Maybrick--a Problem in Logic

[Iconoclast]

The tiny maroon diary from 1891 is in itself an enigma on so many levels, of course, but it is tangentially so also. Here's a great example.

The maroon diary first came to our attention via Bongo Barrett's confession. Prior to this, it was unknown. It's obviously got the prima facie appearance of a smoking gun so you would think that the nest of forgers - already horrified at Bongo's confession - would be seeking to do everything they possibly could to minimise the damage caused by this apparently sensational revelation. One of the key forgers in the nest, of course, was Anne Barrett, Bongo's wife. She of the typing skills and the high level of literacy, etc. - so critical to the creation of the hoax.

So Bongo is confessing all, and he (presumably) and Anne (certainly) are thinking, "Sweet Jeezums, we're all going down for a ten-stretch in chokey, and poor little Caroline is going to be left to grow up without her parents. Who will look after her? Will she be safe? Will she be socially isolated by her parents' criminal past? What on earth have we done? Why did we ever listen to Robbie Johnson when he started this whole charade?".

So - given the enormity of Bongo's confession - you might imagine that The Great Cover-Up would swing into action. At very least, whoever had the smoking gun itself has to hide it quickly or simply destroy it. Time is of the essence - they have to act immediately before Her Majesty's Constabulary swoop all over them humming 'nee-naa, nee-naa' under their breadth.

So, so far so good. A cap can still be put on this one if the maroon diary can simply be relocated to rjpalmer's back garden over which he will grow some carrots or the like, and The Great Denial can begin.

So who has the maroon diary? It turns out it's Anne. Relief all 'round! Or is it? ('Da-na-na-naaaaaa'.)

Roger the Palmer tells us that taking risks goes with the territory of perpetrating frauds. That would explain why both the original scrapbook and the maroon diary were sourced in such easy ways to research - Bongo and Anne and Robbie and the rest just didn't care! Caroline's safe upbringing never crossed their evil minds as they plotted their reckless crime spree. But the red diary is not destroyed [Ed: What????????????????????]. Anne is happy to answer questions about it – willing indeed to give it to Paul Feldman who then gave it to Keith Skinner to research into. She goes considerably out of her way to help Keith trace the person to whom the £25 cheque was sent. And that is what led him to the advertisement. Roger no doubt will be able to offer up an explanation of why Anne should assist Keith in discovering such an incriminating piece of evidence but I - for one - can not.

Unless, of course, Anne had no involvement whatsoever in the hoax - indeed, knew nothing of it. You know what - it's a possibility, isn't it?

One might even go further and argue that this may be indicative of a more general state of innocence than Bongo's confession suggests. Maybe, just maybe, Bongo's confession (which he retracted each time he sobered-up) was the hoax in Roger Palmer's hen coop?

But, hold on. That would suggest that the Victorian scrapbook wasn't a hoax after all, wouldn't it? Hmmmm ...

[rjpalmer]

For you, Ike, sometime when you want to take another acid trip. The article claims it was seven Igors, but I read only six...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-Douglas.html

[rjpalmer]

You've got to wonder why Barrett actually paid for this.

I wonder more why Anne Graham held on to it instead of burning it in the backyard rubbish barrel.

Was a sequel being planned? 'Woked': Florence Maybrick's lost 1891 diary from Woking Prison, with the Remarkable True Confessions of a Serial Poisoner.

[rjpalmer]

A remarkably long-winded and obscure journey to a slightly understated conclusion

It's probably not well-known, Ike, though it has been discussed on the boards before, that the Maybrick's neighbors did indeed have a fox terrier that went missing in August 1888. They evidently replaced it, for in October the same neighbors had an Irish Terrier that also went on walk-about. Does lightening strike a dog owner twice?

The empiricists will quickly point out that there is no evidence that Florrie fed the puppies Fowler's Solution in a bowl of meat juice, but I am convinced she pulled an "Igor" on them, a la Bobby Durst. You no doubt will suspect Sir Jim.

