Maybrick Books New and Old

[Chris G.]

Hi all

I see there is a new book coming out on the Maybrick Case:

Mrs Maybrick by Victoria Blake

Publisher: National Archives (PRO), The
Pub. Date: March 28, 2008
ISBN-13: 9781905615186
128pp, available from Barnes & Noble, etc. (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=9781905615186)

I have found that solicitor Alexander MacDougall's 1891 book, The Maybrick Case: A Treatise in defense of Mrs. Maybrick is available from Google Books (http://books.google.com/books?id=ifcyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=%22the+maybrick+case%22&source=web&ots=uc2CNl4aua&sig=Kt7hSa4u5Y0SgpNJpVy62n4hOPw).

Check this out too: Florence Maybrick a Thrilling Romance. (http://yesterdays-papers.blogspot.com/2007/04/florence-maybrick-thrilling-romance.html) As the blogger says, "Another 'true' crime dreadful from George Purkess Jr., proprietor of the Illustrated Police News along with a text sample showing the meaning of the term 'romance.'"

In regard to the Maybrick website upcoming from Chris Jones at the Liverpool Cricket Club, here is the latest word I received from Chris on January 20 last:

"Have almost finished Maybrick A to Z. It is 200 pages in length, based in the main on local newspaper reports. Website almost finished as well. Best wishes, Chris J"

It sounds to me that conceivably Chris might be putting out a book as well as the website. I have sent him an email to clarify that and will let you know.

Chris

[Paul Butler]

Thanks for this info Chris.

Anything new on the Maybricks is always welcome, and it sounds like there will be plenty of it.

Comparing any new Maybrick historical facts with the diary to see if Sir Jim made any fatal clangers might be a fascinating exercise.

regards.

Paul

[Mike Covell]

I have a couple of newspaper cuttings regarding Florence Maybrick's Trial. I shall post them on the newspapers from hull thread. They are not massive but intresting nonetheless. The cuttings were from 1892 I believe could be wrong.

[Mike Covell]

Both articles are now posted on the Newspapers from Hull thread.

The first is dated Feb 28th 1891
The second is dated March 17th 1891

Both are taken from the Hull and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Times.

Both have details regarding the trial of Florence and a possible re-opening of the case.

[Chris G.]

Many thanks, Mike!!


Thanks for this info Chris.

Anything new on the Maybricks is always welcome, and it sounds like there will be plenty of it.

Comparing any new Maybrick historical facts with the diary to see if Sir Jim made any fatal clangers might be a fascinating exercise.

regards.

Paul

Hi Paul

Yes but I take it you mean fatal clangers by the diarist, i.e., whomever concocted the Maybrick Diary, is that right?

Chris

[Paul Butler]

Yes Chris, I do.

All it will take is one new fact to emerge to show that Sir Jim couldn't have been in Whitechapel at the right time for example, and the diary is stone dead.

On the other hand, the more new facts that do emerge that don't clash with JTR's accepted history will only serve to strengthen the case against Sir Jim.

This is the real way forward, and I'm pleased to be around whilst it's happening.

Regards.

Paul.

[Paul Butler]

Both articles are now posted on the Newspapers from Hull thread.

The first is dated Feb 28th 1891
The second is dated March 17th 1891

Both are taken from the Hull and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Times.

Both have details regarding the trial of Florence and a possible re-opening of the case.

.......and thanks from me too Mike, for letting Sir Jim, or at least the Mrs., into your D'Onston zone. He's getting his cotton picking fingers in everywhere at the moment!

Regards.

Paul

Paul

[Chris G.]

Yes Chris, I do.

All it will take is one new fact to emerge to show that Sir Jim couldn't have been in Whitechapel at the right time for example, and the diary is stone dead. . .

Hi Paul

Well we have been looking for that since 1993.

Chris

[Caroline Morris]

Morning Chaps,

Yes, and all it will take is one new fact to emerge to show that Monty Druitt couldn't have been in Whitechapel at the right time either, and he can rest in peace alongside Sir Jim.

It would seem that new information exists that should soon change the face of Ripperology forever, by ridding it of one of its most famous and enduring contemporary suspects.

Either that, or there has been a pretty significant misunderstanding somewhere along the line - and none of it has anything to do with me this time round. :rolleyes:

Love,

Caz
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[Paul Butler]

Morning to you too Caz.

I was reading your casebook post earlier today. So it looks like mild mannered Monty might get the alibi he so richly deserves after all then? Should be very interesting.

Nobody has really unearthed much of any significance in the life of the real James since Feldman really, so with a new Maybrick website in the offing and lots of new stuff promised then who knows? We could bump him off the bottom of the list too, or dare I say it, put him up a notch or two!

Regards.

Paul

[Mike Covell]

Hi Paul, Chris and Caroline,

You would be suprised what can be found in the old Hull Newspapers.

There is obviously articles regarding Robert D'Onston Stephenson, Florence Maybrick, Deeming, Sadler, Queen Victoria, Duke of Clarnece and the Prince of Wales.

There are details of the Gateshead Murders were inspector Roots was sent to investigate wether it was a ripper crime (it wasn't)

There are details of the Tranby Croft case, in which the Prince of Wales was involved in an illigal game of Baccarat!!

There are lots of press reports of the victims, people who had ripper like conduct and cases in other areas of the world are covered.

So much stuff in fact that I am planning on releasing a local history book on the newspapers.


I came into the field only recently but had been studying the case for many years, I too was a firm believer that James Maybrick was Jack, I loved the diary, Watch and even the F M on the wall.
But as time progresses I do change my mind.

I think the ripper was just an average joe, living among the other residents of whitechapel, reading the reports in the following mornings press, maybe even spending time with the wife and kids the day after.

