The Aberconway Version

[Jonathan H]

The legacy of 'Aberconway'?

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread....681#post164681

On the other site is this fascinating review of George Sims, as Dagonet, rudely blasting Anderson for his 1910 memoirs.

Apart from making the shrewd point that the leftist Sims often parroted Tory nostrums when it came to crime, it is arguably evidence that he is also parroting Macnaghten's opinion about his former boss -- and Ripper opinion.

The cruel caricature of 'Jewish financiers' is really low, as that is not what Anderson was asserting: eg. it was not an opinion driven by classic anti-Semitism.

Could this just be Sims' opinion and nothing to do with his pal Mac?

Yes, it might be.

It's just that other sources confirm this clubby coalition.

In his memoirs, Macnaghten praises Sims as a friend, a wit and as a crime writer -- even using a chunk of his about another infamous murder. So, he praised a chum who had trashed a senior police chief as a liar and a racist.

In 1914, if Macnaghten thought that the criticism Anderson received in 1910 was unwarranted, or at least went too far, then he could have redressed the balance by mentioning that there was indeed a Polish Jew suspect, though less likely than the drowned doctor.

He does not such thing.

Mac praises Swanson, Abberline, Littlechild and other members of the constabulary but Anderson does not exist, just as Mac was not mentioned in his 1910 account, except for a fleeting put-down as a nervous nellie over a threatening letter. Macnaghten, the 'action man'? How that must have galled him?

If Sims is channeling Mac's opinion in 1910 then we see that the conventional wisdom that these two police chiefs politely and professionally disagreed over preferred Ripper suspects is off-track.

They hated each other, they were rivals on this subject and others, it was a gentlemanly civil war -- as memoirs often are -- and they airbrushed each other out of each other's lives.

Mac via Sims, and then the total ommission of 'Kosminski' in his 1913 comments, and his 1914 memoirs did not think that the Polish Jew was a legit suspect at all and sought to quash this notion in the public arena.

The irony being that in 1914, Mac also carefully distanced himself from Sims' drowned doctor profile too.

[lynn cates]

work

Hello Chris. Thanks for posting this. You have done a great deal of work here, but this should greatly facilitate research and comparison of the two versions.

Cheers.
LC

[Chris]

Adam Wood's photographs of the Aberconway Version of the Macnaghten Memorandum can be viewed here:

Thanks for posting these photos of the Aberconway version.

Here are my attempts at a transcription and a word-by-word comparison with the official version:

http://cgp100.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/AberconwayOrder.htm

http://cgp100.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/OfficialOrder.htm

[AdamNeilWood]

Photographs of the Aberconway Version

Adam Wood's photographs of the Aberconway Version of the Macnaghten Memorandum can be viewed here:

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page1.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page2.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page3.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page4.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page5.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page6.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page6a.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page6b.jpg

http://www.ripperologist.biz/aberconway/page7.jpg

Publication courtesy Christopher McLaren.

Originally published in Ripperologist issue 124.

[lynn cates]

bravo

Hello Adam. Well done. I look forward to this.

Cheers.
LC

[AdamNeilWood]

Aberconway Version in Ripperologist magazine

The History of the Macnaghten Memorandum, including the Aberconway Version in full and a complete transcription, will appear in Ripperologist 124.

Best wishes
Adam

https://www.ripperologist.biz

[AdamNeilWood]

Trevor,

Watch this space. Why not subscribe and find out?

Adam

https://www.ripperologist.biz

[Trevor Marriott]

I'm pleased to announce that after lengthy discussion with Christopher McClaren, the document's owner, and Keith Skinner the Aberconway Version will be published in full (scan and transcript) in issue 124 of Ripperologist magazine, January 2012.

Best wishes
Adam

Is Dr Davies forensic report on the marginalia going to be published in the same issue or is that to come in the future

[Phil Carter]

thank you

Helo Adam,

This is indeed good news. Thank you. And thanks to all others involved in this long awaited publication.

Best wishes

Phil

[lynn cates]

good news

Hello Adam. That is good news indeed.

Cheers.
LC

[AdamNeilWood]

The Aberconway Version in Ripperologist magazine

I'm pleased to announce that after lengthy discussion with Christopher McClaren, the document's owner, and Keith Skinner the Aberconway Version will be published in full (scan and transcript) in issue 124 of Ripperologist magazine, January 2012.

Best wishes
Adam

[PaulB]

Sorry, there was an error in the last email address. It should be:

The authors of the A To Z invite Trevor Marriott to write to them collectively at atozauthors @ hotmail.co.uk (close the spaces in the address) in order to discuss his grievances with them.

[harry]

What's this proper english.How would I recognise it?Is it in the memoryandem?

[Ally]

Wow John, you give more farewell speeches with as little intention of following through as Streisand. And you are about as much of an egotistical diva. Any family relation?

[Chris]

I don't claim that; I wasn't there. The term "run-around" is my term based on my understanding of what transpired prior to this being brought to Casebook. That understanding is based not solely on anything Trevor said, but rather on information passed to me in a personal message from one whom I respect greatly, who was there and who should know.

Very well - you aren't claiming it happened, you're just saying that you understand on good (though naturally unidentified) authority that it happened.

Now that's out of the way, I'll repeat my request. If you aren't prepared to explain who this new bit of innuendo is directed at, could you at least make it clear that it's not directed at the authors of the "A to Z." Surely that's not an unreasonable request, considering you say you have been trying to "calm things down."