Curious.
1901. Frederick Abberline, Chief Inspector of Police, has a lodger. His name is John Philip Collins, author, and prominent journalist, variously on the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette, Daily Telegraph and other papers. He worked for forty years as London correspondent of the Civil & of Lahore and wrote two books..
Frederick Abberline wrote, twelve pages, of manuscript, headed Reminiscences of Ex-Detective Chief Inspector F G Abberline C.I.D. Scotland Yard.
So Abberline isn’t averse to recording his memoirs ...
Although Abberline is quoted as promising not to write about The Ripper case, I wonder what form that pledge took? How pedantic was Abberline? Did he promise not to give his name to such a work? Could there possibly be another work, written under a pseudonym, dating from 1901 onwards, when Collins was Abberline’s lodger? My point is: did Collin’s ghost-write Abberline’s memoirs? Or perhaps fictionalise an account ...
Just thinking aloud ...
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