Miscellaneous Newspaper Accounts

[aspallek]

Albany Journal, 30 November 1888

HE REMEMBERS TUMBLETY
Mr. Smith Describes the Man arrested
for the Whitechapel Murders

Mr. Arden Smith, manager of Edward Arden company, now playing at Jacob and Proctor's theatre, who was with Gen. Frank P. Blair through the war as his private secretary, and in (years undecipherable) clerk to the military committee of the house of representatives, and residing in Washington, remembered on reading in Wednesday's JOURNAL the account of the local and other exploits of Dr. Tumblety, who is under arrest in London on suspicion of being the Whitechapel murderer, that the same fellow was located in Washington in those years. "As I remember him," said Mr. Smith to a JOURNAL reporter today, "he was a man of over six feet in height, 29 or 30 years old, dressed in extremely loud attire and singular as it may seem he rouged his cheeks and colored his eyebrows. He had also a very long moustache. He had his quarters in Brown's hotel at Pennsylvania avenue and Seventh street. He had a big greyhound with him and an attendant named Harold, the same young man who was afterward hanged for his connection with the assassination of Lincoln. While in Washington Tumblety was never known to speak to anyone but Harold, who followed him about like a spaniel. He bore a very unsavory reputation while there.

[aspallek]

The Albany (NY) Journal, 28 November 1888:

[Mayerling]

Hi Andy,

I'm not sure, but Genral Frank Blair served in the war with Sherman in Georgia and on the march to the sea (which takes care of 1864 to December). He came from a distinguished Missouri Family. His father Francis Preston Blair Sr. was an advisor to Andrew Jackson in his Presidency as a member of Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet". Blair Sr. was a newspaper editor. His older son, Montgomery Blair was the Postmaster General of the U.S. from 1861 to 1864, when he resigned to enable Lincoln to reorganize his cabinet. Frank (technically Francis Preston Blair Jr.) remained in the army until 1865, and subsequently became a Democrat again - he was nominated for Vice President by the Democrats in 1868 with Horatio Seymour of New York as the Presidential Candidate - and they were defeated by Ulysses Grant and Schuyler Colfax. General Blair was also a witness (in 1870) of part of the events that occurred after the bludgeoning murder of Mr. Benjamin Nathan of New York in his brownstone home on Fifth Avenue and West 23rd Street (Blair was in the Fifth Avenue Hotel across the street, and saw the two sons of Mr. Nathan running out of the house asking for help from the public or the police).

[Mr. Nathan was Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange, and his brother-in-law was Justice Albert Cardozo of the New York State Supreme Court. The murder was never solved. Mr. Cardozo (who later resigned from the bench when he was linked to the Tweed Ring) would name his infant son
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo in honor of his dead brother-in-law. Benjamin Cardozo (of course) is the famous jurist who became a member of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1930s.]

Montgomery Blair was the grandfather of the actor Montgomery Cliff. If you compare their photographs, their eyebrows and foreheads look remarkably alike.

Unfortunately, except for all this information about the Blairs and their relatives, I know nothing about the General's Secretary.


I have never found proof of a connection between David Herold and Dr. Tumblety. However, when not going hunting, or helping John Wilkes Booth,
Herold did work as a messanger boy/delivery boy/assistant for a Washington druggist.

Jeff

[aspallek]

Apologies if this has been posted before. It seems to indicate that Tumblety was first detained on suspicion of being the Whitechapel murderer on the basis of his hatred toward women and practice of collecting medical specimens (!) and then later re-arrested on the gross indecency charge.

Baltimore Sun 26 June 1904:

[aspallek]

Missouri Newspapers to be included in Chronicling America

According to the Missouri Historical Society Library, digitized Missouri newspapers are to be included in the Chronicling America Library of Congress database by Fall 2009.

http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/search_fulltext_advanced.html

[c.d.]

And if Tumblety killed Mary after all of that, he had a pair of brass ones no doubt about it.

c.d.

[caz]

Hi c.d,

Nice one.

Of course, the pair of brass rings allegedly among old Tumblebum's effects would have been all too easy to acquire, if he fancied leaving a little something behind with which to tease Scotland Yard over the brief chapter in his colourful life entitled 'My Whitechapel Adventure'.

