|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| Author |
Message |
    
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 890
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 12:44 pm: | 
|
I have seen quite a few mentions now of the S.E Mibrac inclusion in the list of hotel guests who left luggage at a London hotel and the identification of this advert with a man who travlled from Liverpool to London, fled that city, leaving a black bag at a "first class West end hotel" (Liverpool Daily Post - 11 October 1888).
I think it is important to see this name in context so here is the text of the advertisement, dated 12th April 1888:
INNKEEPERS ACT 41 and 42 Vic., Cap. 38 - Notice is hereby given, that UNLESS the LUGGAGE LEFT at the CHARING CROSS HOTEL, West Strand, London, consisting of wearing apparel and personal effects, previous to the 15th September, 1887, is CLAIMED and all charges thereon paid before the 31st May next, in the names undermentioned, the same will be SOLD by Public AUCTION to defray expenses:- G. Hilbert, A. Bayley, M. Lebfeldt, Miss West, S.E. Mibrac, G. Matthew, C.T. Cantillon, F. Desban, Lake Price, Siger, E.A.R Verbeck, Captain White, E. Courtois, J.A. Jenkins, A. Harper, L. Young, C.E. Thomas, A. St. Clair, Dr. Young, Skrine, Count de Bossy, J. Solomons, Captain L. Owen.
By order, S.S. HMAINES, Secretary
Charing cross chambers, Duke street, Adelphi.
The point that immediately strikes me is how unlikely some of the surnames look - Desban, Siger, Skrine, and, of course, Mibrac.
I think the reason is explained by the advert. The only record of these people who have either absconded without paying or simply left their luggage would be the entry in the hotel register. the names as recorded in this advert are attempts to decipher the hand written entries in that registered and so must be treated with some caution.
Chris |
Christopher T George
Chief Inspector
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 597
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 1:14 pm: |
|
Hi, Chris
Thank you for this useful information. Yes of course you are probably right that these are names given as transcribed or deciphered from the hotel register. Another explanation for the unusual quality of the names could be that the names were actually aliases of shady characters or of people who had been travelling under assumed names for some reason.
It is interesting to note that if "S.E. Mibrac" is actually James Maybrick, as Paul Feldman and other supporters of the Diary have claimed, as the register states, the luggage containing "wearing apparel and personal effects" was left "previous to the 15th September, 1887" [emphasis mine], in other words, eleven months before the Whitechapel murders officially kicked off, and also at least as long before James presumably got wind of any affair Florie was having, his supposed raison d'être for beginning his murder spree.
In his dissertation on the Maybrick candidacy, Steven Fern wrote:
"The mention of the Charing Cross Hotel stems from the finding of a bag containing incriminating items left there by a gentleman guest who then disappeared. The report appears in 'The Times' in April 1888, and refers to a bag left in the hotel in 1887. There is quite a long list of names of people who had left property behind including one named MIBRAC, which Mr Feldman believes to be sufficiently close to MAYBRICK to be suspicious. Evans and Gainey in their book cite the same incident in support of their suspect Tumblety which just goes to show how adaptable these reports are! But connected to Maybrick. I don't think so."
Meanwhile Richard Scheib faults
"[Feldman's] leap of speculation . . . to try and argue that the name S.E. Mibrac on a hotel register could be James Maybrick. The names have a vague similarity. But it is about the same as trying to argue, if I use the case of your name, that S. Ryder and a name like M.H. Rydall could be the same person. Coincidence does occur in the real world.
"Anyway why would Maybrick have bothered to create different initials for himself. Why for that matter would Maybrick have signed a register with a slightly different surname? Why only sign a partially similar name and give completely different initials? If he was trying to keep his whereabouts unknown why not sign a completely different name?"
All the best
Chris
(Message edited by ChrisG on February 12, 2004) |
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 892
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 2:32 pm: |
|
The mention that MIBRAC had also been linked to Tumblety prompts me to post the version I have of the account as it mentions a possible American connection.
Liverpool Daily Post (UK)
11 October 1888
THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS
FRESH ARRESTS AND RELEASES
ALLEGED LIVERPOOL CLUE
Up to eleven o'clock last night there had been no further arrests, and there is now no person in custody. The police do not appear to be any nearer the detection of the murderer.
