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I’ve recently been rereading Stewart Evans’ wonderful book, Executioner, which is a biography of hangman James Berry, and I’m wondering what folks think of Berry’s claim that William Bury was a Mason.
Berry writes that Bury’s sleeve-links “were engraved with the sign of the Masonic craft to which the criminal belonged” (p. 308).
Has this been demonstrated to be an embellishment by Berry, if not, is it likely to have been an embellishment, or do folks think there is a real possibility that Bury could have been a Mason? If I’m understanding the timeline correctly, Berry would have written these words in 1913, shortly after Macnaghten retired, and shortly before Berry’s own death. It’s worth noting that six years earlier, in a 1907 newspaper article (it’s one of those articles that appeared in multiple newspapers, my copy being from the New York paper, The Sun), Berry claimed to be in possession of Bury’s cuff links, which suggests that the cuff links did hold some special interest for him: “Berry declares...at the moment he was talking he was wearing the cuff links that he took from the man’s cuffs when he pinioned his hands.”
In his book Jack the Ripper Unmasked, William Beadle writes, “Berry had the condemned man take off a pair of white linen cuffs and himself removed Bury’s collar. After the execution he noted that the sleeve links discarded with the cuffs bore the Masonic insignia” (p.306). Beadle unfortunately doesn’t make any further comment about this. I don’t think Macpherson mentions it at all in his book.
If Bury was indeed a Mason, is this is a possible explanation for what Beadle regards as an unenthusiastic investigation of Bury for the Ripper murders? Or do folks see this as entirely irrelevant?
I’m not knowledgeable about freemasonry and have never paid much attention to the Masonic theories of the case, so I’m eager to hear what those of you who are more knowledgeable have to say.
Berry writes that Bury’s sleeve-links “were engraved with the sign of the Masonic craft to which the criminal belonged” (p. 308).
Has this been demonstrated to be an embellishment by Berry, if not, is it likely to have been an embellishment, or do folks think there is a real possibility that Bury could have been a Mason? If I’m understanding the timeline correctly, Berry would have written these words in 1913, shortly after Macnaghten retired, and shortly before Berry’s own death. It’s worth noting that six years earlier, in a 1907 newspaper article (it’s one of those articles that appeared in multiple newspapers, my copy being from the New York paper, The Sun), Berry claimed to be in possession of Bury’s cuff links, which suggests that the cuff links did hold some special interest for him: “Berry declares...at the moment he was talking he was wearing the cuff links that he took from the man’s cuffs when he pinioned his hands.”
In his book Jack the Ripper Unmasked, William Beadle writes, “Berry had the condemned man take off a pair of white linen cuffs and himself removed Bury’s collar. After the execution he noted that the sleeve links discarded with the cuffs bore the Masonic insignia” (p.306). Beadle unfortunately doesn’t make any further comment about this. I don’t think Macpherson mentions it at all in his book.
If Bury was indeed a Mason, is this is a possible explanation for what Beadle regards as an unenthusiastic investigation of Bury for the Ripper murders? Or do folks see this as entirely irrelevant?
I’m not knowledgeable about freemasonry and have never paid much attention to the Masonic theories of the case, so I’m eager to hear what those of you who are more knowledgeable have to say.
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