The herald., 1896-04-19


Florence Maybrick's Case
Editor Herald: According to the telc-
graphic adviceS, another futile attempt
has been made to have Florence May
brick released from prison in England,
in which she is undergoing sentence
of penal servitude for life for the cruel
murder of her husband. whose greatest
fault was that he reposed too much con-
fidence in her.
AS one who is intimately acquainted
with all the details Of this dastardly,
cold-blooded. and unnatural murder,
having sat through the whole of the
tedious trial in st. Georges hall, Liver
pool, and taken stenographic note Of
all the proceedings, l can come to no
other conclusion than that the public of
this country ara wofully misinformed as
to the true facts of this wretched wo-
mans case; otherwise we should not
have such constantly recurring dis
plays of mawkish sentiment for one of
the vilest murderers that has existed
since the time of Lucretia Borgia
To go into all the incidents of the trial
would occupy more space than you have
duct of the case of Charles Stuart
at your disposal, but L shall try to con-
dense the leading facts of the case into
the least possible space. In the first
place, her leading counsel was Sir
Charles Russell (now, believe Lord
Chief Justice RusselD, than whom,
though it is saying great deal, no
ADLER jurist lives. His wonderful con-
Parnell VS.. the London Times, for which
he was complimented by the press Of
all nations. amply bears out that state
ment. If, then. there was the slightest
shadow of a doubt in her case, so able
a lawyer and orator could not have
failed to impress the jury with his
views. But. although he succeeded in
MI irc of he
ical experts who were brought before
him as to the action and effect of va
rious poisons, he and his able colleagues
.were not able to disabuse the minds of
the jury of the fact that she had admin
istered arsenic to her husband, for the
simple reason that she, as a kind OF
last hope and contrary to the wishes of
her counsel, admitted that she had done
so.
Anyone wading through the volumin-
Gus testimony in this case, as it is to be
presumed Mr.. Bayard has done, could
not fail to be thoroughly convinced of
this womans guilt. In the first place
the evidence of the family physician
was in itself almost sufficient to con-
denim her. He found his patient suffer-
ing from a complaint which he could not
account for, but believed to be the eff
fects of irritant poisoning, yet in face of
the fact that his patient was attended
devoted of wives. he was rather more
inclined to doubt his own senses and in
stincts than cast a reflection upon her,
but for the sake of thoroughly satisfy
ing himself he suggested that nurse
be provided to wait on the sick man.
This was done and for little while the
patient seemed to mend. but again grew
worse, and his brother, the author of
Nancy Lee, Sailing and several other |
nautical songs. was telegra phed for !
from London. Suspecting foul play, he |
put his wits to work, and several letters |
from Mrs. Maybrick to lover (Byers, |
l believe his name was, but cannot say
tor certain) We're intercepted. These |
letters disclosed the fact that even dur |
ing her husbands illness she was hav- |
ing illicit connection with this lover; |
that she had arranged to elope with and |
be united to him, but that her husband |
stood in the way of the furtherance OF |
her project. She related the various |
stages of her husbands disease. and |
while a devout wish seemed to pervade |,
her letters that he should soon be en- |
joying that rest and peace which she |
would not give him here, she also de- |
sired to take with her two of as beauti- |
full children as God had ever blessed a |
woman with. but above all she wanted |
the money of the unfortunate man she |
was slowly doing to death.
The evidence of the nurse was in itself
conclusive She detected Mrs. May
brick on two or three occasions surrep-
titiously putting something into the
sick mans medicine, until finally 1t was
decided to prevent Mrs. Maybrick from
entering the sick room at all, but this |
precaution evidently came too late. Not |
shadow of doubt was attempted to be |
thrown on the nurses evidence, nor was |
it conIroNerted one little.
At the autopsy it was conclusively /
proved that Mr.. Maybrick had died |
from the administration of arsenic A |
search of the house revealed large guam |
titles Of this poison in Mrs Maybrick's |
private drawers, which she said ]
she had procured as face powder, Lut |
which it was afterwards abundantly !!
proved she had purchased at various |
drug stores under assumed names.
The defense, though ably conducted,
had no tentative ground. 1t was at
tempted to be shown that Mr.. May
brick was in the habit of taking arsenic
to strengthen certain of his organs. and
that at his request Mrs. Maybrick had
administered some to him. This was
very plausibly put to an exceedingly in
telligent jury, both by Mrs. Maybric!S
herself and her eminent counsel, and
several witnesses were called in sup
port of that contention. but unfortu-
nately for the fair and foul Florence.
the jury would not believe in it and
she was sentenced to the death penalty.
/ have no great love for England or
her laws. Her police and inferior courts
l believe to be as corrupt as the devil
can make them: but as for the assizc
or superior courts. if / were to be tried
for my life tomorrow. I would desire
no fairer, more just or honorable trib-
une. ] believe the superior court
judges of Great Britain to be sans peur
ct sans reproche, and l could not fail
to be impressed with the words of th,,
JUDGE who sentenced Florence Man