Manchester Guardian
19 October 1888
"THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS -- A Revolting Communication"
An extraordinary communication has been made to the members
of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Mr. Lusk, builder,
of Alderney Road, has received several letters purporting to
be from the perpetrator of the Whitechapel murders, but
believing them to be the product of some practical joker, he
has regarded them as of no consequence. On Tuesday evening,
however, he received the following letter in a cardboard box
containing some fleshy substance:-- "From Hell, Mr. Lusk,--
Sir,--I send you half the kidney I took from one woman. I
prasarved it for you. The other piece I fried and ate. It
was very nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took it
out if only you wait a while longer.--Signed, Catch Me When
You Can." Mr. Lusk was at first disposed to think that
another hoax had been perpetrated, but eventually decided to
take the opinion of the Vigilance Committee. Yesterday that
body desired to take the contents of the cardboard box to a
medical man whose surgery was near. Mr. Read, assistant to
Dr. Wiles, examined the contents of the box, and declared the
substance to be half a human kidney, divided longitudinally.
But in order to remove any reason for doubt he conveyed it to
Dr. Openshaw, who is pathological curator to the London
Hospital Museum. He examined it, and also pronounced it to
be portion of a human kidney. He was further of opinion that
it was the organ of a woman about 45 years of age, and it had
been taken from the body within the last three weeks. It
will be within the recollection of the public that the left
kidney was missing from the body of the woman Eddowes, who
was murdered and mutilated in Mitre Square. Mr. Lusk and
another member of the Vigilance Committee took the parcel
yesterday to Scotland Yard; but the police authorities there
referred them to the detectives at Leman-street. At the
latter place the officer who is directing inquiries took down
Mr. Lusk's statement, which he considered to be of great
importance, and the box and its contents were left in the
care of the police pending further investigation. Mr. Lusk
states that a day of two before receiving the box he had sent
to him a post-card, which he now considers of sufficient
importance to make public. It is in the following words:--
"Say Boss, you seem rare frightened. Guess I'd like to give
you fits, but can't stop. Time enough to let you have box of
toys. Play copper games with me. But hope to see you when I
don't hurry too much. Good bye, Boss." The Vigilance
Committee held another meeting yesterday, when this new
feature in the case was considered.
After the discovery of the human leg in the vault at the new
police buildings, the search for other limbs of the murdered
woman which might be there secreted was resumed late on
Wednesday night. A bloodhound, one of those which had been
used in the Hyde Park experiment, was brought from King-
street Police Station, and a staff of constables with
Inspectors Peters and Marshall, were engaged for an hour and
a half in turning over earth, but on the work being suspended
at 10 p.m. no new discovery had been made.
Dr. Bond, divisional surgeon of the A Division, made a
careful examination yesterday morning at Millbank-street of
the portion of the leg found on Wednesday, and on comparing
it with the trunk already in the mortuary, he is of opinion
that it belongs to the same body. It is, however, in a
better state of preservation, and this is accounted for by
the fact that it has been sufficiently covered with earth to
exclude the air, whereas the trunk was only wrapped up in a
skirt. Dr. Bond is also of opinion that both portions of the
body had been lying where found for over six weeks, not
withstanding the statements made by people at the works that
they were not there on the Friday or Saturday previous to
their discovery, and the fact of the leg being in such good
preservation is one point in his argument for holding this
opinion.