Letters Written by 12 Year Old?

A "JACK THE RIPPER" SCARE.

Considerable excitement has been caused in the village of Arkesdon, which is close to the borough of Saffron Walden, in consequence of the landlady of the Green Man Inn having received a number of threatening letters purporting to have been written by "Jack the Ripper," and couched in the most disgusting terms. The excitement was brought to a head a few days ago, when Mrs. Taylor's daughter reported that she had been stopped as she was crossing the fields, and handed a letter by a man, who told her to give it to her mother. When opened, the missive was found to contain the announcement that "Jack the Ripper" was in the village, and would visit the woman the same night with the intention of "doing for her." Mrs. Taylor, being frightened, at once went to see the local policeman, and a large number of the villagers determined to form themselves into a search party, and in the evening some 30 or 40, armed with pitchforks and heavy sticks, set out to explore the locality, many of their wives locking and barricading the doors in their absence. The search proved fruitless, although the daughter of the threatened woman had given the policeman a clear description of the man who stopped and gave her the last letter. The divisional superintendent of police has since visited the place, and after a long interview with the girl she confessed she had written the letters herself, but as she has only just turned 12 years of age, it is thought highly improbable that she concocted such vile epistles without being prompted by someone.

Source: The Middlesex Courier, April 24, 1891, page 7