What makes Patricia Cornwall so special?!?! How come SHE gets all the limelight?!?!

[Stewart P Evans]

Not Seen

Hi Mr Evans,
What about Sophie Herfort calling you P. Evans STEWARD in her bibliography?
Amitiés,
David

I have not seen her book. Cornwell sent me a copy of hers via Don Rumbelow.

[needler]

Magpie, I don't know if you remember WAY back when, but I was one of the cabal that developed the Sooty/Doody theory. There have been nay-sayers for ages, but it never hurts to revive a suspect......after all, poor Sickert is STILL being clobbered far past the time we thought that rubbish was resolved!

And CAZ..THAT'S why I capitalised the "E" in my mention of her name..see several posts previous.......you DID miss one "pastie" definition, which might not be so widely known in the UK as it is here. A "pastie" in the US is generally defined as a tiny, bejeweled covering for a stripper's nipple. NICE, huh??

AND to Stewart, there is NO excuse to misspell an author's name....NONE! It's not as if the correct spelling of your name isn't easily available. So, POO to Patsy for sloppy workmanship...sort of like the rest of her research for her collection of paper within covers and called a "book". Cheers to you and Rosie!

And cheers to all,

Judy

[Cheyenne]

What's the rush...to judgment?

Hi to all,

At the risk of getting my head chewed off (and yes I am scared, well, terrified to respond to this thread for fear of the ensuing attacks on my character, fitness, mental soundness, etc.), I feel that Cornwell’s contributions to Ripperology should be acknowledged.

Let me first state that there is no excuse for any JTR author to misspell a victim’s name, nor is there any excuse for anyone to misspell Evans’ name. With respect to the latter, I hold Mr. Evans in the highest esteem, and want to iterate that his works on JTR are among the best researched, most comprehensive, best written books in existence (my “Ultimate JTR Companion” is literally falling apart from overuse).

Second, it should be noted that in later editions Cornwell corrects her misspellings. To err is human folks, but she does set the record straight...

And finally (yikes, ready for the attacks), I’d like to focus for a moment on Cornwell’s contributions. While it is presumptuous to state in the title of her book “Case Closed,” we are able to ascertain some compelling facts that I find baffling that anyone can simply ignore. We now have mitochondrial DNA linking Sickert to Ripper letters. While mitochondrial DNA is not 100% conclusive (as many will no doubt point out to me following my post, note however that it is in the 90th percentile of conclusiveness...), that DNA evidence, read in concert with identical watermarks on JTR correspondence and Sickert correspondence (production of such watermarked paper was limited to precious few sheets), the handwriting analysis Cornwell commissioned, conducted by top forensic specialists matching JTR correspondence to Sickert’s hand, art experts’ conclusions that sketches on JTR correspondence match Sickert’s, etc., etc., etc., can only, in my mind lead to one conclusion.

And that conclusion is not that Sickert is clearly JTR, not that the case is closed, but that Sickert is the writer of at least some of the JTR letters. This is COMPELLING. If nothing else, Cornwell has discovered who penned some of the most infamous writings the world has ever known. She also brings up other questions – Why did Sickert write these letters? What is Sickert’s connection/interest in JTR? Was he, in fact, JTR?

Has anyone else offered mitochondrial DNA linking any suspect to any JTR letter? While many may consider Cornwell a cheesy fiction author, can we so readily discount her in-your-face evidence? She may be rich. She may have used boatloads of her own money to fund her research (6 million USD to be exact). But she has uncovered evidence that we would be blind to ignore.

[needler]

Several eeny teeny questions........how many eejits write letters to the police? How many eejits walk into cop shops and confess to everything from being the Ripper to being the Loch Ness Monster? How many coppers tried to track down the "Geordie" who claimed to be the Yorkshire Ripper....the same fella who sent tapes and turned out to be a monster of another kind....the kind who confesses for fun??

I daresay you can ask any cop, retired or otherwise, how many false confessions are made each week ......... never mind over the years...the numbers are truly staggering. These same "confessions" are either dismissed, logged, or investigated, but all are made by people who, for one reason or another, feel the urge to confess to something.......ANYTHING.

So what if Sickert wrote letters? So what if he was obsessed with the killings? Probably a LOT of folks were obsessed, since the cops were flooded with letters. So what if he painted very strange things? So what if he painted scenes of murder or mayhem? These murders became a national obsession as the numbers mounted and the confusion grew. There are all sorts of nutcakes in the world; Sickert might have been one of those. I won't argue with you on that; I WILL argue that finding MtDNA on a letter proves NOTHING other than Sickert might have had several pints too many and wrote to the cops.....full stop.

Won't question your sanity or your character or your mental fitness...i WILL pose the question again: SO WHAT IF SICKERT WROTE A LETTER? And WHY on Earth should we be grateful that Cornwell "proved" that?

Cheers,

Judy

[downonwhores]

Cheyenne

Hi,

I agree with you on some points but anyone who knows Sickert's real bio know that Sickert had obsessions with many famous people besides JTR and he even dressed up as some of them while painting. I think he wrote the letters because he knew that his artistic career wasn't taking off like Whister's and he desired to be famous.
As for your mDNA, do you know how many samples of DNA are on those letters? Hundreds of people plus mDNA does not limit it to a specific person but people who share a common ancester which could be in the thousands and probably more. So how can it be 90% accurate?
Patricia Cornwell had the write idea but the wrong approach and she should be chastised and put in the same bin as Stephen Knight, Donald McCormick and others.

