Page 2 of 15 FirstFirst 123412 ... LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 224

Thread: James Maybrick

  1. #16
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TonyMay View Post
    Hi everybody, this is my first post and I can't help chuckling to myself about the subject matter! I'm not a nutter (honest guv') but I am a keen Ripperologist and a beleiver in the Diary (sorry Chris! HA HA).
    I read with interest Chris George's comments about the Maybrick diary and I agree that there are many puzzling questions to do with the diary that cannot be explained by either of the pro/against diary camps.
    For me however the diary is simply too good a piece of work to be fake. By this I mean (and I say this as an Author myself) that IF the diary was to ever be conclusively proven to be a fake (to everybody's satisfaction!) then it would quite simply be the most impressive piece of work EVER BAR NONE.
    I should say also at this point that as well as being a writer I have for many years suffered with depression. The psychological profile that the diary paints of the writer (and the succession of mood swings it portrays) I have to say is quite typical of how one does feel. In my opinion NO WRITER regardless of ability could so accurately and faultlessly artificially reproduce this.
    One other thing that strikes me about the diary is that it begins half way through a sentence. As a writer I think it extremely unlikely that any potential forger would begin a piece of work in this way. It is pretty much fundamental when writing to structure a clear beginning, middle and end.
    Well Chris that should get you up on your high horse!! HA HA HA
    I look forward to being 'shot down' and welcome anyone's thoughts on the subject!
    Hello Tony

    Nice to meet you. It is clearly a fake because it is not in James Maybrick's handwriting, plain and simple. If it was real it would be written in Maybrick's handwriting, and have a clear provenance traceable to Maybrick, which it hasn't.

    You say, "One other thing that strikes me about the diary is that it begins half way through a sentence. As a writer I think it extremely unlikely that any potential forger would begin a piece of work in this way."

    Well there are as you know, 63 pages cut out at the front of the book. The Diary itself is some 63 pages long. This could indicate that the first part of the book contained an earlier version of the Diary. At any rate, for whatever reason, pages were removed which left one sentence beginning mid-sentence. I don't find it that inconsistent that someone, a forger, was trying to hide something or that a forger might think that beginning in mid-sentence might make the beginning of the narrative seem more plausible.

    You might be right that the psychology displayed in the Diary is consistent with Maybrick's, and I grant you that David Canter and others have found what is in the Diary to be realistic. However that still doesn't make the Diary the real McCoy.

    It is also highly melodramatic and reads as if it is a story meant to be read by the public at large rather than a private diary or journal, which it purports to be.

    Once again though we have to get back to the fact that the forger did not take care to try to match Maybrick's handwriting - so how good a forger or hoaxer were they?

    Best regards



    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  2. #17
    Member TonyMay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Hastings, East Sussex
    Age
    58
    Posts
    40

    Default Wow! That was quick! HA HA

    Hi Kev, Hi Chris

    Firstly an answer to Kev. Yes you can swap my picture to whatever 'Avatar' is. I'm not at all good with these computer things so you will have to do it for me! Was the photo I uploaded too large or something?

    And now to you Chris!

    You shot me down so fast I'd hardly got into the air! HA HA HA

    To be honest with you the subject of the handwriting in the diary is one of the most contentious issues to devide the pro and the against camps. I am not so bothered by the fact that the handwriting in the diary does not match the known examples of Maybrick's. I personally believe that a persons handwriting could change quite dramatically when they might be in such a state of mental torment (and/or possibly suffering with a multiple personality disorder). For me it is what the diary actually SAYS that is most important. I used to have a schoolmaster years ago called, funnily enough, Mr May whom I asked once for an example of his handwriting (there had been an article in a national newspaper at the time of how you can tell a lot about a person from their handwriting and I had developed an interest in the subject). He said to me before he wrote anything that he had three different styles that he used for different things. He then in front of me wrote the same passage of words in three completely different styles. For this reason alone I am not prepared to dismiss the diary purely on handwriting alone.
    I also think it very likely that either Edwin or Michael Maybrick wrote the will of James's that survives today. Michael Maybrick was an odd character and I would like to see examples of his and Edwins handwriting. The other person I wish we all had more info on in all of this is Maybrick's best friend George Davison. Davison I'm sure (in the end) knew James's secret and if I'm not wrong died not so long afterwards in mysterious circumstances. The epitath 'There shall be no more death' on Michael Maybricks grave at Ryde on the Isle Of Wight intregues me. Michael was known as a pretty cold fish yet he eventually married (well beneath him) his house keeper. Could it be possible that she had somehow come to know the Maybrick families 'Big Secret' and he (a very prominent Freemason) had married her to prevent the scandal from coming out?
    Yes Chris, I know this is all wild conjecture and unsustainable by the facts but isn't it just this kind of discussion that makes the Ripper case so facinating and enjoyable!

