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Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 152
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 11:14 pm: |       |
Hi all,
Earlier today I spotted on a thread on one of the
message boards a web link regarding a pamphlet written by Tumblety in which he mentions all the
famous people he met, or was connected to (no matter how briefly). He is quite a name dropper.
Among others he mentions Lincoln, Stanton (a particuliar bete noir of his), McClellan, General
Louis Blenker (a prominent Irish-American general in the Northern Army in the first half of the
Civil War), Lord John Russell, Charles Dickens,
and several others. He also mentions that in the
1850s, while in Canada, he was asked to consider running against Thomas D'Arcy McGee, the former
Irish rebel of 1848, and Montreal based politician in Canada. McGee would be one of the
fathers of Canadian Federation in 1867, but he would also be recalled for the dubious distinction of being the highest ranking Canadian
politician to die of violence in the 19th Century.
In April 1868, McGee delivered a blistering speech in Ottawa on the threats to Canadian nationhood by Irish-American Fenians. A few days
after he was shot to death on the doorstep of his
rooming house in Ottawa, at night. A fenian who
had muttered some threatening words at the speech
McGee made, Patrick Whelan, would go on trial for
McGee's assassination, be found guilty, and be
hanged.
There is a biography on the life of McGee called
THE ASSASSINATION OF D'ARCY MCGEE by T. P.
Slattery, a Canadian lawyer, that was written in
the 1960s. But Slattery also wrote a book, "THEY
GOT TO FIND MEE GUILTY YET!!" about the murder and
the trial of Whelan. Slattery's point is that the
evidence of Whelan's involvement is weak, and he
probably did not kill McGee. However, anti-Fenian
feelings were in the air in 1868 (a day or so later the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, would be critically wounded by a madman in Sydney, New
South Wales - the Duke would recover, but the assailant would be hanged there too!). The point is that this is the fourth time Tumblety has somehow got connected to a person who died violently, or an act of murder:
1) Running against D'Arcy McGee in the 1850s (if he is not just lying - always a possibility);
2) Lincoln's Assassination (which he claims was
totally unwarranted - he liked Lincoln - and he
believes Stanton was overreaching himself in the
aftermath of the assassination);
3) Garfield's Assassination (if he and Garfield's
assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, knew each other - they used the same hotel, and both had trouble at
that hotel in a close period of time);
4) the Whitechapel Murders.
Curious person, wasn't her?
Best wishes,
Jeff
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Christopher T George
Inspector
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 388
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - 7:55 am: | |
Hi, Jeff:
An interesting contemplation on the colorful and controversial Dr. Tumblety, and yet another instance in which he was connected, if peripherally, with someone who died violently. As you indicate, possibly he is only connected to McGee because he chose to namedrop once again, but still. Is your ending statement, "Curious person, wasn't her?", a typo or a comment on the doctor's sexual orientation?  Of course, we might be able to make a few other connections, for example, if he ever met Stanford White or Mr. and Mrs. Borden. . .
Best regards
Chris George |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 153
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - 12:41 am: | |
Hi Chris,
It was a slip of the pen, for I meant to write
"Curious person, wasn't he?"
I looked at Slattery's THEY GOT TO FIND MEE GUILTY
YET, but Tumblety is not mentioned. However, he
dropped McGee's name regarding the election in the
1850s. If anyone can find the biography by Slattery, THE ASSASSINATION OF D'ARCY MCGEE, possibly Tumblety is mentioned - but I tend to think not. The description of the event by Tumblety was actually of how McGee's opponents proposed Tumblety as a candidate to run against McGee, but it did not say that the Doctor actually ran.
Tumblety is as much of a name dropper as William
Le Quex was, and probably with as much veracity.
His low opinion of Stanton does not mix with his
high opinion of Lincoln (if he was telling the truth about it). But then, he was trying to deny
being involved in the assassination case.
As for Stanford White or the Bordens, I doubt if he would have dropped the names of the latter two
(Andrew Borden was a rich banker, but in a small
town). He might have mentioned Stanford White, who was America's preeminent architect in the
late 19th Century.
Actually two of his other supposed contacts are
connected to two celebrated homicides.
Lord John Russell (Grandfather of Lord Bertram
Russell) was the nephew of Lord William Russell,
who was murdered in his bed by Francois Benjamin
Courvoisier in Park Lane in 1840.
Horace Greeley, as editor of the New York Tribune,
was the boss of newspaperman Albert Richardson.
In 1869 Richardson was shot in the Tribune offices (on Park Row) by Daniel MacFarlane, whose wife, Abby MacFarlane, had divorced Daniel for
mental cruelty and drunken behavior. Abby and Albert were living together when Albert was shot (within a week they were married by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher - then Albert died from his wounds). Macfarlane was tried for the murder, but despite serious doubts about him and his story, he was acquitted as a defender of the American home.
Best wishes,
Jeff |
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