A Case of Misattribution?

[Simon Wood]

Hi Garry,

I think we can safely leave Swanson out of this.

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

quote

Hello Garry. Your last post was so good that I would like permission to quote it--especially the observation about correlation and causality. It is PRECISELY what old school philosophers claim.

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi Jonathan

Regarding your "viable compromise", I offer you the words of Jim Swanson in a 1987 letter to the editor of The Daily Telegraph—

"My Grandfather was a highly intelligent man. He was in complete command of all his faculties at the time of his death in 1924 at the age of 76. My Grandfather's notes were made in 1910 when he was 62 . . ."

How Jim Swanson knew the exact year of his grandfather's marginalia I do not know, but why hasn't his statement put an end the matter?

Why any need for a viable compromise?

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

date of publication

Hello Simon. Is it possible that he was just using the date of publication for that book?

Cheers.
LC

[Monty]

Garry,

I agree that there are other factors leading against Stride being included and they are, in fact, the reasons why I am not certain.

However we do have a group of women with their throats cut, to varying degrees, in a small period of time. And by short I am referring to years rather than months. And I do not like the to reference the victims as a 'canon'. Its a personal taste as I do not think that is the correct term.

And yes, stats can support any theory one cares to advance. However the returns are there.

I do not wish to get into a circular debate on this. One, I'm too tired. Two, I happen to agree with you over all.

Just that its not as clear cut as it seems.

Monty

[Garry Wroe]

I think we can safely leave Swanson out of this.

With respect, Simon, we can't. He constitutes an integral link in the evidential chain connecting Kosminski to Anderson's contention that Jack the Ripper was positively identified. It would be a different matter if it could be demonstrated that he was prone to lying or exaggeration, or indeed if the marginalia had been falsified. Thusfar, however, no such evidence has been adduced.

[Garry Wroe]

Your last post was so good that I would like permission to quote it--especially the observation about correlation and causality. It is PRECISELY what old school philosophers claim.

Be my guest, Lynn. For what it's worth, the missing variable is ambient temperature. The hotter the day, the more inclined are people to jump into potentially dangerous water - rivers and canals. Thus ice cream consumption is an extraneous variable.

[lynn cates]

correlations and causes

Hello Garry. Thanks. This is reminiscent of the nearly perfect positive correlation between violent criminals and milk consumption as a baby.

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi Lynn,

Absolutely.

But Jim Swanson was making a point.

Even at age 76 his grandfather had been playing with a full set of marbles, and his notes had been written fourteen years prior to this.

The notes were far from being the confused, conflated, half-remembered ramblings of a failing memory, yet this is exactly what we have had to convince ourselves they were in order to make any sense of them.

It sure is a puzzle.

Regards,

Simon

[Simon Wood]

Hi Garry,

I have no reason to believe that Swanson—unlike Anderson—was prone to lying or exaggeration.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, his marginalia at the foot of page 138 of TLSOMOL was simply a recap of a Blackwoods footnote missing from Anderson's book.

There it sits, looking and feeling perfectly genuine, perfectly natural, in place, just the sort of notation an interested close-reader might make, neither attempting to corroborate, nor hint at any independent knowledge of, the event in question.

And then we turn to the rear end-paper . . .

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

ah!

Hello Simon. Yes, I see what you mean.

Cheers.
LC

[Cogidubnus]

Regarding Schwartz I'm somewhat ambivalent.

On the one hand, his presence drawing attention away from the Jewish socialists is just too fortuitous...

Yet on the other there is the suggestion (I think I recall seeing it described in Paul Beggs "Definitive" book as appearing in a police memo or report) that Schwartz may've given evidence in camera at the Stride inquest, and hence wasn't quoted in the newspaper reports...

This suggests the police gave him some credence, and kept him up their sleeves (for later identification purposes?)...do we have any further evidence of any police memo/report suggesting inquest testimony or commenting on his credibility?

Scratching my head

Dave

[Bridewell]

The Brother's House

Hi All,

One of the salient features of the end-paper notes is the allusion to Kosminski being taken to his brother's house in Whitechapel. If the Kosminski referred to is Aaron, then he did indeed have a brother living at a Whitechapel address.

If Swanson wrote the end-paper note, he may well have known this. If someone else wrote it, how would he or she know it? Laborious research conducted in a pre-internet age? Lucky guess? From Swanson himself? More likely, in my view that DSS wrote the Marginalia in their entirety.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Bridewell]

In Camera

Regarding Schwartz I'm somewhat ambivalent.

On the one hand, his presence drawing attention away from the Jewish socialists is just too fortuitous...

Yet on the other there is the suggestion (I think I recall seeing it described in Paul Beggs "Definitive" book as appearing in a police memo or report) that Schwartz may've given evidence in camera at the Stride inquest, and hence wasn't quoted in the newspaper reports...

This suggests the police gave him some credence, and kept him up their sleeves (for later identification purposes?)...do we have any further evidence of any police memo/report suggesting inquest testimony or commenting on his credibility?

Scratching my head

Dave

Hi Dave,

That's an interesting thought. If Schwartz gave evidence 'in camera' it would be unusual, but would reflect the perceived importance of his testimony. Schwartz had already had some press attention. What would the authorities do if they wanted to prevent a recurrence? Put it about that they had doubts about the credibility of his evidence perhaps?

Regards, Bridewell.

[Cogidubnus]

His brother's keeper?

Hi Colin

As you observe, the marginalia does imply that the suspect was transported not from a locked and secure asylum, but from either a workhouse or his brother's care, and was returned to the care of his brother...therefore, assuming Aaron Kosminski, surely 1890 is indicated rather than 1891?

Dave