Love,

Caz
X

[aspallek]

Just a note to say I was at St. John's Hospital here in St. Louis today, making a call on a patient. St. John's is were Tumblety died in 1903. The hospital is still very much in operation and thriving, though obviously not in the same location as in 1903. That location is now in downtown St. Louis while the present hospital location is in the suburbs. Just kind of a strange feeling to have a Ripper connection right here!

[mklhawley]

Tumblety & The Battle of Bull Run

Greetings all,

I recently posted a Pittsburgh Dispatch article on the Ripper Writer's web site, which commented on a Stablekeeper Keliher testifying under oath he saw Francis Tumblety at the Battle of Bull Run:

Pittsburg Dispatch, November 19, 1890

TUMBLETY RESURRECTED
The Man Who Was Thought to be Jack the Ripper Satisfies the Judge That He is Right, and is Discharged From Custody [from a staff correxpondent.]

WASHINGTON, November 18. – Dr. Francis Tumblety, who gained some notoriety during the excitement caused by the operations of “Jack the Ripper,” and who made himself notorious in Pittsburg some time since, was a defendant in the police court this morning, “Suspicious person” was the charge made against him by Detective Horne. The doctor is a large man, who wears glasses. He was well dressed, and did not present any outward signs of a vagrant. Some years ago the doctor resided in this city, where he practiced his profession and sold herb medicine. When arrested last night the officer found on him considerable money and some jewelry - in all more than $3000 in value.

Detective Horne gave evidence of the arrest after having seen the defendant several times under suspicious circumstances. Stablekeeper Keliher gave evidence as to the defendant’s character. He said that he knew the doctor during the war, and during the battle of Bull Run he (the doctor) was very active in helping the sick and the wounded. He had always known the doctor as a good citizen. Saloon Keeper Harvey also gave evidence as to the doctor’s good character during the war. About ten years ago he missed the doctor, and did not see him again until about ten days ago.

The defendant testified in his own behalf that he was waiting for a car at Seventh and Pennsylvania Avenue last night, when he heard two young men talking about New York. They were talking when Detective Horne came along them and stopped near them. Witness denied the charge against him, and denounced the arrest as a shocking outrage.

On cross-examination, witness said that he was never charged with a similar offense in England to that indicated by the officer, and that he was not mixed up in a scandal implicating certain lords. He said that some newspapers attempted to say that he was “Jack the Ripper,” but that was a silly statement, to which he paid no attention.

Sincerely,

Mike

[mklhawley]

The following is Joe Chetcuti's and John Spanek's responses to that Pittsburgh Dispatch article:

Joe Chetcuti's:

Mike looked into an Irish-American cemetery in Washington DC and found some people buried there named Keliher. Out of them all, this one particular man deserved attention:

James Keliher 1837-1902, wife Honora Keliher 1840-1912.

I took this information to our genealogist Bill Amos, (a man who I highly recommend to all Ripperologists) and Bill found a 'James Keliher' in the Washington DC section of the 1860 U.S. Census. He was a 22 year old engineer in the U.S. Army.

His father was listed as the owner of livestock stable valued at $30,000.

The 'James Keliher' who testified that he knew Tumblety during the Battle of Bull Run was described by the Pittsburgh Dispatch as a stablekeeper in the Washington DC area. The James Keliher who Bill Amos found in the 1860 U.S. Census came from a family that owned a large livestock stable, and that same James Keliher was listed as having been in the U.S. Army just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

The Pittsburgh Dispatch's James Keliher and the James Keliher who Bill Amos discovered appear to be a match. If so, then the testimony that Keliher gave before a Washington DC judge in November 1890 originated from a decent foundation.

Before we go any further, we should say that this research is not an antagonistic attack on those who say that Sanford Conover lied when he claimed that he met Tumblety at the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The argument that those people bring up is that "Tumblety wasn't at the Battle of Bull Run because a New York City magazine printed a general reference about Tumblety in its July issue. So therefore it must be assumed that Tumblety was in New York and not in the Washington area in July 1861."

Once again, this research into James Keliher wasn't made for the sake of supporting Conover's claim. And it should be mentioned that there were two Battles of Bull Run. The second one occurred in August 1862. Keliher didn't specify which of the two Battles of Bull Run he knew Tumblety from.


