The real M'Carthy

[A.P. Wolf]

This report has always grabbed me, and there is a follow up to it as well:

http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac287/HowieNina/mac6.jpg

[How Brown]

Great find A.P. !

Any chance of a date for this? McCarthy is mentioned as being 27 at the time.

You know,Don Souden's idea that McCarthy may have been a panderin' pimp looks a little more plausible to me at least.

If this McCarthy is our man,then skirting the law in other ways in order to make a buck might be true too.

Thanks as always,A.P. Interesting clipping.

[A.P. Wolf]

Damn those dates... I always forget 'em.
It was March 29th 1882, How.
The follow up is even better, with the good old Metropolitan police stepping in to give M'Carthy glowing references in court to help him avoid a prison sentence.
See if I can dig that out tonight.

[How Brown]

Thanks A.P. for providing the date which gives us this McCarthy's age at 33 at the time of the WM.

Is this roughly the age of John McCarthy,rent collector?

Thank you.

[Donald Souden]

Howard,

By all accounts, the John McCarthy who rented to Kelly and Barnett was 37 in the fall of 1888. And of course, like the Kellys, there was many a McCarthy in London at the time.

I'd also like to take a moment to clear up what seems a misunderstanding about my article that began with its publication and has grown since. That is, that I assert McCarthy was Kelly's pimp. Not so.

In my mind, a pimp both procures and protects. There is no evidence that McCarthy sought clients for Mary Jane Kelly and if he was providing protection he surely did a lousy job. It is my view that he simply entered into a financial arrangement with Kelly, taking a cut from her earnings against the rent. A somewhat fine distinction, perhaps, but the one I favor.

Don.

[SirRobertAnderson]

Gotta love the little detail about the bystanders beating both fighters with sticks.

[A.P. Wolf]

Sadly the later report from The Times concerning M'Carthy and this prize-fight is no longer there in its entirety, just the tail wagging the dog.
But on the 16th May 1882 both Sergeant Thicke of 'H' Division and Inspector Wildey of 'K' Division were present in court to vouch for M'Carthys good character, resulting in a £50 surety.
It is, I should point out, highly unusual circumstance for ranking officers of the Met. force to drop what they are doing to appear in court as character witness for folks being charged with criminal offences by their own force.
Count them on your fingers, on one hand. If that.
As one arm of the Met. force attempts to prosecute a number of persons for flouting the law, another arm vouches for their good conduct and behaviour?
That's about as 'kosher' as Israel Sunshine.

[How Brown]

Dear Don:

I apologize for the misinterpretation of McCarthy's possible role with MJK.

Dear A.P.

"It is, I should point out, highly unusual circumstance for ranking officers of the Met. force to drop what they are doing to appear in court as character witness for folks being charged with criminal offences by their own force."

You're damned straight this is unusual. I wonder if this caused some unseen or unknown friction as a result. Unless of course,McCarthy...this McCarthy... was supergrass or one of those people like Gary Thomas Rowe*...who help the police all the while engaging in minor types of vice or crime.

You know...I could see this sort of thing occurring ( police vouching for the character of someone about to go before the Courts).... if this particular McCarthy/person had some serious connections.

But in a case like that,it would probably be more likely that someone higher up in the force would appear on the person's behalf since the influence the person had would be great enough to even warrant an appearance of a police official to appear for them in the first place. Having two "middle level" policemen appear for a guy busted for illegal boxing might indicate the former "idea" I mentioned...that being he was a street level informant.

What does anyone else feel ?

A.P. Once again,you've provided some really interesting material here and we thank you.
*****************


* For those who don't know,Gary Thomas Rowe was an informant for the FBI in the early 1960's and despite his photographed presence in a Birmingham bus terminal beating up Northern agitators who came South in those "Freedom Rides"....and his actual presence in the car with 3 Alabama U.K.A. members when Viola Liuzzo was shot as she went to march in Selma...he went on to escape any complicity whatsoever as the Feds "backed" him up as being in the "wrong place at the right time".