Chapter 41 - Forks In The Road

[Paul S.]

... is another installment of "Notes from the Rabbit Hole, and is now online:

https://www.ttbrown.com/defying_gravity ... forks.html

Also, a heads-up re: next week: I received an inquiry from a publisher yesterday that requires that I divert some attention to revising my book proposal, which is out of date by about two years. If I can get that done quickly, then there might be a new installment next week, if not, then... not.

--PS

[Chris Knight]

Very good job pulling these things out of the murky darkness.

My only comment (and I've looked at this photo of Josephine a number of times over the years), is that I've always wondered who that fellow in the back-left is. I always was curious as to whether he was looking intently at Josephine, or just happened to be looking at the photo-taking action when the photo was taken.

I seem to remember that there is a second photo somewhere of Townsend in the same place and time, but you'll have to refresh my memory on that.

If that is the case, and this photo can be linked to the time the were divorced (date on the back of the photo ?), then it would show at least one clandestine meeting.

Andrew

[Elizabeth Helen Drake]

Hi Andrew,

Yes, I have wondered myself who that fellow was in the left hand side of the picture. He seems rather intent on watching Josephine, but then ... hes' a guy and she is cutting a pretty fine figure I think, so the whole thing might be entirely unrelated to what we learn now that she was doing.

I remember the other photo that you have mentioned, pouring over the photos that have been made available for our research. But I don't think that its going to prove that they were together at all (because as I recall in his "sidewalk" picture Townsend Brown was wearing a heavy coat. She is definitely in a spring or summer mode .... as is the fellow innocently or not, following her.)

So the inference I get from the pictures is .... they were in the same town ... but walking along parallel ,not connected paths. Elizabeth

[Victoria Steele]

Hey guys, what were you doing? Just sitting waiting for this post? Worse than I am!

I was really impressed with the picture of Josephine. From what we have seen of her so far, her senior picture (?), A cute picture on the beach, and now this! This picture is wonderful! The white gloves speak for the age and how proper she was . I dig the hat!

I just get the sense, that if this is a divorced woman, she is a very dangerous and self confident divorced woman. I look at the way people are dressed . Josephine is totally her own woman! She is not a shrinking violet, thats for sure. And I think, myself, that she is as concious of the man following her as she is of the cameraman. Its a great shot!

Meeting along the banks of the Potomac river? Now, I'll bet that was romantic! Dangerous too, I'll bet.

And I find it not at all hard to believe that she would have been working with some sort of "intelligence network". I grew up in a small town too and if you can manage to keep your relationship with the towns most eligible bachelor a total secret until the actual marriage. Shoot! The lady was already an accomplished covert agent.

And look at her fellas! That lady could get information outta just about anybody I think, if she set her mind to it. And officially, she is a divorced woman in an age where that is a scandal. I wouldn't have stayed in Zanesville either. But, she is definitely not crushed by the experience. In fact , I sense that she is absolutely having the best time of her life so far. Victoria

[twigsnapper]

If there was ever any doubt that Josephine Beale Brown was a beautiful woman and a woman of independent spirit, this picture should dispell that.

And as I have said Victoria, you have missed your calling. You caught the spirit of Josephine entirely.

I am sorry to say I never had a chance to develop a friendship with Mrs. Brown but I certainly admired her from afar in later years.

I think a little before the time her photo was taken someone was asking me if I could swim and fire a rifle. I answered yes to both, lying both times.

Twigsnapper

[LongboardLOVELY]

Certainly not Ladies of the Night. I must agree with Victoria. If this woman was truly divorced, she looks dangerously happy. She does not have the demeanor of a recently divorced woman who just months ago was happily married. I liked that you did a chapter on Josephine, Paul.

Found a reference to Evelyn McBarnet.
Military Intelligence (MI5)
... In 1939 police arrested a large number of Germans living in Britain ... provided for him by Arthur Martin and Evelyn McBarnet which convinced men like Fuchs that Skardon knew them ...

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWm5.htm

Same woman? Who knows.

