Private sale

[Rob Clack]

And the only good thing is there can't be much doubt to the authenticity of the marginallia.

[Chris]

For the Scotland Yard Crime Museum to be genuine, both Charles Sandell (who had access to the book) and Jim Swanson got somewhat confused.

Or Jim Swanson was confused and Sandell reproduced his quotation without checking the date and the inscription (if it's not too shocking to think a journalist could do that).

Is it really more believable that your hypothetical post-1987 faker would make that error over the date of publication of Anderson's book, than that Jim Swanson would have said in 1981 what the draft article quotes him as saying?

[Lechmere]

Jim Swanson stated that his grandfather "was in complete command of all his faculties at the time of his death in 1924."
Perhaps Jim Swanson was gilding the lily when he said this.
Nevertheless, going on what Jim Swanson said rather on what anyone else wanted him to say, what does this mean?

Ally assures us that she is one hundred per cent in command of her mental faculties but at the same time has an occasional right hand shake.
But Ally, check that on line dictionary of yours.
A ‘faculty’ can mean a physical or a mental power. Jim Swanson said that his grandfather had all his faculties, so he can only have meant both physical and mental. Not just mental.

The relevance of this is that in his first report Dr Davis said that DS Swanson’s handwriting showed ‘evidence of occasional tremor which is similar to that sometimes found in writing of individuals with certain neurological conditions, such as Parkinsonism.’

Dr Davis isn’t a medical doctor but he is an expert at hand writing analysis and I would presume he didn’t make such an observation based on ignorance. But then maybe I’m wrong on that.

Dr Davis did not suggest that the handwriting showed signs of DS Swanson having a pinched nerve or any of the many other diverse reasons we have seen raised here for shaky hands.

We have Dr Davis suggesting Parkinsonism. We have Jim Swanson saying that DS Swanson was in full command of his faculties up to his death (and liked threading flies).
Those two assessments do not fit well together.

Perhaps Dr Davis and Jim Swanson were both wrong.

[Lechmere]

Jenni
It seems likely that DS Swanson didn’t get the book from Fred until around 1912 – so the first set of marginal notes was probably written soon after that date.
The second shaky set must have been written around 1923-24. There is a letter dated 1918 that wasn’t used for authentication purposes.
This in itself seems odd. Why add to his original notes some ten years later?

[Chris]

A ‘faculty’ can mean a physical or a mental power. Jim Swanson said that his grandfather had all his faculties, so he can only have meant both physical and mental. Not just mental.

Absolute rubbish.

Just look at the sentence in context:
"My Grandfather was a highly intelligent man. He was in complete command of all his faculties at the time of his death in 1924 at the age of 76. My Grandfather's notes were made in 1910 when he was 62. We are hardly dealing with an OLD MAN'S MEMORY as Sergeant Donald Rumbelow suggests. My Grandfather would have been 40 when appointed to this case. Jack the Ripper would have been his main concern for several years. The identity of the murderer would have been indelibly imprinted on his mind."

He was responding to a comment by Donald Rumbelow about an old man's memory. Clearly he was talking about mental faculties.

[Robert]

I doubt if many 76-year-olds are in complete command of ALL their faculties. He obviously meant, he had all his marbles.

[Jenni Shelden]

Hi Ed,
he said a shaky hand and then qualified this with the statement SUCH as Parkinson's.

I dont think anyone is claiming that he could diagnose Parkinson's, are they?

Just that it was one of the possibilities that affected handwriting in this way.

Of course, it may have been Parkinsons, but as you mention, DSS was in full possession of his faculties. I find this a really useful site on the subject, it explains that, that illness does not necessarily exhibit all its symptoms in all people

http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/content/parkinsons-symptoms

Also, when Jim Swanson said faculties, it is surely likely that he meant it in terms of the colloquial use as in mentally?

I don't think either Dr Davies or Jim Swanson were wrong, I think DSS had a hand tremor for reasons unknown and was at the time of his death in full possession of his mental faculties.

that's what I think anyway
Jenni

ps we dont know when the two pencil sets were written in relation to each other, do we? where did you get 1923-4 from ? Didnt Dr Davies say something about being unable to determine how long it was, but it was some time after?

[Jenni Shelden]

Hi again Eds,
Dr Davies is an expert on handwriting analysis as you say and he stated he found no evidence to support the notion Jim Swanson added the final line to pre existing text. He also found very strong support that DSS wrote the annotations.

Jenni

[Lechmere]

You seem super sure what he meant.
Jim Swanson said ‘all his faculties’.
Not ‘all his mental faculties’
Not ‘his mental faculties’.
Why did he say ‘all his faculties’ of he only meant mental?

