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Right off, mea culpa if this has already been discussed, but I have not yet seen it listed here. Two points:
1. Does anyone have a photo or scan of the actual Since Friday letter? Insofar, I’ve seen only what appears to be a reproduction of a handwritten letter oftentimes splashed across the top of Casebook, like a banner.
If the “banner” is a reproduction of the handwriting on the letter, then I have some issues with it, because stylistically and technically, it is dissimilar to Monte’s known handwriting.
Please refer to the letter written by Monte to his Uncle Robert, circa 1876. It was posted by Chris Scott, by permission of Stewart Evans, in the “Time to Peruse the Druitt Letter?” thread. There are, of course, some similarities, but anyone attempting to forge another’s handwriting would notice and attempt to reproduce the major stylistic shifts. It’s the many minor shifts in style between the letters that have failed to make it from the Dear Uncle letter to the Since Friday letter.
Granted, there were 12 years between the two letters, and the handwriting of an individual can shift over time, but there are indications to me of more mental maturity in the Dear Uncle letter than in the Since Friday letter. Depression can change a person’s handwriting as well, but yet, there are more indications of depression and confusion in Monte’s Dear Uncle letter than in the Since Friday letter.
I would be interested enough to have a professional graphologist look into this, and I’d probably even front the cash. I wonder what the permissions are for that sort of thing.
2). Okay, say Monte had written the letter, after all. The last dated evidence we have for Monte is his ticket dated for Saturday, 1 Dec 1888. Why would he decide to kill himself later that day and write “Since Friday,” instead of “Since yesterday?”
So, following logically and ruling out Saturday for the day he had supposedly committed suicide, the next earliest day (Sunday) would make *how many hours exactly* that Monte was in London limbo somewhere? Not at Blackheath and not at any other location typical for him, all the while dressed to the nines… and he most likely would not have slept in those clothes.
What I’m saying is that if Monte had written the letter, it would have been written at earliest on Sunday, and yet, Monte dashes out on 30 Nov or 1 Dec, looking the fashion plate that he was, without a change of underpants in sight and no other, as of yet, traceable movements.
My contention is that he did not write the letter, and that the letter was fabricated to give the illusion that there had been some time between his actual disappearance and the made up “date” of “Sunday, etc.” to allow for the creation of an alibi for someone who might have wished to do him harm.
I’m just throwing out my observations to see what you more experienced lot on Casebook think. Please be kind, I’m a newbie!
1. Does anyone have a photo or scan of the actual Since Friday letter? Insofar, I’ve seen only what appears to be a reproduction of a handwritten letter oftentimes splashed across the top of Casebook, like a banner.
If the “banner” is a reproduction of the handwriting on the letter, then I have some issues with it, because stylistically and technically, it is dissimilar to Monte’s known handwriting.
Please refer to the letter written by Monte to his Uncle Robert, circa 1876. It was posted by Chris Scott, by permission of Stewart Evans, in the “Time to Peruse the Druitt Letter?” thread. There are, of course, some similarities, but anyone attempting to forge another’s handwriting would notice and attempt to reproduce the major stylistic shifts. It’s the many minor shifts in style between the letters that have failed to make it from the Dear Uncle letter to the Since Friday letter.
Granted, there were 12 years between the two letters, and the handwriting of an individual can shift over time, but there are indications to me of more mental maturity in the Dear Uncle letter than in the Since Friday letter. Depression can change a person’s handwriting as well, but yet, there are more indications of depression and confusion in Monte’s Dear Uncle letter than in the Since Friday letter.
I would be interested enough to have a professional graphologist look into this, and I’d probably even front the cash. I wonder what the permissions are for that sort of thing.
2). Okay, say Monte had written the letter, after all. The last dated evidence we have for Monte is his ticket dated for Saturday, 1 Dec 1888. Why would he decide to kill himself later that day and write “Since Friday,” instead of “Since yesterday?”
So, following logically and ruling out Saturday for the day he had supposedly committed suicide, the next earliest day (Sunday) would make *how many hours exactly* that Monte was in London limbo somewhere? Not at Blackheath and not at any other location typical for him, all the while dressed to the nines… and he most likely would not have slept in those clothes.
What I’m saying is that if Monte had written the letter, it would have been written at earliest on Sunday, and yet, Monte dashes out on 30 Nov or 1 Dec, looking the fashion plate that he was, without a change of underpants in sight and no other, as of yet, traceable movements.
My contention is that he did not write the letter, and that the letter was fabricated to give the illusion that there had been some time between his actual disappearance and the made up “date” of “Sunday, etc.” to allow for the creation of an alibi for someone who might have wished to do him harm.
I’m just throwing out my observations to see what you more experienced lot on Casebook think. Please be kind, I’m a newbie!
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