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

[Hunter]

I've been at a boring party all night (only 2 pints by the way) where I've been thinking about Barrett, diary, electricians etc. Yes, that's how boring the party was!

It's just symptoms of an incurable psychological disorder. Those of us who are affiliated are called Ripperologists.

[John G]

This is an interesting assessment of the age testing carried out on the diary: https://medium.com/boston-university...x-da49e1287d5e

[Observer]

I would urge anyone who has bought the latest book, "25 years of the Diary of Jack The Ripper The True Facts", indeed any of the books on the subject which portray Maybrick as JTR, or for that matter any future books on the subject to read the link above. It's very important you do that.

[Observer]

Of course I mean if anyone is considering buying any future books on the subject, please read the above link.

[Sam Flynn]

This is an interesting assessment of the age testing carried out on the diary: https://medium.com/boston-university...x-da49e1287d5e

"McNeil’s report initially calculated the diary’s median date as 1921 plus or minus twelve years, conflicting with earlier tests and the present evidence which showed the ink to be a modern forgery. He later accepted that the results may have been distorted by artificial aging of the document, akin to the fake Mussolini diaries which had been falsely aged by being heated in an oven, and acknowledged that the heavy, unsized paper of album used to create the diary would have defeated his attempts to match up with the reference samples. This is important because unsized paper is extra absorbent and a simple ink-solubility test determined that the ink was barely dry on the pages."

Indeed, which supports my contention that the absorbency of any type of paper would have a bearing on how much the ink had penetrated. McNeil's laboratory experiments, which in the early/mid 1980s had led to the development of his ion-migration test, had only used eight samples of paper spanning 700 years. That's roughly one piece of paper per century, which scarcely leaves any room to establish how different types of paper from the same epoch would behave. There are several different types of paper one can buy even now, each with subtly - or even grossly - different absorption rates, and I see no reason why the same shouldn't have been true of the 19th Century.

Then there's the nature of the diary itself. Was the original book, or album, that came to be the "Maybrick" diary made of the best quality writing paper? I doubt it. If it was more absorbent than the best Victorian-era writing paper, then it follows that any ink deposited on its surface would penetrate more deeply, giving the appearance of having been in contact with the paper for longer than it actually had been; perhaps much longer. This is why I am extremely dubious about the validity of the McNeil test in this context.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Good points made by all. I suppose that the only point that I could make is 'which scientists/tests do we believe? I'm certainly not qualified to answer that one so I won't even attempt to. It goes without saying that we shouldn't advance one opinion because it concurs with a belief. Robert Smith could be guilty of that, I don't know?

We need someone who is very wealthy and could afford to subject the diary to every known test st the very top laboratories.

Come on Sam. Don't you have a stash of Welsh gold hidden away somewhere

[Sam Flynn]

I wish I had, Herlock. However, for me, the words are enough to place the diary's composition firmly in the latter half of the 20th Century, and probably in the latter quarter.

[Abby Normal]

I've been at a boring party all night (only 2 pints by the way) where I've been thinking about Barrett, diary, electricians etc. Yes, that's how boring the party was!

I just like to hear thoughts.

I understand that many are suspicious of the alleged speed that the diary was passed along the chain from electricians to Mike Barrett. What do you all think about the connection from Barrett to the electricians?

Barrett has the diary on the 9th of March. The electricians were in Maybrick's room lifting floorboards on the same day.

Is it likely that Barrett forges a diary and then just happens to find an electrictrician that has worked in Maybrick's room to help explain its origins?

If Barrett already knew an electrician, which appears to be true, is anyone saying that this electrician gave Mike the idea for the subject of his forgery? Because surely that electrician wouldn't have known far enough in-hand that he would be working in Maybrick's room to allow Barrett time for the forgery?

Again I'm not being pro or anti here I'm just wondering how everyone here interprets events? I fully accept that I could have missed something especially after the appalling music that I've been subjected to tonight

Hey HS
I mentioned something similar a while back.

perhaps MB had the diary hoaxed already in some shape or form and talks to the electricians that day in the pub and gets the idea to say it came from the house that day.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hey HS
I mentioned something similar a while back.

perhaps MB had the diary hoaxed already in some shape or form and talks to the electricians that day in the pub and gets the idea to say it came from the house that day.