Shortly before closing time yesterday morning three men in the Black Swan public house, Hanbury street, George Lucas, James Miller and Thos. Pearman, being struck by the demeanour of a stranger who was present, submitted him to interrogation, and finally to a search. The three men assert that they took from him a large clasp knife, and that with the assistance of a constable they conveyed him to Commercial street Police Station, where two more knives, four rings, some hair pins, and some money was found upon him. After inquiries had been made, however, the man was liberated.
A LIVERPOOL CLUE - STRANGE DISCLOSURES
A well informed correspondent of the Globe states that he has gleaned the following information from an authentic source; and from careful inquiries he is able to relate the news as fact, though for obvious reasons names and addresses are for the present suppressed. A certain member of the Criminal Investigation Department has recently journeyed to Liverpool, and there traced the movements of a man which have proved of a somewhat mysterious kind. The height of this person and his description are fully ascertained, and among other things he was in possession of a black leather bag. The man suddenly left Liverpool for London, and for some time occupied apartments in a well known first class hotel in the West end. It is stated that for some reason or other this man was in the habit of "slumming." He would visit the lowest parts of London and scour the slums of the East end. He suddenly disappeared from the hotel, leaving behind him the black bag, and he has not returned. He left a small bill unpaid, and ultimately an advertisement appeared in the Times setting forth the gentleman's name, and drawing attention to the fact that the bag would be sold to defray expenses unless claimed. This was done last month by a well known auctioneer in London, and the contents, or some of them, are in the possession of the police, who are investigating the affair. Of these we (the Globe continues) of course cannot more than make mention, but certain documents, wearing apparel, cheque books, and prints of an obscene description are said to form the foundation of a most searching inquiry now on foot. It has been suggested that the mysterious personage arrived in Liverpool from America, but this so far is no more than a suggestion.
|
Christopher T George
Chief Inspector
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 599
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 11:33 pm: |
|
Hi, Chris:
The information in the Liverpool Daily Post of 11 October 1888 about an alleged suspect, to my mind, fits Tumblety better than Maybrick. Certainly a man who calls himself a "doctor" would be likely to carry a black bag. In regard to the discovery in the abandoned bag of "prints of an obscene description" we do know that Dr. T had peddled pornographic materials in his earlier years. We know that Tumblety also was used to travelling through Liverpool so that also fits. The interesting detail that "The height of this person and his description are fully ascertained" might indicate something unusual about the man's height and description, and Dr. T was above average height (around 5 foot 11 inches) and of flamboyant appearance. One other detail is intriguing, the mention of "cheque books" found in the bag. Scotland Yard communicated with a bank in San Francisco to obtain a sample of Tumblety's handwriting. How might they have obtained the name of that bank? By coming into possession of cheques or bank statements might be one way they could get such information.
All the best
Chris |
Andy and Sue Parlour
Detective Sergeant
Username: Tenbells
Post Number: 86
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 5:09 am: |
|
Hello Detective's Chris & Chris,
Excellent post's. The 'Mibrac' connection to Maybrick is such a long shot it makes the 'watch' look more likely. Perhaps the watch and 'diary' were found in the suitcase that was claimed from the hotel some 90 years after, when it was placed in the London Transport lost property office. But it did say it was going to auction if unclaimed, so Michael Barratt's story that he bought the diary at an auction sounds feasible now.
Hold on I feel another book coming on.
A. |
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 7:21 pm: |
|
A connection between ‘S.E. MIBRAC’ and James Maybrick being “a long shot”?. I would say it is more likely to be a ‘Maybrick pre-Whitechapel murders funny little game’ point blank shot to the head.
A non-existent surname that just happens to comprise of six of the letters required for MAYBRICK (in itself an uncommon name), has ‘randomly’ been selected by someone? Very unlikely. The chances of randomly selecting ‘any’ group of six letters, in any order is a 230,230:1 chance.
But let’s look a little closer. The ‘person’ has then decided to select a further two ‘random’ letters to serve as initials. Notice that we have six letters in the ‘surname’. We require a letter ‘Y’ and a letter ‘K’ to accompany those letters in ‘MIBRAC’, thus giving all the letters needed to construct MAYBRICK.
The ‘random’ letter ‘S’ if moved six positions down the alphabet will result in a ‘Y’. And lo and behold if the ‘random’ letter ‘E’ is moved six positions down the alphabet, it will result in a ‘K’.
