Talk:Adolf Beck case

I'm doubtful about the reference to "Lord Salisbury", which is inconsistent with the later references to "Lord Willougby". In 1895 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was the British Prime Minister. He also had a huge bushy beard. His estates were in Hertfordshire and Dorset, while the was a real Lord Willoughby (though not "Willoughby de Wilton") who had an estate in Lincolnshire. It would have been a bold swindler indeed who choose to impersonate the prime minister, especially if he lacked the prime minister's beard. Of course if it is certain that he did so, it should be reinstated, but Lord Salisbury's status should then be mentioned. CalJW 14:24, 19 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You are correct about Lord Salisbury: I am familiar with him that is why I did not wikify him. I am also doubtful that the identity the imposter affected was indeed "Lord Salisbury" as I based it on an account of the case. I have to read another account of the case to really confirm, and sure enough, Wilhelm Meyer did identify whimself as "Lord Willoughby" to Ottilie Meissonier. I will make the necessary correction to the account. Thanks for the heads up :) RashBold 17:54, 19 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The second paragraph of the intro seems out of place, really the intro should cover all the basic details of the case from the start to finish (which the first paragraph starts to do decently enough), and then the later parts of the article should fill in the details. I don't really know anything about the case and it's history so I won't try to dabble though Sfnhltb 17:38, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Charged language

Just a tiny edit -- "undoubtedly" is a bit strong when you're dealing with such circumstantial evidence.

Cleanup needed

The style of language in which this article is written doesn't seem suitable for Wikipedia - it's not written in an encyclopaedic manner, more as a piece of story-telling. It could do with a thorough copy-edit SP-KP 18:50, 20 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Any suggestions? RashBold 22:05, 21 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]