    I shall expect to be further 'riddled with bullets'!

    All the best,

    Tony.

  3. #18
    MissInformed
    Guest MissInformed's Avatar

    Default

    this a great debate guys, I myself am very interested in the diary, and would love to believe it is real...however, I very much doubt it is.Although, I don't want to get into this debate...with 2 experts!!

  4. #19
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Hello Tony

    This "multiple personality disorder" theory really is a get-out for the apologists for the Diary, beginning with authors Shirley Harrison and Paul Feldman, to get around the fact that the writing in the Diary does not match Maybrick's writing. Multiple personality disorder is apparently very rare and there is no evidence that James Maybrick had it.

    I don't know about Michael Maybrick being such a strange fish. He had a very successful career as a songwriter and performer under his writing and stage name of Stephen Adams. He was also, as you know, mayor of the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight, where he is buried. So he had to have been acceptable to the artistic community and his audiences as well as the townsfolk of Ryde. You may or may not have seen the photograph of his tomb in Ryde. I show it below.

    As for Michael Maybrick being a Freemason. Well, so what, many men in Victorian society were, as are men in our society. Does it really mean anything? It seems to me that Freemasonry is used as a code to imply all sorts of things that may not have occurred at all.

    Best regards

    Chris



    Michael Maybrick's tomb in Ryde Cemetery courtesy of Ryde Social Heritage Group
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  5. #20
    Member TonyMay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Hastings, East Sussex
    Age
    58
    Posts
    40

    Default It seems we are drawing a crowd Chris!

    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?

    Getting ready for more flak HA HA

    Tony.

  6. #21
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Hi Tony

    I have already booked for the Maybrick event at the Liverpool Cricket Club in May and will be coming over from the United States, where I live especially to attend it. Yes it should be an interesting weekend. Tony, if you are going to be there, I look forward to meeting you then.

    In regard to the melodramatic nature of the Diary narrative, it is a bit too melodramatic and convenient. It reads, as you said, like a story with beginning, middle, and end. Thus I think unnaturally so, as if, as I said before, it was written for an audience, not the way such a "diary" would read if it was just a man's private thoughts as it purports to be.

    Yes the speaker does seem to be jealous of brother "Michael" (evidently meaning Michael Maybrick) but implies throughout that he thought Michael wrote the words for songs or poetry and that his success was as a versifier. In fact Michael Maybrick aka Stephen Adams was a musician who wrote the music for "The Holy City" and other works, while his collaborator Frank Weatherly wrote the lyrics. This to me is just one of the mistakes the forger makes.

    Another thing is that the forger reveals little about the Whitechapel murders that we don't already know -- if the Diary was genuine we might expect to hear about some unknown information but we really don't.

    To me, as a Liverpudlian, the "Whitechapel, Liverpool - Whitechapel, London" phrase the writer uses early in the Diary shows how contrived the story is. The man did not have to go to London to murder prostitutes to gain revenge (supposedly) on wife Florie who was cuckolding him -- there were plenty of prostitutes to murder in Liverpool. Thus James Maybrick is only a convenient Victorian candidate on whom to pin the murders.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  7. #22
    Member SIMON HARRISON's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    birmingham,and liverpool
    Posts
    40

    Default

    Im loving this debate guys, my thread come good, keep it going! Chris can you explain Anne Barretts family connection to Maybrick, via Florence,? has the content of the second book ever been proved/ disproved?
    Simon Harrison

  8. #23
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by SIMON HARRISON View Post
    Im loving this debate guys, my thread come good, keep it going! Chris can you explain Anne Barretts family connection to Maybrick, via Florence,? has the content of the second book ever been proved/ disproved?
    Hi Simon

    I don't believe Anne Barrett or Anne Graham, as she calls herself now by her maiden name, has any connection to Florence Maybrick. It seems that this "connection" was "made" by the odd investigative techniques the late author, Paul Feldman, used when researching Jack the Ripper: The Final Chapter.

    In other words, Mr Feldman held long conversations with Anne and her father Billy Graham and more or less convinced both himself and them that they had some sort of connection to the Maybricks. It turned out to be, though, not what he was expecting, a connection to James Maybrick but to Florence Maybrick. This seems to have been done more through power of suggestion rather than actual hard evidence. Feldman even stretched things to the extent that he thought that because Florence Maybrick used the name Graham at one time after her release from prison that this proved a link with Billy Graham, and also that Billy Graham's father, born in the northeast of England, was actually Florence Maybrick's illegitimate son. Again, this all seems to be wishful thinking rather than actual and there is nothing proven about any connection.

