Maybrick--a Problem in Logic

[Observer]

Yep. They were texting me after the monkeys.

Anyone could have done it. The fact that Barrett did was nevertheless much to his credit.

Tell them to get the black armbands out, the locals have hung them. Harrison and her team couldn't locate it.

[Observer]

4) He buys a copy from a local bookstore (who knows how long he looked before he did?)

Why did he have to do that? Why go to the expense, and leg work when he already had the information for Shirley Harrison from Liverpool Central Library

The sane amongst us (including those who met Barrett) piss ourselves laughing at their credulity

Lets see, all five of you, if my calculations are correct, and even then only three of you believe Maybrick was Jack The Ripper..

[Observer]

How much of a bourgeois cotton-broker, interested in wine, women, sports, and gambling would he have had to be, say, at the age of 7 when he may have learned the lines from a book in his father's house?

I think that once again you are spinning the wheel until it lands on the slice of pie you want.

I believe that's called spinning the wheel until it lands on your slice of pie

[Iconoclast]

Why did he have to do that? Why go to the expense, and leg work when he already had the information for Shirley Harrison from Liverpool Central Library

How would I know?

Does that mean he was definitely a hoaxer?

He bought a book that had huge significance in his life right then. Secondhand. Maybe paid anything up to 50p for it. Probably felt he wanted it.

[Observer]

He bought a book that had huge significance in his life right then. Secondhand. Maybe paid anything up to 50p for it. Probably felt he wanted it.

Yes, just like the little maroon diary he bought, the one which he though it best to transcribe the text from the "genuine" Maybrick Diary to take to London fearing that the original might be lost or stolen. Or is it, the maroon diary was purchased because he wanted to see what a Victorian diary looked like, to compare it to the Maybrick Diary.

He had the Sphere book all along.

[Iconoclast]

Yes, just like the little maroon diary he bought, the one which he though it best to transcribe the text from the "genuine" Maybrick Diary to take to London fearing that the original might be lost or stolen. Or is it, the maroon diary was purchased because he wanted to see what a Victorian diary looked like, to compare it to the Maybrick Diary.

He had the Sphere book all along.

If you know for definite what Mike Barrett did or did not do (whether in relation to the original scrapbook, the useful 1891 diary, the Sphere volume, etc.), or if you know for definite why he did things, just let us all know. Don't forget to clarify for us exactly how you know these things to be true. All we can really say with any safety is:

• We know he brought the scrapbook to London
• We know he sought out an 1880-1890 diary
• We know he said Tony D gave him the scrapbook (though we only know that he said it)
• We know his marriage collapsed
• We know he got pissed-up a lot
• We know he started claiming he created the scrapbook
• We know he denied it
• Then claimed it
• Then denied it
• Then denied it (because he forgot he hadn't just claimed it)
• We know he was abjectly unable to provide a single shred of evidence to support his claims
• We know his claims did not stack up to the facts
• We know people excused this on his 'stroke' in 1993 for which his medical records show no such event
• We know he made a thousand claims, contradicted them, failed to back them all up
• We know he eventually drifted away, his insignificance finally sobering him up

Now, this is the guy you and Roger and Lord Orsam would have us believe pulled-off a complex 60+ page Ripper hoax which to this day is unrevealled.

I think you may be quite wrong, you know.

[Iconoclast]

He had the Sphere book all along.

And you can prove this, yes?

[Observer]

If you know for definite what Mike Barrett did or did not do (whether in relation to the original scrapbook, the useful 1891 diary, the Sphere volume, etc.), or if you know for definite why he did things, just let us all know. Don't forget to clarify for us exactly how you know these things to be true.

No need. You've provided everything we need to know about Barrett. The reason he Needed the Sphere book, the maroon diary. The fact that he was a buffoon who couldn't possibly have had the intelligence to produce the Diary. You have all the answers.

Now, this is the guy you and Roger and Lord Orsam would have us believe pulled-off a complex 60+ page Ripper hoax which to this day is unrevealled.

I think you may be quite wrong, you know.

It's not a complex hoax. It's a very simple one. You put great emphasis on the fact that it's still a mystery 28 years in the making. The fact is it only had a shelf life of a fraction of those 28 years. Nobody gives a damn about it now, apart from we sad sacks. Your elevation of it into one of the greatest hoaxes in human history is unfounded.

[Observer]

And you can prove this, yes?

Can you back up any of your outlandish claims?

[Observer]

Let's not forget that when Mike Barrett was making his confessions he was putting his head on the chopping block so to speak. He obviously regretted those confessions, because he later retracted them. So, it's no wonder he was reluctant to provide solid evidence to back up his claim that he was the author of the Diary. He was a man tormented, always in two minds, money, booze, and the break up of his marriage was his downfall. Certain individuals who met him after the emergence of the Diary tell us he was a buffoon, not capable of it's creation. IKe, and his ilk believe them without question. To her credit, Shirley Harrison was genuine enough to state that Mike was no fool. Weighing up all the circumstances surrounding the Maybrick saga, I have no doubt at all that it was Mike Barrett, and his wife, who created The Diary of Jack The Ripper.

[Iconoclast]

Your elevation of it into one of the greatest hoaxes in human history is unfounded.

I was paraphrasing Barrett's confession newspaper headline. Obviously you would have had no way of knowing this.

[Iconoclast]

Let's not forget that when Mike Barrett was making his confessions he was putting his head on the chopping block so to speak.

Only if the chopping block was lying in the gutter so to speak.

[Iconoclast]

It's not a complex hoax. It's a very simple one.

By the way, it is very definitely a deeply complex hoax. Obviously you would have had no way of knowing this.

[Observer]

I was paraphrasing Barrett's confession newspaper headline. Obviously you would have had no way of knowing this.

I'm aware of his boast.

However, are you not on record as saying if the Diary is a hoax, then it's the greatest hoax on record?

If I'm mistaken in this assumption, I'll ask you. If the Diary is a hoax is it the greatest Hoax on record?

[Observer]

Only if the chopping block was lying in the gutter so to speak.

Give a man enough rope