How Brown
09-17-2007, 06:18 PM
*1. Which suspect is the most intriguing to you at this point in time,regardless of whether you believe him in any way culpable of these or any crimes?*
Suspects in general aren't my main point of interest, but a number of the people who have been mentioned as possibly having been involved in the Ripper case in some way are quite interesting in their own right. If I had to name one in particular the nod would have to go to the mad anarchist poet John Barlas. Wolf Vanderlinden found an 1897 article in The New York Times claiming that the police had identified an individual with some very specific traits as the killer, and then David Green put the clues together (as published in Ripper Notes #26) and introduced us to Barlas. I don't know how his name came up -- whether some police official really thought Barlas was the Ripper or if someone misinterpreted a veiled reference to the killer having been locked up in an asylum and got the wrong man -- but it's nice to learn about this character who would otherwise be all but lost to history. I was intrigued enough about his life to track down a rare book of his poetry and also a volume from his own personal book collection.
*2. Which myth or at least, unproven assumption found in the whole of the Case gets under your skin as a serious researcher the most?*
The thing that frustrates me the most is how so many people think that all there is to know about the case consists of a mere two and a half month period of activity and some personal recollections of career bureaucrats looking back at it years later. Even within that limited duration of events it's pretty amazing to me how much that was going on at the time doesn't make it into most books. There were possible witnesses, suspects, attacks and so forth that for whatever reason just get ignored as irrelevant... plus very interesting events both before and after the Autumn of Terror that have a direct impact. So the biggest myth within Ripper studies these days, as I see it, is this pre-packaged list of what has been deemed significant and that everything else is unworthy of attention.
*3. What is your opinion of the recent declaration made by Mr. Keith Skinner, regarding the origin of the Maybrick Diary ?*
While I am somewhat curious to find out what he meant by the statement that the diary came from Battlecrease House, it's just a morbid desire to find out what the latest twist in this long-running soap opera will turn out to be. I'm fairly confident it won't make any difference to the field of Ripperology as a whole. I was far more interested to learn that Keith was apparently hired to fact-check Patricia Cornwell's book before the release of the next edition. Admitting mistakes and getting outside help to fix them is pretty rare among Ripper authors to begin with, but with someone who has taken such a defiant and public stance against her critics it's very surprising. I definitely respect her for doing that and wonder what the end result will be.
*4. What are your feelings about the current state of Ripper message boards and if possible, what changes do you see underway?*
A lot of good comes out of the message boards. They are certainly great ways to socialize with people with similar interests -- and of course that's how I first decided that Kelly was someone I wanted to meet some day -- and good for sharing certain kinds of information with the world. I think the main good that comes out of them is having a way for people who are serious about the case to get their feet wet discussing various topics, bouncing ideas off others, and so forth to see what's already been covered, which ideas may have legs, and where to go from there. Several of the people who were new message board posters just a few years back are moving into books and more structured research, which is a great thing.
* 5. Name a few places you and Kelly will be visiting in England, since I am nosey.*
We have all sorts of things planned. There's the conference in Wolverhampton, of course, and the Whitechapel Society 1888 meeting in the East End the weekend before that. Philip offered to show us around the murder sites sometime around then, and we may meet up with others for some of that. We also plan to spend a good chunk of a day with someone in London concerning some case-related research for an upcoming Ripper Notes article. On the days in between we hope to get some of the more standard tourist destinations in. I just have to go see the British Museum, for example, and we have a dozen other spots marked on a map to check out if we have time. Stewart and Rosie Evans also invited us to stay with them for a few days, which we are definitely looking forward to doing. I think we'll have just the right mix of business and vacation.
Suspects in general aren't my main point of interest, but a number of the people who have been mentioned as possibly having been involved in the Ripper case in some way are quite interesting in their own right. If I had to name one in particular the nod would have to go to the mad anarchist poet John Barlas. Wolf Vanderlinden found an 1897 article in The New York Times claiming that the police had identified an individual with some very specific traits as the killer, and then David Green put the clues together (as published in Ripper Notes #26) and introduced us to Barlas. I don't know how his name came up -- whether some police official really thought Barlas was the Ripper or if someone misinterpreted a veiled reference to the killer having been locked up in an asylum and got the wrong man -- but it's nice to learn about this character who would otherwise be all but lost to history. I was intrigued enough about his life to track down a rare book of his poetry and also a volume from his own personal book collection.
*2. Which myth or at least, unproven assumption found in the whole of the Case gets under your skin as a serious researcher the most?*
The thing that frustrates me the most is how so many people think that all there is to know about the case consists of a mere two and a half month period of activity and some personal recollections of career bureaucrats looking back at it years later. Even within that limited duration of events it's pretty amazing to me how much that was going on at the time doesn't make it into most books. There were possible witnesses, suspects, attacks and so forth that for whatever reason just get ignored as irrelevant... plus very interesting events both before and after the Autumn of Terror that have a direct impact. So the biggest myth within Ripper studies these days, as I see it, is this pre-packaged list of what has been deemed significant and that everything else is unworthy of attention.
*3. What is your opinion of the recent declaration made by Mr. Keith Skinner, regarding the origin of the Maybrick Diary ?*
While I am somewhat curious to find out what he meant by the statement that the diary came from Battlecrease House, it's just a morbid desire to find out what the latest twist in this long-running soap opera will turn out to be. I'm fairly confident it won't make any difference to the field of Ripperology as a whole. I was far more interested to learn that Keith was apparently hired to fact-check Patricia Cornwell's book before the release of the next edition. Admitting mistakes and getting outside help to fix them is pretty rare among Ripper authors to begin with, but with someone who has taken such a defiant and public stance against her critics it's very surprising. I definitely respect her for doing that and wonder what the end result will be.
*4. What are your feelings about the current state of Ripper message boards and if possible, what changes do you see underway?*
A lot of good comes out of the message boards. They are certainly great ways to socialize with people with similar interests -- and of course that's how I first decided that Kelly was someone I wanted to meet some day -- and good for sharing certain kinds of information with the world. I think the main good that comes out of them is having a way for people who are serious about the case to get their feet wet discussing various topics, bouncing ideas off others, and so forth to see what's already been covered, which ideas may have legs, and where to go from there. Several of the people who were new message board posters just a few years back are moving into books and more structured research, which is a great thing.
* 5. Name a few places you and Kelly will be visiting in England, since I am nosey.*
We have all sorts of things planned. There's the conference in Wolverhampton, of course, and the Whitechapel Society 1888 meeting in the East End the weekend before that. Philip offered to show us around the murder sites sometime around then, and we may meet up with others for some of that. We also plan to spend a good chunk of a day with someone in London concerning some case-related research for an upcoming Ripper Notes article. On the days in between we hope to get some of the more standard tourist destinations in. I just have to go see the British Museum, for example, and we have a dozen other spots marked on a map to check out if we have time. Stewart and Rosie Evans also invited us to stay with them for a few days, which we are definitely looking forward to doing. I think we'll have just the right mix of business and vacation.