Whitechapel Society Meeting 2nd August

[Stephen Thomas]

^ What she said.

PHILIP

As you wish.

[coral]

Hi Philip

Have just had an email from Fiona. The photo of John McCarthy was not a dot matrix reprodution. I looked at it quite closely and there was something in the background which might suggest so. The photo was a copy made in 1971 at about the time Fiona's in-law took it on himself to burn a lot of family memoriabila.

Coral

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Coral

No way was that image on photographic paper. I held the frame in my hands and looked at the image behind the glass closely. I asked Fiona directly why it was dot matrix and not an actual photograph and she didn't try to correct that assertion. She did say it was a copy made from the original and from that I conclude she meant a printed copy rather than a photographic one.

PHILIP

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
Just one question.
Did Fiona comment on why exactly her in law should wish to burn a lot of McCarthy memoriabila?
Was there anything incriminating amongst?
Was it just a way of disowning such a colourful family, which included many respected people in show business, if that be the case...Why?
Also was Fiona asked after her talk, if she could add any more to her grandfathers recollections of that period, after all he was in the court that morning when the body was discovered by Indian Harry, as the memory of that event would never have left him.
Regards
Richard.

[The Good Michael]

I imagine she spoke about who the Ripper was? She very cavalierly revealed that everyone in the Court knew, or some such thing, so I'm sure someone had to have asked her, right?

Cheers,

Mike

[caz]

Hi Richard, Mike,

You'll have to wait for the book, like everyone else.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fiona's talk and anyone who has ever been commissioned to write a book will understand that she is under agent's orders not to reveal too much too soon.

I'm hoping the book will contain lots of photos of John ("Jack") McCarthy's written recollections of those dark days. A detailed family tree would be nice too. Fiona explained that the reason no one in the family has had the urge to talk before about this is because they have been put off by the nutters who tend to leap out of the woodwork whenever they hear the McCarthy name and relate it back to the Kelly murder. The downside is that so much time has now passed that some people just assume that anyone coming up with 'new' information now must be a liar or fantasist.

I'm ready to believe anything - but only if it's backed up with proof.

Love,

Caz
X

[Chris]

... anyone who has ever been commissioned to write a book will understand ...

"We authors, ma'am ..."

[The Good Michael]

Caz,

Understood, but the way she came off on this site was as somewhat of a nutter, perhaps a harmless one, but a nutter nevertheless. It was the way she said something like, "Oh, JTR? Of course he knew who it was. Everyone did." When challenged, she voiced indignant outrage. It was very odd, I thought.

Cheers,

Mike

[caz]

"We authors, ma'am ..."

Chris! Where the devil have you been?

Hi Mike,

You mean you don't know who he was?

Maybe Fiona thought she was the one winding up the nutters here. Let's face it, it doesn't take much. There's always someone around who can be wound up to a frenzy before you can say "Jack was my uncle".

I take it all with a decent pinch of salt and sit back and wait. People tend to give themselves away sooner or later if there's no substance behind what they claim.

Love,

Caz
X

[coral]

Hi Caz

I totally agree with you - as my Mum used to say 'liars will always be found out'.

Having said that I have every confidence in Fiona. In the past few months I have had many emails from her - in fact I have been the only person to have had contact with her.

You should all be made aware that when I asked Fiona to come and speak at the Whitechapel Society meeting it was to talk about her family connections to the Music Hall of the LVP and Edwardian times. Not once did I ask her to talk bout JTR.

To quote Fiona's biog in our Journal ' It has long been something of a mystery just why theKendall's and Mcacrthy's are so reluctant to discuss their Jack the Ripper/ East End connecions - I only agreed to give a talk to the Whitechapel Society if it was made known my talk would concern my family, not Jack the Ripper. This is partly due to the fact that the time has come for me to write that family saga for which my literary agent has longed yeared - and no author reveals their story until publication! However, ir would be imoossible to talk about the Mcarthy=Kendall's and not touch upon those dark days in 1888!'

It was a bonus for us that she brought along a photo of John 'Jack' McCarthy. Whether people see it as a dot-matrix print, copied on to toilet paper or wallpaper makes no difference - we wre luckey to see the image. Fiona tells me that if the fragile photo is taken out of the frame the name of the photographer is on it together with an art-deco logo.

