come Jack, Poor Jack part 10

come Jack, Poor Jack part 10

fiction
edward w pritchard

Jack the Ripper- [tentatively]  Mr. Pritchard, are you alright?

Author- [Sadly ] I was reflecting on the humanity of the five women that Jack the Ripper actually murdered. I was thinking of the Beatles song, "Eleanor Rigby". There is a civilized sorrow displayed by British civilization that is a bellwether for the world's societies.

Jack- [ after a few seconds] sorry to put you through this

Author - how was the City

jack- what  City ? [jauntily] [looking around the small house] I see the housekeeper is still on strike

author- I was reading that you were an Artist

Jack- you mean James Whistler's assistant Walter Sickert? He's not me, but maybe he did nail it when he painted " Jack the Ripper's Bedroom" or do you prefer " How shall we pay the rent"

Author- you are not Sickert, you are not Tumblety the American Doctor, you are not Kosminski, who were you?

Jack the ripper none of them, although wasn't Tumblety really Canadian? Let's focus on what I was

Author- first, how was it that you could come and go about White chapel unobserved

Jack the ripper- I couldn't , as a man of some financial means who had business in White Chapel, I did what was customary and paid protection money to a few of the local gangs. No one reports another to the  police under those circumstances, I won't detail the particulars but I was able to come and go for most of the time until after the fourth murder. After that I had to be more clever to survive.

Author-did you wish to be caught

Jack- not during the activities, maybe later upon reflection

end part 10