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Malta Joe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Malta
Post Number: 114
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 2:56 pm: | 
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Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Feb 2, 1889
"Just before the breaking of the (Civil) war, (Tumblety) went to Washington and soon became intimate with the leading citizens of that place. When General McClellan became commander of the Army of the Potomac he took Dr. Tumblety under his wing and furnished him with passes to go and come where and when he pleased. He remained in Washington for sometime, and seemed to have mingled in the best society there."
"...and during the siege of Paris in 1870-1871 he became attached to the Ambulance Service of France. For his services he was presented the Brittany Cross and Diploma."
This gloating article which Tumblety dictated to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle cleverly revealed more about this Ripper's suspect's activity in 1888 London than any other I have read. Thanks to Tim Riordan, this bogus Diploma can now be shown. Tumblety had printed up the phony thing in his 1889 autobiography:
One of the several DIPLOMAS HELD BY THE AUTHOR. SIEGE OF PARIS - HELD DURING THE YEARS 1870 and 1871 verses THE PRUSSIAN ARMIES.
The Director of the Ambulance of Brittany, established at the RUE DU QUATRE SEPTEMBRE 14 NO., presents Monsieur Tumblety (Francis) M.D., the Brittany Cross, insignia of the act, as well as the DIPLOMA, in remembrance of the kind concourse and devoted services that he rendered in the qualification of Doctor during the war.
Paris, the 29th Jan., 1872
P. HERVE DU LORIN,
Chevalier, Commandant of the Ambulance of Brittany.
I believe that Tumblety was flashing this document in the high society of Pall Mall during the summer of 1888, though he most likely had an alias name imprinted on it. I feel he substituted his own name to the Diploma when he had his 1889 autobiography printed. When I joined up with the Casebook last year, this was the type of aid I was hoping to get from other members. I hope I can do my part in reciprocating as well. Thank you very much, Tim. It's great to see this Casebook working the way it should. |
Natalie Severn
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Severn
Post Number: 2186
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 3:09 pm: |
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Yes,I agree Joe, Tim has done us proud providing this.Very useful in getting a glimpse of the great con man at large!
Thanks again to both of you
Natalie |
Malta Joe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Malta
Post Number: 116
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 1:56 pm: |
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Besides featuring that Brittany Cross Diploma in his 3rd autobiography, Tumblety also made remarks in his book which reflected on the Phoenix Park killings. I'm no expert in those 1882 Dublin murders, but I'll take a crack at saying something about it anyway. It's a sensitive topic so I'll be careful to express this correctly.
Burke and Cavendish were struck down by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park. In 1883, five members of "The Invincibles" were hung after two of their own kind informed on them. (James Carey + Michael Kavanaugh were the talkers.) This provided the basis for Scotland Yard Detective H.L. Reeves' comment to the American Press:
"...it has been the boast of England that when she wanted an Irish crime or political offender punished, she would always do it by having an Irishman become an informer."
Reeves was asked about the Ripper, yet he seemed to jump right into this Phoenix Park talk. While speaking inside the Pinkerton Detective Agency's NY office, a former Boston Inspector named Hascom had reacted the same way. When Hascom was questioned about Whitechapel, his response in the Oct 4, 1888 NY Herald was:
"The English police don't stop. There were the Phoenix Park murders. Look how they ran those parties down and hanged them."
In 1887, The London Times accused Charles Parnell of complicity in these Dublin murders. A Parliament Commission acquitted Parnell because The London Times writer Richard Pigott was exposed as a liar. In 1889 Tumblety used his 3rd autobiography as a means of refuting the Ripper accusations that were made against him. Just like Reeves + Hascom, Tumblety immediately jumped from the Ripper subject to the Phoenix Park murders by declaring that the Whitechapel accusations directed at him...
"...were as unfounded as the onslaught made against the great Irish leader. Like Parnell, I have emerged from the battle totally unscathed with my social and professional standing unimpaired."
Notably, Tumblety didn't point his finger at the British Police for his Whitechapel troubles. Instead, Tumblety would solely blame the American Press. Just before his Parnell quote was delivered, Tumblety would hold 'certain American newspapers' responsible for initiating these "unfounded accusations." Finding American articles which linked Phoenix Park to the Ripper killings would be the next step for a researcher to take. This linkage was the provocation that led Tumblety to claim he was as innocent as Parnell. Well, the only two news articles I know of which made this Phoenix Park/Ripper connection were the Hascom + Reeves accounts. Putting all this together, an interpretation can be deduced from the words Tumblety wrote in his book to deny the Whitechapel allegations. More or less I think the clever quack was saying:
"If Scotland Yard (via Reeves) or the Pinkertons (via Hascom) are going to take the Phoenix Park murders and connect them to the Ripper killings, then I'm going to take Parnell's acquittal and bestow it upon myself. Pigott of the British Press was to blame for Parnell's unjust troubles, and the American Press is to blame for my unjust troubles."
