in Spitalfields on which was scrawled the following taunt:

Dear Bos

In spite of all your Police precautions, and in spite of all the efforts of the Vigilance committee, I committed another murder last night, and have hid the body away in Osborne-street, headless, legless, armless, and naked.-Yours truly, JACK THE RIPPER."

The police were convinced that the letter was a hoax but they had little choice but to follow it up and thus the beat constables and plain clothes officers were instructed to make enquiries in the district as to if any body had been been discovered or any woman had gone missing.

They were also told to make every effort to try and locate the author of the letter.

No body was found and no woman had gone missing but it just illustrates how seriously the police were taking the mounting correspondence with which the authorities and police were being bombarded on an almost daily basis by early November 1888.

On our Jack the Ripper tour we show some of this correspondence as well as handing out photographs of the area as it was in 1888.