The odds of picking any pair of letters equidistant from a particular point is 1:325.
What the odds are on the random chance selection in both case amounts to I couldn’t care.
Interesting that we now have YKMIBRAC, that the surname has six letters and the arranger has gone for S and E both nicely displaced by six positions. They could have gone for T.F. or W.I. etc.
Possibly the 6 6 6 was appealing, what a “revelation”, “...the devil will have to wait to meet me...” did he not say. Far from a long shot, in my opinion it’s “...only May playing his funny little games..”.
|
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 186
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 7:20 am: |
|
Your odds are way out.
The first set you give are the chances of selecting 6 specified letters of the alphabet. Naturally the chances of selecting any 6 out of 8 specified letters are much higher.
The second set represents the odds of picking two specified letters, not odds of picking a pair of letters "equidistant" from a specified pair. Since for each pair there are 26 "equidistant" pairs, the odds should be higher than the ones you give, by a factor of 26.
But I feel that perhaps I shouldn't dignify this post with a correction. After all, what on earth can statistical games-playing with a name from a hotel register from 1887 - totally unconnected with the Whitechapel murders - tell us about the murders, the diary, or Maybrick?
Perhaps these pro-diary fantasies are indeed best ignored!
Chris Phillips
|
Anthony Dee
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 10:29 pm: |
|
Tiddley
Great Post!! Could be that James Maybrick was ready to start his "campaign" a year before he started writing about it. After all,from what I've read, the honeymoon was over long before 1887. He supposedly did visit brothels in U.S.A. and probably in London too. They say his wife was Always flirting with men. Plus the drug habit he had for such a long time. Why should we think he waited until Brierly stepped in the picture. His mind could have been going long before that.
Regards,
Anthony |
Anthony Dee
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 8:18 am: |
|
Tiddley
How about this one..Some people theorized maybe James Maybrick took the first two letters of his first name and last two letters of his last name to spell Jack. If he was the one that signed in as S.E. Mibrack, maybe he took the last two letters of his first name which is ES and then reversed them to make S.E.
Regards,
Anthony
|
John Hacker
Inspector
Username: Jhacker
Post Number: 217
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 8:49 am: |
|
Tiddley,
I have to say that I respect the creativity that went into your analysis of both this and the farthings question. However, I think that you're seeing patterns where none exist. Human beings have a remarkable ability to find patterns, and it's a tendency that seems to get a lot of use in the search for JtR.
From Wallace's anagramatical analysis of the works of Lewis Carroll, to Richard Nunweek's 39 theory, people have found "hidden" clues that they feel support their suspect.
Look at Chris Scott's post at the top of the page at see how unlikely some of those names are. I think he hit the nail on the head in suggesting that what we're seeing is the difficulties in reading the handwriting of the ledger, leading to some odd names.
Additionally there is no historical evidence to suggest that the real James Maybrick was a fan of complex word games such as those you're suggesting here and on the farthings thread.
Here's a link to a quick article on Wallace's theory, as well as a clever response by some skeptics that I think illustrates how easy it can be to find patterns if you look hard enough.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a970307a.html
In any case, it's still a very creative interpretation that you've come up with and I appreciate your taking the time to share it with us.
Regards,
John |
Paul Stephen
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 10:11 am: |
|
Chris P
Come on Chris. If Tiddley wants to share his views on word games with us then that's fine by me. There are plenty of other strange theories on these boards and they don't attract ridicule, and are all entertaining to say the least.
Each to his own, and if you don't like it then take no notice.
I don't think there are any hidden word clues either, but you never know, something may just come out of something like this one day!
Regards
Paul |
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 10:28 am: |
|
Cheers John, I agree in principle reference the occurance of patterns. They are however more likely to be found in larger works/texts such as the 'bible codes'? where, in such instances as those they are anomalies. The shorter the text the less likelihood of the occurrance of patterns.
Regards |
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 8:31 am: |
|
Yes, that's right let's just brush it under the carpet and ignore it then! Those letters are anything but random, anyone can see that, like it or not. What chances eh? |
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 187
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 12:21 pm: |
|
Perhaps the tone of my message was inappropriate. After all, it's more than possible that there's a bit of leg-pulling going on here (and elsewhere).
Just in case you are serious, though, you have to remember that the only reason this word "Mibrac" was connected with the Ripper case in the first place was that it looked like the word "Maybrick"!