According to his assistant Martin McGarry, Tumblety was in the habit of obtaining and preserving all newspaper articles that concerned him. He'd be aware of what had been previously said in a NY newspaper about this Dublin topic. Neither Reeves nor Hascom specifically named Tumblety when they made their Phoenix Park/Ripper remarks, yet it seemed like Tumblety was disturbed by this type of newspaper reporting. I think Tumblety felt that Hascom's NY Herald quote was directed at him, and he may have been right. |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 783
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 9:25 pm: |
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Hi Joe,
The Phoenix Park Murders struck an especially sensitive note with the English - more so than most murders of the 1880s, except for Whitechapel, and later Mrs. Maybrick. The Whitechapel case showed the weakness of the British Police. Mrs. Maybrick raised questions about the judiciary and it's supposed impartiality due to the weird behavior of Mr. Justice Stephen. But Phoenix Park was a rarity - a political assassination in the British Isles. Think of this carefully.
In the 19th Century, the United States had more assasinated Presidents than Britain had murdered Prime Ministers.
U.S.:
1835 - attempt on life of Andrew Jackson by a mad housepainter named Richard Lawrence
1861 - attempt on Abraham Lincoln on the way to his inauguration at Baltimore.
1865 - John Wilkes Booth kills Lincoln/Lewis Powell/Payne/Paine stabs William Seward, Secretary of State.
1881 - Charles Julius Guiteau shoots President James Garfield. Garfield lingers with his wound, and dies (mostly due to poor medical treatment) after two and a half months. Guiteau is tried, convicted, and hanged for the assassination.
Great Britain:
1812 - Spencer Percival, Prime Minister and Chancelor of the Exchequer, is shot and killed by John Bellingham, an insane bankrupt, in the House of Commons. Bellingham is hanged a week later. This, by the way, is the only successful assassination of a Prime Minister in modern British history (the only other one I know of was George Villier, Duke of Buckingham in 1628, hardly modern British history).
1843 - Daniel M'Naghten shoots Mr. Edward Drummond, the personal secretary of Prime Minister Robert Peel, in an attempt to kill Peel. M'Naghten (a wacko) felt that Drummond was Peel, and that he was a tool of Papists. Drummond lingers a week or two but dies of an infection from the wound. M'Naghten's obvious insanity leads to the creation of the M'Naghten rules regarding the insanity defence. Like Richard Lawrence, Jackson's attacker a decade before, he spends the rest of his life in an asylum.
And that's that. Two attempts for the Brits, and one is a success. Four attempts on three U.S. Presidents, and two of those Presidents die. We lost more heads of state than England did!
There were also seven attempts on the life of Queen Victoria from 1840 to 1882. The only time she got injured was when a Lieutenant Pate hit her with a swagger stick in the face in 1850. The one in 1871 is of some interest, as the young assailant, Arthur O'Connor, was the grandson of noted Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor. The one in 1882, the last one (that was publicly known - let us not forget the aborted one stopped by Balfour and Sir Robert Anderson in 1887), was done a month or so after the Phoenix Park Tragedy.
So the British had reason to be fairly proud of the lack of assassination in their government. I don't have the time to compare it with the continent, but they do look better than most of the 19th Century continental states.
This does not mean that political violence was unknown. Actually it was, but it was sidelined in other parts of the empire.
1841 - Several British diplomats in Afghanistan (Sir William MacNaughten, Sir Alexander Burnes) are assassinated in the course of the First British War in Afghanistan.
1872 - Robert Bourke, Earl of Mayo, Viceroy of India, is assassinated by a vengeful convict in the Andaman Island Penal Colony he was visiting.
1878 - The Third Earl Of Leitrim of Ireland is shot and killed (with his estate agent) by three local moonlighters. Leitrim was a rather difficult landlord - extreme Tory. He so disliked anyone threatening change that he had the local hotel that he owned refuse rooms to the Liberal Viceroy a few years earlier. More frequently he was kicking troublesome tenants out of his farms. There was an intensive effort to find the killers, but nobody talked. After Southern Ireland became independent fully in 1949, some seventy one years later, a monument was finally built naming the three assassins.
1880 - Viscount Mountmorris is assassinated by moonlighters in Ireland.
1882 - THE PHOENIX PARK MURDERS.
The horror about Phoenix Park was that the victims included the new Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish. He had just arrived in Dublin that day, had presented his credentials to the Viceroy, and was getting to know his assistant, Thomas Burke. They were walking together in Phoenix Park, and Burke was attacked by the "Invincibles". They were signalled to attack by James Carey, who helped plan the attack. But Burke was supposed to be the only target. Cavendish tried to help Burke, and the killers slashed him to death too.
Cavendish was the brother of Lord Hartington (the future Eighth Duke of Devonshire) a rather prominent political figure of the day (he was asked on three occasions to be Prime Minister, but declined each time). Cavendish's wife happened to be the daughter of Prime Minister William Gladstone. The high rank of this victim happened to strike a chord - a higher chord than any act of violence in Britain since the Fenian campaign of 1866 - 68 led to the battle of the Manchester prison van ("the Manchester Martyrs"), and the Clerkenwell Prison Explosion.