Could have been Abby but I think we would have to admit that it would have been an enormous coincidence/ stroke of luck that a guy forges a diary saying Maybrick was the Ripper then he bumps into a guy who happens to be lifting up the floorboards in Maybrick's bedroom providing a bit of dodgy provenance. Not impossible though.
I also wondered if Barrett got the idea for forging a diary fingering Maybrick from one of the electricians? It seemed unlikely though because surely the electrician wouldn't have known very far in advance that he would be working in Maybrick's room. And while I realise that most consider the diary an obvious forgery we would surely have to allow a forger(Barrett) time to do some ripper research, some Maybrick research and to learn how to get the ink, paper etc to not get easily found out on first testing.
I find these electricians a little....troubling.

[Scott Nelson]

Wouldn't the electricians have been closely questioned by Scotland Yard during their investigation? The same goes for many of the individuals that have been mentioned here, Dodd, etc.???

[Herlock Sholmes]

In the new book Smith says that Scotland Yard were called in by The Sunday Times. They apparently investigated the publishers, the Barrett's and the electricians but detected no evidence that a forgery had been perpetrated. That's the only mention of Scotland Yard in the book apart from Warren's men.

[Mike J. G.]

I've been at a boring party all night (only 2 pints by the way) where I've been thinking about Barrett, diary, electricians etc. Yes, that's how boring the party was!

I just like to hear thoughts.

I understand that many are suspicious of the alleged speed that the diary was passed along the chain from electricians to Mike Barrett. What do you all think about the connection from Barrett to the electricians?

Barrett has the diary on the 9th of March. The electricians were in Maybrick's room lifting floorboards on the same day.

Is it likely that Barrett forges a diary and then just happens to find an electrictrician that has worked in Maybrick's room to help explain its origins?

If Barrett already knew an electrician, which appears to be true, is anyone saying that this electrician gave Mike the idea for the subject of his forgery? Because surely that electrician wouldn't have known far enough in-hand that he would be working in Maybrick's room to allow Barrett time for the forgery?

Again I'm not being pro or anti here I'm just wondering how everyone here interprets events? I fully accept that I could have missed something especially after the appalling music that I've been subjected to tonight

I think the fact that P&R had worked at the house before prior to '92 is very interesting, as is the fact that an employee who worked there was living in the same street as Tony Devereux and drinking in the same pub as Mike Barrett.

This is why I think Robinson should've looked into all of the transactions between Dodd and P&R, including the dates for the initial contact between them regarding specific jobs. That's what a serious researcher would've done.

I think it could be likely that Rigby could've brought up the fact that he'd worked/was working at Battlecrease: maybe a you'll never guess where I'm working... kind of thing.

I don't pretend to know when any story or ideas were concocted, but I find the whole thing more than a little sketchy.

[Mike J. G.]

Could have been Abby but I think we would have to admit that it would have been an enormous coincidence/ stroke of luck that a guy forges a diary saying Maybrick was the Ripper then he bumps into a guy who happens to be lifting up the floorboards in Maybrick's bedroom providing a bit of dodgy provenance. Not impossible though.
I also wondered if Barrett got the idea for forging a diary fingering Maybrick from one of the electricians? It seemed unlikely though because surely the electrician wouldn't have known very far in advance that he would be working in Maybrick's room. And while I realise that most consider the diary an obvious forgery we would surely have to allow a forger(Barrett) time to do some ripper research, some Maybrick research and to learn how to get the ink, paper etc to not get easily found out on first testing.
I find these electricians a little....troubling.

I honestly think that if Mike did it, he did it while reading RWE's work on the subject, and connected the relevant dots to turn him into "the Ripper."

I think that he obviously had some type of acquaintance with Rigby, either via the Saddle or via Tony D, and that Rigby had previously mentioned working at the house.

Something along those lines makes sense to me, but it's obviously just a theory.

[Graham]

And then, of course, there is The Watch.....

Graham

[Mike J. G.]

And then, of course, there is The Watch.....

Graham

Yeah, it's always easy to forget about that old chestnut. Is there any mention of this in the new book?