new info on the diary

[Livia]

Of course it makes sense. You can't be prosecuted for
profiting off the sale of a family heirloom. And the two
aren't mutually exclusive, i.e. the diary could be genuinely
old but not a Graham family heirloom. When it was realized
that the Tony Devereaux story wasn't holding, a new
provenance had to be invented, one that wouldn't carry
with it a penalty for handling stolen property.

Merry Christmas to you too.

[pinkmoon]

Of course it makes sense. You can't be prosecuted for
profiting off the sale of a family heirloom. And the two
aren't mutually exclusive, i.e. the diary could be genuinely
old but not a Graham family heirloom. When it was realized
that the Tony Devereaux story wasn't holding, a new
provenance had to be invented, one that wouldn't carry
with it a penalty for handling stolen property.

Merry Christmas to you too.

Hi and a merry Christmas,what I meant was it dosnt make sense if diary is genuine so it obviously isn't

[MayBea]

MayBea, Mrs Briggs was Maybrick's junior by 12 years, therefore, not "old" in relation to Maybrick. The Briggs' marriage didn't last
long, but long enough to produce two daughters...

Livia Trivia, I presume. Hello and holiday greetings. Thank you for your research.

If you are the same Livia Trivia, I already credited you for your research in the Jack Wilson question in the Other Mysteries section.

[MayBea]

Anne Graham's story, that she gave it to Tony Devereaux to give to her then house-husband so he could 'do something with it', makes sense to me.

Why else would a retired newspaper worker or anyone else give such a newsworthy discovery to Michael Barrett?

Would the Grahams even know that Jack the Ripper was a mystery and that their family heirloom was the solution?

[Brenda]

.

"Would the Grahams even know that Jack the Ripper was a mystery and that their family heirloom was the solution?"

Wouldn't a Brit NOT knowing that JTR was a mystery be kind of like an American not knowing that the JFK murder was a mystery?

[Graham]

I rather think that Mike could possibly have been telling the truth when he claimed to have received the thing from Devereux. If this is the case, then Devereux presumably got it from the electricians who were his fellow-drinkers in The Saddle pub. So why give it to Mike Barrett?

Mike had aspirations as an author, and had tried to get kids' stories published ("Danny The Dolphin Boy" being one) without much success. He also had a word-processor, which I suggest were not common in working-class Liverpool in 1992, and he visited libraries, also an uncommon pastime. It is therefore possible that Mike was viewed by his mates as something of a 'literary bloke', hence the gift of the nicked Diary which its finders probably viewed as useless and worthless.

The Devereux daughters swore that their father had never been in possession of the Diary, so if the above is anything close to what happened, Devereux may have had the thing for only a very short time, probably just an hour or so, and maybe it never left The Saddle until it was passed to Mike.

As to who wrote it, I'm still none the wiser, but if it wasn't James Maybrick (and I don't believe it was) then it was by a person or persons very close to him and who knew a lot about him, his history, his family and his lifestyle.

Graham:

[Sam Flynn]

if it wasn't James Maybrick (and I don't believe it was) then it was by a person or persons very close to him and who knew a lot about him, his history, his family and his lifestyle.

Or who read up about him much later, Graham, e.g.

The Girl with the Scarlet Brand, Charles Boswell and Lewis Thompson (Fawcett, 1954)

Mrs Maybrick, in "Famous Trials III" (Penguin Paperbacks, 1950)

This Friendless Lady, Nigel Morland (Muller, 1957)

Etched in Arsenic, Trevor Christie (Chambers/Harrap, 1969)

The Poisoned Life of Mrs Maybrick, Bernard Ryan (1977)

... among, I daresay, others.

[The Good Michael]

Or who read up about him much later, Graham, e.g.

The Girl with the Scarlet Brand, Charles Boswell and Lewis Thompson (Fawcett, 1954)

Mrs Maybrick, in "Famous Trials III" (Penguin Paperbacks, 1950)

This Friendless Lady, Nigel Morland (Muller, 1957)

Etched in Arsenic, Trevor Christie (Chambers/Harrap, 1969)

The Poisoned Life of Mrs Maybrick, Bernard Ryan (1977)

... among, I daresay, others.

Well...if someone read all those books about Maybrick, I'd say he/she was close to him in a sense. Hello Gareth.

Mike

[MayBea]

MayBea, Mrs Briggs was Maybrick's junior by 12 years, therefore,
not "old" in relation to Maybrick.

Livia,
Might you be thinking of the Diary passage "Encountered old friend on the Exchange floor"?

Hammersmith is not referred to as old.

[MayBea]

Or who read up about him much later, Graham, e.g.

Is the 'genius' forger theory of the modern hoax preferable to the 'insider' theory of the old forgery side?

Not to get into the middle of the two sides of the hoax fray but why defend new hoax versus old hoax?

[Ginger]

Not to get into the middle of the two sides of the hoax fray but why defend new hoax versus old hoax?

Because it's a mystery.

[Livia]

Livia,
Might you be thinking of the Diary passage "Encountered old friend on the Exchange floor"?

Hammersmith is not referred to as old.

You're right. Hammersmith is not described as old.

If Mrs Briggs was Hammersmith, then James Maybrick could
not have written the diary. Mrs Briggs did not leave
Much Woolton for Earl's Court London (about a mile and
a half from Hammersmith) until after 1901.

[pinkmoon]

Hi all,discussing fine points about the diary isnt really what we should be doing untill we have discoverd where it has come from and where it has been hiding for all these years.please do not suggest I read Mr Feldmans book to enlighten myself about the diarys history because I have and it hasn't.

[James_J]

Pinkmoon please read my previous comment addressing this point. Thank you

Regards, James.

[MayBea]

...If Mrs Briggs was Hammersmith, then James Maybrick could not have written the diary. Mrs Briggs did not leave Much Woolton for Earl's Court London (about a mile and a half from Hammersmith) until after 1901.

I had no idea she moved to London. My suggestion is that he called her Hammersmith because her husband, Captain Briggs, was an honorary Major like "Major Hammersmith" in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club (1878).