The name is mentioned in Peter Wright's Spycatcher

some observations about the photo: looks like the man is smoking, (cigarette, left hand, between third and fourth fingers) maybe navy? Guess with hats in those days, it's hard to tell. It's about midday, Sun is directly above Josephine and the shadows are not too long. She's got to be walking East. or Southeast. What was that on the floor directly behind her and between her and the gentleman? Litter was unheard of in those days.
I know approximately where she may be. I've seen clocks like that on M street... of course, maybe they were more common 70 years ago. M street was (and still is) one of the busiest streets in that area. OR, K street or Pennsylvania Ave?

Interesting that she should be there. It is home to the French, Thai, Mongolian and Ukrainian Embassies; and also I believe a number of Roosevelt's administration lived in Georgetown.

There's my dos centavos,
Linda

[LongboardLOVELY]

... Also, a heads-up re: next week: I received an inquiry from a publisher yesterday that requires that I divert some attention to revising my book proposal, which is out of date by about two years....
--PS

I guess the appropriate response to that is

WooooHoooo!!! Publisher!!!!

Wishing you Luck.

Linda B.

[Mark Culpepper]

Paul,

Of course I congratulate you on the approach of a publisher. It was a matter of time, I guess we have all known that. Either this first contact or another, its just a matter of time. (Oh, I didn't mean to be funny, or maybe I did!)

BUT I worry about what that will mean for all of us who have so enjoyed seeing your story unfold online like this? I can not imagine that a publisher is going to want to have you continue putting the pages out there for all to see. Which means that soon you will have to curtail your "Chapters" section of the forum. I realize that it is important to save most of the story for later release "on the shelf".

But will you be able to maintain some kind of contact with us, some sort of "news letter" from the "other side" because I think thats what its going to like for you. Suddenly you will not be able to say as much as you have been saying. Sort of a "literary curtain" will fall between us.

Oh,oh . Who is going to break that to Victoria?

Its been fascinating watching all of the mental energy swirling around this story though, and I have to admit I hate to see it go away. Can we all get secret decoder rings to still stay up with the new chapters? No, I guess not.

Just know that I personally consider it an honor to have been part of the process of creativity that I have been watching. I want you to know that I want you to take whatever course you need to take to see this project to its proper end.

Know that I will show up someday wanting you to sign my copy!

Just throw us a few tidbits now and then from the "other side!" Mark C

[Paul S.]

BUT I worry about what that will mean for all of us who have so enjoyed seeing your story unfold online like this? I can not imagine that a publisher is going to want to have you continue putting the pages out there for all to see. Which means that soon you will have to curtail your "Chapters" section of the forum.

Any speculation about actually securing a publisher is premature, to put it mildly... I only mentioned it because it does mean that I have to shift focus and energy for as long as it takes to get an updated book proposal together, and that will likely have some impact on the availability of new chapters in the immmediate future.

But, let's say, for the sake of argument, that I secure a publishing deal tomorrow. In that case, you're probably right, that a publisher have understandable reservations about continuing to make the entire text available online, even if it just the "first draft/work in progress."

However, in a perfect world, what I would hope to do is to keep putting some or all of the work online in a password protected place where those of you have been tuning in could continue to have access to the material and the discussion. In that perfect world, access would then be limited to whoever had registered prior to a certain cut-off date, which would include you and Victoria and everybody else who's come on board since this site was launched just after Labor Day '05.

I have found all the feedback I've been getting here to be immensely valuable, and would consider my efforts greatly diminished were I to lose access to all your input. I've learned a lot here and will continue to rely on that source as the work proceeds.

But let me emphasize, all I have at the moment is an invitation from a publisher to submit a proposal, and some work to do to make the material presentable again. In the meantime these channels will remain open.

--PS

[Victoria Steele]

Ah! Thats sweet. Worrying about me being upset. Damn, I must have made an impression.

But guess what guys. I am not going to be upset at all about the next phase in Pauls book. Look! He has already invited us to continue our participation. And YES! I accept! And I thank you very muchPaul. I guess that you can tell that we have an extra interest in this book to be.

And you know what? I have all of these chapters in progress printed out and in binders, so in a way I am going to have a wonderful personal library of the initial stages of this book ..... and then later I'll stand behind Mark C and get my autographed copy. What a collectors set that will make!
Victoria

[grinder]

Paul,

Just wanting to make sure that you know that my name is on the list cause I don't want to be left out of this!