In that sense, the letters are indeed "anything but random". But going on to point out that "Mibrac" is close to an anagram of "Maybrick" is completely circular. It wouldn't have been plucked out of the newspaper in the first place if that wasn't so.
This is so obvious that I can't help a lurking feeling that I'm falling for a practical joke just by responding to this...
Chris Phillips
|
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 900
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 1:51 pm: |
|
Here is part of the advert showing the Mibrac name. This is a not very good copy but is the only one I have at the moment
Chris
 |
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 3:03 pm: |
|
Apologies Chris P, I feel strongly about this, it might be too much of a coincidence, and were it not for the provenance it could well have been a bit of a wind up. I feel it was someone putting a tentative foot in the water for whatever reason. The odds of those letters coming up are just too much. Regards.
|
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 188
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 3:07 am: |
|
If you are serious about this, could you address the point I made?
The name "Mibrac" was taken out of a list of names in a newspaper, unconnected with the Whitechapel murders, purely because it closely resembled the name "Maybrick".
How, then, can it be a significant coincidence that it is made up of 6 of the 8 letters of Maybrick? That is why it was chosen in the first place, out of all the thousands of names that appeared in the newpapers of the time!
Chris Phillips
|
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 902
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 3:58 am: |
|
I may be able to shed some light on the name MIBRAC. In the census work I have done transcription errors are only too common and that is what made me think this may be the case from a hotel register, as I said in my original post. However, I could think of no common English surname that could be rendered as Mibrac. The obvious conclusions were that the original name was either unusual or foreign.
The nearest match I have found is a surname that originates from the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea.
This name is transcribed in the indexes in so many variant spellings it is difficult to know what the real name is. I have found it as Mybroi, Mybroie, Mybrea, Mybroies and Mybrac.
Here is an example, transcribed as Mybroie, from 1871 census:
and here is an 1891 example transcribed as Mybrac:
I have yet to find any family member with the initials S.E. but have only just started searching so will post if I do.
Chris |
Caroline Anne Morris
Chief Inspector
Username: Caz
Post Number: 735
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 8:42 am: |
|
My father’s handwriting was so illegible that he once got a response to some written complaint he had made addressed to:
Mr. L. Oodley Honkins.
We all roared with laughter at the thought of the recipient of the complaint trying to fathom out the name, giving up, and making up something mischievous and obviously off the scale of probability.
Anyone guess my dad’s real name?
Love,
Caz
|
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 5:18 am: |
|
It is easy to rely upon a 'coincidence', what we really have to do is equate the probability of coincidence. Six letters of Maybrick - 230,230:1, the occurrence of two letters equidistant etc as previously posted and as I was corrected 525:1.
120,870,750:1. A bookie wouldn't give odds like that for anything, fancy a bet?
It is partly knowing the depths of planning that Maybrick went to and the extent of his games that gives me a feeling that it is Maybrick incognito. I think a lot of the other suspicious names listed partly comprise of persons covering their identity. Maybrick of course could have used fred bloggs, a smith etc. but the way maybricks mind works is that he liked to leave links, clues, something meaningful to him that no-one else knew. There is every chance it was him. |
John Hacker
Inspector
Username: Jhacker
Post Number: 225
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 10:28 am: |
|
Tiddley,
You can't really claim those odds in this case. The "Mibrac" name isn't random, but was picked out of a paper specifically because it resembled Maybrick.
It's an absolute certainty that it would contain many of the same letters. Otherwise it wouldn't have resembled Maybrick, been noticed, and therefore discussed here.
And as far as how "Maybrick's" mind works. There is no historical evidence external to the diary that suggests Maybrick was into word games, clues, etc whatsoever.
Regards,
John Hacker |
Donald Souden
Inspector
Username: Supe
Post Number: 153
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 10:56 am: |
|
All that "mathematical magic" is simply mind-numbing number-jumbo. The posted odds MIGHT have some validity if it were fact that Maybrick stayed at the hotel prior to September 1887; if it were fact that he left luggage behind and if it were fact he signed the register with a partial anagram of his name. Since none of that is true, the statistical "proof" is worth naught.
As it is, S.E. Mibrac could be a partial anagram of any number of names. It could be a mistranscription of a badly scrawled real name. Or it could be the true name of someone who otherwise left little or no bureaucratic record. But, based on what we know, to claim it stands for James Maybrick is to indulge in wishful thinking.
