Jack The Ripper

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Jack The Ripper To most of us Jack the Ripper is an infamous name, associated with brutal murders in the late 1800's. Jack the Ripper's murders appeared in the East End of London during a time a tremendous political and social turmoil (http://ripper.wildnet.co.uk/ripintro.htm). the East End had become a symbol of urban poverty (Haggard). the East End of London was filled with prostitutes, drunks, and the poorest people. Jack the Ripper chose prostitutes as his victims (http://ripper.wildnet.co.uk/ripintro.htm). the prostitutes he preyed upon were primarily over the age of forty and in a drunken state (Begg 32). The killings took place in a one mile radius within the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate, and the City of London Proper (http://ripper.wildnet.co.uk/ripintro.htm). the horrendous killing spree heightened the prejudices of the Victorians against the East End and its population (Haggard). Jack the Ripper fed the flames of class hatred and distrust towards the end of the nineteenth century (Haggard). Jack the Ripper is one of the most studied serial killers because he was the first murderer to be published in newspapers, there is significant evidence about his gruesome murders, and his identity remains a mystery today. Throughout the time the murders took place the police and newspapers were bombarded with letters from a writer claiming to be Jack the Ripper. the first letter to be signed Jack the Ripper was dated September 25 1888, and it was received September 27, 1888 by a news agency (http://ripper.wildnet.co.uk/ripintro.htm). On October 15, 1888, George Lusk, the president of Whitechapel Vigilance committee, received a letter entitled "From Hell" (http://ripper.wildnet.co.uk/ripintro.htm). Included in this letter was one half of a human kidney preserved in wine(http://ripper.wildnet.co.uk/ripintro.htm). the letters popularized and greatly

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