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Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?
the ‘dear boss letter’ and the ‘from hell letter’. The effect they had was dramatic, these letters made the killer seem even more horrific.
The radical press who wanted to improve conditions in poor areas of London saw the murders as the perfect opportunity to express their views because the local elections were approaching. The police failing to catch Jack gave the radical’s ammunition to attack the establishment and the police about the conditions in Whitechapel and the surrounding area. The East and West Ham Gazette Saturday 6th October 1888 wrote ‘this is surely the time for those who have time and money at their disposal to come forward and help on a movement that shall…do away with prostitution….it must be a cruel thing for women who have had a respectable youth to have these dens of infamy to rest, to be compelled to walk the streets until they can get fourpence somehow or other that is necessary to pay for what is called a bed.’
All the types of press also reacted to the excitement and morbid fascination the public took so they wanted to produce more and more.
When all of this is taken into account it is hardly surprising that the work of Jack The Ripper attracted so much attention at the time.