The Ripper
Steve Hatherley

		     RIPPER NOTES STOLEN
	  Last night the only copies of the diaries of 
	Doctor Gideon Black were stolen from Oxford 
	University Library. Dr Black was widely believed to 
	be the legendary killer 'Jack the Ripper' when his 
	diaries were found after his death.
	  The handwritten journals detail many unnecessary 
	experiments that Dr Black performed. The Doctor was 
	a surgeon at St Mary's Hospital in Oxford but was 
	living in London during the time that the Ripper was 
	abroad. During this time he performed much surgery 
	that was considered additional to requirements.
	  Dr Black's diaries have been examined and it is 
	now believed that he was not the legendary London 
	killer.
	  The Oxford Police are currently looking for a 
	foreign gentleman in his sixties who was enquiring 
	about the diaries just before they were taken.
	
	The last person to see the notes was one of the students at 
the university. He can be contacted and may let investigators see his 
notes. Although the diary and "Jack's" handwriting has been compared 
before, the student has studied them both and concludes that they may 
have been written with the same hand.

Possibilities
1       Dr Black was Jack the Ripper, and has been Re-animated. He has 
stolen his own notes and intends to continue his research. A week 
later the first of a series of ripper murders scorches headlines.

2       The notes are an elaborate fake. They were written by a number 
of medical doctors to shock one of their fellows. Several 'in-jokes' 
can be found amongst the document, if searched for properly.

3       Dr Black was not the Ripper, but was engaged in similar 
studies. Although not of the mythos, he had connections. The diaries 
point to where Dr Black purchased some of his bodies upon which he 
worked - and notes the poor, almost gnawed, condition of some of them.

Copyright (c) 1990 Steve Hatherley
steve@flar.demon.co.uk