For me it was an evening to be remembered and a little heart-wrenching when I played a video of her grand-mother singing and Fiona shed a few tears.

At the end of the meeting Fiona was obviously asked about JTR but kept most things under wraps - after all she is having a book published next year.

As for people saying that she is 'a nutter' - I think you should retract your words. Fiona is now a writer of fiction and has won many awards.

Coral

[jason_c]

Hi Caz

I totally agree with you - as my Mum used to say 'liars will always be found out'.

Having said that I have every confidence in Fiona. In the past few months I have had many emails from her - in fact I have been the only person to have had contact with her.

You should all be made aware that when I asked Fiona to come and speak at the Whitechapel Society meeting it was to talk about her family connections to the Music Hall of the LVP and Edwardian times. Not once did I ask her to talk bout JTR.

To quote Fiona's biog in our Journal ' It has long been something of a mystery just why theKendall's and Mcacrthy's are so reluctant to discuss their Jack the Ripper/ East End connecions - I only agreed to give a talk to the Whitechapel Society if it was made known my talk would concern my family, not Jack the Ripper. This is partly due to the fact that the time has come for me to write that family saga for which my literary agent has longed yeared - and no author reveals their story until publication! However, ir would be imoossible to talk about the Mcarthy=Kendall's and not touch upon those dark days in 1888!'

It was a bonus for us that she brought along a photo of John 'Jack' McCarthy. Whether people see it as a dot-matrix print, copied on to toilet paper or wallpaper makes no difference - we wre luckey to see the image. Fiona tells me that if the fragile photo is taken out of the frame the name of the photographer is on it together with an art-deco logo.

For me it was an evening to be remembered and a little heart-wrenching when I played a video of her grand-mother singing and Fiona shed a few tears.

At the end of the meeting Fiona was obviously asked about JTR but kept most things under wraps - after all she is having a book published next year.

As for people saying that she is 'a nutter' - I think you should retract your words. Fiona is now a writer of fiction and has won many awards.

Coral

Writing fiction does not prevent someone being a nutter.

I think what The Good Michael meant was that she came across as a nutter on this site. She claimed to know who JtR was while at the same time giving intimate details and descriptions of the McCarthy family and Kelly herself.

[coral]

Hi Jason

I am afraid that is where I disagree with THE GOOD MICHAEL - Fiona never in anyway came across to me as 'a nutter' on the Forums. Having received many emails from her I can vouch for 'her sanity'.

But then again many of you are so blinkered that if anything is said which you dont agree with or does not fit in with your train of thought it is compeletly dismissed as beginning unacceptable. After all - you all out there know the truth.

Coral

[caz]

Hi Coral,

I suspect that if it came down to choosing who was more likely to be able to comment with authority on how 'attractive' or 'lovable' or 'behind with the rent' Mary Kelly really was; or whether she was servicing customers in her room after Joe left and so on and so forth, some of the nutters here would put their own opinions above any provably authentic written recollections passed down the family from McCarthy himself.

I think it's called 'healthy' scepticism.

Love,

Caz
X

[The Good Michael]

Jason,

Thanks for translating my post. Indeed, I was saying that she came across a bit off on this site to me. Maybe off, isn't the word. The idea that a person can come in out of the blue and say many unsubstantiated things, and then get upset about being doubted, is... well, debate is what keeps things moving around here, though slowly. A forum is where one comes to listen, learn, and challenge. I think I'm correct on this.

Let me add that I am skeptical about everything, and her initial trepidation about answering simple questions, and this before she made any references to writing her family memoirs, makes her story an uphill battle in believability.

If she's correct on everything and can produce the Rippers identity to a reasonable degree, I'll eat my words... along with JTR's hat that was burned in the fire

Cheers,

Mike

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
Once again hearsay/oral history, rears its head, however in this case Fiona must be the only person who can relate that history from her family,which if nothing else can give a fascinating insight to Millers court, and snippits of albeit hearsay regarding MJK, and family suspicions on the killers identity.
This is truely 'Fly on the wall stuff'.
Fascinating.
Regards Richard.