Vote the Diary

[caz]

Does the Old Hoax theory even need the Diary to have come out of Battlecrease during renovations?

What a strange question, MayBea.

What does 'need' have to do with establishing where the diary really came from and where it didn't? It is what it is, and it was where it was. A theory can't change that and shouldn't want or need to.

Of course, the modern hoax conspiracy theory needs Keith's Battlecrease evidence like a hole in the head.

Love,

Caz
X

[Graham]

Thanks, Graham, but Shirley Harrison's book presently has no preview on Google Books, not even a snippet.

Martin-Wright comes up as an importer living on Aigburth so I'm assuming he's the owner or former owner of Battlecrease during the renovations. What could he say other than there were workers in the house pulling out walls and pulling up boards?

Up to now, we only have proof, by way of the letter by Florence's mother, that items were stolen from the Maybrick home during the Trial.

Hi MB,

Strange, but I was taken direct to the relevant pages of Shirley's book, outlining in detail the information Livia posted. Odd.

Graham

[Livia]

Tim Martin-Wright lived in Aigburth, but not in Battlecrease.
Paul Dodd's family has owned Battlecrease since the
early 1940s.

Mr Martin-Wright was the owner of a home security
and electrical service. One of his employees told
Robert Smith and his lawyer that in the fall of '91
a customer told the employee about his colleague,
an electrician who while working at Battlecrease,
found a biscuit tin containing a leather bound diary
and a gold ring under the floorboards.

The employee suggested to the customer that he show
the diary to Mr Martin-Wright as he was a collector
of antique books and a price of £25 was mentioned.
But the customer did not have possession of the diary
and wasn't the electrician who had worked at Battlecrease.
Mr Martin-Wright confirmed the date of late fall 1991
for these events as he had opened his shop in October
of that year and it was a month or two after the opening.

The employee later heard that the diary had been sold in
a pub in Anfield.

Shirley Harrison spoke to the customer who referred her
to another colleague of the electrician who had been at
Battlecrease the day something was found under the floor.
He said there was something found, but according to a
memo book he kept, his crew worked in Battlecrease in
June of 1992, too late to have been the diary. Paul Dodd
confirmed that storage heaters had been installed in Maybrick's
bedroom in late summer of 1991, but he had done all the
prep work.

The 2010 Kindle edition, "The Diary of Jack the Ripper:
The Chilling Confessions of James Maybrick" is available
at Amazon for $4.99.

[MayBea]

Google "Timothy Martin Wright Liverpool", then open the Google Book site "The Diary Of Jack The Ripper" and all will be revealed.

Thanks, Graham, but Shirley Harrison's book presently has no preview on Google Books, not even a snippet.

Martin-Wright comes up as an importer living on Aigburth so I'm assuming he's the owner or former owner of Battlecrease during the renovations. What could he say other than there were workers in the house pulling out walls and pulling up boards?

Up to now, we only have proof, by way of the letter by Florence's mother, that items were stolen from the Maybrick home during the Trial.

[pinkmoon]

I honestly believe the diary was removed from battlecrease by workmen and then ended up in Mr Barrett s hands.When you do a timeline of events the only connection Mr Barrett has with battlecrease is by drinking in the saddlers pub with the workmen from battlecrease.

[Graham]

I recognize the name of Robert Smith who's the owner of the Diary. But who's Tim Martin-Wright? Is he one of the Battlecrease electricians?

Does the Old Hoax theory even need the Diary to have come out of Battlecrease during renovations?

Google "Timothy Martin Wright Liverpool", then open the Google Book site "The Diary Of Jack The Ripper" and all will be revealed.

Graham

[MayBea]

I recognize the name of Robert Smith who's the owner of the Diary. But who's Tim Martin-Wright? Is he one of the Battlecrease electricians?

Does the Old Hoax theory even need the Diary to have come out of Battlecrease during renovations?

[Livia]

]
What about the provenance through Billy Graham's step-mother, Edith Formby through her mother, Elizabeth Formby? She had a laundry near Battlecrease and allegedly fenced items stolen from there.

Yes that's the story according to the Grahams. They'd also have
us believe that the diary was in their possession for almost forty
years, moved from house to house and no one read it, until
1968-69 when Anne read some of it and found it "interesting".
Then in 1989, Billy gives the diary to Anne and she hides it
until at some vague point in May or June of 1991, she reads
it and decides to give it to Tony Devereaux, whom by her own
admission she barely knows, to give to her husband with the
instruction to "do something with it." At this point, neither
Barrett knows who wrote it, or anything about Battlecrease
or the Maybricks. But according to Anne's story the diary
has been in the family for years. For all she knows, the diary
could have been written by her great grandfather or some other
relative, yet she gives it to a near stranger?

Compare the above story to the one told by Shirley Harrison
in the 2010 edition of her book, where in 1997 Robert Smith
travels to Liverpool to interview Tim Martin-Wright.

Occam's razor.

[caz]

It could also be possible that Mr Barratt did not know the diary was a fake?

It's pretty inconceivable that Mike Barrett knows any more than anyone else who wrote it, when or why. Why should he? He was left totally on his own, free to do whatever he wanted with it, but with not a bloody clue.

Love,

Caz
X

[MayBea]

]

... I haven't found anything
that would indicate William Graham was not
the son of Adam and Alice Spence Graham,
therefore, I do not now believe that the diary was
a Graham family heirloom...

What about the provenance through Billy Graham's step-mother, Edith Formby through her mother, Elizabeth Formby? She had a laundry near Battlecrease and allegedly fenced items stolen from there.

[Livia]

Hi MayBea,

No, the Alice referred to in that post
was the step daughter (or possibly the
daughter) of William Graham. She is listed
as Mary Alice on the 1911 census. She was a child of
3 or 4 in 1910-11 when a well dressed lady visited
her mother, Rebecca Jones Graham.

Alice Spence Graham, William's mother, was
still living in Hartlepool in 1911 and according
to William's children, they did not know their
grandparents. Alice Spence Graham had 11
children, 9 of whom lived to adulthood.

So I guess it depends on how much faith you
put in Alice's memory of seeing Florence when
she was a very young child.

After researching the Graham records that
are available to me, I haven't found anything
that would indicate William Graham was not
the son of Adam and Alice Spence Graham,
therefore, I do not now believe that the diary was
a Graham family heirloom.

If Keith Skinner says he can prove the diary came
out of Battlecrease, then that's good enough for me.

Liv

[MayBea]

...If Mr or Mrs Barrett were descended from her I am sure it would have been discovered, wouldn't it?

Paul Feldman found plenty of evidence in this regard, as pointed out by Livia Trivia here:

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=14290&page=14

Alice, I believe, would be Alice Graham, the adoptive mother of William Graham.

[Kaz]

"Florence Elizabeth Maybrick widow of James Maybrick deceased" was born in Mabill? Alabama in 1861 her father was a native of USA.
according to her request to leave USA in 1906. It also states she is a literary writer and that she would be away for two months.
Anybody can see this on Ancestry USA (including her writing)
I suppose it could be possible that Florence was forced to aid her husbands addiction until his death and wanted to show her anger at being accused of murder?
It could also be possible that Mr Barratt did not know the diary was a fake?
If Mr or Mrs Barrett were descended from her I am sure it would have been discovered, wouldn't it?

Pat..............................

Yes, all of those things.

[GUT]

You can't moan.

Why not?

Everyone else seems to.

[pinkmoon]

You can, you know!

You're right