Payn, James. "Our Note Book." Illustrated London News 1888. 1995. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/images/whitechapel%20ripper%20ILN%20reports.jpg>.
With the Vigilance Committee in the East-End: A Suspicious Character. Photograph. Illustrated London News 1888. 1995. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/images/1888/iln1888rip10.JPG>.
"Illustrated Police News." THE BRITISH LIBRARY - The World's Knowledge. The British Library Board. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.bl.uk/learning/images/21cc/crime/large7577.html>.
Jack the Ripper. Engraving.1888. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/113997/Latest-Incidents-in-Connection-with-the-Doings-of-Jack-the>.
A closer examination of this letter may be found on the Encyclopedia Britannica website:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/298729/Jack-the-Ripper
Commentary on the Text
While The Moonstone (1868), by Wilkie Collins, was written 20 years before the Whitechapel murders (1888) occurred, it is interesting to look at Collins' fictional account of murder in relation to the response in news articles regarding the very real Whitechapel murders. The Whitechapel murders, often referred to by the self-titled and still unidentified assailant "Jack-the-Ripper", created terror and dread throughout the East-End of London as one of the first documented cases of a serial killer in modern times. The uproar and desire of the public not only identify Jack-the-Ripper, but to also bring him to justice, was overwhelming, and yet the news articles featured in the Illustrated London Times use the Whitechapel murders as mere references without focus on the actual crimes, while the illustrations from both the Illustrated London Times and the Illustrated Police News seem to do quite the opposite, conveying the fear and panic of East-Londoners in the autumn of 1888.
I find this especially interesting as the murders in The Moonstone do not seem to be as shocking or even as notable as one would expect. Several murders take place without any real issue to the characters in the story with more concern placed on finding the lost gem than rectifying other crimes committed. Read side-by-side with the above articles, the fiction almost becomes more realistic when one realizes how murders were viewed during the Victorian era, and the higher occurrence of documented unsolved, and much less publicized, murders than was commonly held.
Works Cited
Collins, Wilkie, and John Sutherland. The Moonstone. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
"Illustrated Police News." THE BRITISH LIBRARY - The World's Knowledge. The British Library Board. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.bl.uk/learning/images/21cc/crime/large7577.html>.
Jack the Ripper. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/113997/Latest-Incidents-in-Connection-with-the-Doings-of-Jack-the>.
Jack the Ripper: letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/298729/Jack-the-Ripper>
Payn, James. "Our Note Book." Illustrated London News 1888. 1995. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/images/whitechapel%20ripper%20ILN%20reports.jpg>.
With the Vigilance Committee in the East-End: A Suspicious Character. Photograph. Illustrated London News 1888. 1995. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/images/1888/iln1888rip10.JPG>.