25 YEARS OF THE DIARY OF JACK THE RIPPER: THE TRUE FACTS by Robert Smith

[Henry Flower]

How come?

With great difficulty.

[DirectorDave]

Never let it be said that music hall comedy is dead.

I think you've just won the internet with that one Henry.

[Sam Flynn]

Never let it be said that music hall comedy is dead.

I think you've just won the internet with that one Henry.

Do I get second prize for setting it up for the punchline?

[DirectorDave]

Do I get second prize for setting it up for the punchline?

Yes Samwise you get about as much credit as Ernie did for teeing up Eric.

[Sam Flynn]

Yes Samwise you get about as much credit as Ernie did for teeing up Eric.

Praise indeed. Ta!

[Henry Flower]

Praise indeed. Ta!

Flynn and Flower. This definitely has legs. This year Casebook, next year Winter Gardens Ballroom Torquay.

[rjpalmer]

--from the classified ads, Liverpool Mercury, Tuesday, 7 August, 1888 page 1.

LOST, at Aigburth, a Young Fox-terrer DOG, marked on head and tail. Anyone will be rewarded on restoring the same to Battlecrease, 6 Riversdale-road, Aigburth.

There you have it! Maybrick was too busy looking for his terrier to have killed Martha Tabram.

two months later:

Lost or Strayed, from Battlecrease, Riversdale-road, Algburth, a Young Irish Terrier PUPPY. A suitable reward paid to anyone returning same.

--Liverpool Mercury, Saturday 13 October 1888, page one,

Aww, poor Maybrick, his puppy ran off, too! Or did the Fox terrier turn Irish? Maybe Aaron Kosminski could have taught him something about owning a leash. But I suppose the real reason is that Florie was poisoning the pooch. She was more into cats, if I recall.

[Robert]

The poor dog had been placed in an impossible position. Should he side with Maybrick, or with Barnaby and Burgho?

[rjpalmer]

Yes, and if I recall there is an appropriate line in the Diary.

"Damn it damn it damn it I lost another puppy, the bitch..."

[Henry Flower]

Yes, and if I recall there is an appropriate line in the Diary.

"Damn it damn it damn it I lost another puppy, the bitch..."

[Herlock Sholmes]

Barrett's confession

After just reading Mike Barrett's confession a question occurred to me which may have already been addressed.
He tells of how he obtained the diary and the ink and how he and Ann carried out the forgery but he doesn't mention any kind of ageing process. Simply applying Victorian ink to a Victorian document would surely have been immediately exposed by scientific tests. An ageing process must surely have been carried out.
He seems very forthcoming with details about the purchase of the ink and the book and the writing process but did he ever give any explaination of how he 'aged' the diary so that the ink tests/ion migration tests wouldn't have immediately shown that the ink was applied to the paper something like a year previously?

[Sam Flynn]

After just reading Mike Barrett's confession a question occurred to me which may have already been addressed.
He tells of how he obtained the diary and the ink and how he and Ann carried out the forgery but he doesn't mention any kind of ageing process. Simply applying Victorian ink to a Victorian document would surely have been immediately exposed by scientific tests.

That didn't happen with the Hitler Diaries, Herlock, so why should it have been a concern here?

Besides, I find the scientific tests that were carried out on the ink to be less than convincing. And I'm not the only one who thinks that.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I just thought that as he was so keen to show that he was the forger a bit of information about the ageing process and how he had achieved it might have helped his cause. Plus I'd have thought that people would have been interested to know how he did it?

[Sam Flynn]

I just thought that as he was so keen to show that he was the forger a bit of information about the ageing process and how he had achieved it might have helped his cause. Plus I'd have thought that people would have been interested to know how he did it?

Assuming it was artificially aged, of course. I wouldn't be so sure that it was.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Assuming it was artificially aged, of course. I wouldn't be so sure that it was.

I'm certainly no expert on the subject of forgery Sam but surely it's not just a case of slapping Victorian ink onto Victorian paper? Whatever our various opinions are on the scientific tests I would have thought that it would have been immediately apparent if the ink had been applied within a year or so of those tests without any attempt at ageing?