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Jack the Ripper Special Branch Index Ledgers

Fri Sep 02, 2011 7:17 am by Admin

Where would a book on Jack the Ripper conspiracies be without mention and an adequate assessment of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch Index Ledgers?

For those who do have a personal interest in these developments on the case, details on their existence and relevance was first published in the foundational reference work on the Whitechapel murders in 2006, Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard …

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Secret Files on Jack the Ripper?

Wed May 18, 2011 3:36 pm by auspirograph

Breaking News?

Hi all,

Yes, this is a breaking story on Jack the Ripper historical sources but it has been an on-going saga for some time with the UK Information Tribunal. The story is a bit more involved than the press are reporting, or as Trevor Marriott is describing. There are certainly some details of a Victorian Special Branch investigation of Jack the Ripper, however, because suspects …

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Ripper Writers RSS Feeds

Wed Aug 25, 2010 4:56 pm by Admin

As a service to members and guests of Jack the Ripper Writers who would like to subscribe to updates and news displayed on this website blog, please go to the menu right and choose your favorite option.

Thanks for your continued interest and support of a site specific for writers, authors and crime historians on Jack the Ripper and the iconic Whitechapel murders.

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Jack the Ripper Writers


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TUMBLETY

 

Identifying the Source - Part 3.

 

 

By

 

Joe Chetcuti

 

 

[Patrick] Tuohy had been commissioned by James Joyce, not so much for his talent, which was considerable, but for the past associations that his family had with the Joyces. [James Tuohy] had been one of the reporters for the Freeman's Journal (during) the famous [1890] meeting in Committee Room 15 in the House of Parliament that brought about Parnell's downfall... 10

 

 

James Joyce as a lad

 

 

It is not my intent to deluge everyone with a variety of segments from Irish history, but the point of the matter is that Parnell, Healy, and the Joyces were famous Irishmen, and James Touhy was closely connected with them. It can be easily understood why Tuohy’s name obtained international recognition and why his transatlantic messages deserved to be classified as authoritative. The Committee Room 15 reference we just read about recalls a very turbulent confrontation. During the first week of December 1890, all eyes were focused on this room. The course of Ireland’s political future was at stake. Tuohy and his colleagues at the Freeman's Journal were inside this packed chamber and in the thick of the battleground:

 

The Irish Party gathered round the huge horseshoe table in Committee Room 15 at Westminster on 1 December 1890. Parnell saw with dismay that a team of shorthand reporters from Freeman’s Journal were there with pencils poised. For six days Parnell, sitting in the chair, defended himself tenaciously. Tempers flared. One MP shouted: ‘Crucify him!’ At one point it was feared that Parnell would produce a revolver from his pocket to shoot his ablest critic, Timothy Healy. 11

 

 

Timothy Michael Healy

 

 

Tuohy and his fellow news writers recorded the vote. On December 6, 1890 Parnell walked out of Committee Room 15 a defeated man, having been drained of most of his political power. He passed away ten months later.

 

In 1891, Parnell put his prestige on the line in three by-elections. Sometimes he appealed to the Fenian element suggesting that if he failed to achieve [Irish] self-government through constitutional methods, he would join in a physical-force attack on British tyranny...[Parnell] ruined his health by speaking on political platforms in the Irish cold and damp. On October 6, 1891 he died of rheumatic fever...After a large and emotional Dublin funeral, largely managed by his Fenian following, Parnell was laid to rest [in Glasnevin.] 12 

 

In accord with the Fenians, Francis Tumblety also bestowed his admiration upon Parnell to the point where he publicly referred to the man as the great Irish leader. The 'doctor' likened his own Whitechapel persecution that came from the American Press to that of Parnell’s unfounded persecution which came from The Times. The famous London newspaper accused Parnell of insincerity in his denunciation of the Phoenix Park murders. Tumbelty would write in his autobiography, "Like Parnell, I have emerged from the battle entirely unscathed with my social and professional standing unimpaired." 13 The World reporter who interviewed Tumblety helped promote those pro-Irish words of defiance by giving advertisement to the autobiography in his newspaper’s February 3, 1889 issue.

