Black Diaries

Last updated

Roger Casement Casement Roger.jpg
Roger Casement

The Black Diaries are diaries purported to have been written by the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement, which contained accounts of homosexual liaisons with young men. They cover the years 1903, 1910 and 1911 (two) and were handed in to Scotland Yard after his capture in April 1916.

Contents

Casement was charged with treason following the Easter Rising. During his trial the prosecution (F. E. Smith) suggested to the defence barrister (A. M. Sullivan) that they should jointly produce the diaries in evidence, as this would most likely cause the court to find Casement "guilty but insane", and save his life. [1] Casement refused, and was found guilty and condemned to death.

The British government then began to circulate photographic page copies to block any appeals or requests for clemency, particularly from the US, that showed his "sexual degeneracy". [2] The effect of their circulation was to dissuade some would-be supporters from joining an appeal for clemency, and Casement was hanged on 3 August 1916. [3]

Details

The term Black Diaries was coined by Peter Singleton-Gates and Maurice Girodias in their 1959 book of that name. [4] A second set of journals kept by Casement in 1910 is known as the White Diaries or Amazon Journal. [5]

The debate over the diaries' validity started in 1936 with William J. Maloney's book, The Forged Casement Diaries, in which he claimed to have proved that the British authorities had forged the diaries in order to discredit Casement. The possibility was suggested that forgers used a diary full of depravities written by a man [6] [lower-alpha 1] Casement was investigating in Peru in 1911, that was transcribed by Casement and then by the forgers. The poet W. B. Yeats was moved by this book to write a poem, "Roger Casement", which he described as "a ferocious ballad". [7] Another poet, Alfred Noyes, who had accepted the diaries as genuine in 1916, also criticised the establishment in a 1957 book, The Accusing Ghost or Justice for Casement. [8]

In 1959 Peter Singleton-Gates and Maurice Girodias published The Black Diaries—a version of the diaries which they described as being based on "a bundle of documents" given to Singleton-Gates in 1922 by "a person of some authority"—in Paris, where they could not be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. [4] That person was most likely Sir Basil Thomson who on his dismissal from Scotland Yard apparently removed large quantities of official papers. The diaries were released by the British government the same year, when they were made available in the Public Record Office in London. [9]

In 1960 Roger McHugh doubted the diaries' veracity, commenting on: "suspicious internal discrepancies and contradictions which hint toward the hand of a forger and the diary's physical evolution from the descriptions of eyewitnesses in 1916 to the physical appearance of the diaries made available in 1959". [10]

In 1965 The Trial of Sir Roger Casement, a book by H. Montgomery Hyde, was banned by the Irish Censorship of Publications Board because the diary extracts in it were found to be "indecent or obscene". [11]

Casement's biography by Brian Inglis (1973–74) aired both arguments in a chapter in Part VII, "The Forgery Controversy". Inter alia, Inglis pondered why any putative forgers in the two-month window between Casement's arrest and trial had created 3 diaries and a cash register, ".. when a single diary would have sufficed". ".. a single mistake in any of them would have destroyed the whole ugly enterprise". [12]

In 1993 a Home Office expert Dr. David Baxendale made a report featured in a BBC Radio 4 documentary. Dr. Baxendale stated that "the bulk of the handwriting in there is the work of Roger Casement". With reference to alleged interpolations he stated: "the handwriting of all the entries which were of that nature correspond closely with Mr Casement's handwriting." [13]

In 1994 Eoin O'Máille attempted to analyse the use of words in the white and black diaries, to establish if the latter were written by Casement, but the result was criticised by Hugh Casement for using "a computer programme which was designed to tell the 'reading age' of North American schoolchildren ... Linguistic analysis is something a little more subtle than that!" [14]

At the turn of the 21st century a forensic examination of the diaries was commissioned by Bill McCormack, Professor of Literary History at Goldsmiths College, University of London. The documents were examined by Audrey Giles, a leading forensic handwriting examiner, who concluded, according to a report in The Guardian , that "the handwriting, ink, paper, pen strokes and pencillings were all genuine." [15] McCormack published a book on Maloney and the diaries in 2002. [16] The Giles Report was published in 2005. [17]

Also in 2002 Professor Daniel Vangroenweghe's examination of Casement's time in the Congo was published. He is a Belgian historian of the Congo Free State period, and argues closely that Casement's use of Kikongo slang, and some entries about people and places in 1903, could not have been known in London in 1916. Finally he quotes from the unpublished autobiography of John Harris, who was shown the diary in 1916: "I was so firmly convinced, that the diary was not Roger Casement's handiwork. Alas, when it was put before me and I had examined certain parts, my confidence was shaken. Then I came upon two or three facts only known in Europe to Casement and myself, and then my hopes were scattered...". [18]

