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

[Sam Flynn]

What's all this talk about boxing? Oh, wait! This is a diary thread, so it was bound to come to blows eventually

[Mike J. G.]

What's all this talk about boxing? Oh, wait! This is a diary thread, so it was bound to come to blows eventually

I know, some off-topic posts about the fight at weekend, lol. My apologies to all.

[Herlock Sholmes]

thanks Owl

well then I guess maybrick had three different hands he could right in.

quite the chameleon when it comes to writing I suppose.

Where are your sources saying that Maybrick had three arms Abby?

[Harry D]

Where are your sources saying that Maybrick had three arms Abby?

It would explain how he removed the organs so quickly.

[Pcdunn]

Still trying to catch up on this thread. I'm vary happy to report that my copy of the "Diary of Jack the Ripper" was picked up from my local post office this morning.

No time to read it all yet, but as I've skimmed through it I've been struck by the instances of strike-outs and re-drafts of certain passages. To a literature major (who has seen sample manuscript and letter drafts before), this is very much like someone writing something without previously thinking it out.
Would a modern forger with a limited number of blank vintage pages do it that way, I wonder.

Looking forward to reading the book. Thanks for my copy #252, Mr. Wood. Well done!

[MysterySinger]

Was the diary written in Cottingley by any chance?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Was the diary written in Cottingley by any chance?

As a major Doyle admirer I tend to stick my fingers in my ears when 'Cottingley' is mention. I wish that seances were real so I could tell Sir Arthur ' love your work but you really let the side down on that one mate!'

[Mike J. G.]

Still trying to catch up on this thread. I'm vary happy to report that my copy of the "Diary of Jack the Ripper" was picked up from my local post office this morning.

No time to read it all yet, but as I've skimmed through it I've been struck by the instances of strike-outs and re-drafts of certain passages. To a literature major (who has seen sample manuscript and letter drafts before), this is very much like someone writing something without previously thinking it out.
Would a modern forger with a limited number of blank vintage pages do it that way, I wonder.

Looking forward to reading the book. Thanks for my copy #252, Mr. Wood. Well done!

I guess a better question might be would a vintage forger do that? Or would a killer do it?

I don't know if it makes any significant difference, tbh.

There were a few pages missing (ripped out) anyway, so I'm not sure if space was a pressing issue to the forger.

[Pcdunn]

Public library?

Y'know, I hadn't even considered how the number for the publisher was obtained, that's a very good point.

So, we're supposed to believe that Barrett had this number on him at all times? He certainly couldn't have popped on the internet, and I doubt if the local yellow-pages would have a number for a book publisher in London.

American public libraries, in the past (pre-Internet), frequently kept phone books for surrounding cities in their reference collections.
I can't attest to whether or not British public libraries did the same, but it is a possibility that the library in Liverpool had a London telephone book listing publishers.

[Pcdunn]

Beware assumptions...

Here's something else that has been taxing me:

Why, for Heaven's sake, shove it under the floor where, so far as James Maybrick in 1889 is concerned, it may never be found?

Graham

Very true, especially since the diarist wrote he or she intended to leave it "where it will be found." But, consider-- suppose he/she DID leave the book in plain view, and it was hidden under the floorboards by a member of the family or household?

[Mike J. G.]

American public libraries, in the past (pre-Internet), frequently kept phone books for surrounding cities in their reference collections.
I can't attest to whether or not British public libraries did the same, but it is a possibility that the library in Liverpool had a London telephone book listing publishers.

The only problem there is that Rigby is supposed to have passed Barrett the book in the pub, which is in Anfield, which is nowhere near to the library in the city center.

[Mike J. G.]

Very true, especially since the diarist wrote he or she intended to leave it "where it will be found." But, consider-- suppose he/she DID leave the book in plain view, and it was hidden under the floorboards by a member of the family or household?

But why would they bother to hide it? If it was problematic for them or anyone else, why not just be rid of it completely?

As I've mentioned before, the story about it being hidden beneath the floor seems like a convenient way to account for the fact that it's been "hidden" all of those years. You get a way to claim it came from the house, and an answer as to why it'd not been found.

Dodd's claims about there not ever being a book discovered during earlier work is a bit of a problem for anyone claiming the diary came from the house, as is the fact that the electrician gave conflicting dates for the find.

[GUT]

The only problem there is that Rigby is supposed to have passed Barrett the book in the pub, which is in Anfield, which is nowhere near to the library in the city center.

And of course Deveraux also passed it to him, poor old Mike must have lost it at one stage to be given to him so often, but then Anne wasn't much better at keeping it safe, after yearsin her family she lost it so it could end up under the floorboards for Rigby to give to Mike to give to her to give to Deveraux to give Mike.

My head hurts trying to follow all the lies.

[Spider]

Another thing I have an issue with, is why didn't Maybrick strike in Liverpool? Why not strike in our very own Whitechapel? Why not write in to the local press?

Convenient that he went all the way to London, and randomly, Manchester, to do "his work", when he lived in Liverpool.

So this was a degenerating man with a tendency to mutilate and kill, yet he kept himself from doing it in his own city, choosing to sit nicely on a train and wait til he got to London.

Anybody who is up to no good, whether it be an affair let alone murder would not sh*t on their own doorstep as they say.
Some serial killers, especially this one, like connections it's the way their minds work and as our 'diarist' says:
"I said I am clever, very clever. Whitechapel Liverpool, Whitechapel London, ha ha. No one could possibly place it together. And indeed for there is no reason for anyone to do so"

[StevenOwl]

Dodd's claims about there not ever being a book discovered during earlier work is a bit of a problem for anyone claiming the diary came from the house, as is the fact that the electrician gave conflicting dates for the find.

Not really. I've just had a load of work done on my house and each morning I let the builders in and then went out. They could have unearthed any hidden artifact and got it out without my knowledge. Could have been the same for Dodd.