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree but something Linda B said about that piece of paper on the street caught my attention. I have been reading a little more about spies and counterespionage and all that good stuff and these guys operate alot on what they call "marks" or "markers"

And since they can't leave instructions out there for everybody to see they have more or less understood standards to look for. For "dead drops" or information left to be picked up by another a chalk mark worked. So maybe thats what that little square of paper was? A mark?

And then I look at Josephines expression. I believe she definitely knows she is being photographed and she also knows that there are people following her. So if that is a marker on the ground, is she not only getting her picture taken at that spot. Like Johnny Carsons X on the stage where he took up position? but the pictures of those behind her?

I would guess the fellow behind her is Army but I could be wrong. But what about the man behind him. The guy in the suit? Who is he?

I mean. this is fun, if you get the marker, and you realize she KNEW what was happening, was she having pictures taken of WHO was following her. Is this how a counterespionage group would identify its enemies?

And Paul says Josephine was working for McBarnet , who was apparently and MI5 operative. Which means that Josephine was collecting information here probably. Or maybe she is just one pretty lady walking down a pre-wartime Washington DC street. I just happen to think this photo is loaded with information.

So somebody said that there is a similar picture of Townsend Brown? I'd love to see that Paul ! so we can compare? grinder

[twigsnapper]

Paul will recognize that Buffett song, lyrics being "Fins to the right of her, fins to the left, and shes the only bait in town."

Looking away from that lovely woman for just a moment. Understanding what was happening in the world at the time.

In April of 1940 nearly 22,000 Polish prisoners were rounded up and executed. They were a cross section of the Polish community, some intelligence officers, but mainly landowners, ordinary soldiers. They were summarily all lined up after being forced to dig their own graves and shot in the back of the head. It was all a very neat operation. There had been no trial, no chance, and the executions were ordered by Stalin himself.

The Russian disinformation machine made sure that Germany was blamed but history has finally proven otherwise.

Just a point being. Fins to the right, fins to the left. Don't forget the influence of the Soviets in the United States during this part of history.
Twigsnapper

[Mark Culpepper]

Paul,

You know its easy I think to let our thought processes disolve into a consideration of how much adventure and excitement being a "counterespionage agent" would have offered to a pretty woman such as Josephine. And its easy to get caught up in all that, but the reality of it was that the world was faced with not one but TWO horrendously dangerous forces (and I am not even considering the Pacific area with that comment)

For Josephine though, I believe that she knew that this was a very dangerous world developing and that she was perhaps in a position to make a difference. Thats just an opinion I have put together reading about what her life was like up to that point.

So I encourage all of you to look beyond the possibilities for surface adventure here and see what was actually at stake. Mark C

[Paul S.]

Paul will recognize that Buffett song, lyrics being "Fins to the right of her, fins to the left, and shes the only bait in town."

Oh yeah..."Sharks" One of my faves.

The Russian disinformation machine made sure that Germany was blamed but history has finally proven otherwise.

Y'all help me out here, because a quadrant of my brain is failing me. There was a movie that dealt with this subject -- the polish bodies found in mass graves, the Russians culpable but pinning it on the Germans. It might have been "Enigma" ... but I'm not sure. Anybody remember seeing that scenario portrayed on film?

Just a point being. Fins to the right, fins to the left. Don't forget the influence of the Soviets in the United States during this part of history.[/quote]

By which I assume you mean that much of the West's intel and security apparatus had been deeply infiltrated, ala "Phiby & Co." ?

-PS

[Paul S.]

Paul will recognize that Buffett song, lyrics being "Fins to the right of her, fins to the left, and shes the only bait in town."

Oh yeah..."Sharks" One of my faves.

The Russian disinformation machine made sure that Germany was blamed but history has finally proven otherwise.

Y'all help me out here, because a quadrant of my brain is failing me. There was a movie that dealt with this subject -- the polish bodies found in mass graves, the Russians culpable but pinning it on the Germans. It might have been "Enigma" ... but I'm not sure. Anybody remember seeing that scenario portrayed on film?

Fins to the right, fins to the left. Don't forget the influence of the Soviets in the United States during this part of history.

By which I assume you mean that much of the West's intel and security apparatus had been deeply infiltrated, ala "Phiby & Co." ?

-PS