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Chris G.
05-13-2009, 11:19 AM
Hello all

Here is a map of downtown Baltimore in 1905.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2341/3528524500_78779c104b_o.jpg

According to the 1900 census, Dr. Francis Tumblety was living in a rooming house at the corner of North Liberty and Clay Streets, shown by the red dot in the upper left hand corner of the map. Stockbroker Major Joseph R. Kemp, named as an executor of a will Dr T supposedly signed in the city in 1901, had an office further down Liberty Street, the vicinity of which is shown by the blue dot. The location of the Home for Fallen Women (http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=6461) at 1 North Exeter Street can be seen on the right side of the map, just above East Baltimore Street, indicated by the green dot. Update May 20, 2009: You will see in the thread for the Home that I now think the Home was actually located on the other corner, the east side of North Exeter, so imagine that the dot is moved across the street. :)

As Tim Riordan and I have been discussing on the thread for "Parallels between Tumbelty & D'Onston: A List" (http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=6454), it might appear that the doctor's Baltimore will might be fraudulent, because Major Kemp's stockbroker business dealing with stocks for a mining company was a type of ponzi scheme. Thus, the $1,000 legacy for the Home for Fallen Women on North Exeter Street promised under the will might have been "window dressing" if that document was in fact bogus and "mocked up" by Kemp and his pals in order to lay hands on the late quack's fortune in a New York banking house.

Baltimore's Cardinal Gibbons was promised $1,000 under the 1901 Baltimore will but ultimately received $10,000 under a St. Louis will that Tumblety signed weeks before his death in St. Louis on May 28, 1903. The city's Catholic cathedral (now the Basilica of the Assumption) and the Cardinal's Residence are just off top edge of the map north of Tumblety's lodgings. A portrait of Gibbons, a photograph of the Basilica, and a postcard view of the Cardinal's Residence may be seen here (http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?p=40659) along with information on Tumblety's fortune from newspaper reports.

Chris

Chris G.
05-13-2009, 11:48 AM
This is Baltimore's Rennert Hotel, at the corner of Saratoga and North Liberty Streets shown circa 1900 when Dr. Tumblety was living in Baltimore. The Rennert was one of the leading hotels of the day. Dr. Tumblety's lodging house was down Liberty Street on the right, about a block south. I should be able to post some photographs of the actual lodging house shortly.

Chris

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2067/3528631944_641b0a18a3_o.jpg

Chris G.
05-20-2009, 12:46 PM
Hi all

Here are some cell phone photographs I took on Sunday morning showing Baltimore's N. Liberty Street and environs. Tumblety lived in a lodging house at the corner of N. Liberty and Clay Streets according to the 1900 U.S. Census.

The following photograph shows the intersection of N. Liberty and Saratoga Streets just up the hill from where Tumblety lodged. The Rennert Hotel that I showed in a period photograph in my last post used to be located on the corner directly ahead.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3578/3548136017_8374d43f4a_o.jpg

One of the oldest buildings in Baltimore is Old St. Paul's Rectory (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1E0M) built 1789-1791 (old for the United States!) and it overlooks the intersection just shown. Tumblety would have had to walk past it to pay a call on Cardinal James Gibbons at the Catholic Cathedral / Cardinal's residence a block to the north. A search of the Cardinal's correspondence by me some years ago appeared to indicate the two men did not know each other and the legacy of $10,000 the prelate ultimately received under Dr T's St. Louis will came as a pleasant surprise.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3548136055_e7312cd5a6_o.jpg

This is looking down Liberty Street toward the vicinity of the office of Major Kemp, the stockbroker named as executor under Tumblety's Baltimore will of 1901. The office, which was on the east side of the street, is long gone, and the structures east of Liberty Street (left side of photograph) were replaced by modern office buildings, part of Baltimore's Charles Center (http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&q=Baltimore+Charles+Center+mies&m=text) complex of office blocks that feature architecture by Mies Van Der Rohe and other modern architects.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3405/3548135961_7f30ffec7a_o.jpg

The lower, cream building in the center of the last photograph, by the way, is the Baltimore Arena, on the site of the city's old Civic Center where the Beatles played on September 13, 1964 (http://www.rarebeatles.com/photopg7/balt964.htm).

And well, here's Tumblety's lodgings, the taller cream and green-trimmed building, next to the corner of Liberty and Clay Streets. According to the 1900 U.S. census he was living at 218-220 Liberty St. (a downtown address that today is home to a law office that handles criminal and personal-injury cases). There's a pizza joint down on the bottom floor of the yellow building next door exactly on the corner of Liberty and Clay. Nice to know he could have just hopped downstairs for a veggie and pepperoni pizza any time he liked. :) There was a major fire on Clay Street in 1873 so I believe these buildings were built post-1873. That street, possibly significant for our story, also had a bit of a reputation as a red light district or an area frequented by prostitutes. It was also I believe at that time what would have been termed a "colored" street, home to part of Baltimore's African American community.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/3548135977_a00983415e_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3591/3548135991_db4c61a088_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3393/3548945734_43811037bf_o.jpg

Check out the Google Street View (http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS307US213&q=Baltimore+%22218-220+Liberty+St.%22+map+maryland&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=1D8USrPqI8iptgeR8vyeBA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1) of the location.

In the thread for the Baltimore Home for Fallen Women (http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=6461), to which Dr. T left $1,000 under his contested and (maybe) dubious 1901 Baltimore will (with $1,000 to Cardinal Gibbons), I'll post photographs of that location as well shortly. Stay tuned.

Chris

How Brown
05-20-2009, 01:35 PM
Very nice work on these photographs C.G. !

Thanks for sharing them with us.