June 2020 No. 167 AMEER BEN ALI NINA AND HOWARD BROWN with the face of ‘Frenchy’ sheilLa JONES AND JIM BURNS MICHAEL HAWLEY • ADAM WOOD • BRUCE COLLIE SPOTLIGHT ON RIPPERCAST VICTORIAN FICTION • PRESS TRAWL the latest book reviewsRipperologist 118 January 2011 1 Ripperologist 167 JUNE 2020 EDITORIAL: CONTEXT IS KING Adam Wood FRANCIS TUMBLETY AND JOHN WILKES BOOTH’S ERRAND BOY Michael L. Hawley THE SWANSON MARGINALIA: MORE SCRIBBLINGS Adam Wood MRS. BOOTH’S MOST UNUSUAL ENQUIRY BUREAU Sheilla Jones and Jim Burns CENTRAL NEWS Bruce Collie Spotlight on Rippercast: THE ROYAL CONSPIRACY A-GO-GO Part One AMEER BEN ALI AND AN ACTOR’S TALE Nina and Howard Brown Press Trawl THE SHORT REIGN OF LEATHER APRON VICTORIAN FICTION Eduardo Zinna BOOK REVIEWS Paul Begg and David Green Ripperologist magazine is published by Mango Books (www.MangoBooks.co.uk). 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The unauthorised reproduction or circulation of agreements and give rise to civil liability and criminal prosecution. this publication or any part thereof, whether for monetary gain or not, is strictly prohibited and may constitute copyright infringement as defined in domestic laws and international Ripperologist 167 June 2020 Editorial: Context is King ADAM WOOD Poor old Bill Gates has a lot to answer to. His warning to the Technology, Entertainment EXECUTIVE EDITOR and Design Conference in 2015 that while technology had helped to contain the Ebola Adam Wood outbreak, “next time we might not be so lucky”, has been taken by some wearing tin- EDITORS foil hats as proof that the Microsoft chief heads an elite group seeking to control the Gareth Williams world. Releasing COVID-19 into the world’s population, they argue, would be the perfect Eduardo Zinna opportunity to introduce a global vaccination system using technology capable of capturing every last detail about every individual. EDITOR-AT-LARGE Jonathan Menges Similarly, it was Bill’s 1996 essay “Content is King” which foretold the coming of mass information portals offering everyone unlimited information through the touch of a button via REVIEWS EDITOR mobile phones, tablets and other devices. Paul Begg Content is indeed more accessible than ever before – some would say oversaturation – but COLUMNISTS what is it without context? Nina and Howard Brown Context, of course, can add an awful lot of meaning to a single incident, or even a relatively Bruce Collie David Green short passage of time such as the so-called ‘Autumn of Terror’. Those who lived through it and became associated forever more with the Ripper’s crimes didn’t just materialise out of thin air ARTWORK Adam Wood no matter what Captain Kirk and crew would have you believe in Wolf In The Fold. into the alleyways of Spitalfields and then disappear just as rapidly after Mary Kelly’s murder, No, these people had lives before the events of 1888, and the experiences they had in that time shaped them in one way or another. This is exactly what I tried to capture in my biography of Chief Inspector Donald Swanson; why was it he that Commissioner Charles Warren appointed to head up the case? How likely was it that Swanson would scribble the fate of the Whitechapel murderer in a book, even going to the extent of signing his annotations? As I explain in my article in this issue of Ripperologist, the Swanson marginalia on page 138 of Robert Anderson’s memoir was far from unusual for Ripperologist magazine is published six times a year and the retired detective. supplied in digital format. It is And context comes to the fore again in Michael Hawley’s article on Francis Tumblety’s free of charge to subscribers. involvement with President Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth, giving historical context to Back issues from 62-165 are Tumblety’s early ‘Indian herb doctor’ career. available in PDF format on our website. Bagster Phillips’ work on the Whitechapel case by describing his involvement in other H An index to Ripperologist And in the first of a new series we welcome Bruce Collie, who brings context to Dr George Division cases before and after the Ripper. magazine can also be This issue’s instalment of Spotlight on Rippercast sheds a light on the Royal Conspiracy downloaded. theory and Joseph Sickert; everyone knows the theory to some degree, whether Ripper student To be added to the mailing list, or man-on-the-street, but where did it