Tumblety's Past; not Tumblety Today - Andrews' True Agenda

[Jonathan H]

To Mike

Well I totally agree, but then I already believed that Tumblety was -- at least at one point -- considered a strong suspect by Scotland Yard, rightly or wrongly.

Inspector Andrews is investigating, not in hot pursuit.

Makes sense to me.

Littlechild, admittedly from a distance of twenty-five years, actually never claimed that Tumblety was the subject of a chase or even an investigation across the Atlantic. He almost implies ['vanished'] that Tumblety killed himself in France, or threw himself in the ocean [as he is replying to Sims about the Drowned Doctor Super-suspect].

I actually think Littlechild was trying to divert Sims away from researching this scoop too strenuously by claiming that Dr T disappeared after he jumped bail and fled to France; 'believed at Scotland Yard' to have suicided. There are no surviving sources which back this idea at all, and it seems a very odd memory lapse for somebody with otherwise such sharp and accurate faculties.

I theorise that Littlechild claimed that [perhaps] Tumblety killed himself, to give Sims -- his social superior --something to save face on, but knowing it was utter bunkum.

Yet he did not want the Yard suddenly embarrassed by an angry article by this famous writer which dredged up the Tumblety fumble, this time in the British media. After all, Littlechild never mentions that Tumblety was initially arrested for the Whitechapel murders either.

Littlechild may have thought that Sims was getting this tall tale -- of a frantic dragnet closing upon an English doctor suspect who drowned himself before capture -- from Anderson, and he wanted to deflate that pious pain-in-the-ass who 'only thought he knew'. If that was the motive for writing to Sims, then Littlechild had it wrong both ways. Anderson had fastened onto Kosminski as his chief suspect, and the non-existent 1888 hunt for the 'Drowned Doctor' originated almost certainly with Macnaghten [both he and Sims were pals AND members of a gentleman's crime club]

Also, what Littlechild remembers about 'Dr T' maybe fragments of what Inspector Andrews found out about Tumblety, the counter-argument being that it was nothing he could not have gleaned from a US newspaper, or already known to Scotland Yard [the big file] before the Confidence Man became caught up in the Whitechapel investigation.

[mklhawley]

Greetings all,

The First thread on Andrews!

One argument against Francis Tumblety being a serious JTR suspect follows this line of thinking: "Since Andrews never came within 100 miles of New York City, it must be concluded that he had no interest in investigating Tumblety."

Part two or Roger Palmer’s article explains how this argument is irrelevant, because it assumes that Inspector Andrews was chasing Francis Tumblety across the Atlantic. Why would Scotland Yard spend all that money sending an inspector to New York City when they already had people there to pick him up? Also, was it smart to have an inspector involved with the ripper murders leave the Whitechapel district at the peak of the investigation (especially when they needed all the manpower they had)?

If Scotland Yard did consider Tumblety a serious JTR suspect, it actually makes more sense for Andrews to have done exactly what he did, visit Montreal and Toronto, Canada. As Palmer explains, this better fits how Scotland Yard investigated serious cases prior to the use of modern forensics. They did a deep background search into a suspect (only the serious suspects, because of cost in money and manpower) in order to find anything. Palmer gives two clear examples of this process, and Francis Tumblety lived in both Toronto and Montreal. Is there evidence of Scotland Yard digging into Tumblety’s background? Keep in mind, Anderson had also contacted the Chiefs of Police in San Francisco and Brooklyn for information on Tumblety during the same week.

In view of Andrews being used for a background investigation on Tumblety, Anderson making arrangements before or after Tumblety jumping bail is irrelevant. It even makes sense that Anderson arranged the trip before Tumblety jumped bail, because in their mind Tumblety was going to be safely stashed in prison for gross indecency. They would have had at least a year of serious background investigation to find something on him. The reason why Anderson decided to send Andrews to North America in December 1888 was because he wanted to piggy-back off of extraditing Barnett, and this HAD to occur within one month. Canada even paid for it. It was mere coincidence that Tumblety jumped bail, but that coincidence has caused confusion even today.

Any thoughts?

Sincerely,

Mike