{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2547",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 2547,
    "subject": "Croixcodile Keystone Kops?",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "2001-01-21T00:17:15+00:00",
    "last": "2001-01-22T08:45:51+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0030-0251@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Talarican",
        "address": "exultnttalarican at mindspring.com"
      },
      "date": "2001-01-21T00:17:15+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Croixcodile Keystone Kops?",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "\"Who wrote that table of figures in Marsch's copy of _A Field Guide to the\nAnimals of Sainte Anne_, which officer Constant identified as ballistics\ntables for a .35 cal rifle, and cited as evidence 'John V. Marsch' (Victor\nTrenchard) came to St. Croix intending to assasinate someone by sniping\"\nwould make a good IAQ if the answer were not so obvious.\n\nThe \"real\" Dr. Marsch, avid hunter that he was, to judge by his journal\nentries, calculated and wrote down these figures. (1) See a critter, (2)\nlook it up in the _Field Guide_ to identify it, (3) consult the ballistics\ntable in the same cover to see how best to kill it. I have to wonder if this\nsomehow signals that the real Dr. Marsch was doomed to failure in any case,\nsince he so blithely destroys what he discovers?\n\nVictor, having learned (strangely enough) sufficiently of anthropology and\nacademic life, during his sojourn in the back of beyond, to fool every\nprofessor on both planets into accepting him without question upon his\nreturn, never learned to shoot and probably never bothered to learn the\nsignificance of ballistics tables. Thus, 'John V. Marsch' (Victor) told\nConstant he was a terrible shot and knew nothing of the figures.\n\nYet Constant and the other officers no doubt had learned from the journals\nthat Marsch claimed to be a great shot with a .35 rifle. Did the Croix\nsecret police think this inconsistency proved their theory that \"Marsch\" was\nan assasin from sisterworld?\n\nOr had the police read the clues in the journals and Victor's prison\nwritings to figure out he was an impostor, therefore presumably up to no\ngood in any event?\n\nAn interesting clue: in the framing tale of \"V.R.T.\", the officer assigned\nto review the case told his fellow officer that the case was criminal, not\npolitical.\n\nTalarican\n(as you can see, what they call my obsession and mania, was in ancient times\na respected academic discipline, which they named 'anthropology'!)"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0030-0255@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Michael Straight",
        "address": "straight at email.unc.edu"
      },
      "date": "2001-01-22T08:45:51+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (urth) Croixcodile Keystone Kops?",
      "in_reply_to": "<urth-v0030-0251@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "On Sun, 21 Jan 2001, Talarican wrote:\nAn interesting clue: in the framing tale of \"V.R.T.\", the officer assigned\nto review the case told his fellow officer that the case was criminal, not\npolitical."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Wasn't \"Marsch\" originally arrested in connection with Number Five's\nmurder of his \"father\"?  Even if, after they arrested Number Five, they\ncontinued to hold \"Marsch\" because they suspected him of being a spy, his\ncase would probably still be officially classified as criminal.\n\n-Rostrum"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}