    Sorry, Simon, I am not sure what you mean when you say, "has the content of the second book ever been proved/ disproved?" Are you talking about Anne Graham's book The Last Victim? If that is what you mean, the book contains some legitimate history on the Maybricks, though dependent on the unproved idea that James Maybrick could have been the Ripper and that Florence was a tramp, making all things possible in terms of that unproven connection between Anne Graham and Florence Maybrick.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  9. #24
    Member SIMON HARRISON's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    birmingham,and liverpool
    Posts
    40

    Default

    Thanks Chris, thats fine, i was refering to Feldmans claims of them being, related, As you said wishful thinking!, just wondered if anyone had done a geneolgy trace to disprove the link?
    Simon Harrison

  10. #25
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by SIMON HARRISON View Post
    Thanks Chris, thats fine, i was refering to Feldmans claims of them being, related, As you said wishful thinking!, just wondered if anyone had done a geneolgy trace to disprove the link?
    Hi Simon

    I don't know of anyone who has followed up the late Paul Feldman's work on the possible link of Billy Graham/Anne Graham to Florence Maybrick. I think most everyone is incredulous about how he came up with the "link."

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  11. #26
    Member SIMON HARRISON's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    birmingham,and liverpool
    Posts
    40

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post
    Hi Simon

    I don't know of anyone who has followed up the late Paul Feldman's work on the possible link of Billy Graham/Anne Graham to Florence Maybrick. I think most everyone is incredulous about how he came up with the "link."

    Chris
    Thanks Chris
    thought so, it was all to easy to suggest a link, but i still cant help feeling whoever did create the diary must have been helped by ripper fanatics wanting to create a stirr,as it is an amazing insight into a potential suspects thoughts, Liverpool forgers? highly educated ones, will we ever know?
    Simon Harrison

  12. #27
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by SIMON HARRISON View Post
    Thanks Chris
    thought so, it was all to easy to suggest a link, but i still cant help feeling whoever did create the diary must have been helped by ripper fanatics wanting to create a stirr,as it is an amazing insight into a potential suspects thoughts, Liverpool forgers? highly educated ones, will we ever know?
    Hello Simon

    There is a strong school of thought that the Diary may have been created by someone who knew both the Ripper case and the Maybrick case and who wanted to cause a stir in the Ripper community by producing a "Ripper diary" about the time of the centennial of the case in 1988. In that case, it could have been meant as a prank, but that somehow things went awry and the Diary ended up in the hands of other people who saw a way of making money off it.

    This might assume for instance that the original story of the Diary was true, that it came through Tony Devereux who either did not know where the Diary had come from, or else he died before he could explain the origins of the Diary.

    It is true that the person who wrote the Diary does show something of the psychology of a drug addict and a person morbidly addicted to the idea of killing. I still think that a good writer could simulate all of that, so I am not sure that either that a genius would be needed to come up with the Diary or that it need in any measure be true.

    There is an element of contrivance in the Diary and even the way the entries are set out on the page look as if they are written by someone who knew they were applying lines of poetry, etc, to be read, with lines scratched out by someone who was not actually writing poety at the time but trying to make it look as if they were actually composing verse when they were not, if you understand me.

    There is also a school of thought that while the Diary purports to have been written over a year or two with numerous separate entries, it was actually written in several sessions of writing with the writer pretending to be writing about separate episodes at different times.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  13. #28
    Member TonyMay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Hastings, East Sussex
    Age
    58
    Posts
    40

    Default Further thoughts...