Followed by John Spanek's:

Next week, we will display a Civil War era document on this Ripper Writers' thread. That government document revealed the official reason why Francis Tumblety was arrested in St. Louis in May 1865. Appreciation goes to Bill Amos for his assistance with this.

Any thoughts?

Sincerely,

Mike

[mklhawley]

Greetings all,

The above comments from Joe and John are from the Ripper Writers website. What strikes me is that this particular stablekeeper would be just the kind of person Francis Tumblety would associate with. He was a young male military officer in good social standing. I'm sure this is probably where he kept his white horse and grayhounds.

Sincerely,

Mike

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

There is no definitive evidence that Tumblety was in Washington before November, 1861. The New York magazine which Joe mentions is The Knickerbocker which did comment on Tumblety in its July issue (the first battle of Bull Run, or Manassas depending on your geographic allegiances, was on 21 July, 1861) but this is hardly the only evidence, although Joe makes it seem so, that tends to prove that Tumblety was not in DC at the time.

There are Tumblety’s series of New York newspaper and magazine ads which ran in Harper’s Weekly, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, The New York Illustrated News and the New York Times between 6 July and 21 October (with Tumblety’s office listed at 499 Broadway), and ads in The Baltimore Sun which ran from 17 September to 7 October (with office listed at 220 West Baltimore Street). Tumblety himself claimed that he arrived in Washington shortly after George McClellan was made CIC of the Union Army, which occurred on 1 November, 1861. Also, Tumblety’s Washington ads didn’t begin until 10 January, 1862.

The sentence that “during the battle of Bull Run he (the doctor) was very active in helping the sick and the wounded” is interesting in that Tumblety wasn’t a military doctor and, in fact, as pointed out by Tim Riordan, he couldn’t have been since he wasn’t a qualified university trained doctor or surgeon. There’s no way that he would be allowed to minister to any military personnel so this appears to be a lie, although, according to Tim, some restrictions were being loosened by the Spring of 1862. This might also point to, if it ever happened at all, the 2nd Battle of Bull Run in August, 1862.

Secondly, the biographical information Joe has provided on “Stablekeeper Keliher” is, unfortunately, incorrect. He has mixed up two different men and got some of the details wrong.

James Thomas Keleher (not Keliher) was born in Cork, Ireland, on 12 November, 1812. He moved to Boston in 1832 and then Washington in 1836 where he married his wife Henrietta, a native of Maryland. The couple eventually had ten children.
James owned Keleher’s Stables, a large property situated at 423, 425 and 427 8th Street, East Side, between D and E Streets. This is the man who is described as “Stablekeeper Keliher” in the Pittsburg Dispatch article. It is hard to see how this man would have had first hand knowledge of Tumblety’s ministering to the wounded unless, of course, he was relying on Tumblety’s own accounts. Keleher died in Washington on 26 January, 1895.

Keleher’s eldest son was also named James Thomas Keleher. He was born in Washington around the year 1838. In the 1860 census he is listed as being 22years old and was an Engineer in the US Navy (not Army). If it is thought that this man would have first hand knowledge of Tumblety’s ministering to the wounded because he was in the Army, this theory falls apart. This James Thomas Keleher remained a marine engineer and did not own or run his father’s stables.

But hey, don’t let the inconvenient facts get in the way of any Tumblety fantasizing.

Wolf.

[mklhawley]

Kind of like the inconvenient fact that Asst Commissioner Robert Anderson of Scotland Yard solicited information from Brooklyn Chief Patrick Campbell about Francis Tumblety, eh Wolf.


Well, tonight I asked Joe if he was merely "making it seem" that the July 1861 comments about Tumblety in The Knickerbocker magazine was the only existing hint that the 'doctor' was in New York during that particular month.

Did Joe purposely avoid any mention of Tumblety's September 1861 Baltimore experience, the ads in Harper's Weekly, etc. ?