The fact that two of the Invicibles turned informer is not hard to understand. Carey was a leading Dublin political and social figure. When he was uncovered, he had little real choice (he did not want to hang). He did finger most of the men who were hanged - what outraged the Irish was he had planned the murder. He was supposed to be protected in return, with his family. Carey and his family were hustled on board a ship to South Africa to begin a new life. In transferring to a second ship, he was recognized by one Patrick O'Donnell. O'Donnell shot him to death. He was taken back to England, put on trial (he was defended by Sir Charles Russell, who later defended Mrs. Maybrick). O'Donnell was convicted and executed.
In Ireland, O'Donnell was remembered as "The Avenger", because of his taking care of Carey the informer.
All this violence was distasteful to the English, and they found it convenient to see it as a weakness of those Irish people. When Piggott's forgeries were laid at the door of Parnell in 1887, many in England were already prepared to believe it because of racial stereotyping. Since, inevitably, several of Parnell's associates had been involved in some violence at some time, he was conveniently tarred by this.
Tumblety was Irish and Catholic (two strikes against him) and American (a third strike). He fit his own stereotype of something to be abhorred or detested, no matter how false or true the stories. Actually Tumblety had some cause for making the comparison (hard as we may find it) between the treatment of him by the press and the treatment of Parnell.
Best wishes,
Jeff |
Malta Joe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Malta
Post Number: 117
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 7:15 pm: |
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I was having a bad day today, then I clicked on the Casebook and Jeff's posting cheered me up! Thank you sir, that was a terrific response. I always learn new things when you speak. I'm going to print that out and save it. Hopefully now things will start getting better for me today. My first try at making Yorkshire Pudding bit the dust this afternoon. Maybe I shouldn't have used the George Foreman Grill.
On a different thread I had previously talked with Jeff about a Brooklyn mug shot book that might be worth looking into. I was thinking that a Tumblety-photo could be in it. Well, the curator of the NY Crime Museum said that all of the 19th century "Gallery of the Rogues" mug shot books have faded and disappeared over the decades. Rats!
I know of one other mug shot book in Washington DC that may be worth a gamble to check out. It was good to hear from you, Jeff!
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Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 4761
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 1:24 pm: |
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Hi Jeff
One more British attempt for you : Arthur Thistlewood's "Cato Street Conspiracy" of 1820 (a rather naive attempt to assassinate the entire Cabinet).
Robert |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 787
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 8:11 pm: |
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Hi Robert,
You are right - I forgot that one. There was a book about it written in the 1960s. The problem with it (even in it's own day) was that Thistlewood and his chumps did not know that they were being egged on by several agents of the Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth (former Prime Minister Henry Addington). Although the public was horrified at the mass assassination scheme, they were not too thrilled at Sidmouth's willingness to use police spies and instigators to push the radical lunatic fringe into action.
I might as well correct this now, as it is somewhat forgotten. This was the political violence of the period from 1800 - 1820.
1800 - Attempt by John Hatfield to assassinate George III.
1803 - Colonel Edward Despard's Conspiracy to kill King George III. His treason trial is notable because of one of his few friends who came as a character witness: Lord Horatio Nelson.
It did not help - Colonel Despard (who had been a good soldier before he became mentally ill) was hanged for treason.
1812 - Bellingham shoots Prime Minister Perceval
1816 - Lord Palmerston (the future Prime Minister) is shot and wounded by a deranged man. Palmerston took an interest in the care of the madman for the rest of his life. At the time Palmerston was His Majesty's Secretary for War.
1817 - Attempt to shoot the Prince Regent (future George IV) while he was riding in his coach.
1817 - Spa Fields Riots and
1819 - "Peterloo" Incident (not assassination attempts, but they were critically important events in the English Nation's political nervousness in that age) - the massacre of people at the field of St. Peter outside of Manchester (listening to Orator Hunt and other speakers) shocked the nation, and spurred on nuts like Thistlewood to retaliate.
1820 - Cato Street Plot
I also note that in 1711 (again - hardly the modern age - Queen Anne's chief minister, Robert Harley, was stabbed at a meeting at which a French agent named the Marquis of Guiscard was being interrogated. Guiscard tried to kill Harley with a pen knife. He wounded the Prime Minister superficially. The Frenchman was badly beaten at this, and subsequently died of his injuries.
After Phoenix Park, England was not shaken by a political assassination again until 1909. That year Mal Dhingra, an Indian student, assassinated the high ranking Indian Civil Servant Sir Curzon Wylie and a doctor at a public meeting in London. Thirteen years after, Sir Henry Wilson, the British General and military advisor to the Northern Irish Protestants, was assassinated when returning to his home on Eaton Place, London. by two I.R.A. agents. Dhingra and the two I.R.A. men were hanged. But keep in mind - again - these assassinations, even while in London, do not deal with English problems in England. Wylie's assassination was involving England's empire in India. Wilson's was part of the same Irish problems that killed Cavendish and Burke forty years earlier. There had been a so-called plot (by a bunch of loonies) during 1917 against Prime Minister Lloyd George, but it was never close to any success (in part because it depended on weird poisoning schemes).
Best wishes,
Jeff
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