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    For some time now I have wondered why there is no listing under Casebook topics 'For Discussion' for 'Journalists.' After all, we have 'Suspects,' 'Victims,' 'Police Officials,' 'Witnesses' and 'Doctors and Coroners' - so why not 'Journalists'?

    People like 'the ex-journalist Best', Tom Bulling, Harry Dam, Charles Hands, John Moore, Bernard O'Donnell, William Le Queux, and Lincoln Springfield, have all been mentioned and some have greatly influenced Ripperology. And to top it all a journalist is stated to have believed to have been responsible for the very name 'Jack the Ripper.'

    Does anyone agree?
    SPE

    Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

  • #2
    As something of a newspaper nut, yes!! It's all very well reading about "A Correpondent" but it would be much better to see the men behind the story.
    Regards Mike

    Comment


    • #3
      Not To Forget

      Not to forget R. Harding Davies, of course... and Tom Robinson and Terence Robertson. Many of the contemporary reports were, unfortunately, anonymous.
      SPE

      Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

      Comment


      • #4
        That is a great idea. I have this obituary for Robert J. Marks--unfortunately I don't know which Ripper inquest he covered, but if it was one of Wynne Baxter's, he helped preserve testimony that otherwise would have been lost, and which today is consulted daily.

        Times, August 14 1935

        Mr. R.J. Marks

        Mr. Robert J. Marks, who in the last 50 years attended and reported many thousands of inquests in and around London, has died in a London hospital at the age of 76. In his younger days he also attended the big trials at the Central Criminal Court, and he had travelled all over the country reporting Assize cases for the London Press. He was probably the last of the band of reporters who in 1878 were rushed to Woolwich following the sinking of the pleasure steamer Princess Alice with the loss of hundreds of lives. He reported the inquests which followed the death of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, the first fatal motor-car accident, and the first fatal motor-omnibus, and taxicab accidents. When Mme. Rachel, the notorious beauty parlour swindler, was sentenced he was present, and later attended the inquest after she had poisoned herself in gaol. Shortly afterwards he attended the coroner’s inquiry into the death of a woman who had shot herself in a cab. It was Mme. Rachel’s daughter.


        Cheers,
        Dave

        Comment


        • #5
          Here's one I posted some time ago about Tom Bulling.

          TIMES JUNE 10th 1895
          Attached Files

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks

            Thanks for that. With regard to the 'Jack the Ripper' correspondence a topic that seems to crop up every so often is the Bulling v. Best debate as to who is the most likely candidate for authorship. However, it never seems to have been explored to any great degree.
            SPE

            Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

            Comment


            • #7
              I'd say Bulling is a better candidate. Best is unknown. He may not have even existed, being a possible journalistic invention.

              I've always been interested in Justin Atholl if anyone has further information on him.

              Comment


              • #8
                Hi All,

                I am investigating a crumb of information that in mid-to-late August 1888 a Thomas Bulling, English newspaperman, whilst on a trip to the USA, was reported as suffering a seizure and taken to a hospital in Schenectady [north-west of Albany, New York State].

                I don't know if the report is accurate. I will check. If it is accurate, it becomes doubtful whether Bulling authored the JtR letter and postcard.

                Regards,

                Simon
                Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Why?

                  Originally posted by Simon Wood View Post
                  I am investigating a crumb of information that in mid-to-late August 1888 a Thomas Bulling, English newspaperman, whilst on a trip to the USA, was reported as suffering a seizure and taken to a hospital in Schenectady [north-west of Albany, New York State].
                  I don't know if the report is accurate. I will check. If it is accurate, it becomes doubtful whether Bulling authored the JtR letter and postcard.
                  Simon
                  Why is that then?
                  SPE

                  Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Hi All,

                    Whoops!

                    Err in haste, repent at leisure, or some such old bromide.

                    Sorry, I should have put mid-to-late "September".

                    Still on the case.

                    Regards,

                    Simon
                    Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Right

                      Originally posted by Scott Nelson View Post
                      I'd say Bulling is a better candidate. Best is unknown. He may not have even existed, being a possible journalistic invention.
                      I think that you are right on both counts Scott.
                      SPE

                      Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Tenuous link?

                        Originally posted by Scott Nelson View Post
                        I'd say Bulling is a better candidate.
                        Re. Bulling, I posted this a short while ago: http://forum.casebook.org/showpost.p...0&postcount=22. It relates to the Openshaw letter and a potential, albeit rather speculative, connection with TJ Bulling.
                        Kind regards, Sam Flynn

                        "Suche Nullen" (Nietzsche, Götzendämmerung, 1888)

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Hello all,

                          I agree with your premise Stewart, particularly because I think in this day and age its largely the contemporary news stories of the period that keep the researchers like yourself in the Ripperology game. Youve seen and read everything in the available records Im sure many times over, but I dont think anyone has ever read every bit of press that was published during the "relevant" years. And 2 Ripper related lines in a piece about Morality and Virtue in The LVP ... just as an example, might contain some interesting possibilities when explored.

                          As you say, a journalist is very likely responsible for coining the phrase Jack the Ripper...how can we not want to have more information about who they were.

                          That being said, I personally would never suggest to Stephen he needs to compile the data....he does seem to be a busy guy keeping up gathering information for us folks and handling our exchanges already.

                          My best regards Stewart, all.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Suggesting

                            Originally posted by perrymason View Post
                            As you say, a journalist is very likely responsible for coining the phrase Jack the Ripper...how can we not want to have more information about who they were.
                            That being said, I personally would never suggest to Stephen he needs to compile the data....he does seem to be a busy guy keeping up gathering information for us folks and handling our exchanges already.
                            I am not suggesting that Stephen should do anything. I merely commented that I was surprised that the journalists had not got their own heading under topics, whereas other professions had. However, I am sure that any relevant information about them will still appear (and indeed has) under other topic headings.
                            SPE

                            Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Official

                              As with most things Ripper we have to accept that official police information is preferable to press information.

                              With regard to the 'Jack the Ripper' correspondence, we have the words of three senior police officials on its invention. First, in 1910 (The Lighter Side of My Official Life, page 138), Anderson tells us that it was a 'London journalist' whose identity he knew. Then, in 1913 (letter to George R. Sims), Littlechild tells us that "it was generally believed at the Yard that Tom Bullen [sic] of the Central News was the originator..." and, finally, in 1914 (Days of My Years, page 58), Macnaghten states that he thought the author was a journalist and that he had 'shrewd suspicions' as to the 'actual author.'

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                              It is thanks to Littlechild that we know the name of the journalist 'believed at the Yard' to be the originator.
                              Last edited by Stewart P Evans; 11-15-2008, 06:09 PM.
                              SPE

                              Treat me gently I'm a newbie.

                              Comment

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