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[Content warning: Suggestion of sexual assault, victim shaming]

YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF THE CARRINGTON FAMILY KIDNAPPED: ARE THE AUTHORITIES FAILING US?


There is not a person in Whitby who does not know the Carrington family. As one of the town’s wealthiest families, they are indeed well-respected. What a shock it was to the whole town, then, when the youngest daughter of the family was found on Whitby beach with a severe head injury after having escaped her kidnapper.

According to the latest reports, Miss Pearl Carrington was kidnapped and held captive for an indeterminate amount of time in a cave on the beach at the edge of town. Her kidnapper surrendered the girl when a brave gentleman, who just happened to be horse-riding on the beach, heard absolutely chilling screams and sobs coming from the cave and investigated. We can only imagine the horrors the youngest Carrington must have suffered during her captivity, and how it could have ended, if this good Samaritan had not come to her rescue.

The kidnapper made his escape in a small coble and has not yet been apprehended. The public is asked to look out for a middle-aged man of about 5’7’’, with brown short hair, a brown beard, a red, puffy face, large ears, and an overall ungroomed appearance. The man was armed with a knife and may carry other arms. Anyone who sees this man should take care not to approach him, but to warn the police immediately.

Although the local authorities claim that the case has the highest priority, many Whitby people are beginning to wonder whether the local constable, Mr. Crane, is capable of dealing with such important cases. Some have noted an increase in crime since Mr. Crane took up his position. Is the Whitby police doing its job? Can the authorities still guarantee the safety of the Whitby women? And what will this high-profile case mean for Whitby’s tourism branch? Will the town face an economic backlash?

The Carrington family has not yet issued a statement and was not available for commentary. Many questions still remain: How long was the girl held captive, and what has happened to her? Did her kidnapper assault her or did he kidnap her for ransom (or both)? Why was a young female Carrington alone on the beach to begin with? Did she run away from home? Did she mean to expose herself? Was it all planned out?

Whatever the case, it is clear that this event has damaged the reputation of the Carrington family and of Miss Pearl Carrington in particular. We can only hope that the Whitby police owns up to its responsibility and apprehends the culprit, before more Whitby girls fall victim to the same horrible fate.

[Content warning: Reference to child neglect and forced adoptions]

THE RT HON THE LORD MCPADRAIC (TO RUN FOR MP) ANNOUNCES PHILANTROPIC PROJECT


The Rt Hon the Lord Arthur McPadraic, a staunch Tory who will run for Whitby’s MP in the general election this year, is widely known for his philanthropic nature and strong commitment to the constituency’s welfare. In the past he has donated generously to various societies and projects aimed at improving dwellings for the poor, schools, and the town’s general appearance. Last Friday, he announced that he has set up his own organisation to help Whitby’s street urchins.

The Rt Hon the Lord McPadraic: “This country is built on Christian values such as order, hard work and self-improvement. It is the duty of every British citizen to live by them. Yet some people neglect to teach their children respect for the law and discipline, and instead of sending them to school, they let their children roam the streets, which pose significant dangers to such young and malleable minds.” That the baron, who will be running for MP during the next election, cares deeply about children is clear from his own large family. But his sense of duty and responsibility is too great to stop at his own family. “It pains me to see those children on the streets. Good and innocent souls, whose neglectful parents and harsh conditions lead them to drinking, crime and worse. We need to put an end to this!”

It is not only the children themselves who suffer from this situation. Crime is on the rise in town and the children pose an unpleasant sight to visitors. With a constable who seems either reluctant or inapt to deal with the town’s problems, and with the development of more and more competing seaside resorts, it is only a matter of time before tourists will choose other destinations. The Rt Hon the Lord McPadraic: “This problem also hurts the hard-working, deserving people of Whitby. With the closing of the alum industry and the ship yards over the past few decades, so many people are now directly or indirectly dependent on tourism. They will lose everything if nothing happens now. I have a vision for this town. We can make Whitby grand again. That’s also why I have decided to run for MP. But I digress.”

The baron has successfully lobbied locally for a broader application and more rigid enforcement of the Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act of 1889, which allows local authorities to remove ill-treated or neglected children from their parents’ custody. The Rt Hon Lord McPadraic’s organisation, the McPadraic Society for the Removal of Children from Neglectful Parents and Providing Shelter, Considerably Improving Them, and Sending Them to New Homes Abroad, will report disorderly street children to the local authorities so they can be removed from their parents' care, and will provide temporary shelter for them, while attending to their resocialization. Once the children have been improved, they will be sent to loving families overseas. “It’s the perfect solution,” The Rt Hon the Lord McPadraic, who will run in the coming election, explains. “Our orphanages and work houses are overcrowded, but in the United States, Canada, and Australia, there is still new land being cultivated. A farm can never have enough hands. Besides finding new, caring parents, these children will have the opportunity to learn valuable discipline and skills to become responsible, industrious and self-reliant adults.”