For me, the fun is in the search for him.....:clap::target:

[WRITEFX]

I also find coincidences and connections an interesting angle. They do say that each of us is only 6 people away from another (or whatever that expression is).

[Paul Butler]

Believe me Mike, I know exactly where you're coming from.

Parts of the diary are so clever, subtle and convincing that even after years of reading it and looking for the get-out clause, I for one still find it a very persuasive account.

Then suddenly you read the sodding great unsubtle reference to Battlecrease plonked in right at the beginning, which I have to say I find extremely obvious and unnatural. Why call your house by name in your own diary?

But I reckon there are interesting times ahead for the diary story. We shall have to see if Sir Jim goes up or down in the list.

Regards.

Paul

[Chris G.]

Believe me Mike, I know exactly where you're coming from.

Parts of the diary are so clever, subtle and convincing that even after years of reading it and looking for the get-out clause, I for one still find it a very persuasive account.

Then suddenly you read the sodding great unsubtle reference to Battlecrease plonked in right at the beginning, which I have to say I find extremely obvious and unnatural. Why call your house by name in your own diary?

The Diary reads like a Gothic novel, so just as in Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, which begins "Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again", the Diary has a similar beginning.




I came into the field only recently but had been studying the case for many years, I too was a firm believer that James Maybrick was Jack, I loved the diary, Watch and even the F M on the wall.
But as time progresses I do change my mind.



The Diary relies on the commonly held view that Jack was a gamesplayer, writing letters to the authorities, and writing the graffito on the wall to taunt the police. But Jack may not have written any letters, nor wrote on the wall in Goulston Street.

Chris

[Paul Butler]

The Diary reads like a Gothic novel, so just as in Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, which begins "Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again", the Diary has a similar beginning.

Chris

Chris

I'm glad you said that.

"I may return to Battlecrease and take the unfaithfull bitch." always makes me think of that opening passage from Rebecca too.

Written in the 30s I believe, so far too late to have inspired a contemporary Sir Jim alas.

regards.

Paul

[SirRobertAnderson]

"I may return to Battlecrease and take the unfaithfull bitch."



Which of course is an interesting sentence if you consider the peculiar Mr. Rogers.....

Am I correct in believing that Flo named it "Battlecrease" ? And what is a battlecrease ?

[Chris G.]

Am I correct in believing that Flo named it "Battlecrease" ? And what is a battlecrease ?

Hi Sir Bob

I believe the house was already named Battlecrease House when the Maybricks took a 5-year lease on it in February 1888. The "batting crease" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crease_(cricket)) is the cricketing term for the area of the cricket pitch where the batsman receives the ball, so the house might have received its name partly because of the fact that the Liverpool Cricket Club was and is across the road from the mansion.

Chris

[SirRobertAnderson]

I believe the house was already named Battlecrease House when the Maybricks took a 5-year lease on it in February 1888. The "batting crease" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crease_(cricket)) is the cricketing term for the area of the cricket pitch where the batsman receives the ball, so the house might have received its name partly because of the fact that the Liverpool Cricket Club was and is across the road from the mansion.

Chris

Thanks, Chris. I seem to remember Chris Jones remarking on the Casebook that the name came from Florence herself, and that prior to the Maybricks moving in, the house did not have a name. I'm not having any luck finding the post, and it may be a "found" memory.....

[WRITEFX]

Writing about the house in the diary like that isn't unusual as that is how we all talk about some relatives house so intead of ever mentioning their names we always talk about the house instead. Apparently the house has the same name as their previous one which was in the family for generations so it's become a habit to talk like this.

[Caroline Morris]

Hi Sir Robert,

I also heard that Florie gave the house its name, but I can't remember the source I'm afraid. I thought Chris Jones had suggested that the name Battlecrease had agricultural, rather than cricketing connections, but again I may be misremembering.

My memory is not at fault on other matters though. ;)

Love,

Caz
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[Stephen Leece]

I wouldn't be too worried about the 'tonight I may return to Battlecrease...' sounds like 'Rebecca' fluff. Didn't Florence state in a letter to Brierley that James was 'sick unto death' echoing the opening sentence of 'The Pit and The Pendulum'?

[Chris G.]

I wouldn't be too worried about the 'tonight I may return to Battlecrease...' sounds like 'Rebecca' fluff. Didn't Florence state in a letter to Brierley that James was 'sick unto death' echoing the opening sentence of 'The Pit and The Pendulum'?

Hi Stephen

I hadn't heard before about the echo of 'The Pit and The Pendulum' in the 'sick unto death' expression in Florie's letter to Brierley. An interesting connection. Although all those Victorian semi-Biblical sentiments sound similar. It was life copying art copying life again.

Chris

[Stephen Leece]

Hi Chris,
It sticks in my mind because that was used as a statement against her in court- somehow I doubt an American court would have made that mistake. It is/was an American turn of phrase and Poe used it. I wouldn't have allowed that letter into evidence! ;-)

[Caroline Morris]

Hi Stephen,

'Sick unto death' is a perfect illustration of the inherent ambiguities in the language not being appreciated and taken into account - and the extremely grave consequences such a mistake can have when someone's life hangs in the balance. At least it's only history that hangs in the balance around here. :nod:

Hi Stephen

I hadn't heard before about the echo of 'The Pit and The Pendulum' in the 'sick unto death' expression in Florie's letter to Brierley. An interesting connection. Although all those Victorian semi-Biblical sentiments sound similar. It was life copying art copying life again.

Chris

Wow, Chris! You summed it up there all right. I reckon the diary author was trying to do just that, and is having a right old rant at those who are failing to appreciate the effort.

"It was life copying art copying life again."

Best eight little words I've read in ages. :tea:

Love,

Caz
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