Leather Apron: The Case Of Jack The Ripper

The media invented many stories revolving around the “Jack the Ripper” case, including a theory about “Leather Apron”. He was described as a slippermaker who prowled on women after midnight, and the newspaper reports instilled fear among the residents of Whitechapel. In the first “Dear Boss” letter, Jack says, ‘That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits’, revealing that Jack was media savvy.
In the “Saucy Jack” letter, the killer says, ‘Thanks for keeping the last letter back till I got to
In two of the “Dear Boss” letters, Jack the Ripper says, ‘I love my work an I shant stop until I get buckled’. This is a kind of parody of the language of work. One would work until they were fired from their job, so Jack is saying that he will not
During the autopsies of the victims, the language of the reports show that the doctors were looking for signs of urban decay. In a sense, they were looking for something that was not there. One instance is particularly jarring, where the doctor notes that Annie Chapman’s teeth ‘were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were’. Seeing as Chapman was a victim of Jack the Ripper, this comment about how fine her teeth were is rather unnecessary. However, looking at this from a research standpoint, the doctor was investigating for any signs of disease or decay that attributes to the lower class of East End London. The doctor goes on to note that there ‘was no appearance of the deceased having taken alcohol, but there were signs of great deprivation and he should say she had been badly fed.’ This observation complicates the moral view of Annie Chapman; as has been noted, Chapman had been in a respectable status of society and due to circumstances outside her control, she was forced to prostitute. Finding that she was not taking part in any extracurricular activities such as consuming alcohol means that she was not fully a degenerate of the lower class. While she sacrificed her morality for money, she did not let it consume her fully. The doctor also takes the time to note that ‘the injuries were certainly not self-inflicted’ which also provides another morality issue because they are now faced with the fact that one human being has done this to