Freeborn County Standard
Minnesota, U.S.A.
15 August 1889
SHE MUST DIE.
Liverpool, Aug. 8.
Mrs. Maybrick has been found guilty and sentenced to death. Nothing can save her from the gallows now but the intervention of
the Queen, through her Home Secretary. It may be possible that a popular petition may succeed in putting the convicted
American girl behind bars for life, but this as yet is mere speculation. As the case stands at this moment she is condemned
to die on the scaffold. When the accused came into court her pale, haggard appearance was fairly startling. She had to be
helped up the stairs leading to the dock. When she got to the top of the stairs she staggered and trembled, and it was with
much difficulty that she walked to the front of the dock. When she reached the rail she again trembled, clutched the rail and
looked as if she was about to faint. With a deathly pale face she took a seat in the dock and swayed backwards and forwards
in her chair as if about to fall. She was evidently ill and weak. The female attendant kept constant watch upon her.
Judge Stephen, in his charge to the jury, said there ws strong and distressful evidence to show that the prisoner had a
motive for ridding herself of her husband. This could be found in her infidelity, which had rendered it necessary for her to
enter into inextricable mazes of living. He also called particular attention to the phrase "he is sick unto death," contained
in her letter to Brierly. This was terribly important in view of the fact that on the day the letter was written the doctors
fully expected Mr. Maybrick would recover. It showed there was a reason for believing that the prisoner was desirous of being
rid of her husband, in order that she might live with her paramour. The Judge put the question to the jury whether it was
reasonable to believe that a loving wife would yield to her husband's suggestion and put an unknown powder in his food.
At 3:20 o'clock the judge stopped talking and said: "Now, gentlemen, consider your verdict." Breathless silence reigned in
the court as the jurymen filed out. Friends of the accused, who calculated on a verdict of acquittal without the jurors
leaving their seats, began to look anxious as the time crept slowly on. The interest of the crowded courtroom centered on the
prisoner. She looked around anxiously, watching the door of the jury-room. At length the twelve trusty men returned, after
being out an hour and thirty minutes. The judge resumed his place and there was a terrible stillness throughout the court.
The foreman of the jury said: "We have agreed that the accused is guilty." The clerk asked the customary question whether the
woman had any thing to say before sentence of death was passed. The prisoner, pale and haggard, rose, with a respectful bow,
and addressed his lordship in these words: "My lord, evidence has been kept back from the jury which, if it had been known,
would have altered the verdict, I am not guilty of this offense." Saying this she sat down, gasping for breath, and seemed
more dead than alive. The poor woman sat sobbing like a child, while the judge, assuming the black cap, in solemn tones
sentenced her to be hanged by the neck till dead. At this moment there was an awful hush upon the court, and a pin could have
been heard to drop. Some of the women present were in tears. The judge himself was visibly moved.
As Mrs. Maybrick rose to walk from the fatal dock she tottered and almost fell, and kindly the wardens put out their hands to
steady her. But it was her strength and not her courage that had failed her. She shrank from the hands of the wardens as if
the well-meant help was repulsive to her delicate tastes.
After the verdict became known, thousands of people assembled around the entrance to the court-room and waited for the
departure of the judge. As soon as he made his appearance, he was greeted with howls of rage, and the hooting of the crowd
was kept up for a long time. There were incessant cries of "Shame," and an attack upon the judge's carriage was only
prevented by the active interference of the police. The feeling in Liverpool against the verdict is intense. Steps have been
taken to secure a stay of execution on the ground of the discovery of further medical evidence.
London, Aug. 8.
The London papers give a feeble approval of the verdict of guilty against Mrs. Maybrick. The Times holds that enough evidence
has been presented on the side of the accused to make her case one for the earnest consideration of the Home Office.
Mrs. Maybrick is an American woman and has resided in England for some years. Her crime was the poisoning of her husband,
James Maybrick. Mr. Maybrick had been ill for some time and Mrs. Maybrick had been nursing him. As he continued to fail in
health his relatives began to suspect that he was being poisoned by his wife, and one of them, Michael Maybrick, commenced to
watch her. In his testimony he said that he had visited his brother during his illness and had warned Mrs. Maybrick that he
suspected his brother was receiving improper treatment. His wife insisted upon her right to nurse her husband. He thereupon
summoned two doctors and a new nurse. He also seized a bottle containing brandy and extract of meat. At a later visit he
found Mrs. Maybrick changing the contents and labels of medicine bottles. He remonstrated with her and asked her how she dare
to do such a thing. She replied that there was sediment in the bottles. He again caused a change of nurses to be made.
Notwithstanding his precautions, however, his brother grew worse and died in a short time. He was delirious towards the end.
After his death the nurse gave him a parcel labelled: "Arsenic poison for cats." Many other witnesses corroborated Michael
Maybrick's testimony, and some of them said Mrs. Maybrick hated her husband and had threatened to "give it to him hot" for
publicly upbraiding her. It was also shown that she had tampered with his medicine.
