Fiona Kendall-Lane

[richardnunweek]

Hi Jason.
Agreed.. many have come forward with a load of rubbish, however Fiona was not one of them, she was simply relaying from memory,her family's opinions about this case, along with several observations.
I Agree the dangling carrot is frustrating to anyone, but we are [ the majority] serious followers of the subject, and Fiona is not so consumed as us, and had no idea that her open attitude would offend.
I wish her luck, and hope such a book does get published, as the McCarthy insight is something I would personally consider a '' Golden Nugget''
Regards Richard.

[Natalie Severn]

Fiona told us she and her family suffered some shocking abuse from numbers of people over all this ---a man putting strange things through letter boxes / others hurling insults etc so I think she wasn't prepared to suffer anymore of it ever.
She gave a thorough and very interesting---and intriguing talk and the photo of John McCarthy was the highlight of the night.

[jason_c]

Hear, hear, Archaic. That has always been my Maxim. And I don't use my Maxim gun lightly.

Fair enough, but this is not the first thread where its been claimed Fiona Kendall Lane was driven away/bullied from here(the first allegation from a poster called Coral). Bullying being a fairly effing strong allegation.

The first few posts from Fiona were very interesting. Full of tidbits and family gossip. I personally did not get my hopes up too high as we had no corroboration of who she was. Then Fiona started to get into highly dubious territory - she knew who the killer was, she hinted McCarthy was a night owl (for reasons she would not divulge) etc etc.

[Colin Roberts]

She wasn't bullied by anyone!

She stated as an absolute matter of fact that she and the entire McCarthy clan knew the identity of 'Jack the Ripper'.

'The Good Michael' suggested that it was all a "hoax", and she was gone!

In the blink of an eye!

The exchange between 'coral' and the poster that had changed his username occurred after the fact, when everyone was 'up in arms' regarding her departure.

These forums should be no place for the sort of bullshit that she was trying to peddle.

[sdreid]

I, for one, am fed up with this teasing and taunting. If you are going to say you know who the Ripper is then either give us the name or shut up - and I mean shut up before the tease. A few years ago, we had a bunch of these usually related to someones book that was about to come out. All they were doing was exploiting us for their own gain and that makes us the ones who are being bullied! To add insult to injury, they usually brought at least one shill along with them (another new member of course) who pretended to be interested in their "find".

[Natalie Severn]

Well actually I found it a fascinating experience Colin.Its true you had to 'suspend belief' once or twice but when Fiona explained to some of us afterwards about how McCarthy's shop window looked out on Mary's alley and reminded us his shop was open until the early hours,and had seen her customers come and go, I was captivated-though still not convinced ---surely he could only have 'suspected' which one was the ripper ?
Rumours about McCarthy persisted up until 1903 -at least.He was also 'rumoured' to be 'carrying on' with some of his tenants especially some of the younger women. How true this was though is anybody's guess.

[coral]

So, Colin Roberts, you seem to remember exactly when the the 'newbie' came onto the scene - I certainly dont - maybe it was you

[Archaic]

Hey guys, let's all try to rise above this and not renew old strife. I do wish someone had saved screen-shots of the thread in question, but apparently no one did, so this argument is at risk of becoming another slinging match without resolution and with more offended feelings.

I can understand why some might feel that they are being "teased and taunted" by new posters who are maybe trying to get everyone's attention to drum up book sales, but an easy solution to that problem is to simply refuse to participate. If you think someone's being a jerk and lacks credibility, why swallow the bait?

When someone is being truly obnoxious and looking to get a rise out of others the thing that shuts them down the quickest is to ignore them.

Let the thread die, and they will end up feeling silly and have to slink away.

On the other hand, if they actually have something of substance to contribute they will realize it's time to either put up or shut up.

Peace everybody,
Archaic (I'm not really a Flower-Child, but I play one on Casebook... )

[jason_c]

edited my comment there.


Your probably correct Archaic.

[Colin Roberts]

So, Colin Roberts, you seem to remember exactly when the the 'newbie' came onto the scene

Indeed, I do!

I certainly dont

I know!

maybe it was you

Nope!

I posted then, as 'Septic Blue', and did not participate in that particular discussion.

Fiona was called names and accused of being a liar.

I also remember quite clearly that the only comment directed toward Ms. Kendall-Lane that could have been construed as having been at all derogatory was the suggestion of a "hoax" on the part of 'The Good Michael', who posted then as 'Baron'.

She was not "called names" - any names, at all - by anybody!

[Supe]

Norma,

but when Fiona explained to some of us afterwards about how McCarthy's shop window looked out on Mary's alley and reminded us his shop was open until the early hours,and had seen her customers come and go, I was captivated-though still not convinced

I was otherwise engaged when most of Fiona's postings appeared, but I think it fair to point out that I made the same observation about the back window of McCarthy's shop in an article several years before.

Understand, I am not in the least suggesting Fiona read and borrowed from the article (I'm not sure anyone read the article) but just that it was clearly a possibility all ought to have appreciated in analysing Miller's Court traffic that fateful night -- and evidently was not.

Don.

[Stephen Thomas]

"Horlicks" is a popular malted milk drink that also substitutes for an expletive???

OK, now I'm really confused.

Archaic

It's a polite version of the word 'bollocks' and is used usually in the same sense as 'balls-up' eg 'He made a real Horlicks of his presentation'.

[The Good Michael]

To anyone who thinks Fiona-Kendall was bullied, I recall nearly exactly what I said to her. It was something along the lines of, when someone comes on the site and talks about knowing, without a doubt who the Ripper was and then refuses to tell anything, it smells like kippers to me. If this is what drove her from the boards, she needed to be gone. Whoever thinks this is bullying, must have grown up with servants in a hillside compound in Darjeeling.

A small confrontation that results in fleeing in fear, still smells like a BS story to me, regardless of her relationship with a great-great-grandfather she'd never met. I think she was flaunting a relationship that meant nothing to her until she came on the boards and a few suck-ups became enamored of her. In other words, new knowledge gleaned from these boards combined with the support of sycophants created the pink elephant. Think about what you really learned from her here or from her speech at the WS. Nothing of substance is my bet.

Cheers,

Mike

[Natalie Severn]

Norma,

but when Fiona explained to some of us afterwards about how McCarthy's shop window looked out on Mary's alley and reminded us his shop was open until the early hours,and had seen her customers come and go, I was captivated-though still not convinced

I was otherwise engaged when most of Fiona's postings appeared, but I think it fair to point out that I made the same observation about the back window of McCarthy's shop in an article several years before.

Understand, I am not in the least suggesting Fiona read and borrowed from the article (I'm not sure anyone read the article) but just that it was clearly a possibility all ought to have appreciated in analysing Miller's Court traffic that fateful night -- and evidently was not.
Don.

Hi Don,
Yes,thanks.I think that had anyone known who the Ripper was then,so would we.It was too lucrative a story for a slum landlord like McCarthy to have missed out on.Unless he already knew this particular customer was violent towards women and had put his money from his tenants -some on the game-before their saftety-we have concrete evidence that his relation by marriage, Cunnigham, did so ,as coroner Baxter exposed him in 1902 in the Mary Austin Case .This might have presented a dilemma for him .He liked to think he was on good terms with people in the community-donated big time to charities,got on well with the police etc etc .........
Cheers Don,
Norma

[Brenda]

.

What I don't understander is if she thought to be such a hoaxer, why didn't any of you show up at the WS thing to heckle her off the stage?