come from? Jonathan Menges, Simon Wood, Chris Scott to submit a book for review and others piece together the origins of the story. or to place an advertisement, Elsewhere Sheilla Jones and Jim Burns reveal the extraordinary work of Florence Booth get in touch at contact@ and her Enquiry Bureau, possibly the largest detective agency in Victorian London, which in ripperologist.co.uk We welcome well-researched persons investigations. articles on any aspect of the the first five years since its inception in 1888 had been involved in more than 8,000 missing And following a long list of newly-discovered photographic portraits published in the pages Whitechapel murders, the East End or the Victorian era in of Ripperologist, we’re delighted to feature the image of ‘Frenchy’ – Ameer Ben Ali – discovered general. by Nina and Howard Brown on our cover. Their column in this issue explains the discovery. Enjoy the issue. www.ripperologist.co.uk 1 Ripperologist 167 June 2020 Francis Tumblety and John Wilkes Booth’s Errand Boy By MICHAEL L. HAWLEY President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral ended in Booth. Unraveling this affair may come from investigating Springfield, Illinois, on May 4th, 1865. In attendance a key player in Tumblety’s arrest, an unnamed young man was the eccentric Dr. Francis Tumblety, arriving from from Brooklyn who the papers claimed was John Wilkes St. Louis, Missouri, where he was operating a booming Booth’s errand boy. Indian herb doctor practice, and who also had been After attending Lincoln’s funeral Tumblety returned to recently arrested for strutting the streets in a gaudy semi-military uniform. arrested by federal authorities.1 He was detained in St. In 1865 Tumblety was at the peak of his lucrative his office in St. Louis on May 5th, 1865 and was immediately advertising Indian herb doctor business; never missing an Louis for two days then taken to Washington DC to the 2 opportunity to gain free publicity by staying in the public’s Old Capitol Prison. He was imprisoned for three weeks eye and attending such a famous event as the President’s the newspapers there were two reasons for his arrest: funeral. Tumblety likely continued to wear loud attire in without ever being officially charged. It was reported in involvement in the murder of President Lincoln, and a an aristocratic air. pro-Confederate plot to spread yellow fever in Northern Springfield, mounted on a gorgeous steed, and assuming territory. The rich and powerful were also in attendance, such as the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, who likely witnessed this charade. Just four years earlier, Tumblety rode his horse immediately behind President-elect Lincoln’s horse and carriage along the entire route of the Inaugural parade in New York City, then followed General McClellan around Washington DC in the semi-military uniform claiming to have offered his services as a military staff physician. Tumblety pronounced he knew the Lincolns, and even relayed a story of treating President’s son. An article in the Rochester Advertiser, as reprinted in the Newark Advocate of November 29, 1861, stated that Tumblety made favor with President Lincoln through his son Robert, attending to his sprained ankle at a watering place in the summer of 1860. One particular Rochester Lincoln’s funeral in Springfield, Illinois witness stated that Tumblety introduced him to the Being arrested for these conspiracies suggests that Lincolns at the White House. But, Tumblety was arrested Tumblety was a pro-Confederate Northerner, or Southern by federal authorities immediately after Lincoln’s funeral. sympathizer. Throwing a monkey wrench into this Thanks to subsequent inaccurate newspaper reporting and crafty revisionist writing in his autobiography, the 1 St. Louis Press, May 6, 1865. waters of truth were muddied and Tumblety successfully 2 Tumblety, F., A Few Passages in the Life of Dr. Francis Tumblety, The hid a dangerous fact; he did indeed know John Wilkes Indian Herb Doctor, Cincinnati, 1866. 2 Ripperologist 167 June 2020 idea, though, has always been the fact that Tumblety The people of the country will rejoice to hear that claimed in his autobiography to be close with President the War Department and the Administration have at Lincoln and his family, and close to the Secretary of last been rid of the incubus that has so long weighed State William Seward.