Dear Prime Minister

[mklhawley]

Greetings all,

Recently on the Jack the Ripper Writers web site, Joe Chetcuti posted a letter that was written by Francis Tumblety on January 22, 1890. Tumblety mailed it to the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John Alexander MacDonald. It was sent from 245 Washington Street in Brooklyn. A year earlier, Tumblety was known to have taken up residence at 204 Washington Street in Brooklyn, so he was familiar with the nighborhood.

Joe e-mailed a copy of the letter to me and gave me permission to share it with whoever I want. So here it is:

[mklhawley]

The following is the letter:

[mklhawley]

This is how I think the Tumblety's letter reads:

Sir:
I take the liberty of send-
ing you herewith a copy of a
Autographical sketch of my
own life.

I have been bitterly maligned
and have thought it best
to let an unvarnished account
of my career be an answer
to malice and inadversions.

Hoping that you will give the
book your kind considerations.
I am yours sincerely,
Francis Tumblety M.D.



Sincerely,

Mike

[Phil Carter]

Hello Mike,

Thank you and Joe for posting this letter. A very nice find indeed. An excellent example of his handwriting, is it not?

best wishes

Phil

[Simon Wood]

Hi Mike and Joe,

Nice find.

I wonder why someone with as many social pretensions as Tumblety didn't use headed notepaper.

Regards,

Simon

[Archaic]

Hi Joe and Mike, thanks for posting this.

Mike, thanks for the transcript. I read one word slightly differently from you. It looks like "malice and malversions" to me rather than "malice and inadversions", but that particular word isn't very clear so I'm not sure which is correct.

"Malice and malversions" does have alliteration going for it, which might appeal to Tumblety, and it also reinforces the idea that those who criticize him do so from bad motives- "mal".

What do you think?

Thanks again guys.
Archaic

[mklhawley]

Thanks all. I certainly appreciate Joe allowing me to do this.

Archaic. I believe you are correct. There is a tiny blemish that looks like a dotting of an "i".

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened up in 1883, and this address is so close to the bridge. It's also about three miles from his residence in NYC on the other side of the bridge with NYC's "Whitechapel" district inbetween.

Just as Phil was commenting upon, I am intrigued about the handwriting, especially his signature. Interestingly, Chris Scott made a copy of Tumblety's signature from the book Tumblety has presented to the Prime Minister. There are many differences. ...hmmm.



Sincerely,

Mike

[The Grave Maurice]

I wonder why someone with as many social pretensions as Tumblety didn't use headed notepaper.

That's a very good point. Here's a guy who was always having cards and newspaper advertisements printed but, apparently, wouldn't spring for personal stationery. Odd.

BTW, Canada's first Prime Minister did, in fact, spell his surname with a lower-case "d". I'm impressed that Tumblety got that right.

[mklhawley]

That's a very good point. Here's a guy who was always having cards and newspaper advertisements printed but, apparently, wouldn't spring for personal stationery. Odd.

BTW, Canada's first Prime Minister did, in fact, spell his surname with a lower-case "d". I'm impressed that Tumblety got that right.

Continuing with Simon's point, here's a thought. Tumblety most likely printed a number of these books in order to send them out to selected people like the PM. If he used this type of paper intentionally, maybe he wanted a personal/private touch, as opposed to an official looking touch. Just a thought.

Grave Maurice, your comment about Tumblety knowing the "d" was because he was actually born in Canada and not Ireland...just kidding Wolf

Mike

[Cogidubnus]

Not that important but...

Doesn't it read biographical rather than autobiographical?

All the best

Dave

PS I too believe it's inadversions rather than malversions...compare the d in the former with the d in consideration...the character isn't at all like the other "l"s eg bitterly or biographical...

[mklhawley]

Three years to the month Dave! You mean biographical rather than 'autographical'. I believe you are correct.

I'm glad you posted. Since this thread, we are now privy to twenty other letters from Tumblety (thanks to Neil Storey), and in comparing them, they are so similar in tone!

Sincerely,

Mike

[Beowulf]

Just as Phil was commenting upon, I am intrigued about the handwriting, especially his signature. Interestingly, Chris Scott made a copy of Tumblety's signature from the book Tumblety has presented to the Prime Minister. There are many differences. ...hmmm.

[ATTACH]9376[/ATTACH]

Sincerely,

Mike

Possible a secretary penned this?

[mklhawley]

Possible a secretary penned this?

Hi Beowulf,

Certainly, especially since he was known to do this. My guess is Tumblety's private letters to Hall Caine are his handwriting, so we could compare with those.

Sincerely,

Mike

[Siobhan Patricia Mulcahy]

Great find (Jo C)! Thanks for posting Mike.
It reads as "inadversions" to me as there is a dot over the lettering in the word so the first letter would be an "i".
Did I read somewhere that T dictated his autobiographies to his secretary so could the letter have been dictated rather than written by him?
Just a thought...

[RivkahChaya]

Continuing with Simon's point, here's a thought. Tumblety most likely printed a number of these books in order to send them out to selected people like the PM. If he used this type of paper intentionally, maybe he wanted a personal/private touch, as opposed to an official looking touch. Just a thought.

Grave Maurice, your comment about Tumblety knowing the "d" was because he was actually born in Canada and not Ireland...just kidding Wolf

Mike

If it was dictated, that explains the paper, because people taking dictation used paper that folded at the top, rather than notebooks.

Although, people taking straight dictation were using shorthand by 1890, if they were professional secretaries, and then typing the letter.

Is it possible that Tumblety had something even more pretentious than engraved stationery-- an early version of a Dictaphone?

That kind of paper is also what academics use, so maybe the idea is to make it seem like researched, academic paper, and not just some guy saying he's telling the truth about himself, and you know it's true because he says so. Yeah, that's more likely than a Dictaphone. Although, Tumblety does seem like the kind of guy who'd've gotten a car phone in 1988, and a laptop when most people still didn't have desktops at home.