Don. |
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 195
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 12:21 pm: |
|
Tiddley boyar
As, I've already pointed out (two or three times):
(1) You can't treat "Mibrac" as a random name, because it was plucked out of the newspaper article purely because it resembled "Maybrick".
(2) Mathematically speaking your odds in both cases are simply incorrect, and far too high. For details, see my first response above. If you don't understand it, I'll be happy to explain.
I was a bit worried that my first response might have been a bit "over the top". As you're still continuing to quote these odds despite the fact I've pointed out they are mathematically incorrect, I'm reassured to know that I didn't over-react.
I'm afraid I can only view it as a deliberate attempt to mislead. After all, these are matters of fact, not opinion, which can be settled by any competent statistician.
Chris Phillips
|
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 1:36 pm: |
|
Yes the name was picked out for its 'similarity' and it's that name I'm looking at because of its composition. It is not randomly picked, it is picked for obvious reasons. All the names in all the papers at the time could have been picked and looked at in a similar fashion, but few would remain of interest. I can’t say there wouldn’t be others though. Can you not see the extreme unlikelihood that someone, having chosen at random 6 letters for a non existent surname all of which occur in Maybrick, then goes on to select two further letters for initials that just happen to both be the same letter shift from the two letters required to complete the missing two in Maybrick. It doesn't need odds really.
I can guarantee that Maybrick played games, and simple as they are he's got away with them until recently, and I am certain it's not his first alias.
|
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 196
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 3:19 am: |
|
Tiddley boyar wrote:
Can you not see the extreme unlikelihood that someone, having chosen at random 6 letters for a non existent surname all of which occur in Maybrick, then goes on to select two further letters for initials that just happen to both be the same letter shift from the two letters required to complete the missing two in Maybrick. It doesn't need odds really.
But as I've already pointed out - and you keep ignoring - it's not an "extreme unlikelihood", because the odds you originally gave were completely wrong.
You claim that the odds of picking two letters "equidistant" from "Y" and "K" are 1 in 325.
Let's see.
The pairs that satisfy this criterion are:
(Y,K), (Z,L), (A,M), (B,N) and so on (26 pairs),
and also (K,Y), (L,Z), (M,A) and so on (26 more).
So there are 52 pairs in total.
Of course, the number of all possible pairs of letters is 26x26 (26 choices for the first letter, times 26 for the second).
So the chances of this "extreme unlikelihood" are actually 1 in 13, not 1 in 325.
But that's not all. The "equidistant" test isn't an obvious one to apply. It's one of a number you could think of. Why not one based on Maybrick's own initials, for example? Or for another example, after your post, Anthony Dee suggested another "explanation" - that "E" and "S" were the last two letters of Maybrick's forename. (Why the last two, I don't know, but that's a different story.)
If you apply maybe a dozen possible "explanations" to these two letters, even if each stands a chance of only 1 in 13 of succeeding, it's not at all surprising that you can find one that works!
Chris Phillips
|
Donald Souden
Inspector
Username: Supe
Post Number: 154
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 8:25 pm: |
|
Ignatius Donnelly would be proud of Tiddley boyar who seems to have taken the methodology of the "Great Cryptogram" to even greater heights -- or should that be depths? I await news that S.E. Mibrac at least wrote the "Comedy of Errors."
Don. |
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 3:03 pm: |
|
Having no access to the Internet, and having a keen interest in both codes, ciphers and a passing interest in the Whitechapel Murders, I am submitting the following on behalf of a colleague:
It has been speculated that the name ‘S. E. Mibrac’ may be some form of encypherment of the name ‘Maybrick’.
The degree to which we should give this credence necessarily depends on the extent to which it exhibits any characteristics typical of well-established and historically acknowledged methods of encypherment.
Even if it does, the odds for or against such characteristics occurring at random would still need to be investigated by a statistician, and if anybody out there knows one – I’m sure many of us would like to know the answer.
Until such time, we may at least contemplate the appearance of ‘S.E. Mibrac’ in terms of cypher characteristics.
Three features immediately draw our attention in that respect:
1) The names ‘Maybrick’ and ‘S. E. Mibrac’ both contain the same number of letters.
2) There are no repeated letters in either name.
