Druitt.

[Lewis C]

Would you not agree with me, however, that it is quite a coincidence that Swanson was reported in 1895 to believe that the murderer was a certain dead person and that only the year before, Macnaghten had recorded that the suspect he was especially interested in had died soon after the last murder in the series?

Is it really believable that these two men were coincidentally expressing their views that the murderer was a certain dead person, that the press knew not only of Swanson's opinion but of the strong opinion at Scotland Yard that the murderer was dead, and yet that the two men were unaware of each other's opinion?

The suspect that Macnaghten was especially interested in was Druitt. So is your suggestion here that Mac's noting that Druitt had died may have caused Swanson to think that Kosminski was dead?

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

Valid speculation. Nothing definitive.

I did not state in my # 447 that you were definite about there having been two Kosminskis.

I wrote that you suggested it.

I would not call it valid speculation.

It is obviously far fetched.

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

The suspect that Macnaghten was especially interested in was Druitt. So is your suggestion here that Mac's noting that Druitt had died may have caused Swanson to think that Kosminski was dead?

No.

I am suggesting that, having read Macnaghten's Memorandum, Swanson could hardly have believed that Kosminski was dead; and that the dead suspect he had in mind in 1895 was in fact the same as Macnaghten's.

I do not know what caused Swanson to think 15 or more years later that Kosminski had died before 1895.

It could be that he confused him with Druitt, or it could be that Kosminski's early death was part of the tall story that Anderson evidently told him.