** The Murder of Julia Wallace **

[jmenges]

The footnote on page 14 says “In the knockout tournament the first round matches had to have been played by 30th November 1930. Wallace, at the time a third rate player, was eliminated in the first round by first class player Daniel Baruch.”

I know very little about chess tournaments, and I even watched The Queen’s Gambit.

JM

[Herlock Sholmes]

It was a knockout tournament (which I hadn’t heard of until Mark’s book) The one on the notice board was a different one and was played in a league format. What must have happened was that as well as the 3 ‘league table’ competitions (1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class) there was also a knockout competition which players of all levels could enter and Wallace lost to Baruch.

Whats strange is that I’ve just checked and the 30th November 1930 was on a Sunday

[moste]

‘Tis strange. Wasn’t there playing days Mon&Thur.?

[Gordon]

I imagine they set the November 30th deadline because it was the end of the month.

[Herlock Sholmes]

It does seem strange though?

The league table was a point that I’ve raised in the past against Parry’s involvement. If he’d seen the table he’d have had to have assumed that Wallace hadn’t been to chess since November 10th when he’d played his last game against Lampitt. So why would he come up with a plan which involved him receiving a call at a club that he hadn’t visited for over 2 months? For all that he’d known Wallace might have dropped out of the tournament or even lost interest enough to stop attending?

[Herlock Sholmes]

I imagine they set the November 30th deadline because it was the end of the month.

Wouldn't they have just set the last Thursday in the month?

[Ven]

If Monday and Thursday were league means then a Sunday (or any other day) would suit a champions league game. As per any other league...they wouldn't double up.
Also, the table doesn't show the nights Wallace didn't turn up but also the nights his opponent may not have shown up.

[Ven]

e.g. did Wallace or Moore not turn up on the 8th DEc and did Wallace or Walsh not turn up on the 5th Jan?

[Herlock Sholmes]

e.g. did Wallace or Moore not turn up on the 8th DEc and did Wallace or Walsh not turn up on the 5th Jan?

There’s no way of knowing Ven. They might both have not turned up. Or maybe one of them turned up before Wallace got there and decided to play off one of his other games if that opponent was free?

[Ven]

There’s no way of knowing Ven. They might both have not turned up. Or maybe one of them turned up before Wallace got there and decided to play off one of his other games if that opponent was free?

Yeah, agree HS, but the championship game would have been a different night... like a Sunday that you were questioning

[Herlock Sholmes]

Yeah, agree HS, but the championship game would have been a different night... like a Sunday that you were questioning

It could have been on a Sunday night if the cafe wasn’t used for anything else.

[Ven]

Does anybody have an issue with Amy's, Edwin's and Williams's conflicting statements about Sunday 18th Jan? -

Amy - "...and everything passed of in the usual way..."... which was playing music...

Edwin - "... They played to us in the usual way..."


William - "... My wife had a slight cold and we did not have any music..." From his diary - 18 January 1931: "Have not touched fiddle all day. It is unusual to let Sunday go by without some practice."


Who's telling the truth?

So was she even there on that Sunday?

[Abby Normal]

heres a crazy idea. the q call wasnt wallace, but wallace still did it. say parry or someone like him wanted to get wallace out of the house to rob him. when wallace gets the strange message, he realizes this is the perfect opportunity to murder his wife. perhaps he hated her, she belittled and yelled at him in private, maybe constantly threatening divorce and he had been thinking of killing her for a while.

would this work?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Does anybody have an issue with Amy's, Edwin's and Williams's conflicting statements about Sunday 18th Jan? -

Amy - "...and everything passed of in the usual way..."... which was playing music...

Edwin - "... They played to us in the usual way..."


William - "... My wife had a slight cold and we did not have any music..." From his diary - 18 January 1931: "Have not touched fiddle all day. It is unusual to let Sunday go by without some practice."


Who's telling the truth?

So was she even there on that Sunday?

This might depend on the time that William filled in his diary. Maybe on a boring Sunday he might have filled it in around tea time and Amy and Edwin showed up in the evening when William and Julia played music for them. William then didn’t bother adding to his diary?

[Herlock Sholmes]

heres a crazy idea. the q call wasnt wallace, but wallace still did it. say parry or someone like him wanted to get wallace out of the house to rob him. when wallace gets the strange message, he realizes this is the perfect opportunity to murder his wife. perhaps he hated her, she belittled and yelled at him in private, maybe constantly threatening divorce and he had been thinking of killing her for a while.

would this work?

It’s taking the PD James one step further Abby. She suggested that it was just a prank call that Wallace used to kill Julia.

I can feel a scenario coming on

We know that some keys opened other locks so....

Parry makes the call to get William out of the house then sends a mate around to steal the cash. He knocks but there’s no answer. Rather than loiter he goes around the back with some keys and uses one to get in. All is quiet so he assumes that Julia is upstairs possibly in bed. There’s a paltry amount in the cash box so he decides to go for a look in the posh room, the parlour. He opens the door, sees Julia lying dead and scarpers. It’s why the lights are off. Wallace turned them off after he’d killed Julia and our intruder possibly thinks that Julia’s gone to bed? Parry can’t own up to the call in case he’s implicated in the murder.

Ive heard worse scenarios on the ripper case Abby

My biggest doubt about the idea of Wallace being the murderer and someone else being the caller is the type of person Wallace seems to have been. The type that did everything by the book. Not the impulsive type. It’s difficult to imagine him undertaking something so serious within 24 hours with so little time to think about stuff like what could go wrong.