The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-07-26
MRS. MAVERICK SET FREE
Liberated After Fourteen Years ot
Penal Servitude.
END OF A REMARKABLE CASE

Sentenced For the Death Of Her Husband
when She Was Twenty-six Years Old
Left Truro, Cornwall. on Her Way
to France Many Efforts to Secure
Her Pardon From High Sources.
Truro. Cornwall Mrs. Florence May
brick is free. she left here on her
way to France
Mrs. Maybrick's Imprisonment Of
more than fourteen years Of her life
closed before the arched doorway Of the
convent Of the Sisterhood of the Epip-
hany in this little town, with the black
ROBBED Sisters softly uttering their
blessings and good wishes for her flu
ture. With two companions Mrs, May
brick entered the carriage of Miss Dali
rymple, secretary Of the Sisterhood.
and was driven rapidly to Staustell,
q small station fourteen miles away,
where, after exchanging good-bys with
her companions, she boarded train
and started on her journey to France.
She will not go to America until her
presence there is considered necessary.
The greatest secrecy was thrown
about her departure. Mother Super
ior Julian of the convent said to rep
resentative of the Associated Press
that under her instructions she must
refer all inquirers to the Home Office.
Others at the convent were equally I'M
communicative.
At the railroad station orders were
issued forbidding the employees to dis
cuss Mrs. Maybrick. or even to admit
that she was at the convent.
When Mrs. Maybrick first arrived
here she was kept under strict sur
VIGILANCE, never leaving the convent
walls.
Mrs. Maybrick, who was Miss Flor
ence Elizabeth Chandler, a member of
a welI-known and prosperous South
ern family, was married July 81, 1881,
in st. James Church, Piccadilly, to
James Maybrick, of Liverpool. She
was then eighteen years cid. Her bus
band was mere than forty years of
age.
In the spring of 1889 Mr.. Maybrick
became i'll, and in few days he died.
Els brothers investigated his death,
and charged Mrs. Maybrick with the
murder of her husband. A long trial
followed, and number of doctors
swore that the deceased died of arsen-
ical poisoning. The defense proved that
for twenty years Mr.. Maybrick had
been confirmed user of arsenic, and
that he daily took doses large enough
to have killed dozen ordinary men.
Mrs. Maybrick was eventually sen
fenced to death by the judge, Sir Fitz-
james Stephen, who spoke for two
days in charging the jury. He said
it was impossible for them not to find
her guilty in the face of the medi-
cal evidence. The judge died some
time later in madhouse.
From the time of Mrs. Maybrick's
conviction, her mother, the Baroness de
Roques, was unremitting in her efforts
in behalf of the prisoner. She succeed
ed in having the death sentence COM
muted to penal servitude for life, and
finally has obtained the freedom of her
daughter, to whose release from pris
on she had devoted her life. The
Baroness was aided by influential
friends on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1900 after the death of Lord Rus
sell of Killowen, Chief Justice Of Eng
land, letter, which he had written
to Mrs. Maybrick was discovered. 1t
showed that he was convinced that she
ought never to have been convicted,
and it has been generally understood
that all the recent American ambassa.
doris to the Court of St. James have
done everything possible to obtain Mrs.
Maybrick's pardon.
The fact Of her probable release was
used as the reason for securing the
postponement of a trial last year of
lawsuits bearing on Mrs. Maybrick's
interest in land in Kentucky, Virginia
and West Virginia until she was able
personally to testify. If she was not
able to testify in these suits Mrs. May
brick and her mother would have lost
all title and interest in many thou
sands Of acres Of land involved in the
case.