Two US forensic-document examiners later peer-reviewed the 2005 Giles Report; both were critical of it. James Horan stated, "As editor of the Journal of Forensic Sciences and The Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, I would not recommend publication of the Giles Report because the report does not show how its conclusion was reached. To the question, 'Is the writing Roger Casement's?' on the basis of the Giles Report as it stands, my answer would have to be I cannot tell." Marcel Matley, a second document examiner, stated, "Even if every document examined were the authentic writing of Casement, this report does nothing to establish the fact." [19]

In 2016 16 Lives: Roger Casement by Angus Mitchell summarised his long held views that the diaries were forgeries. [20] He also edited the Amazon Journal of Roger Casement and included a number of footnotes which express some of these views. One of these notes states "The latter [the black diary] portray Casement's state of mind as muddled, inaccurate and exaggerated. It should be remembered that as well as writing thousands of words of his journal each day, Casement also copied out in longhand the statements made by the Barbadians. In the seventy-five days covered by his Putumayo Journal, Casement wrote a total of around 250,000 words averaging well over three thousand words each day." [21] Mitchell also refuted the allegations that Casement had a sexual relationship with Andrés O'Donnell. [22] [lower-alpha 2]

In 2016 the University of Notre Dame published Paul Hyde's monograph, which concludes that both sides of the dispute have outstanding issues to address: "the dominant and 'official' theory of the authenticity of the Black Diaries, in force for almost one hundred years, has almost no explanatory power whatsoever. It fails to answer the most basic and persistent questions ... Those who believe that the Black Diaries are forged do not have their belief supported by facts proven beyond reasonable doubt." [23]

All the diaries, including for the first time the 1911 volume which contained the most prolonged sexual narrative, were published by Jeffrey Dudgeon the same year. A second, extended, paperback and electronic edition was published in 2016. [24]

The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, in the epilogue to his novel The Dream of the Celt which is based on Casement's life, expresses his opinion – "as a writer, and claiming no expertise" – that Casement did write the diaries, but that much of their content described his erotic fantasies rather than actual sexual experiences. [25]

Notes

  1. ↑ Casement is said to have returned to London with the diary of Armando Normand, the Peruvian Amazon Company manager at Matanzas who was implicated with perpetrating vicious crimes against the native population. This apparent diary of Normand's has not been made public [6] and this theory does not have supporting evidence.
  2. ↑ "Although Casement certainly found O'Donnell the least offensive of the Section Chiefs he had encountered thus far, it is wholly untenable that his feelings towards the men went beyond this." [22]


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Casement</span> Irish diplomat, activist, nationalist and poet (1864–1916)

Roger David Casement, known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during World War I. He worked for the British Foreign Office as a diplomat, becoming known as a humanitarian activist, and later as a poet and Easter Rising leader. Described as the "father of twentieth-century human rights investigations", he was honoured in 1905 for the Casement Report on the Congo and knighted in 1911 for his important investigations of human rights abuses in the rubber industry in Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forensic science</span> Application of science to criminal and civil laws

Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science principles and methods to support legal decision-making in matters of criminal and civil law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hitler Diaries</span> Forged journals purportedly by Adolf Hitler

The Hitler Diaries were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche Marks by the West German news magazine Stern, which sold serialisation rights to several news organisations. One of the publications involved was The Sunday Times, who asked their independent director, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, to authenticate the diaries; he did so, pronouncing them genuine. At the press conference to announce the publication, Trevor-Roper announced that on reflection he had changed his mind, and other historians also raised questions concerning their validity. Rigorous forensic analysis, which had not been performed previously, quickly confirmed that the diaries were fakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Questioned document examination</span> Examination of documents potentially disputed in a court of law

In forensic science, questioned document examination (QDE) is the examination of documents potentially disputed in a court of law. Its primary purpose is to provide evidence about a suspicious or questionable document using scientific processes and methods. Evidence might include alterations, the chain of possession, damage to the document, forgery, origin, authenticity, or other questions that come up when a document is challenged in court.

<i>Anaconda</i> (1997 film) 1997 American horror film by Luis Llosa

Anaconda is a 1997 American adventure horror film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, and Owen Wilson. It focuses on a documentary film crew in the Amazon rainforest that is led by a snake hunter who is hunting down a giant, legendary green anaconda. The film received generally negative reviews, though it became a cult classic. It was followed by a series of films.

