Quote: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.