1939-11-28 — Page 15

THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 28, 1939.

TO-DAY'S ` STRANGE STORY OF REAL ́PEOPLE

THE MAYBRICK CASE

By VINCENT TOWNE

1

ONE man's poison is another man's meat. There is a so-called poison which is meat and liquor to me when- ever I feel wenk and depressed. I don't tell everybody and wouldn't tell you, only you mentioned arsenic. It is arsenic."

Had this confession of an arsenic- eater been related at the proper time, fate would have dealt differently with an American woman who was the chief actor in one of the most pitiful tragedies of modern times.

Mary Elizabeth Chandler was the daughter of a prosperous banker of Mobile, Alabama. Her father died when she was a year old, and after her mother's marriage to the Baron von Roques she divided her time be- tween Europe and America.

of

The Law Forbade Her Knowing When She

Would be Hanged

At the age of 18, when a wholesome, vivacious girl, fond of outdoor sports, she married James Maybrick of Liv- erpool. During the second year their marriage a son was born to them and, years later, a daughter.

Maybrick was 27 years older than his wife. For eight years, their mar- ried life was happy and contented. Then, of a sudden, they quarreled, Maybrick losing his temper so far as to blacken his wife's eye and attempt to turn her into the streets. The dis- covery of mutual intrigues is said to have been the cause of this infelicity. The young wife initiated divorce pro-ly for use as a face bleach. ceedings, but for the sake of the chil- dren became apparently reconciled to her husband.

dence that during the year prior to Maybrick's death his wife appealed to him to influence her husband against the habitual use of certain tonics and white powders which she believed to be doing him' harm.

But a circumstance brought out by the the prosecution weighed against defendant. This was the fact that she had bought flypaper containing arsenic which she had soaked out, confessed-

Yet, it, as charged, she had pre- viously purchased the 70 grains al- ready on hand in the house why should she have openly manufactur- ́ed more arsenic by soaking flypaper? Moreover, Mrs. Maybrick's innocence was indicated by the fact that she had been the first to give the alarm of her husband's illness, to send for his doc- tors, brothers and friends and to sug- gest that some drug was at the bot- tom of his illness. Before the physi- cian's arrival she had administered to him a mustard emetic, which she would not have done had she desired the poison to take effect.

A few weeks later, in the Spring of 1889, Maybrick was taken ill, and after several days he died. The fam- ily physician had treated him for dy- spepsia, although it was constantly suggested to them by the patient's -brother, Michael Maybrick, that poison was the cause of his illness. The dis- covery of more than 70 grains of ar- senic in the house after the death led to an autopsy, which, however, Te- vealed no arsenic in the stomach of any weighable traces of the poison in any other part of the body, But as a result of insistence by the Maybricking judge, for two days delivered to family, the body was exhumed three weeks later and about one-tenth of a

Sir Fitzjames Stephen, the presid-

the jury a charge which in the be- ginning favoured the prisoner but grain of arsenic was found in the vis-which toward the end showed bias cera. Although the smallest fatal against her, and as a result the jury dose of the drug on record is known brought in a verdict of guilty, to be two grains the widow of the being out only 38 minutes. Shortly dead man was arrested and imprison-afterward the judge wrote that out of

ed.

after

979 suits tried before him that of Mrs.

Her trial was a long one, and the Maybrick "was the only case in which family physicians swore that but for

there could be any doubt about the the discovery of arsenic on the pre-

facts." After the trial her case threw mises they would have given a certi-him into a morbid state of brooding, ficate of death from natural causes. which developed into madness from The defendant's counsel proved that for 20 years Maybrick had been a confirmed arsenic-eater and that he daily took doses that would have kill- ed a dozen ordinary men.

which he never recovered. The Liv- erpool Post previously hostile to Mrs. Maybrick, now recalled the famous trial in these words: "In fancy one still hears the distant fanfare of the trumpets as the judges with quaint pageantry pass down the hall and still the mind's eye sees the crimson-clad figure of the great mad judge as he sat down to try his last case. A tra-

played upon

A Liverpool druggist testified that the dead man had lately been in the habit of calling several times a day at his shop to get doses of a tonic con- taining a large proportion of arsenic. | One of the family doctors gave evi-gedy indeed was

Bruises and Bumps

bench no less than in the dock."

the

Justice Stephen sentenced . Mrs. Maybrick to be hanged. After she had languished in the shadow of the scaffold for several weeks (the En- glish law forbidding her to konw when the execution was to come), she was at last warned to prepare for death. But almost at the last moment her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

After she had been imprisoned for 11 years, it was discovered that Lord Russell, Chief Justice of England, had before his death written to her a let- ter in which he said:

say,

cuts, scratches, abrasions, burns, "I feel as strongly as I have felt scalds and other skin injuries are best from the first that you should never treated with She-ko, the Dr. Williams have been convicted, and this opinion Medicine Company's' antiseptic, sooth- ing, curative ointment. Equally good I have very clearly expressed to Mr. for eczema, ringworm, sores, chapped Asquith, but, I am

sorry to lips and hands, and the relief of piles, hitherto without effect. Obtainable at chemists everywhere By persistent diplomatic overtured, the United States Government plead- ed for Mrs. Maybrick's pardon, but not until she had suffered in prison for 15 years was she finally released on ticket of leave."

SHE-KO

Quickly Heals Skin Injuries.

The confession quoted at the head of this article was made by Maybrick to Valentine Blake, son of a British knight and member of Parliament, but did not come to light until after Mrs. Maybrick's trial.

10-14

(Ratosent by The Búi Bradiests, I96)

If it weren't for the little things in ilfe half the fun of living would be blotted out.

A NEW OCCUPATION

AT HOME

The exodus to the country, coupled with the rationing of petrol, has given rise to a new occupation on the part of women who have stayed in town, These began by doing various errands for friends marooned away from shops, and some of them have subsequently developed country shop- ping into a useful occupation. In some of the villages the shops have been totally unable to supply the needs of mothers and children who had no time to see to their winter wardrobes before they left the big towns. The nearest town is often small and in any case it also has

needs difficulty in supplying the

of such a large extra population, writes the "Manchester Guardian."

The woman shopper collects lists of the things needed by. James, John, Susan, Emmie, and sets forth with several versions of them on her list, to buy where and how she can. She has to keep down expenses on a ris- ing market and so she is not content to buy everything for one child or mother in one morning, but flits here

the and there, plcking up

right thing where she can.

Rubbers may be found best in a basement floor. Ribbed stockings of a certain colour may not be found for several mornings, though other things can, such as rubber capes or hoods, all so necessary in the country and so difficult to get once one cannot get away from it.

There may be knitted dresses to buy for Jane, sweaters, cardigans to suit Tommy, knickerbockers to match Leonard's coat, warm gloves which have been forgotten in the hurry or out of which people have grown.

un-

The woman shopper starts with a certain knowledge of the children whom she is clothing, but gradually she develops skill even for the known child, to say nothing of learn- ing pretty well exactly where to or, by telephoning in advance, saving herself unnecessary journeys.

OUTDOOR GIFTS

for

YOUNGSTERS

Sleds

Skates

Cycles

Wagons

Scooters

Automobiles

· Buddie Bikes

Baby Walkers

etc.

See the complete

selections in our

FURNITURE

DEPARTMENT

THE WING ON CO., LTD.

go

Page 15Page 16