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

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hey Caz
That makes sense to me-if it came out of that house of course!

But alternatively, it could be MB stopping by the pub and finding out about the work there (but nothing about a diary)and him putting two and two together about hoax and then contacting Doreen correct?

also whats "Bobs your uncle" mean? LOL! sorry I'm just a dumb yank!

Abby, it means 'there it is,' or 'there you have it.'

It comes from when Lord Salisbury (Robert [Bob] Cecil) appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour to a senior position when no one thought that he should get the post. Therefore he only got the job because 'Bob was his uncle.'

The joys of the English language! Even we don't understand it most of the time

[Herlock Sholmes]

Why not? One of the electricians, who claimed in July 1992 to know that something had been found under the floorboards in the house [before the general public even knew that Mike had a diary which was in the process of getting published], just happened to live on the same road as Tony Devereux and drank in the Saddle, where Mike would go for his liquid lunch while waiting to pick his daughter up from her school nearby.

T'aint rocket science to imagine this electrician popping to Battlecrease to see his mates there, who show him the last page of an old book they just found, then he goes back home and has a swift half in the pub and Bob's your Uncle - Mike finds out enough about it to whet his interest and try to whet Doreen's.

Love,

Caz
X

Sounds plausible to me Caz.

[peg&pie]

It's clearly not impossible for the diary to have been found on the morning of the 9th, and made it's way into Mike's possession by mid day or early afternoon. Surely this is obvious to all?

What time did he telephone Doreen? I'm uncertain as to this.

Were Mike's phone records ever looked at?

Imagine if you will, and I have no idea as to the proposed events that morning, the possibility that proof yet exists.
If an electrician friend of Mikes phones him that morning to meet up at the pub to take possession of a package, imagine that the records of this call could exist. If the number calling could be identified to one of the electricians, or the phone box around the corner from Maybricks house....

I would find this very compelling and may even slip over to the pro diary side. Just a little.

[Herlock Sholmes]

One thing that has always 'bothered' me when people say that the text of the diary could easily have been composed using 2 or 3 source books is the fact that in none of them would a murder in Manchester have been mentioned. Why would a forger, knowing full well how many people in the world scrutinise and study these murders, invent another previously unknown one. Surely he was taking a needlesss, and some might say stupid risk considering that it would be obvious that researchers would try and discover this victim. Unsuccessfully as it happens. Surely he would just keep to the facts that he'd gleaned from the sources he'd used?

[peg&pie]

How possible is it that this first victim didn't die?
Could he have simply been mistaken and left her for dead?

Is it possible this assault was never reported.
Like a lot of Diary stuff it's vague enough to be inconclusive.

So much is tantalisingly close yet so frustratingly far from proof.

[caz]

I was referring to the notion that Michael Maybrick wrote the Diary as a hoax, not that he was the murderer.

Fine, Observer, but as far as I'm aware it's only Bruce who thinks Michael was involved with either.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

I thought that you were a woman

I'm a free woman too, HS. I was just quoting number 6 from The Prisoner.

I wouldn't be a man for all the gin in Waitrose.

Love,

Number 7
X

[caz]

If Keith wishes Mikes notes to be released, then surely it can be made to happen.

It can indeed, Monty. And it will.

But to be fair, the credit should go to David Orsam for so desperately wishing for them to be published. Keith was merely happy to make them available for that purpose.

Love,

Caz
X

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Caz,

Has anyone ever researched how easy it actually is to forge a Victorian diary? We know that art forgers are highly skilled artists but what about this kind of 'forgery.' Obviously it's not just as simple as buying a Victorian-type ink and a Victorian book and off you go. How easy is it, for example, to fool the Ion Migration test which shows when the ink was applied to the paper?
It may be quite simple. It may not be. I don't know. Would Proffessor Barrett have known

[Abby Normal]

Abby, it means 'there it is,' or 'there you have it.'

It comes from when Lord Salisbury (Robert [Bob] Cecil) appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour to a senior position when no one thought that he should get the post. Therefore he only got the job because 'Bob was his uncle.'

The joys of the English language! Even we don't understand it most of the time

thanks HS! got it.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I'm a free woman too, HS. I was just quoting number 6 from The Prisoner.

I wouldn't be a man for all the gin in Waitrose.

Love,

Number 7
X

I did get 'The Prisoner' reference Caz.

[Abby Normal]

Is fanny your aunt?

whos your Daddy?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Kaz,

Don't say fanny in a mixed U.K./USA forum or there'll be some serious confusion👍

[Kaz]

Kaz,

Don't say fanny in a mixed U.K./USA forum or there'll be some serious confusion👍

HAHA!

I know....

I'll try to stop winding....can't help myself

[caz]

"I will give her a call"?

They had phones in 1888?

Yes, and apparently James Maybrick had one. Not that it would matter if he did or didn't, because nobody in their right mind could interpret this as a serious intention to get Queen Vic on the blower.

I wonder how quickly Mike Barrett found out that Maybrick had one of these newfangled 'telling bones'?

Love,

Caz
X