The flawed McCormack test - BY JACK MOYLETT, Chair of the Roger Casement Foundation

Roger Casement

When one considers the importance of Roger Casement in world history, it is truly amazing the amount of nonsense that is written about him and the total ignorance of some who pontificate on the controversy that still surrounds his name. When I read in this newspaper (19 August 2004), Cathal Ó Murchú's review of WJ McCormack's Roger Casement in Death, I was flabbergasted.

Ó Murchú tells us that "Professor McCormack is a scientist and has used scientific methods in determining the veracity of the diaries" and goes on "the conclusion of his analysis is widely regarded as reliable". Let me set the record straight.

McCormack is not a scientist. He was a Professor of Literary History. He did not conduct the test, nor were scientific methods used. Having announced on 4 August 2001 that he had made arrangements for a "comprehensive forensic examination" of the so-called Black Diaries, he commissioned The Giles Laboratory, headed by Audrey Giles, formally of the Metropolitan Police London, to conduct the so-called forensic tests. Her conclusions, never published, were circulated in Photostat as "The Giles Report". It is also referred to as "The Flawed McCormack Test".

In the report, Giles states that she only did handwriting comparisons which, as she says, "are necessarily to some extent subjective". None of the tests suggested by Professor James J Horan at the RIA symposium of May 2000 were done. Modern techniques using Raman Spectroscopy or x-ray fluorescence were not used, nor were chemical examinations of the paper, ink and pencil writings carried out. Professor Horan is an eminent forensic scientist from The John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, and he reviewed the report at McCormack's invitation. Professor Horan stated that he could not recommend that the report be published and also said that it would not stand up in a court of law.

Linguistic fingerprinting

Let us leave forensic science to one side and focus for a moment on what we call Linguistic Fingerprinting. Andrew Q Mortan, an expert in this area, who proved that the confessions of four of the Birmingham Six were fabricated, writes in his book "Literary Detective", that it works on the principle that every individual makes habitual use of certain words and phrases. Jill M Farrington, in her book "Analysing for Authorship", explains how each person's linguistic fingerprint "retains consistency across his or her written and spoken utterance and across different genres". This is not rocket science.

The Roger Casement Foundation, through the brilliant pioneering research of Eoin Ó Maille, has proved beyond a shadow of doubt, that Casement could not have written the so-called black diaries. O Maille found that all of Casement's key words and phrases were missing from them. I would like to ask forgery denialists, why would Casement abandon all his key words and phrases, his Irishisms, his style and idiom? It beggars belief. Perhaps they could also explain why, at a time when Casement was writing in large flowing script with pencil on loose leafed paper, because he had a very serious eye infection and was virtually blind, the Black diarist has him writing in ink in very small neat script in a small diary.

Inconsistencies

The following is just one example of the myriad mistakes in the Black Diaries which forgery denialists cannot explain. On Wednesday 16 November 1910, as he sailed down the Putumayo on his way back to Europe, Casement wrote in his genuine diary: "The Moon rose bright after a glorious sunset, one of the loveliest I have ever seen. We noticed the brilliant gleam over the treetop as she rose — a full moon too. As soon as she was clear of the trees we saw an eclipse was in progress, and as she rose we got a magnificent view of it. A total eclipse by Reigate's almanac. The whole visage of the moon was obscured by eight, and then clouds came and covered the subsequent stages."

However, the Black Diarist wrote, "Eclipse of the Moon, just as it rose at six - half covered. Became total eclipse at eight". The duration of the eclipse was 96 minutes; therefore it could not have been half covered at 6pm.

Casement continues: "I turned in early, but wakened at 2.30 with a glorious moonlight, and the lovely palm-crested forest slipping past silently and softly against a pale blue night sky. I looked long at it, and thought of the fate of the poor Indian tribes, who have been so shamefully captured and enslaved, and murdered here in these lovely regions, by this gang of ruffians. I thought of Katenere, the brave Boras chief — of all the murdered Indians of these forests; of the incredible and bestial crimes of these infamous men, and wondered at the peace God sheds upon the trees. The forest, with its wild creatures, is happier far than the 'centre of civilisation' these Peruvian and Colombian miscreants have created and floated into a great London Company".

Worth killing a tree?

I do agree with Ó Murchú however on one point. McCormack's book is unreadable. One has to ask, was it worth killing a tree for? It is supposed to be a refutation of Dr William Maloney's 1936 book, The Forged Casement Diaries, but does not engage with Maloney's cultivated research and scholarship. It is full of error. For instance: McCormack states that Eivind Alder Christensen was Casement's homosexual manservant and betrayed his master to the British authorities in Oslo.

This is totally wrong. The truth is much more exciting. In 1914, Casement travelled to New York and whilst there it was decided that he should go to Berlin to gain recognition and help for the coming Rising. Some days before he set out, as he walked with others on Broadway, Christensen approached them, said he was unemployed and hungry and asked for help. The Irish guys gave him a meal and listened to his story. Realising he was Norwegian and a naturalised American citizen, they figured he might be of use to them. Vetted and paid by John Devoy, Christensen was given the dangerous job of Casement's bodyguard and guide, a task he carried out bravely and loyally, because when they passed through Oslo on their way to Berlin, he was approached by a British agent brought to the British Embassy and offered £5,000 and immunity from the law, in writing, by the British Ambassador, Mansfeldt Findlay, if he would betray his employer. He didn't. Proving his courage, he again made the same dangerous journey when he escorted Captain Robert Monteith to Berlin. Christensen later married and had two children.

In Casement's immortal words, I look forward to the day "when Irish history ceases to be written by buffoons and English music-hall artistes".