Bible John (General Discussion)

[Ms Diddles]

No, I don't think you have Ms D.

There are lots of "facts" in the Harrison book, the problem is of course that we don't know how much we can rely on these "facts".
No references are given for statements made in the book, and his bibliography runs to nine newspapers and thirty one books.

All we can do in this case is to read everything, look for convergences, and try and spot assertions that are made without proof.

I am hoping that with Stoddart's book, his legal background will have compelled him to provide sources for all his assertions.
But why do I feel nervous about this?

It's certainly worth a shot.

Here's hoping it yields something of interest.

If not, hopefully you'll have a nice time in a beautiful building reminiscing about the days when you worked there.

The cafe used to be pretty decent too.

I guess the Harrison book is of general interest, but I'm going to be pretty sceptical if any "facts" presented in there!

[barnflatwyngarde]

I must admit I'd kind of written off anything authored by Harrison as I thought his credibility is shot.

Have I been throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, Barn?

No, I don't think you have Ms D.

There are lots of "facts" in the Harrison book, the problem is of course that we don't know how much we can rely on these "facts".
No references are given for statements made in the book, and his bibliography runs to nine newspapers and thirty one books.

All we can do in this case is to read everything, look for convergences, and try and spot assertions that are made without proof.

I am hoping that with Stoddart's book, his legal background will have compelled him to provide sources for all his assertions.
But why do I feel nervous about this?

[Ms Diddles]

The Mitchell Library is reference only, apart from a lending library in the building.
I've got the Paul Harrison book, which is quite good and pretty detailed, although with his record of inventing things, readers need to be careful.

I must admit I'd kind of written off anything authored by Harrison as I thought his credibility is shot.

Have I been throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, Barn?

[Herlock Sholmes]

The Harrison book is available to "borrow" from the Internet Archive. (link attached)

It's just a matter of signing up and borrowing the book.
I don't really use it all that much, and I've never borrowed any books from it, but it seems quite straightforward.

https://archive.org/details/dancingw...0harr/mode/2up

Cheers Barn

[barnflatwyngarde]

I’ve been looking for a copy of the Harrison book for sale but I can’t find one anywhere. If you see one for sale Barn let me know please. Unless it’s some barking mad price of course.

The Harrison book is available to "borrow" from the Internet Archive. (link attached)

It's just a matter of signing up and borrowing the book.
I don't really use it all that much, and I've never borrowed any books from it, but it seems quite straightforward.

https://archive.org/details/dancingwithdevil0000harr/mode/2up

[Herlock Sholmes]

The Mitchell Library is reference only, apart from a lending library in the building.
I've got the Paul Harrison book, which is quite good and pretty detailed, although with his record of inventing things, readers need to be careful.

I’ve been looking for a copy of the Harrison book for sale but I can’t find one anywhere. If you see one for sale Barn let me know please. Unless it’s some barking mad price of course.

[barnflatwyngarde]

I thought that you had the book Barn. My mistake. I look forward to hearing what you find. Won’t you be able to take the book home?

The Mitchell Library is reference only, apart from a lending library in the building.
I've got the Paul Harrison book, which is quite good and pretty detailed, although with his record of inventing things, readers need to be careful.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I'm heading into the Mitchell Library on Saturday to read and take notes from Charles Stoddart's " Bible John: Search for a Sadist".
I'll report back when I've read it.
Stoddart was a high ranking member of the legal profession with several legal textbooks to his name, and he had on the record conversations with Joe Beattie, so hopefully there will be some "treasure".

I thought that you had the book Barn. My mistake. I look forward to hearing what you find. Won’t you be able to take the book home?

[Herlock Sholmes]

I read somewhere that McInnes admitted he had visited the Barrowland so that in itself might not mean much.

The real key point is what account McInnes gave of his movements after leaving the ballroom, particularly between the hours of 1am and 2am. Were the police really able to 'pinpoint' his movements at this time?

I’m not sure if he’d admitted it but this book mentions that when McInnes worked for a US stamp trading firm as a Sales Manager they held weekly sales meetings on Thursday nights (which seems a bit of a strange time for sales meetings) Apparently his boss discovered that the reason that McInnes had missed some meetings was because he’d been to the over 25’s night at the Barrowland. No source is given for this though…as usual.

[barnflatwyngarde]

According to Crow and Samson (page 106) the police had submitted circumstantial evidence to the Procurator Fiscal claiming that McInnes could be pinpointed at key times during the night of Helen’s murder.

So had someone seen him at the Barrowland? We’re experiencing a frustrating lack of detail again.

I'm heading into the Mitchell Library on Saturday to read and take notes from Charles Stoddart's " Bible John: Search for a Sadist".
I'll report back when I've read it.
Stoddart was a high ranking member of the legal profession with several legal textbooks to his name, and he had on the record conversations with Joe Beattie, so hopefully there will be some "treasure".

[cobalt]

I read somewhere that McInnes admitted he had visited the Barrowland so that in itself might not mean much.

The real key point is what account McInnes gave of his movements after leaving the ballroom, particularly between the hours of 1am and 2am. Were the police really able to 'pinpoint' his movements at this time?

[Herlock Sholmes]

According to Crow and Samson (page 106) the police had submitted circumstantial evidence to the Procurator Fiscal claiming that McInnes could be pinpointed at key times during the night of Helen’s murder.

So had someone seen him at the Barrowland? We’re experiencing a frustrating lack of detail again.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Quite often on Casebook I’m the one arguing against people when they say ‘that couldn’t be a coincidence’ because coincidences happen every minute of every day and many of them appear remote. That said, I’m not suggesting that this was anything more than a coincidence but it’s an interesting one and one that I hadn’t seen pointed out before until I read Crow and Samson…

Helen Puttock’s sanitary towel was stuffed into her armpit, which seems strange.

Has anyone ever heard of anyone else committing suicide by slicing the main artery under their armpit?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Yeah, entirely superfluous and fictitious "scene setting".

Another one for your barbecue list!

I hadn’t thought of that Ms D. On it goes.

[Ms Diddles]

I’ve put the book that I’m currently reading on hold to read the Crow and Samson book which arrived today. It’s only a slim book so I may finish it in one go. There’s one thing about it that irritates anlready and it’s something that irritates when it occurs in any book. When talking about Helen Puttock the chapter begins “Helen Puttock cursed under her breath. She couldn’t find her favourite crimson lipstick. Her right hand danced across the dressing table, searching frantically for her make-up bag”

You can see what I mean. I really hate it when authors writing factual books do this. All that it does is make you think ‘ok, so what else are you inventing just to pad out the story or to make it more interesting?’ I’m definitely not writing off the book but it doesn’t help.

Yeah, entirely superfluous and fictitious "scene setting".

Another one for your barbecue list!