The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-24
Mrs. MaybriCk's Long Cap
tivity Soon to End.
The DALE NINETEEN FOUR
The Woman Whose Fate Has Long Held the
Interest Of Two Continents win be r.
leased from Durance Many
Think Unjust,
IN the Agaoeiated Preag.l


London. March 23.Mr Florence
May the American woman who
was convicted at Liverpool in 1889 ON
the charge of poisoning her husband.
James Maybriek, at Aigburts by arsenic,
and whose sentence of death was com
muted to penal servitude for life. win
be released in 1904 The announcement
comes from the Home Secretary who now
uses her Washington lawyers to use the
fact OF her release next year as a reason
for securing the postponement of the
trial of law suits bearing on the prisons
interest in land in Kentucky, Virginia
and West Virginia until she As able to
personally testify.
Those who are in a position to know
say that Home Secretary Akers- Douglas
has shown great courtesy in connection
with the suits now pending in America;
that the decision to release Mrs. May
brick was entirely due to efforts on this
side of the Atlantic and that Ambassa-
dor Herbert has never been called upon
to act in this matter.
Mrs. Maybrick who was Miss Flor
ence Elizabeth Chandler, and a member
Of a well-known and prosperous South
ern family. was married July q, 1881, in
St James church. Pieca1illy, to James
Maybrick, of Liverpool. She was then
18 years of age, yivacious and beautiful
and a social favorite. Her husband was
over forty years old.
In the spring of 1889, Mr.. Maybrick
became i'll and in a few days he died
His brother investigated his death and
charged Mrs. Mayhrick with the muir
der of her husband. A f,ng Trial fol-
lowed and a number of \. s0rs swore
Mr. Maybrick died of arsenic. poison
ing The defenes proved II, for
twenty years Mr. MaYbrick had b, n
confirmed arsenic-eater and that he;
daily took doses that would have killed
dozen ordinary men Mrs Maybrick
eventually was sentenced to death by
the judge, Sir Fitzjames Stephen who
spoke for two days in charging the jury
and who said il was impossible for them
to find her guilty in tho face of the
medical evidence He died some time
later in mad house
From the time of Mrs Maybricll's con-
victon her mother the Baronesse Won
Roques, has been unremitting in her
attempts to obtain the prisoners re-
lease, in which she has been aided by
influential friends on both sides of the
Atlantic In 1900 after the death of
Lord Russell. of Killowen. Chief Justice
of England letter which he had writ
ten to Mrs. Maybrick in 1895, was dis
covered It showed that the eminent
lawyer was convinced that she ought
never to have been convicted and it has
been generally understood that all the
recent American ambassadors to the
Court of St James have done every
thing possible to obtain Mrs. Maybrick's
pardon
The failure of Mrs Maybrick to
testify in the suits pending in the Uni
ted States would cause the loss to here
and her mother of all title and interest
in large tracts of land situated in Ken
lucky, Virginia and West Virginia
Washington, March 23-Mrs May
bricks attorney in this city received
,ableSram from the American Embassy
IN London this afternoon, confirming the
news of her forthcoming release and
adding that she will be liberated in July,
1904.