Andrew Spallek & The Seven Photos of MJD

[Howard Brown]

Looks like I am the first to congratulate Mr. Spallek for not only finding a new photo of M.J.Druitt....but seven of them, all available in the recent issue of Ripperologist ( #96,October 2008)

Tu salut, Mr. Spallek !!!!!!!!

[Mike Covell]

I have not seen the photo's Andrew, but well done and congrats!!

[Robert]

Congratulations, Andy. Druitt has been a suspect for well over 30 years but you are the first to publish these.

[Sam Flynn]

If I may join the chorus of approval - well done, Reverend. Great photos, and an interesting article too.

[Rob Clack]

Yes I agree that was some excellent work by Andy to find these photos.
I was lucky enough a few months ago to have seen them when Andy was kind enough to show them to me at a Whitechapel Society Meeting.

Rob

[Natalie Severn]

Me too Rob.I have just read the article and that too is terrific.Just a tiny bit more on those debates Andy,would have been really fantastic.Druitt"s scribed words....the devil can be in the detail!

[Bailey]

How do we know they're really Druitt? Maybe they were taken in January this year and treated with a sepia filter in Photoshop?

In all seriousness (and having not seen them), congrats Andy!

B.

(They're probably really of Eddie)

[Chris George]

How do we know they're really Druitt? Maybe they were taken in January this year and treated with a sepia filter in Photoshop?

In all seriousness (and having not seen them), congrats Andy!

B.

(They're probably really of Eddie)

Hello Bailey

You better subcribe, Matey. Only two pounds per issue!

All the best

Chris

[aspallek]

Many thanks for the comments regarding my article. I was very fortunate to have been able to spend a month in England last summer with enough free time to conduct some research. I am very grateful to Suzanne Foster, the Winchester College archivist, for her most gracious cooperation. She produced the photographs. All I did was ask the right questions!

The same sort of work needs to be done now at Oxford.

To be fair, it is only six new photographs reproduced in my article. The last of the Druitt portraits has been published before repeatedly. However, the print I reproduce in my article was apparently made from the original negative and is therefore much clearer than previous reproductions.

Natalie, I agree with you on the debate content. The difficulty is that these minutes of the debating society are hand written and difficult, at times, to decipher. I photographed (with permission) the relevant pages while in the archive room at Winchester but some of my photos turned out blurry which made them even more difficult to read. Also, these minutes are but a summary of Druitt's speeches and not the entire text of them. If you have specific questions I might be able to add more detail.

As an addendum: there is the tantalizing story mentioned only in the paperback edition of Farson -- that a resident of Fearons in the 1890s had heard of the Druitt family's suspicion of Montague. Farson cited an edition of The Wykehamist from the 1970's for this information. Ms. Foster did indeed produce this issue for me but it added no further information to that which Farson had given.

One other interesting point is that there were Toynebee's also attending Winchester at the time or just before Druitt was there.

[Bailey]

I know I should subscribe, and I will get around to it, but I really don't love reading the online format - if it was a physical magazine (and I do understand why it isn't) I'd have done so by now. Every now and then I think of subscribing and then remember some actual book I'd prefer to spend the money on. I'm going to start picking up a few individual issues tho, and maybe print them out or something.

B.

[Sam Flynn]

One other interesting point is that there were Toynebee's also attending Winchester at the time or just before Druitt was there.

Hi Andy,

Presumably that be a different bunch of Toynbees than this Toynbee, who attended Winchester, but was born after Druitt's death?

[Natalie Severn]

Andy,
I need to print out your Ripperologist 96 article and work out which of Monty"s chosen topics might throw more light on his character.I remember being intrigued by what he had to say about Bismark.What particular aspects of his policies did Druitt dislike,was he against the strong state for example,the vision of an overpowerful bureaucracy---limiting people"s freedoms?
But I really must get it printed out!
Best
Norma

[The Grave Maurice]

I must read much more slowly than the rest of you. It took me most of yesterday just to get through the weekend newspapers. Anyway, I finally got around to Rip. It's hard to believe that, in all this time, no one ever went to Winchester and asked the right questions. Well done, Andy. This has been a heck of year for the unearthing of new photos, innit.

[Howard Brown]

Dear Grave Maurice,sor...

Mr. Spallek proved,as Phil Whatshisname did, and as Tim Riordan did, that other data is out there. Thats whats encouraging. Innit?

[The Grave Maurice]

Yep. That's exactly what I meant.