3) The surname ‘Mibrac’ is comprised of six of the letters of ‘Maybrick’ – the letters ‘Y.K.’ being absent.
The initials ‘S.E.’ could be a ‘shift cipher’ because, in alphabetic sequence, they are both displaced by the same number of positions from the ‘missing’ letters ‘Y.K’.
At this point, we should note that the letters ‘S.E.’ could equally be considered as being displaced by the same number of positions from any one of twenty four other pairs of letters – in which case we need to observe whether or not the suspected encypherment displays any feature which may function as a ‘key’ – indicating the actual number by which the letters ‘S.E.’ should be shifted.
The surname ‘Mibrac’, for instance, could serve to fulfil this specification because the number of its letters amounts to six – the same number of alphabetic positions required to ‘shift’ the initials from ‘S.E.’ to ‘Y.K.’.
M I B R A C (6) ... S - Y (6) ... E - K (6)
M A Y B R I C K ... Plain Text
Y K M I B R A C ... Scramble
.....M I B R A C ... Key (6)
S E ...Shift
|
Tiddley boyar
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 1:20 pm: |
|
Mr. Souden, I shall laminate and frame your comment, though it is of course preserved here. We shall see 'the truth' later this year hopefully. You will then no doubt smile on the other side of your face. It is no wonder Maybrick 'outfoxed them all', he would have less to worry about today than he did then with the quality of adversaries.
Chris P. I am crap at maths, but there are 26 pairs not 52. In the equation the initials are not subject to sequence, either way around would suffice.
|
Donald Souden
Inspector
Username: Supe
Post Number: 156
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 8:07 pm: |
|
I know I'm going to hate myself in the morning for even bothering to ask, but just what is the algorithm that determines how the plaintext is to be scrambled? Really, your old suggestion that James Maybrick plucked a partial anagram of his name from his cunning brain was more reasonable.
Don. |
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 199
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 3:43 am: |
|
Tiddley boyar wrote:
Chris P. I am crap at maths, but there are 26 pairs not 52. In the equation the initials are not subject to sequence, either way around would suffice.
Your latest contribution makes me more and more inclined to think this is an elaborate leg-pull - particularly the aspiration that we'll know the truth later this year (?).
On the 26 versus 52 pairs, all I can do is ask which of the 52 pairs I indicated don't qualify as "equidistant" from S. E.
Chris Phillips
|
Caroline Anne Morris
Chief Inspector
Username: Caz
Post Number: 776
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 8:07 am: |
|
Hi Tiddley,
Why can’t you tell us more now?
I have to warn you though. We have seen at least two other recent examples of speculation that the ripper used puzzles - Joe Barnett’s obsession with the number 39, and Walter Sickert’s artfully cryptic confession to being a religious nut.
Looking for puzzles and solving them is great fun but will never take the place of missing evidence – not in this forum.
Love,
Caz
|
John Hacker
Inspector
Username: Jhacker
Post Number: 241
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 - 10:10 pm: |
|
Tiddley,
I would also be very interested in what you have in store for us. I will certainly admit to a degree of skepticism considering the various "puzzles" we've seen in connection with the Ripper crimes. (The "39" issue, Sickert's "Art" confession, Wallace's anagrams, etc.) But I'm eager to hear what you've come up with.
Regards,
John |
stavros
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 5:16 pm: |
|
"The nearest match I have found is a surname that originates from the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea"
Interesting, considering the connection with Hall Caine, author of the Manxman!
Stav.
|
shelley wiltshire
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, July 26, 2004 - 7:29 pm: |
|
Mibrac is a name in it's own right...I wonder what the S.E really stands for, is it a name or an area of london, (S.E) South-east London? |
Kane Friday
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, December 25, 2004 - 7:22 am: |
|
Hello and compliments of the season to you all.
I think that the S.E.Mibrac entry looks very much like someones attempt at disguising their real name in anagram form and ending up with an odd surname and a couple of letters left over.
Playing around with the letters I have come up with the name Sam Brice.
Of course non of this has anything to do with Jack the Ripper and S.E.Mibrac is just another straw for the "Mabrickites" to clutch at.
It ranks along with such ideas as their alternative interpretation of the Goulston street graffito ie. "The JAMES are the men that will not be blamed for nothing"
Obviously just nonsense,"The James are the men"?
