The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-20
SHE is FREE.
Mrs. Florence Maybrick Has
Been Set at Liberty.
Has Left England on Her Way
to France.
END OF FAMOUS CASE.
Trial and Imprisonment At
tracted Attention of World.
Efforts TO Secure Her Release
Have Been Unremitting.

Florence Maybrick is free. She lef
here at 11:43 a. m, today on her waI
10 France.
Mrs. Maybricks Imprisonment wa:
not terminated with the clang of door
at AyIesbury prison, where she spen
more than IA years of her life L
closed before the doorway of the white
convent of the SisterhoOd of the Epi'
phany in this little town. with the
black robed sisters softly uttering
their blessings and good wishes for hel
future. With two companions, Mrs
Maybrick entered the carriage of Miss
Dalrymple, secretary of the sister
hoods and was driven rapidly to Staus-
stel. a small station IA miles away,
where. after exchanging good byes
with her companions. she boarded a
train and started on her journey to
France. She will not go to America
until her presence there is con-
sidered imperatively necessary. Sc
crecy was thrown about Mrs.
Maybrick's departure. Mother Super
ior Julian, of the convent. said to n
representative of the Associate Press
that under instructions she must refer
all inquiries to the home Office Others
at the convent were equally uncom-
municative. At the railroad station or
ders were issued forbidding the en-
ployes to discuss Mrs. Maybrick-
The little town has taken deep inter
est in this international figure. Crowds
daily stood at the gate of the grounds
= waiting for Mrs. Maybrick to appear.
They were rarely rewarded for she
generally went out only when the road
was reported clear.
When Mrs. AIaybrick first arrived
here she was kept under strict sur
veillance- Subsequently she was allow
ed to walk in the quiet streets of the
town and in the country lanes. The
villagers soon got to recognize the black
rQbed woman with black bonnet and
flowing strings. and gave her kindly
greetings. which frequently passed un-
noticed, Mrs. Maybrick seeking so far
as possible to avoid the attention of
the curious. Her time at the convent
was taken up by sewing. reading and
chatting with the sisters, endearing
herself to them by many acts showing
that even the many years of servitude
at Aylesbury prison. had been unable
to stamp out her innate kindly disposi-
ton
Mrs. Maybrick, who was Miss Flor
ence Eliza beth Chandler. a member of
we'll known and southern family, was
married July q. 1881, in St. James
church, Piccadilly, to James Maybrick.
of Liverpool. She was then is years
old Her husband was over 40 years of
age In the spring of 1889. Mr. May
brick became i'll and in a few days he
died His brother Investigated his
death and charged Mrs. Maybrick with
the murder of her husband. A long
trial followed and a number of doctors
swore that the deceased died of ar
senical poison. The defense proved that
for 20 years Mr.. Maybrick had been
confirmed user of arsenic and that he
daily took doses large enough to have
killed a dozen ordinary men. Mrs. May
brick was eventually sentenced to death
by the judge. Sir Fitzjames Stephen,
who spoke for two days in charging the
jury. He said il was impossible for
them to find her not guilty in the face
of the medical evidence. The judge died
rTr17a la ar n aH
From the time of Mrs. Maybrick's
conviction her mother, the Baroness
de Roques, was unremitting in her
succeeded in having the death SEN
tsnce cOmmuted to penal servitude
for life, and finally has obtained the
freedom of her daughter, to whose re-
lease from prison she has devoted her
life The baroness was aided by in
nuential friends on both sides of the
Atlantic
In 1900, after the death of Lord
Russell of Killowen, chief justice of
England. a letter which he had writ
ten to Mrs Maybrick in 1895 was
discovered. 1t showed he was con-
vinced that she ought never to have
been convicted, and it has been gen
orally understood that all the recent
American ambassadors to the court of
St James have done everything los
sible to obtain Mrs. Maybrick's par
don. The fact of her probable release
was used as reason for securing the
postponement of a trial last year of
lawsuits bearing on Mrs. Maybrfck's
interest in land in Kentucky Virginia
and West Virginia until she was able
personally to testify. If she wax not
able to testify in these suits Mrs. May
brick and her mother would have lost
all title and interest in the MANY
thousands of acres of land involved in
the case
On February last, Home Score
tary Akers-Douglas. replying to a
question in the house of commons.
confirmed the reports which had been
in circulation that Mrs. MaXbrick had
been removed from Aylesbury prison
to a cOnvaleScent home, where she
would remain until summer. when
she would be allowed her freedom
The home secretary said a license had
been granted to Mrs. Maybrick under
the penal servitude acts
The transfer of the prisoner from
q penal prison to a quiet country
home constituted an almost unprece-
dented action on the part of the Brit
ish authorities 1t was due to the
mediation of the Duchess of Bedford
who as a visitor to Aylesburv prison
sonal interest in Mrs. AIaybrick and
finally succeeded in obtaining the
mitigation of her punishment to the
extent of her being allowed to spend
the last six months of her confine- |
ment outside the prison walls.
Chronology of the Famous Case.
1ss1-Married James Maybrick of I.iv-
erpool. England
April %. 1SS9-Maybrick taken ill and
dies. Mrs. Maybrick charged with !
murder, tried. found guilty, and SEN
fenced to death: sentence commuted to /
for life.
August p. 1sss-Secretary Blaine |