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One of the most exciting books on Jack the Ripper I read early on, was
"The Identity of Jack the Ripper" by Donald McCormick.(1959).
Having been so titilated by this book, I went on to read his other books.
These were mainly celebrated murder books and spy books.
Written in the journalistic style of his era, that is, invented quotes and dialogue, no references and no footnotes. Very few date attributions if any.
I think it was Paul Begg who early on, discovered how lots of McCormick's most interesting revelations were, quite possibly, inventions.
See for instance, his claims about assertions by Albert Bachert in 1889 about the Ripper being dead.
One of McCormick's other intriguing claims- made in his revised edition of 1972
- was that Walter Sickert had told Sir Melville Macnaghten at the Garrick Club, that he knew of a vetinarian student from Bournemouth whose mother came to take him home to die when he was discovered to have tuberculosis.
McCormick alleged it was from this yarn that Macnaghten had become convinced of Druitt's guilt because he too had relatives in Bournemouth, and Sickert had claimed the vetinarian was surnamed Hewitt of Drewitt or something.
Could that yarn have been McCormick's confused misunderstanding of a story based upon club-member (Farquharson) having confided his Druitt Suspicion theory to Macnaghten. And McCormick getting the whole story about-face and upside down?
McCormick relied heavily on yellowed clipping files in the Thompson Newspaper empire . Quite possibly there will be found that there was a germ of truth in some of his more interesting claims, based upon his inaccurate notes taken from those very clippings.
I do not think we should dismiss every claim made by McCormick in his JTR book without a thorough and, no doubt, rewarding, re-examination.
JOHN RUFFELS.
"The Identity of Jack the Ripper" by Donald McCormick.(1959).
Having been so titilated by this book, I went on to read his other books.
These were mainly celebrated murder books and spy books.
Written in the journalistic style of his era, that is, invented quotes and dialogue, no references and no footnotes. Very few date attributions if any.
I think it was Paul Begg who early on, discovered how lots of McCormick's most interesting revelations were, quite possibly, inventions.
See for instance, his claims about assertions by Albert Bachert in 1889 about the Ripper being dead.
One of McCormick's other intriguing claims- made in his revised edition of 1972
- was that Walter Sickert had told Sir Melville Macnaghten at the Garrick Club, that he knew of a vetinarian student from Bournemouth whose mother came to take him home to die when he was discovered to have tuberculosis.
McCormick alleged it was from this yarn that Macnaghten had become convinced of Druitt's guilt because he too had relatives in Bournemouth, and Sickert had claimed the vetinarian was surnamed Hewitt of Drewitt or something.
Could that yarn have been McCormick's confused misunderstanding of a story based upon club-member (Farquharson) having confided his Druitt Suspicion theory to Macnaghten. And McCormick getting the whole story about-face and upside down?
McCormick relied heavily on yellowed clipping files in the Thompson Newspaper empire . Quite possibly there will be found that there was a germ of truth in some of his more interesting claims, based upon his inaccurate notes taken from those very clippings.
I do not think we should dismiss every claim made by McCormick in his JTR book without a thorough and, no doubt, rewarding, re-examination.
JOHN RUFFELS.
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