December, 2000 Asimov's @ 14,700 words
REDCHAPEL
an alternate history in which
Theodore Roosevelt, Esq.
encounters the hideous fiend
known only as Jack the Ripper
by Mike Resnick
_"From Hell, Mr. Lusk --
Sir, I send you half the Kidne I took from one woman,
prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was
very nise I may send you the bloody knif that too it out
if you only wate a whil longer
signed Catch me when yu can Mishter Lusk"
-- Jack the Ripper
October 16, 1888_
_"I have not a particle of sympathy with the sentimentality
-- as I deem it, the mawkishness -- which overflows with
foolish pity for the criminal and cares not at all for the
victim of the criminal."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
Autobiography_
The date was September 8, 1888
#
A hand reached out of the darkness and shook Roosevelt by the
shoulder.
He was on his feet in an instant. His right hand shot out,
crunching against an unseen jaw, and sending his assailant
crashing against a wall. He crouched low, peering into the
shadows, trying to identify the man who was clambering slowly to
his feet.
"What the devil happened?" muttered the man.
"My question precisely," said Roosevelt, reaching for his
pistol and training it on the intruder. "Who are you and what are
you doing in my room?"
A beam of moonlight glanced off the barrel of the gun.
"Don't shoot, Mr. Roosevelt!" said the man, holding up his
hands. "It's me -- John Hughes!"
Roosevelt lit a lamp, keeping the gun pointed at the small,
dapper man. "You haven't told me what you're doing here."
"Besides losing a tooth?" said Hughes bitterly as he spit a
tooth into his hand amid a spray of blood. "I need your help."
"What is this all about?" demanded Roosevelt, looking toward