The Irish Literary Revival was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature.

The Cuala Press was an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats that played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century. Originally Dun Emer Press, from 1908 until the late 1940s it functioned as Cuala Press, publicising the works of such writers as Yeats, Lady Gregory, Colum, Synge, and Gogarty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japurá River</span> River in Brazil, Colombia

The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a 2,820 kilometres (1,750 mi) long river in the Amazon basin. It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River.

<i>Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified</i> Song Dynasty handbook of forensic science

Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified or the Washing Away of Wrongs is a Chinese book written by Song Ci in 1247 during the Song Dynasty (960-1276) as a handbook for coroners. The author combined many historical cases of forensic science with his own experiences and wrote the book with an eye to avoiding injustice. The book was esteemed by generations of officials, and it was eventually translated into English, German, Japanese, French and other languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casement Report</span> 1904 report on atrocities in the Congo

The Casement Report was a 1904 document written at the behest of the British Government by Roger Casement (1864–1916)—a British diplomat and future Irish independence fighter—detailing abuses in the Congo Free State which was under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium. This report was instrumental in Leopold finally relinquishing his private holdings in Africa. Leopold had held ownership of the Congolese state since 1885, granted to him by the Berlin Conference, in which he exploited its natural resources for his own private wealth.

Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park off the George Washington Parkway in Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., on July 20, 1993. His death was ruled a suicide by five official investigations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ireland Shakespeare forgeries</span> Fabricated Shakespearian writings

The Ireland Shakespeare forgeries were a cause célèbre in 1790s London, when author and engraver Samuel Ireland announced the discovery of a treasure-trove of Shakespearean manuscripts by his son William Henry Ireland. Among them were the manuscripts of four plays, two of them previously unknown.

The Howth gun-running involved the delivery of 1,500 Mauser rifles to the Irish Volunteers at Howth harbour in Ireland on 26 July 1914. The unloading of guns from a private yacht during daylight hours attracted a crowd, and the authorities ordered police and military intervention. Despite this the Volunteers evaded the security forces and carried away the arms. As the King's Own Scottish Borderers returned to barracks, they were accosted by civilians at Bachelors Walk, who threw stones and exchanged insults with the regulars. In an event later termed the Bachelor's Walk massacre, the soldiers shot into the civilian crowd and bayoneted one man, resulting in the deaths of four civilians and wounding of at least 38.

<i>The Dream of the Celt</i> Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa

The Dream of the Celt is a novel written by Peruvian writer and 2010 Nobel laureate in literature Mario Vargas Llosa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakespeare's handwriting</span>

William Shakespeare's handwriting is known from six surviving signatures, all of which appear on legal documents. It is believed by many scholars that the three pages of the handwritten manuscript of the play Sir Thomas More are also in William Shakespeare's handwriting. This is based on many studies by a number of scholars that considered handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, literary aspects, and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peruvian Amazon Company</span> Rubber boom company known for slavery

The Peruvian Amazon Company, also known as the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Co., was a rubber boom company that operated in Peru during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Headquartered in Iquitos, it gained notoriety for its harsh treatment of Indigenous workers in the Amazon Basin, whom its field forces subjected to conditions akin to slavery. The company's exploitative practices were brought to light in 1912 through an investigative report by British consul-general Roger Casement and an article and book by journalist W. E. Hardenburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putumayo genocide</span> Slavery in the Amazon

The Putumayo genocide refers to the severe exploitation and subsequent ethnocide of the indigenous population in the Putumayo region.

Armando Normand (1880–?) was a plantation manager of Peruvian and Bolivian descent who had a central role in the Peruvian Amazon Company's perpetration of the Putumayo genocide. For six years in the Putumayo, Normand committed uncounted abuses against the indigenous population.

