The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-14

ready set for the unfortunate widow.
The next morning the English press
commented severely upon the uncalled
for action of the police. When the case
came to trial public indignation was
fully aroused, and a day never passed
during that proceeding without some
expression of this feeling. The case
was a long one, yet each detail was
followed with GREATNESS interest by the
people. of two nations. Sir Charles
Russell presented a masterful defense,
but the court was overwhelmed with
arsenic bottles and the possible di-
vOrce proceeding.
When the summing UP came Judge
Stephens occupied two days, and it is
asserted that he again and again DELHI
erately declared Mrs. Maybrick guilty.
His review of the case was so prejU-
diced and so extreme that 1t called forth
an added denunciatiOn on the part of
the public. 1t was not long after this
that insanity forced his retirement
from the bench and it has since been
fairly proven that ne was insane at the
time of the trial. He laid great stress
upon evidence of a London waiter, who
said he had seen Mrs Maybrick din
ing in company with a man named
Briefly. This was the alleged cause
for the crime. The waiter some years
after filed protest declaring that he
had been employed by the prosecution
to identify Mrs. Maybrick and that
there was no truth in his testimony
since he could not remember ever hav-
ing seen her before she was pointed
out to him in the court room. The
evidence which convicted Mrs. May
brick was entirely circumstantial and
much of il has since been contFadicted.
The jury was out thiTty-siX minutes
and returned with a verdict to convict
The death sentence was read and al
though the indignant spectators
mObbed the court and threatened the
judges life, the prisoner was carried
off to await her death. From the cell,
where she lay in complete exhaustion
she could hear the hammeTing with
which the building of her scaffold was
attended. There is no court of criminal
appeal in England. and the only hope
OF her distracted friends was through
a pardon from the crown. A petition
of 800, 900 names was soon in readiness,
which was presented to Home Secre-
tary Matthews with the request that
he review the case. The petition con-
tanned the names of every member Of
the bar then present at the assizes.
2 q
The request was granted and at its
close Mr.. Matthews announced that the
evidence did not wholly exclude doubt
ministratiOn of arsenic The sentence
was thereupOn committed to life i'm
prisOnment. Since then a sufficient
number OF facts have been obtained and
laid before the various home secretaries
to vindicate Mrs. Maybrick several
times over. The most prominent jurists
of both England and America have ex-
erted their influence to raise the weight
of prejudice and Journalism, but the
department has been lOath to acknOwl-
edge and right the wrong. A year ago
the Duchess Of Bedford through her
prison relief work. became interested
in Mrs. Maybrick, and, convinced of her
innocence, threw the power of her in
f1uence which is broad, into the affair
She also interested her friends in the
case, and through this means Mrs.
Maybrick has received ? -~~st infiuen-
tial backing. moreover Mrs. May
bricks own country has given her cit
izenship tardy recognition, and dur
ing the last year both Secretary Hay
and the president were urgent in press
ing the claim.