Patricia Cornwell – Portrait Of A Killer Jack The Ripper

Adhering to the remains were bits of newspapers that were fragments from an old Daily Chronicle, and a blood-saturated six-inch-long, four-inch-wide section of the August 24, 1888, edition of the Echo, a daily paper that cost a halfpenny. Sickert was a news addict. A photograph of him in later life shows a studio that is a landfill of newspapers. The Echo was a liberal publication that published numerous articles about Sickert throughout his life. In the August 24, 1888, edition, on page 4 is the “Notes &c Queries” section with its instructions that all queries and an­swers must be written on postcards, and one is to refer to the query he is answering by using the number of that query as assigned by the news­paper. Advertising in disguise, the Echo warns, “is inadmissible.”

Of eighteen “Answers” on August 24,1888, five of them were signed “W. S.” They are as follows:

Answer One (3580): OSTEND. – I would not advise “W. B.” to choose Ostend for a fortnight’s holiday; he will be tired of it in two days. It is a show place for dresses, 8tc., and very expensive. The country around is flat and uninteresting; besides, the roads are all paved with granite. To an English tourist I can recommend the “Yellow House” or “Maison Jaune,” which is kept by an Englishman, close by the railway station or steamboat pier; also the Hotel du Nord. Both are reasonable, but avoid grand hotels. The sands are lovely. No knowledge of French is required. – W.S.

(Ostend was a seaport and resort in Belgium accessible from Dover, and a place Sickert had visited.)

Answer Two (3686): POPULAR OPERAS. – The popularity of Trovatore is naturally due to the sweetness of the music and the taking airs. It is not generally accepted as a “high class” music – indeed, I have frequently heard “professional” musicians call it not music at all. For myself, I prefer it to any other opera, except Don Juan. – W.S.

Answer Three (3612): PASSPORTS. – I am afraid “An Unfortunate Pole” will have to confine his attention to those countries where no passports are required of which latter there are plenty, and are, besides more pleasant to travel in. I once met a countryman of his who trav­eled with a borrowed passport; he was caught at it and sent to quod [street slang for prison], where he remained some time. – W.S.

Answer Four (3623): CHANGE OF NAME. – All “Jones” has to do is to take a paint brush, obliterate “Jones” and substitute “Brown.” Of course this will not relieve him from any liabilities as “Jones.” He will simply be “Jones” trading under the name of “Brown.” – W.S.

Answer Five (3627): LETTERS OF NATURALISATION. – In order to obtain these, a foreigner must have resided either five consecutive years, or at least five within the last eight years, in the United Kingdom; and he must also make a declaration that he intends to reside permanently therein. Strict proofs of this will be required from four British-born householders. – W.S.

To offer answers by using the original query number implies the writer was familiar with the Echo and was probably an avid reader of it. To send in five answers is compulsive and in keeping with Sickert’s prolific writing and the stunning number of Ripper letters received by the police and press. Newsprint is a leitmotif that shows up repeatedly in Sickert’s life and in the Ripper’s game playing. A Ripper letter to a police magis­trate is written in an exquisite calligraphy on a section of the Star news­paper, dated December 4th. The torn-out section of paper includes the notice of an etching exhibition, and on the back of the paper is a sub-headline “Nobody’s Child.”

Walter Sickert was never sure who he was or where he was from. He was “No Englishman,” to quote the signatory of another Ripper let­ter. His stage name was “Mr. Nemo” (or Mr. Nobody), and in a tele­graph the Ripper sent to the police (no date, but possibly the late fall of 1888) the Ripper crosses out “Mr. Nobody” as the sender and writes in “Jack the Ripper” instead. Sickert wasn’t French but considered himself a French painter. He once wrote that he intended to become a French citizen – which he never did. In another letter he states that in his heart he will always be German.

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