[downonwhores]

Hi Stewart

I just wanted to say hi and thanks for writing such great books. I'm currently reading the one you did with Keith Skinner containing all of the files and reports. It's pretty interesting. I also like the one with paul Gainey as I found both of them factual, and very sound. I just finished Feldman's book last night and I was just shocked how many inaccuracies are still circulating out there. Which book do u recommend for just the facts approach: Paul Begg, Philip Sudgen or the A to Z book? And are u planning to writing another JTR book?

[downonwhores]

I know who did it! HA HA

I wouldn't be surprised if someone said H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker, or Conan Doyle did it! I'm sick of all of these pet celebrity theories just so someone can sell a book. I wonder if any of the good guys like Rumbelow, Skinner, Evans and Begg just shrug and say to themselves," why read it? It's crap" or do they actually buy the crapola books like Stephen Caleb Knight's?

[Nicola]

Hello everybody!

I am a hopeless book crazed person and anything concerning JTR,I cannot help but read.

But

Good Lord,this book by Patricia Cornwell strains my mind. I am utterly mad but I have limits. The thought that a famous artist could slip about WhiteChapel and murder those poor women is beyond foolishness.


I just cannot believe her version of JTR's true identity. What is it with her and Walter Sickert? Did one of his painting attack her when she was a child?

I try to give every theory a go,but this was too much for me. Walter Sickert was no more JTR than I am a Sasquatch.

[Stewart P Evans]

Thank You

I just wanted to say hi and thanks for writing such great books. I'm currently reading the one you did with Keith Skinner containing all of the files and reports. It's pretty interesting. I also like the one with paul Gainey as I found both of them factual, and very sound. I just finished Feldman's book last night and I was just shocked how many inaccuracies are still circulating out there. Which book do u recommend for just the facts approach: Paul Begg, Philip Sudgen or the A to Z book? And are u planning to writing another JTR book?

Thank you for the kind comments. The Ultimate is very much a textbook and reference work and is not intended as a 'sensational' read.

There are many good Ripper books around and the authors you have mentioned have much to offer and are recommended. There is a new Jack the Ripper A-Z by Begg Fido and Skinner in the pipeline (hopefully) and this will be a must.

I have no plans at present to write another Ripper book.

[caz]

On page 173 of her book Cornwell gets the spelling of my name wrong, i.e. Steward, and this error is repeated in the index. Surely this, too, is inexcusable?

Absolutely, Stuart.



Love,

Caz
XXX

PS I don't believe you can be a newbie, by the way. You arrived when the fragrant Pasty Cornballs mentioned you in her book. Perhaps she thought you were a steward on the QE2 or something.

[Stewart P Evans]

Agree

Absolutely, Stuart.

Love,
Caz
XXX
PS I don't believe you can be a newbie, by the way. You arrived when the fragrant Patsy Cornballs mentioned you in her book.

I thought that you would agree Karolyne.

PS I hadn't realised that I had arrived, obviously a landmark moment missed.

[caz]

Yeah, if she misspells Martha Tabram's name every time she mentions her in her book, I get to misspell hers!!!!!

Trouble with that is that while you are busily casting doubt on your own awareness and reading and writing skills in order to punish her, she is far too busy counting her money to know or care.

In contrast, whoever chalked the GSG can have the world and his wife calling him semi-literate and what would he care? For a little effort he managed to cause 'Juwish' ripples that last to this day and got to retain total anonymity.

But carry on if you think it's worth it.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

I thought that you would agree Karolyne.

PS I hadn't realised that I had arrived, obviously a landmark moment missed.

You can call me anything you like, Stewart. "That old bag" beats "Who??" any day.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

And CAZ..THAT'S why I capitalised the "E" in my mention of her name..see several posts previous.......you DID miss one "pastie" definition, which might not be so widely known in the UK as it is here. A "pastie" in the US is generally defined as a tiny, bejeweled covering for a stripper's nipple. NICE, huh??

AND to Stewart, there is NO excuse to misspell an author's name....NONE!

Hi Judy,

Yes, I noticed your E - hence I wasn't including you in my little beef.

Love the stripper's nipple cover info but hate the image I now have of Cornwell wearing just those. Thanks dear.

I agree about no excuses for misspelling authors' names - whether it's Stewart's, Patricia's or yours, when you finally publish your Sooty/Howdy: Case Closed. Get in before Suzi's Dastardly Diddles: The Definitive Cat's Arse Solution hits the market.

Lots of love,

Caz
XXX

[caz]

I just finished Feldman's book last night and I was just shocked how many inaccuracies are still circulating out there.

I don't quite understand why you should be 'shocked' or what you mean by 'still circulating out there'. Feldman is dead and he wrote that book over ten years ago. There are many inaccuracies in old ripper books. Feldman hardly has a monopoly, and it's up to the discerning reader to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Getting back to Cornwell, at least she is still with us and there is hope that she is tackling the issue of her own inaccuracies. I would like to see the letter writing evidence tightened up because I feel people like Cheyenne have been misled into believing that what has been presented so far is a whole lot stronger than it really is. I have seen nothing to convince me yet that Sickert wrote a single ripper missive. It remains only a possibility for me, along with the even fainter possibility that he was even in England to cast his 'evil' eyes on the victims.

Love,

Caz
X