Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-01
THE MAVERICK CASE.
A Remarkable Book Written to Free
an Imprisoned Woman.
METHODS OF BRITISH boobies.
Alleged New Evidence That the Young Wife
Is Not MurdereSs.
THE TEXT OF AN IMPORTANT LETTER

srThe MAVERICK Case to reach this country
from England was received by Lawyers Roe
& Macklin, of 156 Broadway. 1t is cloth
bound book of 600 and odd pages, and is
published by the monster committee inter
ested in securing the release of the young
and beautiful Mrs. Florence Elizabeth May
brick, who was convicted of poisoning her
husband. The copy is Subscribers Edi-
ton" On the fy-leaf is a long list Of
prominent society people, headed by Lady
Florence Dixie, who believe that the unfor-
tunate woman in Woking Prison is inno-
cent A handsome full-page portrait of
Mrs. Maybrick precedes the title-page,
which reads as follows:
THE MAVERICK CASE.
TREATISE BY
ALEXANDER WILLIAM MACDOUGALL
on the facts of the case and of the proceed
1ngs in connection with the charge, trial,
conviction and present imprisonment of
Florence Elizabeth Maybrick.
Mr.. MacDougall is London barrister
and Chairman of the Maybrick committee.
He has written his 600 pages of testimony
and comments without a break from the in
PRODUCTION to the finish. Chapter heads
would have made the matter more readable
to people on this side of the water but Mr..
MacDougal has nevertheless produced re-
markable and intensely interesting addition
to literature. Some of the newly discov-
cred evidence is given to the public for the
first time.
An Outline of the Case.
James Maybrick was a cotton merchant
who married an American girl and lived
handsomely in a suburb of Liverpool He
died in his bed May II, 1889, and the
autopsy disclosed traces of arsenic in his
stomach. On the trial Mrs. Maybrick, who
is only q years old, admitted her relations
with Alfred Brierley, and her counsel as
serted that this admission, rather than posi-
tive evidence of administering arsenic to
her husband, brought about her conviction.
She was sentenced to be hanged, but the
Home Secretary afterward commuted this
sentence to Imprisonment for life. The
trial of the case is still fresh in the public
mind, and the agitation for the woman's re-
lease has assumed gigantic proportions in
England. Author MacDougal1 dedicates
''The Maybrick Case in these words:
This work is dedicated to James Chand-
Ter Maybrick, aged S years, and Gladys
Evelyn Maybrick, aged years, by the au-
thor, with the sincere hope that it will en-
able them to feel, during their lives, that
the word mother is not a sound unfit to be
heard or uttered by them, and that when |
they are old enough to be able to under |
stand this record of the facts and circum- |
stances connected with the charge put upon |
and the trial of Florence Elizabeth May |
brick, aged q, her children may have, |
throughout their lives, the comfort of feel |
ing that their mother was not proved to be
guilty of the murder of their father, James
MAVERICK"
Preceding his introductory 'fNotice to
l,a ar'f4 ha ol-aC hip
the presiding justice at the Maybrick trial:
The Retirement of Justice Stephen.
''Since this book was in print, Mr.. Justice
Stephen has retired from the bench, and on
April Z, 1891, when publicly taking leave
of the bar, he made a statement of the cause
of retiring, which, as I have criticised in
this book the wav in which he conducted
Mrs Maybrick's trial, l think it is only
Just that should set out here, though I am
not. of course, prepared to accept the doc !
trine of infallibility which he adopts as ap-
plicable to himself and to the eminent, but
physicians to whom he refers.
He said: Not very long ago was made
suddenly and to my great sur
prise, that 1 was regarded by some as no
longer physically capable of discharging nv
duties. 1 made every inquiry to ascertain
what grounds there were for this impression
and / certainly rejoice to say that no single
instance was brought to my notice in which
any alleged failure of Justice could be as
cribed to anv defect of mine / consulted
physicians of the highest eminence and they
told me that they could detect no sign what
ever OF decay in my faculties, and that,
therefore, it was no matter of immediate
necessity in the public interest that should
retire In his public life as Judge he is
of course open to criticism, and it is merely
his public acts when sitting as Judge at Mrs
aybricl1s trial which are criticised in this
book In his private life he is open to
nothing except the warm sympathy of all,
which is always due to a man who, like
himself, has in different ways done great and
lasting service to his country.
"a. W. Med"
cit is only on very rare occasions, /" writes
the barrister-author, ''that the public have
IN opportunity of studying how criminal
are conducted in this country
rom the beginning to the end. But in the
Naybrick case, in consequence caused BY
he mystery in which the case was involved |
he press furnished the country with every
ietail and with verbatim reports of the |
whole proceedings, including the inquest,
he magisterial inquiry, the Judges charge
o the grand jury, the trial and the reasons
or the advice given to the Queen by the
Home Secretary, and an opportunity is thus
HOrOeQ TO Ine PUBIC NnOW Unat the excite |
nent has subsided-in fact, has been fol-
owed by apathy Of carefully studying how
criminal proceedings are conducted and re-
lecting whether, so conducted, they furnish
he protection to society which they are in
ended to provide.
The Duty of Everybody.
'It is the personal duty of every individual
n this country, not merely as public duty,
ut as duty of self-protection, to watch
be administration of Justice vigilantly and
o scrutinize jealously the conduct of those
7ho are intrusted with the administration !
f justice; and this is especially so in mat J
ers which affect the life and liberty of the
ubjeet. In this treatise the text will be
confined to the facts of the case /
nd the proceedings as they appear in tie
eports and to observations upon those facts -.
nd those proceedings Any other or SUBJ .
squently acquired information will appear :
notes whenever such additional informa- =
on may throw light upon the subject of
le text itself"
The most interesting of the newly discov-
red facts and evidence is the letter of a i
alter who was one of the prosecutors =
osJ important witnesses. Mr.. MaeDougall
Iys that Alfred Schweisso, the waiter at
he hotel in London where Mrs. Maybrick
nd Brierley met, has written him the fol- .r
wing letter on the subject of his evidence:
66 oLIPHANT ST, QUEENS PARK ESTATE.
LONDON, January Is, 1890
SlF-1 received your letter this morning Il
this address, where am at present stav. | :
e, as have left Mr.. Flatmans l should s.
2 too glad to do that which would be of as | d.
stance to your committee in getting Mrs | ri