The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-08-14
ACCELERATED CASE.
THE LDADAGETRUTH
IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.
The Remarkable Story Of the Life and
Crime of Mrs. Florence Maybrick, Now
Under Sentence of Death in England for
the Murder of Her Husband.
philadelphia Telegraph. }

|
of opinion in England as to the result OF
the trial of Mrs Maybrick for the
poisoning of her husband, the general
belief has been that she would be ac-
Quilted, and her conviction and SEN
tencc to death has created much sur
prise. The trial, which began on the
list inst, has attracted widespread at
tention. No similar case, it is said, has
been on trial in England for many
wears. The last affair Of the kind was
the trial, thirty years ago, of Madeline
Smith for poisoning her lover. Miss
Smith. like Mrs. Maybrick, was 4 young
lady of some social consequence, and
resided at Glasgow. While still a mere
girl her affections were won bya mere
trcious fellow, who proved unworthy.
Her perception Of this and his per
Sonal treatment of her caused a revul-
sion of feeling. The allegation made
arainst her was that she she had lnVel-
elcd him to her house and had poisoned
him. The evidence against her, although
circrmstantial, was very compromising.
Owing to the brilliant defense made 10y
her counsel she was acquitted, and Is
now happily married and living in Lon
don
On the 18th of last May Mrs. Florence
Elizabeth Maybrick, the wife OF James
MAVERICK, a rich cotton merchant OF
Liverpool, was placed under arrest,
charged with poisoning her husband.
The arrest was brought about in a re-
| markable way. Mrs. Maybrick's little
girl had dropped Il letter in the muddy
Street; the nurSemaid in charge of the
child picked it up and opened the soiled
envelope, intending, as she declared, to
rlacc the inclosed letter in a fresh en-
velopc. She took the trouble, however,
to read it, and found its contents to run
as follows:
DEAREST: Your letter under cover to
G. came to hand Just after | gave them
for you on Monday. / did not expect
to hear from you so soon, and delay
occurred in giving him the necessary
instructions.
s.Since my return I have been nursing
all dav and night He is sick unto death.
The doctors held a consultation yester~
day. Now all depends upon how long
his strength will hold out. Both my
brothers-in-law are here, and we are
terribly anxious. l cannot answer your
letter fully to-day, darling, but relieve
YOUR mind of all fear Of discovery now
or in the future. NJ. has been delirious
since Sunday, and know he is ignorant
of everything, even Of the name of the
street, also that he has not been making
anv inquiries whatever. The tale he told
me was a mere fabrication, and only in
tended 70 frighten the nth out OF me.
In fact, he bclie7eS my statement, al
though he will not admit it.
You need not, therefore, 50 abroad
Oh this ground, dearest; but in any case
don't leave England until have seen
YOU once again. You must feel that
those two letters of mine were written
under circumstances which must ever
excuse their injustice in your eyes. DO
| YOU suppose / could act as am doing If
/ merely felt what 1 inferred? If you
wish to write to me about anything 40
so, as all letters pass through my hands
at present.
'sExcuse this scrawl, my darling, but
| dare not leave the room for a mo-
ment, and I do not know when shall he
able to write to you again. In haste,
your own tLoRiE.
Within a few hours after the nurse
maid opened the note Maybrlck was a
dead man. The girl gave the letter to
Edwin Maybrick, a brother Of james,
| who allowed the funeral to go on with
| out arousing suspicion, but he watched
the widow closely and consulted with
the police. Eleven days after Mr.. May
bricks death, while his widow was i'll
in bed, protesting to be prostrated by
her husbands death, the police made
her prisoner and removed her to the
hospital ward of Waltham jail. She
| was not told of the intention to charge
her with murder, but that she simply
was required as a witness to clear up
the suspicious nature of her husbands S
death. When it became known that
Mrs. Maybrick was actually charged
| with poisoning her husband the evidence
on which the charge was based seemed
so fimSy and purely circumstantial that
her neighbors felt indignant against the
police and the relatives of the dead man
| for taking so harsh course. But the
| detectives knew their ground, and the
| evidence against the accused woman at
the Coroner's inquest, which was held
on the 2Sth of the same month, showed
| that there was ut least II strong clrcum-
stantial case against the woman.
THE EVIDENCES OF GUILT.
The evidence brought out at the in
| quest has been repeated in au amplitied
| form at the trial, which has just been
concluded, and need not be detailed at
length in this connection. Mr.. May
bricks death was sudden and unex-
pected, and the post mortem cxamina-
ton disclosed the presence Of arsenic IN
large quantities. There had been fre-
ouent ouarrels between husband and
wife, and the woman's unfaithfulness
was proved by discriminating CORES
pondcnce and direct testimony, as we'll
;s by her own confession in open court
two days ago. A motive was thus fur
nished for the alleged crime in her de.
sire to be released from marital bonds
which had become distasteful to her.
AS she was suspected by her husbands
brothers of entertaining designs against
his life, she had been watched by ply
sicians, nurses and servants, and nearly
every inmate of the house had some
thing to say against her. a nursemald,
as already stated, Intercepted a letter
| which she had written to her paramour.
The nurse saw her stealthily mixing one
of the last doses taken by Mr.. Maybrick.
An analyst testified that spots found on
her dressing gown, handkerchiefs,
aprons and the cover of her dressing
room stand were arsenic stains. House
maids related her curious habit of soak
ing hy-papcrs in her room. Every one
| in the house seemed to have distrustcd