Joe answered me just now. Here is what he said:

I mentioned the July 1861 comments made about Tumblety in The Knickerbocker because the time period of "July 1861" is the focus of our research and because that particular Knickerbocker comment is a reason why there is a belief that Tumblety was in New York in July 1861. I didn't mention Tumblety's September 1861 Baltimore experience or the November 1861 report in the Buffalo Express about a Tumblety/McClellan relationship because, once again, "July 1861" is the month that is the focus of our attention.

As for Harper's 1861 Tumblety ads, Tumblety's September 1861 Baltimore experience, the story in the Buffalo Express , etc... I have already addressed those occurrences. I don't seek ways in "avoiding" them. All anybody has to do is click the web link here and read Post 11.

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=2880&page=2

That post was typed three years ago. I didn't "avoid" discussing those topics then, nor do I seek ways to "avoid" discussing those topics now.




I also asked Joe if he is engaging in any fantasy dreams about Conover and Tumblety getting together in Washington DC in July 1861. And did Joe present Bill Amos' 1860 U.S. Census findings on the Ripper Writer's web site for the sake of showing people that this will all fantastically lead to the conclusion that Conover and Tumblety actually had their famous dinner meeting in 1861?

Joe replied:


My words in regards to the Conover-Tumblety matter were well expressed in the last paragraph of the Jtrforums web link that I have already provided. There is no fantasy involved. And the reason why I shared the 1860 U.S. Census information was for the sake of us learning more about the "stablekeeper" mentioned in the Pittsburgh Dispatch article that you found, Mike.

June 9, 1860 was the date of the U.S. Census page that I worked from. The information on it appeared in small print on the computer that I'm using. I could only slightly magnify its words, and I transcribed them the best I could. At the bottom of the page, there was a 42 year old stable owner named James listed with his 42 year old wife and 22 year old son, who was also named James. The family's surname was not easy to read. It could be Kiliher, Keliher, or Keleher. If somebody has the capabilities of enlarging this image and distinguish the name more accurately than I ended up doing, then that is just fine.

As for the 22 year old "James", my first look at him caused me to believe that I was reading him to have been an "engineer in the U.S. Army." But if somebody has enlarged that image enough to show that the word was actually Navy instead of Army, then once again, that is just fine.

If I remember correctly, I believe Bill mentioned that he found the same young James in the (1870?) U.S. Census as a grocery store owner. He probably got a good price on beef from his Dad.

I will be at the Ripper Writers' web site if there is need of more discussion about this, Mike.

[Robert]

James Jnr resigned his navy position 17th March 1868.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Kind of like the inconvenient fact that Asst Commissioner Robert Anderson of Scotland Yard solicited information from Brooklyn Chief Patrick Campbell about Francis Tumblety, eh Wolf.

Several years ago the first part of my two part article On the Trail of Tumblety? Inspector Andrews’ Trip to Toronto (Ripper Notes #23 July 2005) was published. Even though part two, which provided my full argument, wouldn’t be published for three more months I was attacked by Stewart Evans and Roger Palmer (who called me a liar and stated that I had fabricated evidence and who demanded that I prove what I had written. When I easily, and conclusively, did so Palmer slunk away without a word of apology and later denied that this had ever happened).

This type of irrational knee jerk support for Tumblety is, sadly, typical. I, however, am waiting for Mr. Palmer’s full theory to be published before I comment on it, and I will be commenting on it in great detail. I will say this, though, that the article regarding Anderson contacting Brooklyn is brand new evidence and Mr. Palmer should be congratulated for finding it since it provides a clearer picture of Scotland Yard’s feelings towards Tumblety as a suspect. Facts and new information are never inconvenient to me although I have found that they are often so for Tumblety supporters (see your own post above Mike).

As for what Joe said, or originally meant on the other site, I only have what you posted here, Mike, to comment on. If things were posted out of context, it was you who did so.

One final thing. Joe states “If I remember correctly, I believe Bill mentioned that he found the same young James in the (1870?) U.S. Census as a grocery store owner. He probably got a good price on beef from his Dad.”

The son, James T. Keleher, is listed as an Engineer in the 1870 Census. He was living with his wife, Mary M., and three year old daughter Sarah. In the 1880 Census he is listed as a Marine Engineer and his family has grown by one with the addition of an eight year old son, George W.

These are facts, inconvenient or not. You should try them one day.

Wolf.