    Hi Chris/Everyone

    It's been really interesting reading the latest posts. I must say though that I disagree with you Chris quite strongly on one point. I personally do not feel that the diary would be devalued even if it could be proven that more than one entry had been written at a time. I myself keep a diary and quite often (through lack of an opportunity at the time) actually write entries for quite a few days in one session. In fact I would go as far as to say that if it could be proved that more than one entry was written at a time it would actually INCREASE my feeling in it's genuineness.
    I feel that James may have used his diary writing sessions as a way to temporarily allay his desires to kill again during periods when business did not allow him a legitimate reason to visit London, Michael and therefore Whitechapel.
    I also feel my position on this point is further strengthened by the fact that at no time in the diary do any of the entries begin with what most people would expect a regular diary writer to begin with...the day's date.
    I've been trying to find an old box of mementoes that I have in my attic. In it I believe I may still have the piece of paper with the three examples of handwriting I witnessed my schoolteacher write. If I find it I will try somehow to post it on here for you all to see. The only thing that worries me about doing so is that Chris will accuse me of pulling an artifact like the 'Maybrick Watch' out of the bag! HA HA HA HA HA HA
    I am a terribly sentimental person and have a real difficulty in throwing personal things away is all I can say in my defense really!
    To be totally honest however, I haven't looked that closely at the writing that I'm talking about for years. I might find myself to be very dissapointed if I do find it (and the writing styles are not so different as I remember they were at the time). Whatever, IF I can find it I promise you Chris I will be honest about what I find!
    I truly wish I could make the Maybrick Trial in May but I can't. I work for a very small firm and we are not allowed to have time off if someone else is away that week. As my luck would have it some ******* has already beaten me to that week! HA HA

  14. #29
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Hi Tony

    I accept your point that some of the entries were probably written at one go and that diarists do this. However my point is that the text would lead us to believe some entries were weeks apart but the penmanship appears to indicate they might have been written at the same time.

    As for the point that no dates appear in the Diary except for the last page, I might say that the writer was cunning in doing that. Of course the signature at the end, "Yours truly, Jack the Ripper" emulating the "Ripper" letters and then "Dated the third of May 1889" -- conveniently eight days before Maybrick's death on May 11 -- to my mind looks even more suspicious.

    There are images of the Maybrick Diary for those interested at

    http://www.casebook.org/suspects/jam.../diarypix.html

    Tony, sorry you won't be at the Maybrick event in May. Let's keep in touch and continue to debate the Diary!

    All my best

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  15. #30
    Member TonyMay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Hastings, East Sussex
    Age
    58
    Posts
    40

    Default Yet more!

    Hi Chris/Everyone,

    I'm glad that you seem to be enjoying our debate as much as I am Chris. I just wish that more people within the Ripperology (and the whole world!) could be so happy to debate things. For some reason the vast majority of people I find can never debate they only seem to want to argue. I think it is great that you hold strong beliefs and are prepared to 'put your head on the chopping block' so to speak. A lot of the things you have said so far I will admit have made me stop and think and I will also conceed that I don't have answers for them all. I hope you have also been made to question your own beliefs in this way. For example you mentioned how James/the writer of the diary perpetually gives the impression that Michael wrote lyrics or poetry/was clever with words. As his brother (and apparently close one) you would have expected that James would have known that his brother was a composer. Perhaps however James was thinking more of Michael's days as a singer and could have been under the impression that at this time Michael had been a lyricist. Mind you we are talking about the same James Maybrick here (if you believe that he wrote his will) that spelt the name of his own daughter incorrectly!
    I do think however that perhaps in a bizarre way it is actually a GOOD thing that the diary can not be proven to be 100% foot perfect on every detail. The reason for this being that very few of us ever remember events etc entirely accurately anyway and more importantly if the case for the diary was an 'open and shut case' it would strike me as 'too good to be true'.
    I have read quite a lot about the Kennedy assasination and through this read a book by Chuck Giancana called 'Double Cross'. Chuck was the brother of the famous 1960's crime boss Sam Giancana and in the book he tells how Sam once remarked to him that 'if anything in life looks to be an open and shut case you can bet your life it's a set up cos' real life's not like that'.
    I do agree with you on another point you made actually Chris. Even I thought that Paul Feldman's revelation of a family connection to Florence Maybrick was not conclusively proven. I'm not saying that it could not have been true but as you said I think Paul just got so deeply involved in the story of the diary (I think it seriously damaged his personal life) that by that stage he simply WANTED there to be a connection. For anyone out there that is interested in learning more about James Maybrick I would recommend the books 'The Poisoned Life Of Mrs Maybrick' by Bernard Ryan and particularly 'Etched In Arsenic' by Trevor L Christie.

    All the best for now,

    Tony.

Page 2 of 15 FirstFirst 123412 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. The Trial of James Maybrick - May 2007
    By ChrisGeorge in forum Christopher T. George
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 12-02-2011, 04:45 AM
  2. James Maybrick Walk
    By pagancharms in forum Liverpool Folklore and Oddities
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-07-2010, 09:39 AM
  3. james street
    By billyrg007 in forum Liverpool City Center Architecture
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-17-2010, 09:01 PM
  4. Was Florence Maybrick really a killer?
    By jimmy in forum Liverpool Folklore and Oddities
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-09-2008, 03:15 AM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •