Talk:John Francis Peggotty

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Peggotty

The question arises: who was the "Birdman of the Coorong"? Peggotty is clearly a nom de crime, borrowing a name invented by Charles Dickens for his epic novel David Copperfield, which also supplied the nom d'étage for a 20th-century magician. The name may have been the result of mishearing or misreporting, with any number of possible Irish surnames as candidates - Haggerty, Doherty and O'Flaherty for starters, but the big question remains: how can a murderer and blackest of blackguards, particularly one with such an extraordinary modus operandi, escape the press and consequent Trove searches ? Did he take advantage of his dwarfism to trigger a D Notice? Or pretend to be under the age of criminal responsibility? Was the government afraid of exposure and hold the trial in camera? Did the bling burglar have friends in high places? One immediately thinks of John Howard Clark, influential editor of the South Australian Register, who not only had the wit of Charles Dickens, but emulated his appearance. Alas, Clark died before the ostentatious Peggotty reached these shores, and his literary successor, C. R. Wilton, who had a multitude of noms de plume, suffered from an embarras de ostriches. Doug butler (talk) 05:00, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]