The circumstances were suspicious enough that it was alluded to at Flo's trial.

[Iconoclast]

You've got to wonder why Barrett actually paid for this …

[Iconoclast]

By the way, everyone, Barrett's £25 got him the littler of the two diaries. You might be tempted to think he'd have been a little clearer about how big he needed his diary-with-at-least-20-blank-pages to be?

[Iconoclast]

Most think Florrie Maybrick was innocent, but the dead dogs next door might be circumstantial evidence that points to a different conclusion. Durst couldn't have been the first low-life to dream up the idea of practicing on the pooch. Ergo, the Diarist's suspicion that Florrie was poisoning him could be unexpectedly accurate.

A remarkably long-winded and obscure journey to a slightly understated conclusion, rj, but bizarrely highly entertaining nevertheless.

Honestly, for long periods of that lot, I was convinced you were on drugs, and by the end of it I was convinced that I was. A thing of beauty is a thing for ever. This one will last long in the memory.

Or at least until tomorrow anyway ...

[rjpalmer]

I have to admit that research into Maybrick has come up with some interesting fun facts, from time to time. The bit about the neighbors' dog(s) being poisoned is particularly evocative. Or 'allegedly' poisoned, I should say.

Some in the U.S. will know the name Robert Durst, the New York real-estate heir, currently on trial for murdering Susan Berman, a pulp writer that he had befriended. The Dursts were/are zillionaires in Manhattan, and the head Durst was once on the cover of a magazine with Trump and a couple other shyster real-estate moguls as the "Men Who Owned New York."

Anyway, Durst's wife went mysteriously missing back in 1982. Everyone figured he murdered her, but there was no body and no conclusive evidence. Next Bobby Durst turns up in Galveston, Texas, were he had been hiding out, disguised as a blind woman. (Yes, a blind woman). Seems Bob killed his neighbor, cut up the body, and threw it in the Bay, but zillionaires seldom go to prison, and he was found innocent on the grounds of self-defense. Next was Susan Berman, cadaver number #3, for which Durst is currently being tried in L.A., California, USA.

A story Durst's brother tells is that Robert and his missing wife once owned 6 different Alsatian purebred dogs. Durst called them 'Igor.' All six. Igor 1, Igor 2, etc. They were all Igor.

Each dog died suddenly and mysteriously. It was shortly after this long string of bad luck with the canines that his wife went missing, and theory is that Durst was practicing different methods of murder, using the six Alsatians.

As if in confirmation, an extremely angry Durst once told his brother that he was going to 'Igor' him.

Most think Florrie Maybrick was innocent, but the dead dogs next door might be circumstantial evidence that points to a different conclusion. Durst couldn't have been the first low-life to dream up the idea of practicing on the pooch. Ergo, the Diarist's suspicion that Florrie was poisoning him could be unexpectedly accurate.

[Iconoclast]

When's the next edition of Society's Pillar due out?

Hmmm. I have been rather slow in addressing Lord Orsam's life story response to my short epistle, I agree. Look, don't shoot the messenger, but it might not be until lockdown is over.

Does anyone have any idea when that might be, by the way??????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????

[Iconoclast]

Are you a fan?

One of my very biggestest.

[Iconoclast]

I bet you feel better for that. By the way why the definition of ellipses?

Because you and Graham were talking about the three dots thing ...

[Observer]

When's the next edition of Society's Pillar due out?

Are you a fan?

[Observer]

Oh no. I've been rumbled at long last.

PS I think they are called ellipses ...

I bet you feel better for that. By the way why the definition of ellipses?

[Scott Nelson]

When's the next edition of Society's Pillar due out?

[Iconoclast]

Sometimes It's hard to detect when a really good WUM is winding you up, the above is a good example. In your own vernacular. Giv ower marra

Oh no. I've been rumbled at long last.

PS I think they are called ellipses ...