The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-05-23
NO HOPE FOR MRS. MAVERICK
The Queen Herself Is Opposed to n
Pardon.

New York. May 1S.-A dispatch from
London says: Inc recent extraordinary
and unprecedented statement made a few
nights ago in the house of commons by
Home Secretary Ridley, to the effect that
Baron Russell, lord chief justice of all
England, had intimated to him in a re-
cent letter that person" now under
going life imprisonment for murder was
innocent and should be released-the
person" in question being Mrs. Florence
Maybrick-but that, Notwithstanding this
representation, he was satisfied of the
woman's guilt and would refuse to APP
point a commission of inquiry, has had the
effect of directing renewed attention to
this remarkable case, not only among the
aristocracy and in legal circles, but among
the radical wage-earning masses, and
whose sentiments that there is some
thing behind the case are reflected in
their newspaper organs.
All sorts of theories and explanations
have been preached to explain the impla-
cable attitude assumed by Sir Matthew
Ridley; but, owing to the gingerly man
ner in which matters closely concerning
the throne are treated by the English
press, the true facts have not yet APP
peared in print on this side of the water
The situation in a nutshell, as told in
these dispatches twice within the past
year. once during Lord Salisbury's min
istry and again just before enc departure
of the queen for CiTniez in March, is that
Queen Victoria is thoroughly familiar with
the evidence adduced in the Maybrick
case, having been furnished at her own
request with an abstract of the testi-
mony; that the evidence showing that Mrs
Maybrick had an intrigue with lover
during the period of her husbands mys-
FERROUS illness, and which she endeaV-
ored to consummate after his death, has
produced a profound impression on the
mind of the venerable sovereign, whose
views on domestic morality are so strict
that she will not even allow woman who
has procured a divorce from her husband
to be presented at the court; and that
she has consequently formed o conclusion
unfaVorable TO the prisoner that Will not
be removed in her lifetime. 1t is fact
known TO those whose official duties bring
them the most close to the court, that
Queen Victoria intimated to Hon. Herbert
Henry Asquith, who was secretary of state
in Lord ROsebery's cabinet, and has since
intimated to Sir Matthew White Ridley,
who occupies the same position in the
present Uord Salfsburys) cabinet, that
under no circumstances would she re-
ceive or consider any memorial in favor
of the release of Mrs. Maybrick or COM
mutation Of her sentence, and in his en-
phatic declaration concerning the letter
of the lord chief justice, Sir Matthew
Ridley was but carrying out the express
ed will of the sovereign. This fact will
not be denied, or even qualified, by either
of the two statesmen named. 1t was known
to and admitted by the late Sir Henry
Frederick Ponsonby, her majesty's con-
fdental secretary, who stood closer to her
during the last few years of his life than
even the Princess Beatrice, and it is known
to her present private secretary, Sir Ar
thur John Biggs.
1t can also be stated in this connec-
ton, upon an authority that is tantamouni
to first hand, that the sympathies of both
the prince and princess of Wales are with
Mrs. Maybrick, and that the prince some
time ago made representations in the pris-
oner's behalf to his venerable mother. His
effort, however, was of no avail, except to
bring about strained relations for a while
between the queen and the future king.