 

Also during this period, suspicion was directed at Tumblety for his supposed involvement with the advanced branch of Parnell's Irish National Party. 14 There is a nagging sense of connection between Irish political affairs, the "Littlechild Suspect," Colonel Hughes-Hallett's testimony, and The New York World. There is also a prudent suspicion that guarded Whitechapel information had been cabled overseas to Pulitzer’s newspaper by a sharp London newsman. A gentleman who was in an advantageous position to update and enlighten his Irish-American colleagues in New York City. We know how highly Pulitzer thought of Tuohy, but how influential was James in the eyes of the dignitaries in the Irish Parliamentary Party? The following item sheds some light on the answer:

 

It was whispered in the lobbies of the House of Commons and in the Liberal clubs...that Parnell had said he would retire provided they re-elected him formally. Parnell dealt with this rumour in characteristic fashion. ‘Who set this rumour afloat?' he asked. Someone told him Mr. Tuohy, the able London editor of the 'Freeman's Journal.' [Parnell] at once summoned Mr. Tuohy to his side in Committee Room 15, and demanded a full inquiry, there and then, into the subject. The scene which followed must be described.

 

Mr. Parnell: Mr. Lane was under the impression, and stated to the meeting, that he received from Mr. Tuohy a statement, which he communicated to Mr. Barry, that prior to the meeting of Tuesday, I had expressed my intention of resigning...Now I have asked Mr. Tuohy to state to the meeting what happened.

 

Mr. Lane (intervening): [Mr. Tuohy] volunteered the statement to me that you were about to retire. I asked him, was he sure, and he said, “Yes.” He then told it to Mr. Sexton, Mr. Barry, and some others. (“Hear, hear.”) That statement, sir, was denied in this room on Tuesday, and the moment the meeting was over I went and saw my old and valued friend, Mr. Tuohy, in the outer lobby, outside the telegraph office, and asked him on what authority he made the statement to me that Mr. Parnell intended to retire, and his words were—“On the best authority possible—that of Henry Campbell.”

 

 

Sir Henry Campbell

 

 

Mr. Parnell: Perhaps Mr. Tuohy will now state as briefly as he can what took place between him and Mr. Lane.

 

Mr. Tuohy: I saw Mr. Campbell at my office on the Saturday before the House met, and I had a converstaion with him about the position of Mr. Parnell. We were discussing the matter, and he stated, as his own opinion, and expressly excluded himself from giving it as Mr. Parnell’s opinion or intention, that in certain contingencies he thought Mr. Parnell might retire;..When I met Mr. Lane in the lobby I stated to him, in the first instance, that Mr. Campbell had given this entirely as his own opinion, and that it was not given as Mr. Parnell’s intention at all.

 

Mr J. Huntly McCarthy: I may say a word on this matter, because I have no knowledge at all of what Mr. Tuohy said with Mr. Lane, but I had a conversation with Mr. Tuohy before the meeting of the party, and I distinctly understood from him that his impression was that Mr. Parnell would not resign. (Applause.) 15

 

 

Committee Room 15

 

 

It sounded as if Tuohy was not shy about making the rounds and quietly discussing a volatile topic with high ranking politicians. And this definitely was an important subject. Any talk about Parnell’s retirement would have made headlines throughout Great Britain. James came across as a man who did not have any qualms at all about whispering out major news stories. But he was very selective about where his information was delivered. He did not just blab things out to the British masses. Take a closer look at this squabble over Parnell’s alleged retirement. Tuohy’s words concerning the rumor could only be heard in the Liberal clubs and inside the lobby of the House of Commons. It was evident that the man knew how to control and contain a sensitive news item. And notice Parnell’s reaction when he learned that it was James who was discretely spreading the word. The Irish leader did not simply disregard the matter. Far from it. Parnell knew what an influential source James Tuohy was, and he immediately called a meeting to diffuse the situation. What I particularly noticed about this story was how Mr. Lane made it a point to mention that he saw James outside the telegraph office in the House of Commons. 16