I don't think so.
Unless of course we are talking about the James gang.}Now there's a thought!
Where were Jessie and Frank in 1888?
Kane Friday |
Donald Souden
Inspector
Username: Supe
Post Number: 392
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 31, 2004 - 7:45 pm: |
|
We shall see 'the truth' later this year hopefully. Tiddley Boyar, 24 February 2004.
The year will end here on the East Coast in about four hours so I guess it was a wan hope indeed. Not that I'm surprised.
Don.
"There were only three times I'd have sold my mother into slavery for a cell phone . . . and two of those would have been crank calls."
|
Jennifer D. Pegg
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Jdpegg
Post Number: 1543
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 01, 2005 - 7:43 am: |
|
Don,
we never seen it did we?? but TB went off in a huff as i recall
Jenni
"I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ah"
|
Eddie Derrico
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 7:52 pm: |
|
Hello All
First, I must say about this great website. My Son told me about it. Anyway, I went onto ancestry.com and typed in Mibrac...England..Birth Aprox 1840. First name on the list was JAMES MAYBRICK. Followed by Mapperson, Moebroak,Maburg. J. MABERICK and also MICHEAL MAYBRICK. Interesting? |
John V. Omlor
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Omlor
Post Number: 1701
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 12:23 pm: |
|
Interesting, indeed.
Thanks, and welcome.
--John |
John Ruffels
Inspector
Username: Johnr
Post Number: 454
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 7:06 am: |
|
Evening All,
I think most people when young (and supposedly doing their homework), practised their signature to make it more elaborate or interesting, in case they were destined to become that famous detective or movie star or track and field athlete they were sure they would become.
Likewise, whilst practising our role as a great secret agent, we practised writing aliases for our own surname.
And so, when we were all grown up, and found ourself pen poised above the Hotel Register, we could unhesitatingly recourse to that jumbled alias of our real name from long ago.
Did you have a secret alias made out of your real name when you were young?
By the way, "Sam Brice" sounds like a very likely
solution to the 'Mibrac'anagramme.
Mibrac could also translate as "Cambric" could it not? |
John Ruffels
Inspector
Username: Johnr
Post Number: 455
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 09, 2005 - 6:40 am: |
|
Further to the above.
A very hasty Google search, entering a couple of the names listed in the advertisement at the head of this thread, produced the fact "Siger" of Brabant was a medieval philosopher; and (William) Lake Price was a prominent British watercolourist and photographer.
So, I think this tends to confirm the theory put forward by Chris Scott that at least some of the names in the hotel register were likely to be less obvious aliases based on favourite philosophers or painters.
Unless the Charing Cross Hotel was really a secret rendezvous for a veritable "Who's Who of Europe" . |
John Ruffels
Inspector
Username: Johnr
Post Number: 456
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, September 09, 2005 - 7:01 am: |
|
Sorry, Chris George also floated the possibility of the listed names being aliases.
Sorry Chris. |
Eddie Derrico
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Friday, September 09, 2005 - 11:30 am: |
|
Did anyone ever try to figure out why the initials S. E. were used in front of Mibrac? I swear I saw those initials in one of the Ripper books I've read. It was after one of the letters. I don't mean the Ripper letters, but one of the letters that were found connected to James Maybrick. Maybe the one from the S.S. Baltic. I'm checking the books now, but I didn't find it yet. |
Eddie Derrico
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Friday, September 09, 2005 - 11:31 am: |
|
Did anyone ever try to figure out why the initials S. E. were used in front of Mibrac? I swear I saw those initials in one of the Ripper books I've read. It was after one of the letters. I don't mean the Ripper letters, but one of the letters that were found connected to James Maybrick. Maybe the one from the S.S. Baltic. I'm checking the books now, but I didn't find it yet. |
|
Use of these
message boards implies agreement and consent to our Terms of Use.
The views expressed here in no way reflect the views of the owners and
operators of Casebook: Jack the Ripper.
Our old message board content (45,000+ messages) is no longer available online, but a complete archive
is available on the Casebook At Home Edition, for 19.99 (US) plus shipping.
The "At Home" Edition works just like the real web site, but with absolutely no advertisements.
You can browse it anywhere - in the car, on the plane, on your front porch - without ever needing to hook up to
an internet connection. Click here to buy the Casebook At Home Edition.
|
|
|
|
