Hello again,
Thanks very much for posting the photo of Michael Maybricks grave, I'd not seen a picture of it before. I agree that multiple personality disorder is very rare and I conceed that there is no evidence that James had it but as I said I have seen with my own eyes somebody write in very different styles so I cannot discount the validity of the diary purely because of the handwriting.
As far as the diary being written in a very melodramatic way, James Maybrick was a man that had lived entirely in the shadow of his much more successful brother Michael. He was approaching 50 years of age (a significant milestone and one that quite likely to have caused a 'mid life crisis' within him regarding his virility), had financial worries, was addicted to eating arsenic and was a known hyperchondriac. To my mind bearing all this in mind it is not surprising that James would have written in such a way to convince himself that he was every bit as 'clever' as Michael and in fact 'cleverer' or that he would constantly refer to feeling 'better than ever' or 'stronger'. From personal experience I can say that whenever you're feeling at your lowest ebb your mood changes can swing violently from hopelessness and pacifistic thoughts to agressive and very dominant thoughts. For these reasons as I said I find what is SAID in the diary more important to take note of than the handwriting it is written in. This said I do agree (as I previously conceeded in a previous mail) that we would all be extremely unwise to accept the content of the diary without questioning all angles. I tell you what Chris I'd love to be present later this year at the proposed 'Trial Of James Maybrick' to be held I understand in May at The Cricket club behind Battlecrease house. I bet there will be some very 'lively' debates over the three day's don't you! HA HA HA
As far as potential forgers of the diary go I can't think whom from the candidates that we know of (those that stood to gain from the provenance of the diary) could have produced such a stunning piece of work. I think perhaps you and I will at least both agree that it most certainly wasn't Mike Barrett.
Just for interests sake who do you feel was most likely to have been the ripper and why?
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Getting ready for more flak HA HA
Tony.
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