A card with the postmark date of October 1, 1888 was received by the Central News Agency of London that same day. The card is now known as the “Saucy Jacky” postcard and its author claims to have been the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

Because of the volume of hoax letters received by Scotland Yard, the news media and others, it is unknown whether “Saucy Jacky” was an authentic letter written by the Whitechapel killer. The postcard did contain information deemed compelling enough to lead investigators to publish a copy of the communication in hopes that someone might recognize the handwriting.

Postmarked and received on October 1st, the postcard mentions that the two victims murdered on September 30, 1888, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, were both killed in the early morning hours of that date and that the murderer didn’t have enough time to sever the victim’s ears to send to police as promised in an earlier letter received by the same media outlet. The lobe and auricle of Eddowes’ right ear was found detached at the crime scene, as a result of facial mutilations the killer had executed, however that fact was not public knowledge.

The text of the postcard reads:

I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you’ll hear about Saucy Jacky’s work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn’t finish straight off. Had not time to get ears off for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.

Jack the Ripper

Some authors have argued that the postcard was mailed prior to the murders being publicized, making it unlikely that any hoaxer would have such knowledge of the crime scene. However, the correspondence was reportedly postmarked more than 24 hours after the killings had occurred, long after many details of the murders were known by journalists and residents of the area.

Police officials later claimed to have identified journalist Fred Best of The Star as the author of this postcard and an earlier “Dear Boss” letter. In 1931, Best claimed he and a colleague at the newspaper had written all of the letters signed Jack the Ripper in order to “keep the business alive.”

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