The generous baron has funded this ambitious project almost entirely with private means. “It is the least I could do for the town I care so deeply about.” The Rt. Hon. the Lord McPadraic will be running for MP during the general election this year.

PC CRANE ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR WHITBY GAZETTE


PC Crane, who has been constable in Whitby for several years now and who is under increasing attack from the public because of his ineffectual approach to the town’s problems and lack of resolve, has tried to silence the local newspaper. The Whitby Gazette has been writing on the constable’s failing efforts and the public’s growing frustration, in response to which PC Crane has tried to intimidate one of the reporters.

When leaving the office one night last week, the reporter found the bellicose constable waiting for him outside. Crane threatened that bad things would happen if the newspaper would not stop writing critical articles about him, and although the reporter made it clear that he would not stand for this kind of intimidation, the constable refused to leave him alone for a while. Apparently, while PC Crane does not have time to take on the town’s criminals, he does manage to make time to intimidate those who oppose him.

Meanwhile it seems that the constable’s inaptitude has come to the attention of his superiors, for a new constable has arrived in town to assist him. Judging from the fact that several arrests were made within the first 24 hours of the new constable’s arrival, it seems that Whitby might finally become a safe place again.

Two days after Pearl and Joe’s elopement:

FRESH CARRINGTON SCANDAL – MISS PEARL CARRINGTON ELOPES


Will the scandals ever end for the Carrington family? The reader may remember how an unchaperoned Miss Pearl Carrington was kidnapped and assaulted on Whitby sands several months ago, and it has been mere days since Magnus Carrington IV was shot dead in a grizzly scene of carnage at the Diamond Pony, the brothel he owned, and was exposed to be a homicidal maniac responsible for multiple unsolved murders and disappearances. Chilling new details are still coming out every day, as the police continues to investigate the matter. Just as we thought things could not get worse for the bereaved and disgraced family, reliable sources from within the Carrington household have confirmed that Miss Pearl has eloped with a Mr. Joseph Blacke, an unemployed youth of eighteen from a working class family in Oswy Street. The Whitby Gazette has the story!

Although both families were surprised by the sudden news, it appears that Mr. Blacke and Miss Pearl have in fact been courting for several months. According to several witnesses, the young couple met in March at Whitby Central Railway station, where Joseph Blacke worked as a railway porter since leaving school. That night, he found Miss Pearl on the platform she had arrived on after a trip away, crying all by herself. What exactly was the young lady weeping about? Did the town bring back distressing memories of her assault? Was she disheartened by the growing rift between her and her family, apparent from her moving out of the family home into her own cottage? Was she already aware of some of her oldest brother’s dealings and afraid of facing him? Or was it simply a young lady’s fatigue and upset nerves after a long journey alone? Whatever it was, it left the poor girl sobbing her heart out on a dark and deserted platform. It was here that Mr. Blacke found her and attempted to comfort her by offering her a handkerchief and talking to her.

Or did he? Could it be that he was preying on a lonely, moneyed young woman in a helpless state? This was certainly Mr. Robert Carrington’s take on the situation when he found the couple thus. “We had never had any concerns about letting my sister travel alone on a North Eastern Railway service before,” he told the Whitby Gazette. “Until that evening, the staff had always looked out for her safety and wellbeing. But when I came to collect her that evening, I witnessed that cad all over her, talking to her in an overly familiar fashion as if they were equals, touching her hand, and my sister crying. The situation clearly brought back some bad memories for her and must have really messed with her already fragile mind. She hasn’t been well since the assault on Whitby Sands, you see? And she has certainly seemed disturbed in her mind since this ‘Joe Blacke’ encounter.”

Mr. Carrington explains that in light of the earlier attack, he instantly demanded to know what was going on. “But Mr. Blacke responded to me scornfully and even tried to attack me at one point. Luckily, I managed to get my sister out of there, but it was all very distressing. I wrote a letter of complaint to the NER as soon as we got home. I was pleased to hear that they had dealt with that predatory employee swiftly. I believed that to be the end of the matter, but clearly I was mistaken. He has been imposing himself on her all this time, exploiting her delicate mental state to his own advantage. For all I know, he’s left her in a delicate physical condition too, and my poor sister saw no other way out than to marry him. I wish she would have come to us.”

