Thomas and his letters to the Top!!!

[Natalie Severn]

Because this is a more general point I have started this on a separate thread on Thomas to discuss his penchant for writing letters to The Treasury,Lord Grimthorpe, assorted doctors etc.
I have read only one of these,the one transcribed in The Sun Newspaper of 1894 on 13th February.
The first thing that struck me was how intelligently set out this letter was.Also his pertinent and vivacious use of vocabulary,idiom and written language.It does betray his paranoia it must be said,but this is embedded in the context of the letter so as to appear a genuine grievance he has with a certain doctor or surgeon who has prescribed medication for him.
On the basis of this letter Thomas can clearly be seen to have been more than up to being capable of writing the famous Dear Boss letter-if not the others under discussion.
I think it also very likely he would have taken the trouble to select the best possible vehicle-eg the Central News Agency, for getting those letters to as wide an audience as possible-especially if he felt he was being ignored.
After all he didnt hesitate to go to the top over his letters about his medication.
Natalie

[A.P. Wolf]

Good thoughts, Natalie,
and then given the close and widely acknowledged relationship between the Central News Agency and Scotland Yard - I think beyond dispute - it was perhaps fortunate that young Thomas had an 'uncle' who was highly enough placed in Scotland Yard to enjoy that relationship.

Given young Thomas' addictive bent for reading medical textbooks; his prodigious letter writing activities to people in the news and in power; his employment as a clerk, and his acknowledged skill at caricature... it would seem that Thomas was an extremely well educated and well read young man on the pulse of the time and well aware of the daily events that surrounded life in London in 1888.
But then something went wrong with the chemistry in his brain didn't it?
But although the chemical impulses that drove him in 1888 may have radically altered him, turning him into a highly aggressive and dangerous young man, he still had all the educational requirements to become a very clever killer indeed.
And a highly literate one at that.

[Robert Linford]

Maybe I'm alone here, but I do see something impish or jokey in the Lusk letter - which could of course be a sign of a prank or hoax, but why can it not be a prank by the murderer himself? Thomas was only 23 in 1888 - same age as a medical student.

"Here you are, Lusk. Special gift. Preserved just the way you wanted - no rubbish. I know you want the knife, too, Lusk, but you'll have to be patient. I'm doing the best I can, Lusk."

[A.P. Wolf]

And not to forget, Robert, that Thomas claimed he was a medical student.
Which he was of course, by dint if not by qualification.
Like you, I do see that impish quality in the Lusk letter.

[Robert Linford]

And it does rather read like a clerk's letter, doesn't it, AP - as if this was something Lusk had ordered.

Robert

[Natalie Severn]

Yes Robert,I think Thomas did have a mischievous and highly imaginative streak and probably would have enjoyed concocting those Dear Boss letters,. I am always impressed by how he fooled that crowd who were following his escape from the lunatic asylum , disappearing into one house in bare feet ,wearing only his night shirt and coolly reappearing from the front door of a different house,fully dressed, in a complete outfit of stolen clothes including a wide brimmed hat!
We are also informed in the Sun Newspaper that he had thrown off four warders at the asylum and scaled an 8 foot wall to freedom going on to"jump several garden walls with his shirt tails flying!"-a bizarre image admittedly but lets not forget the very fit , agile ,quick witted young man who employed such athletic virtuosity!
So too his ingenious approach to Lord Grimthorpe---imagine Grimthorpe"s surprise on receiving one of these curious missives!
And yes AP, I agree Thomas appears to have been very adept at using medical terminology,- phrases such as-"spots with large red irritant patches came out on my face" and "After using the salve the prime agitation ceased" seem to flow from his pen effortlessly.
Really quite a remarkable character,one way and another,
Natalie

[A.P. Wolf]

I've been looking again at the letter Natalie mentions that was featured in the 'Sun' articles, which is up till now the only sample of Tom-Tom's inner workings we possess, and as such is a most vital document; but I fear many have missed the fact that this letter was written on what is described as a 'fly sheet'.
Now a Victorian fly sheet could be one of two things, either a loosely inserted protective piece of paper, flimsy in its nature, in a printed volume; or what we call a 'handbill' or 'pamphlet' for street consumption, much like the handbills issued by the WVC.
Sadly the 'Sun' gives no further detail on this 'fly sheet', but if it was a printer's fly sheet than this could be exactly what the 17th September 1888 was written on; something that was so flimsy that it could have been lost in the abundance of the main files and documents.
It it was the latter, then what might have been on that handbill?
Mr Lusk's address, maybe.

[A.P. Wolf]

I've just had the most delicious idea.
What if Lord Grimthorpe was a special constable in the Metropolitan Police Force?
Well, he was.

[Robert Linford]

Wasn't he at the Trafalgar Square riots, AP? Along with CHC.

[A.P. Wolf]

Indeed he was, Robert, and they both bashed a few heads.
I should opinion that Thomas began his letters to Lord Grim after this event.