'The Swanson Marginalia' Revisited

[Jeff Leahy]

My position has been clear and consistant Rob.

Which is: The marginalia was in all probability written by Swanson. I have no objection to anyone questioning this. Indeed you can all do so to your hearts content but the probability remains that it is genuine.

No one has offered a credible argument for how it could be otherwise.

Criticism has been laid at Paul’s door for his original handling of the authentication, I’m simply saying it’s easy to do so with hindsight, however ripperology has moved on since then…lets deal with here and now.

There is however no reason to suppose that the Marginalia is fake or forged, given Dr Davis report.

If you choose to disagree with that opinion that’s fine but lay off the personal insults.

Pirate

[robhouse]

I think everyone should take a deep breath and realize that this so-called debate has gone beyond the point of being constructive at all.

Rob H

[Jeff Leahy]

I
If there are doubts about such an important document in the Ripper case, then by all means those doubts should at least be allowed to be expressed and taken seriously from a scientific point of view without Stewart being accused of disliking Paul Begg. That is kindergarten stuff. And I think Jeff's reaction to all this is quite hysterical and certainly not objective.

All the best

I'm sorry Glenn but do you mind pointing out where and when I have ever made such an accusation as I don't recall having ever done so.

Yours Pirate

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Indeed, Tom.

All the best

[Tom_Wescott]

Glenn,

This episode rather reminds me of the 17th Sept letter debacle where an obvious and blatant hoax was bandied about by a handful of hacks as 'genuine' and Stewart was raked over the coals for pointing out the contrary. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't world.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[andy.s]

yep sorry..i thought i was in the "swansong married an' an alien " thread


damn this dislexia....

[Jeff Leahy]

If you know you have a spelling problem, then re-read your posts before hitting 'submit reply'.

And yes, we conspiracy theorists have conspired to make sure the world does spin around us. But we fear great forces are at work to change the trajectory of said world and hand over power to the evil Dyslexis who will brainwash the world with their magnum opus, The Jack the Ripper Z-A.

Nig*a pleaz. Yours truly,
Tom Wescott

Tom i know this must be very difficult for you to understand, as it appears for a number of you, However a dyslexic can check and re-read their compositions over and over and not notice missing words or letters or jumbled arrangements. IT'S BECAUSE THEIR BRAINS ARE WIRED DIFFERENTLY, they simply do not see the mistake and no amount of re-checking is ever going to correct every mistake.

And even if they use a Spell check it sometimes works against them, as the spell check did with the name Stuart....I probably had some letters jumbled, the spell check picked it up and miss spelled it on my behalf..I simply didnt notice it when I checked it back...which I always do...

Still you go ahead and mock, really I'm used to it..I laugh at your ignorance.

Pirate

PS I've never started one of them Jonathon but i don't see why I should be mocked for a disability everyone knows I have. I do my best.

[jmenges]

Could we please stay on topic here? There are plenty of threads already that have been derailed by the Jeff-dyslexia debate.

JM

[andy.s]

i find it equally annoying that someone who understands a sentence, even though mispelt, has to be pedantic enough to point it out to the rest of us, who understand the point made, and care not a jot how it is put across..dislexia is a disease that has probably cost us innumerable decent authors...and maybe some poor bugger who once wrote "jack the pirrer was" ..is miles ahead of all the rest of us....cos a search engine did not pick it up

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

I have followed this rather interesting debate for a while, and although I myself haven't seen the marginalia in live and colour (and therefore am not in the position to offer a personal opinion), I have to say the reactions amazes me.
What Stewart says is prefectly reasonable and objective, and if any doubts have been expressed regarding the writing of the marginala, of course any such doubt shouldn't be swept under the carpet.

After all, the marginala is an incredibly important document acting as one of the foundations of some very groundbreaking suspect theories. As Stewart says, this is not necessarily a question of fraud; even if it should turn out that Swanson had written the end note at a much later date (suggested by the different pen or slightly dissimilar handwriting), then that of course would put the 'Kosminski' theory in a different perspective. If Swanson wrote this at old age and many years after the events, then several factual question marks or erros in the marginalia could be explained. And if that's the case, then one wonders how much the information therein can actually be taken at face value or how reliable Swanons' memoray was at the time when he commented on Anderson's text.

If there are doubts about such an important document in the Ripper case, then by all means those doubts should at least be allowed to be expressed and taken seriously from a scientific point of view without Stewart being accused of disliking Paul Begg. That is kindergarten stuff. And I think Jeff's reaction to all this is quite hysterical and certainly not objective.
After all, Stewart has been leading this debate with an objective and very reasonable approach where his ONLY agenda has been to urge people to treat the marginalia with an open mind and be crtitical and not take it as some factual truth in every detail. I certainly can't see anything wrong with it and I am very thankful towards Stewart to have raised this issue in the first place.

All the best

[Tom_Wescott]

If you know you have a spelling problem, then re-read your posts before hitting 'submit reply'.

And yes, we conspiracy theorists have conspired to make sure the world does spin around us. But we fear great forces are at work to change the trajectory of said world and hand over power to the evil Dyslexis who will brainwash the world with their magnum opus, The Jack the Ripper Z-A.

Nig*a pleaz.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[jmenges]

I asked a question, Stewart, but I'll ask again:

Do you believe it is possible that Dr. Davis was made aware of your concerns before he conducted his study? And if so, how could this awareness have come about, and is it not possible that his remarks on the topic were directed towards answering your concerns?

As I asked earlier, if the question was whether Swanson wrote the end note on the same day, but in a carriage, would Davis have said "it could be that he wrote it in a carriage"?

Thanks,

JM

[Jeff Leahy]

Right Tom so somehow i manage to spell Stewart's name correctly in every post and then because I'm an utter bast**d I deliberately spell his name Stuart to try and p*ss him off...yes that would be really big of me wouldn't it...well reality check..it was a mistake caused by my brain being wired differently to yours...

Yes they all make it up they can spell really they just do it to annoy us..

like the world spins around you conspiracy theory ripperologists

[Tom_Wescott]

A bit off topic, but I find it annoying how so many people who've never learned to spell excuse themselves as 'dyslexics'. It's the illiterate equivalent of the 'abuse excuse'. Carry on.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Jeff Leahy]

I think that this latest post shows really why it is impossible to debate with this brainwashed man. And he can keep his suggestions to himself. I am following Chris's lead, which was probably all he was trying to achieve anyway.

Ya ya ya....It's you who started being impolite Evan's not I.