[Robert]

Probably because he didn't foresee that Mr Spock would be trying to pick holes in him years later.

[Lechmere]

Jenni
If you scroll back about 750 posts you will see that I have discussed why I think Dr Davis missed certain things in his second report.
I have not suggested that Dr Davis was not competent at examining at a sample of handwriting and recognising signs that he would presumably have seen before and suggesting that they were similar to that found in certain neurological conditions such as Parkinsonism.

You have said what you think of DS Swanson’s condition. I prefer to base my judgement on what the records say.

The significance here is that if he didn’t have a shaky hand condition then it brings into question the authorship of a big chunk of the marginalia. It also brings into doubt the 1923 letter which is pretty much the sole item used to authenticate that part of the Marginalia.
I am unclear about the provenance of that 1923 letter. I have asked but it has not been clarified. The letter certainly has not been subjected to any scrutiny.

These are the holes in the process that some people are so blasé about.

There is this steadfast and stubborn reluctance to admit that there are questions that still should be answered.

The 1923-24 date for the second set of Marginalia (the shaky set) is based on its authentication by comparison to the 1923 letter. There is as I said a 1918 letter that was not used as it was not a match (so far as I am aware).

[Ally]

You seem super sure what he meant.
Jim Swanson said ‘all his faculties’.
Not ‘all his mental faculties’
Not ‘his mental faculties’.
Why did he say ‘all his faculties’ of he only meant mental?

Because "faculties" in this sense actually only does refer to mental, in both actual definition and colloquial use.

No one ever says he had all his faculties speaking about one's skill at kickball.

And only a person who was so desperate to find wrongdoing where there is none, would parse such a statement to such a ridiculous degree.

I have not suggested that Dr Davis was not competent at examining at a sample of handwriting and recognising signs that he would presumably have seen before and suggesting that they were similar to that found in certain neurological conditions such as Parkinsonism.

ROFLMAO.. So get this people. He refuses to grant Davis the skill necessary to make an actual proper handwriting analysis -- his actual area of profession -- but now when it's convenient to his argument he's actually stating DAvis was qualified to provide a medical diagnosis on what was CAUSING a hand tremor, even though there is no actual physical difference in a hand tremor from Parkinson or a hand tremor that results from low blood sugar.

Seriously, it's farce at this point.

[Chris]

You have said what you think of DS Swanson’s condition. I prefer to base my judgement on what the records say.

You mean that having ruled out all the documents that don't suit you, as possible fakes, you subject the other ones to the kind of wilful misinterpretation we've just witnessed.

It does worry me that we give this kind of rubbish a sort of credibility, simply by the action of arguing against it.

[Lechmere]

Martin Fido recorded the following:
‘The interesting new fact Mr Swanson offered was that his grandfather was remembered as spending his retirement largely in a greenhouse or potting shed tying fishing flies and "writing". When I asked what he was writing I was told it was annotations in his books like those in the Anderson memoirs.’
Remember that Jim Swanson was 12 when DS Swanson died. Jim Swanson’s memory of his grandfathers activities would be in the last few years of DS Swanson’s life. The period when he supposedly had shay hands and when he also tied fishing flies – all his faculties intact.
It is also said that DS Swanson spent his retirement yea- on-year going Salmon fishing in the rocky Scottish burns. Again logically in his declining years when he still had all his faculties intact.

[Lechmere]

Get this
Recognising the signs and causes of tremor would be part of Dr Davis’ skill as a handwriting analyser.
You seem to have forgotten if you ever knew why I questioned Dr Davis’ second conclusion. It has nothing to do with his skill as a handwriting analyser.

It is because he did not consider it appropriate to put any of the supporting documents under any sort of scrutiny. So far as his second report is concerned this related to the 1923 letter.

He also didn’t in my view give proper consideration to the possibility that the ‘the questioned writing is an attempt to copy the known writing’.
In other words a deliberate forgery (excluding one based on tracing signs of which he did look for and reject).

And I haven’t ‘ruled out’ documents that don’t suit me.
It is obvious that you cannot use Jim Swanson’s own letters for verification – or perhaps you think you can?
The other documents that have been used to established the chain of events and validate the Marginalia should be separately checked and verified.
As things stand they have not been subject to even the most cursory of checks.
I have pointed out potential flaws with several of these documents.
Why on earth would anyone be resistant to the idea that they should be verified?

Dr Ally's hand tremor diagnosis kit - Part 1
There is no actual physical difference in a hand tremor from Parkinson or a hand tremor that results from low blood sugar.