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Two pages from H.L.Adam on Sir MM..

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  • Two pages from H.L.Adam on Sir MM..

    Hello all,

    H L Adam, author and journalist, friend of many within the CID, MacNaughten and Froest included, and good aquaintance of Anderson, wrote of a good many of the personalities in Scotland Yard, up to the publishing of his book CID, Behind the scenes at Scotland Yard, in 1930. It is a fairly rare book which I have the fortune to posess.

    Here are his 2 pages on MacNaughten, ( which I quote verbatim) that may be important, insight wise.


    Chapter 2, part of page15, page 16, and part of page 17.


    "Another stalwart figure, albeit with somewhat bowed shoulders, now appears within my mental vision. It is in a lofty, spacious room at the "Yard". He invites me to be seated, making the quaint observation,
    "Would you like a warm chair or a cold chair?"
    It was a cold day, there was a big fire burning, and one of the chairs was nearer the fire than the other. I chose the warm one.

    'Well now, what do you think of the Clapham case?'
    Thus spake the late Sir Melville MacNaughten, whose period of office as Assistant Commissionewr extended from 1903 to 1913. His reference to the "Clapham case" was to the murder of a man named Leon Beron, on Clapham Common, by the notorious crook Steinie Morrison. It was before the arrest was made and while the police were still making their investigations.
    Sir Melville was a charming man and had an extemsive knowledge of crime and criminals. quite as extensive as that of his predecessor, Sir Robert Anderspn. Tis does not, it should be norme in mond, apply to all those who have served as Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners at Scotland Yard. Only the other day I was referring to a certain Commissioner at the "Yard" when I was taken up shortly by a departmental "head" with the sweeping observation,
    "Oh, he doesn't know anything about crime."

    Sir Melville, however, took an active and intimate interest in both crime and criminals. He was a familiar figure at the scene of any of any big murder case, which had special features of interest to the mind of the police official. Neither in appearance nor manner was he in the least suggestive of the fictional idea of a "sleuth". He had a curious flippant way of talking of crime. He wrote in the same way, as his very interesting book on reminiscences proves. A book, by the way, which he wrote at my suggestion. He handled during his period of office many interesting cases. Not the least of these was the one already referred to. I recall the scorn and contempt he directed towards those who sought to conjure up an atmosphere of romance around the case by suggesting that it was the work of a secret society. There was a curving scratch on the cheek of the dead man, which was, by means of imagination, twisted into the letter "S", and was supposed to have been placed there by the murderer.
    I remember Sir Melville asking me,
    "Did you see anything of a letter 'S'?"
    To which I replied in the negative. I explained that I had looked very carefully, and had failed to discover any mark which could possibly be considered to represent a letter of any kind.
    "Of course not!" agreed Sir Melville. "It was just an ordinary murder for robbery."
    Which of course it was.
    I shall more to say about this much discussed case later on.

    In 1893-4 Sir Melville MacNaughten represented the police on Mr. Asquith's Committee appointed toinquire into the subject of the Identification of Criminals, in which he rendered invaluable service, and altogether during the period of his activities at Scotland Yard contributed much towards the making of the police force."

    best wishes

    Phil
    Chelsea FC. TRUE BLUE. 💙


    Justice for the 96 = achieved
    Accountability? ....

  • #2
    To Phil Carter

    Thank-you so much for posting this fascinating excerpt about the policeman whom I think identified Jack the Ripper -- albeit posthumously.

    Once more we see Macnaghten characterized as an upper class smoothie, as an overgrown Etonian with his boyish flippancy, as a self-styled action man sweeping to the scene of infamous crimes -- despite being a desk-jockey -- and of having a head crammed full of 'intimate' knowledge about crime and criminals.

    'Would you like a warm chair or a cold chair?'

    What a classic! Sounds like an Edwardian version of Morpheus' offer to Neo in 'The Matrix'.

    I also take note of the mention of his professional association, in 1893/4, with none other than the Liberal Home Sec. H H Asquith, to whom he almost certainly composed the first version of his mercurial Report [ultimately never sent, nor requested] having learned of his chief suspect's identity in 1891 from a loose-lipped, Tory back-bencher.

    The jaunty Sir Melville once again comes across as far too canny and far too discreet to leak details about a chief Ripper suspect, whose surviving relations could sue for defamation?

    Yet that is what he did, quite out of character, quite recklessly and indiscreetly, with both Griffiths and Sims, and perhaps others [eg. 'Dr Bluitt'?].

    Unless, like a schoolboy prank, Mac knew that the details about the 'Drowned Doctor' were deliberately contaminated with fictitious elements to recast the hapless police of 1888 as Herculean in their efficiency, to protect the Druitt family's privacy from tabloid vultures -- and his beloved Yard from libel.

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Jonathan,

      I haven't invented the following quote. It's from a published book by someone close to your neck of the woods.

      "Melville Leslie Macnaghten was affective only. He was what we call today “a tosser”. He continually missed the plot and was more interested in being admired as an actor, outsmarting everyone by talking in Shakespeareanese than being effective. Typical of someone sodomised through the British public schools, his brain was a befuddlement of wanton errors, and that he should play a part in history, puts history in its place."

      Just for jolly, what do you reckon?

      Regards,

      Simon
      Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

      Comment


      • #4
        To Phil

        I wish I could get people to have a look, or another look. at 'Laying the Ghost of Jack the Ripper'.

        Mac's memoir chapter [and preface] on the Ripper is remarkable for being simultaneously cagey and candid.

        Unlike Anderson, or Abberline, or Littlechild [who was not claiming to be sure] who try and provide some sort of coherent tale and suspect profile -- however minimal -- as to how their suspect was strongly linked to the Whitechapel murders, Macnaghten attempts no such thing.

        Nevertheless, it is the critical source, the only one about the case by Mac in his own hand for public consumption.

        Of course, the reason that many here will not go near this line of theorizing -- and rubbish it without engaging with it -- is because like Oswald-acted-alone, or Nessie-was-a-model, it could mean game over, rather than the game's afoot.

        Usually it is left to me to put the counter-argument; that the weaknesses of Macnaghten as a source outweigh hiss strengths, but why bother anymore? That the Ripper could be the original suspect after all is just anathema, almost unbearable for some Buffs.

        Comment


        • #5
          To Simon

          What a great bitchy putdown. Where is it from?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Jonathan H View Post
            To Simon

            What a great bitchy putdown. Where is it from?


            Considering the language it seems to be from Roy Chubby Brown's book on Jack the Ripper.

            Comment


            • #7
              Hi Jonathan,

              The author lives in New Zealand. Most of his facts are wildly wrong, but it doesn't diminish his entertainment value. It's not often you get a good belly laugh out of a history book.

              Look for some nonsense about Stalin's British Training. It contains a chapter on JtR.



              Regards,

              Simon
              Last edited by Simon Wood; 05-01-2010, 04:15 PM.
              Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

              Comment

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