The Tumblety Challenge

[mklhawley]

Hi Mike,

Inspector Byrnes stated that " . . . there is no proof in his [Tumblety's] complicity in the Whitechapel murders . . ."

How could he have said that unless he had been told by someone who actually knew?

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon,

He WAS told that by Scotland Yard and they didn't have proof, but they certainly suspected him for numerous reasons. The lack of evidence is the reason why they wanted the gross indecency charges to stick (as per Byrnes' statement and the US papers). By extension of your logic Scotland Yard had no suspects, because they had no proof in anyone's complicity in the Whitechapel murders. No one saw the murders, thus, there were no true witnesses to the killings; just witnesses to punters, etc. In reality, they did have suspects and they investigated and followed them.

Sincerely,
Mike

[mklhawley]

To be fair to Byrnes, we do not know he did not say this, not only to protect his own rep, but also to put Tumblety under a false sense of security.

Very interesting Jonathan.

Mike