Benjamin Saldaña Rocca (1865–1912) was a distinguished Peruvian soldier and later journalist, mostly known for his role in exposing the Putumayo genocide which was perpetrated by Julio César Arana and the Peruvian Amazon Company. Saldaña established the newspapers La Sancion and La Felpa, which made revelations about crimes occurring in the Putumayo under Arana's Company, and publicly campaigned for justice to be served in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrés O'Donnell</span> Agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company

Andrés O'Donnell (1886–?) was an agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company of Irish–Peruvian descent, employed in the Putumayo River basin between 1903 and 1910. He managed the Entre Rios station for the Company, which collected rubber from locally enslaved indigenous populations. In 1910 Roger Casement described his plantation as "merely a center of terrorization – that is all." O'Donnell is included in three different testimonial correspondences collected in Walter Ernest Hardenburg's 'The Putumayo: The Devil's Paradise,' and at least five testimonies collected by Roger Casement in 1910. Casement's report as well as Hardenburg's book were published in 1912, and helped to expose atrocities that occurred during the Putumayo genocide. An investigation carried out by judge Carlos A. Valcárcel later managed to collect at least twenty three depositions that incriminated O'Donnell in the Putumayo genocide. O'Donnell separated from the Company in 1910, and later disappeared without a trace in the United States around New York.

References

  1. ↑ Vangroenweghe, Daniël (2002). "Casement's Congo Diary, one of the so-called Black Diaries, was not a forgery". Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis – Revue belge d'histoire contemporaine. 3–4 (3–4): 321–350. ISSN   0035-0869.
  2. ↑ Mitchell, Angus, ed. (1997). The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement. Anaconda Editions. pp. 17–18. ISBN   1901990001 . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Paul Tilzey (6 June 2011). "Roger Casement: Secrets of the Black Diaries". BBC History. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  4. 1 2 Mitchell (1997), p. 22
  5. ↑ Burroughs, Robert M. (2011). Travel Writing and Atrocities: Eyewitness Accounts of Colonialism in the Congo, Angola, and the Putumayo. Taylor & Francis. pp. 128–30. ISBN   978-0415992381 . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  6. 1 2 Guillermo Páramo Bonilla, Carlos. ""Un monstruo absoluto": armando normand y la sublimidad del mal". Universidad Externado de Colombia · Bogotá. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  7. ↑ Steinman, Michael A. (1983). Yeats's Heroic Figures: Wilde, Parnell, Swift, Casement. SUNY Press. pp. 153–5. ISBN   0873956990 . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Conner, Lester I. (1998). A Yeats Dictionary: Persons and Places in the Poetry of William Butler Yeats. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. p. 24. ISBN   081562770X . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  9. ↑ Conrad, Kathryn A. (2004). Locked in the Family Cell: Gender, Sexuality, and Political Agency in Irish National Discourse. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 144. ISBN   029919650X . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  10. ↑ Casement, The Public Record Office Manuscript in Threshold, 4:1 (Spring/Summer, 1960), pp 42–62.
  11. ↑ Fintan O'Toole's review of "The Dream of the Celt" by Mario Vargas Llosa; New Republic August 2012
  12. ↑ Inglis B. Roger Casement; Coronet (1974) p.397.
  13. ↑ "Document—The Casement Diaries", BBC Radio 4, 23 September 1993.
  14. ↑ Eoin O'Máille, M. ui Callanán and M. Payne. The Vindication of Roger Casement, Computer analyses & comparisons of the Dublin 1910 diary & the London 1903 & 1910 diaries (Dublin, 1994).
  15. ↑ John Ezard (13 March 2002). "Sex diaries of Roger Casement found to be genuine". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  16. ↑ McCormack, W. J. (2002). Roger Casement in Death, or, Haunting the Free State. Dublin: University College Dublin Press. ISBN   1900621762 . Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  17. ↑ Daly, Mary E., ed. (1 October 2005). Roger Casement in Irish and World History. Royal Irish Academy. ISBN   978-1904890041.
  18. ↑ Vangroenwghe D., Journal of Belgian History (2002).
  19. ↑ Paul Hyde, Casement Tried and Tested – The Giles Report, History Ireland, 24:4, July August 2016, pp. 38–41.
  20. ↑ Mitchell A. 16 Lives: Roger Casement. O'Brien Press (2016) ISBN   9781847172648
  21. ↑ Casement, Roger (1997). The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement. Anaconda Editions. p. 279. ISBN   978-1-901990-05-8.
  22. 1 2 Casement, Roger (1997). The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement. Anaconda Editions. p. 225. ISBN   978-1-901990-05-8.
  23. ↑ Paul Hyde (2016) Lost to History: An Assessment and Review of the Casement Black Diaries. Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame
  24. ↑ Jeffrey Dudgeon. Roger Casement: The Black Diaries: with a Study of His Background, Sexuality and Irish Political Life, Belfast Press. ISBN   9780953928736
  25. ↑ Jeffries, Stuart (15 June 2012). "Mario Vargas Llosa: a life in writing". The Guardian.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.