practical joke, Lusk placed the box and the kidney in his desk drawer. At a meeting of the committee the next day he showed it to other members. Joseph Aarons, W Harris and two other members called Reeves and Lawton visited Lusk at home to inspect the letter and the kidney. Lusk wanted to throw both away, but he was persuaded to take them to Dr Frederick Wiles, who had a surgery nearby on the Mile End Road. Wiles was out, so his assistant, F S Reed examined the contents of the box and took the kidney to Dr. Thomas Horrocks Openshaw at the nearby London Hospital. The kidney was handed over to the City Police in whose jurisdiction Catherine Eddowes had been murdered. Lusk is also mentioned in the 17 September 1888 'Dear Boss' letter, but this letter is regarded by many Ripperologists as being a modern hoax, surreptitiously placed into archived records. Film and television portrayals In the 1988 made for TV film Jack the Ripper, starring Michael Caine, Lusk was played by Michael Gothard. During the film, Lusk is portrayed as a violent Marxist and power-hungry politician, though in real life he was known for his peaceful nature. In the 2001 film From Hell, starring Johnny Depp, Lusk was played by Vincent Franklin. In BBC One's Ripper Street (2013) he was played by Michael Smiley, who reconvenes the Vigilance Committee, in spite of its official disbandment, to persecute a young boy suspected of a violent murder. Footnotes External links Contemporary press reports concerning Lusk Lusk on the City of London website (Archive.org) Lusk in the National Archives 1839 births 1919 deaths Jack the Ripper