Contact between Mr. Blacke and Miss Pearl Carrington did indeed continue despite Mr. Blacke being dismissed by the North Eastern Railway over the encounter. A neighbour who wishes to remain anonymous told the Gazette that she saw a young man who matches Mr. Blacke’s description visit Miss Pearl in her cottage one night! The couple was also seen attending a wedding in the Cragg together and dancing together. According to one witness, they seemed “quite intimately acquainted”. Lastly and shockingly, both were present the night Magnus Carrington IV was shot. Mr. Blacke and Miss Pearl were seen retreating into a private room together after police arrived. Before accompanying Miss Pearl home, Mr. Blacke was questioned by the police and described his relationship to Miss Pearl as ‘friendship’; a bold stretch of the truth, given their previous intimate and unchaperoned encounters and the fact that the two eloped to Gretna Green mere days after.

Was Mr. Blacke merely embarrassed, or was he trying to hide his nefarious dealings with Miss Pearl from the Whitby police? Who is Joseph Blacke?

Mr. Blacke is the third of four children in what appears at face value a perfectly ordinary working class family in a terraced home at the far end of Fishburn Park. His father, William Blacke, is from the Newcastle area, though nobody seems to know anything about his origins beyond that. Mr. William Blacke works as a fireman for the NER and is a frequent patron of the Red Lion Inn. Mrs. Blacke is the daughter of a Whitby seaman and grew up among Whitby’s fisherfolk. She has told the Gazette that she has raised her son to be decent and honest, but when confronted with young Mr. Blacke’s relationship with Pearl Carrington, she confessed that she was ignorant of it. The other children do not seem to have minded Mrs. Blacke’s lessons either, as Joe’s older brother, John Blacke has had frequent run-ins with law enforcement before joining the army, and his older sister, Ruth Blacke, eloped too, and has recently returned to Whitby pregnant without a husband. Mr. Joe Blacke himself has committed more crimes than lying to the police and to his mother. Mere months ago, he was in the dock for public drunkenness and insulting a police officer. Are we to consider these the foolish actions of an ordinary youth, or do they betray the ill character of a ruthless hooligan?

Mr. Blacke certainly doesn’t have the Carrington breeding. Though the house in Oswy street is clean and decent, Joe Blacke started life in the Cragg, one of Whitby’s filthiest and most overcrowded areas and a blight on the town. The Whitby Gazette has often reported on the infection, crime and vice spilling out of that place, and the inability of the Whitby police to impose the law there. Only a few years ago, Simon Ward, a notorious resident of the Cragg, brutally slaughtered a wellborn young gentleman. More recently, daily reports of theft, smuggling, drunkenness, prostitution and assault have been almost entirely ignored by the Whitby police, who seem resigned in the matter of the Cragg, and have chosen to allow a few drunken fishermen to enforce their own laws there as the best alternative to complete lawlessness. This is the birthplace of Pearl Carrington’s husband.

Does young Pearl know her new spouse’s roots? Or did Joe Blacke stretch the truth about his origins as well? In his defence, Miss Pearl did attend a wedding celebration in the Cragg, as mentioned above, so perhaps she does not care. Is this a story of true love beyond differences? Has young Pearl Blacke found happiness at last after everything she has suffered through, and is her love strong enough to break the walls of class division? Are these youngsters a Romeo and Juliet defying their tragic fate? Or has Miss Pearl been preyed upon and fallen victim to a self-serving thug, and has she tragically sealed her prison in Gretna Green? Or is the truth even more alarming than this? The Gazette is investigating some shocking new leads and hopes to bring the reader a fresh update next week!


Have you seen Joseph and Pearl Blacke, or do you know more about the situation? Please write to Gareth Scott at the Whitby Gazette.

In a trained but nonetheless indolent hand:

Pearl Carrington always was a free spirit. Freer than women’s ankles around Magnus. I always figured she would get swept up in some impoverished tide.

Rumor has it she was involved with that Simon Ward fellow, too!

Dearest Whitbians,

If you have read the many articles regarding names being dragged through the muck by a certain man whom we all have established as a slimy slug feeding on the emotions of those who would take his word at face value, things are not as they would seem. Your world is ordinary to the outside, but each and every person who might glance upon this prose has been one to cast stones whilst living in glass houses. The time has come for things to unravel. Things are not what they appear to be.

There are truths that have not seen the light of day and lay dormant in the last decades. Tension is starting to charge the air around Whitby. Prominent members of society and those of a plebian nature as some might call those of us who come from places that aren't considered savory. We cast judgment on those who suffer for the sins of others. Little do they know, I know the truth that started everything; the unraveling of a family behind closed doors.

What everybody conveniently forgets is that those of us who have lived through being employed by those of wealth and note have seen things. Some of us minded our tongues even as we saw things unfold that are unspeakable acts and yet it is wrong to hold our tongues when things happen that change lives forever, things that need to be rectified later in life as they were grave mistakes. I am sure you are eager to know to whom the bell tolls now, and you shall understand in good time. I ask that you cast aside your assumptions about the things you think you know. Bide your time, my friends, it will all come out eventually.

Horris C. Wellington, at your service.