The Trial of Florence Maybrick
August 1st, 1889
Witness: Dr. Charles Fuller
Dr. Fuller: examined my Mr. Addison. I am a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, practising at Alwyn Street, near Wellington Mansions, Regent’s Park. In April last I was in medical attendance on Mr. Maybrick. In consequence of a letter from Mr. Michael Maybrick, I went to his chambers, Wellington Mansions, Regent’s Park, on Sunday, 14th April, for the purpose of examining his brother, James Maybrick. I saw Mr. James Maybrick, and made an examination of him, and heard what he had to say. He complained of pains in his head and of numbness, and said he was apprehensive of being paralysed.
Mr. Addison: What made him think that?
Dr. Fuller: He had lost some sensation, and felt numb. The examination lasted over an hour. I found there was nothing the matter with him. I told him there was very little the matter with him, but that he was suffering from indigestion, and that I was perfectly certain there was no fear of paralysis. The symptoms were those which might be attributed to indigestion. When I told him this he seemed more cheerful. I did prescribe for him. Those two prescriptions (produced) are the ones I prescribed on the 14th for him. The one is an aperient and the other a tonic, with liver pills. On the following Saturday, the 20th, deceased came to my house and told me that he felt much better. I examined him again, and found him better. The dyspeptic symptoms of which he complained had partially disappeared. I thereupon slightly altered the prescription and wrote another (produced). In it compound sulphur lozenges were substituted for pills, and a little sweet spirits of nitre added. The third prescription I would describe as a tonic—a stomach and nerve tonic. None of the three prescriptions contained arsenic in any shape or form. Deceased told me he had been taking a pill which he said I had prescribed for his brother. This, however, was not the case. I had not prescribed it. That pill contained powdered rhubarb, extract of aloes, and extract of camomile flowers, and was a mild aperient. He told me of nothing else he had been taking. He never suggested to me that he had been taking arsenic during any part of his life. I knew nothing about it at that time. It was ever suggested to me by him. I asked him if he had been taking any medicine, and he said that the pill was the only thing he ad been taking. I have had thirty years’ experience as a practitioner. I know the symptoms which accompany the taking of arsenic.
Take away from your mind all question of arsenical poisoning.
Mr. Addison: How is arsenic generally taken?
Dr. Fuller: It is taken, as a rule, in a fluid form, in Fowler’s solution, is made from arsenious acid dissolved in a solution of potash. The dose varies from one to eight minims. I saw no indication in Mr. Maybrick of his having been a person who had been in the habit of taking arsenic.
Mr. Fuller: Are there symptoms which accompany the habitual use of arsenic?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, but they were not present in this case. Arsenic is given in cases of intermittent fever; but Mr. Maybrick did not complain of that. I had no reason to suppose he was taking arsenic.
Sir Charles Russell: Your attention was not directed to the matter at all?
Dr. Fuller: No.
Sir Charles Russell: You did not examine him for any symptoms of the use of arsenic?
Dr. Fuller: No.
Sir Charles Russell: I believe he complained of pain in his head and numbness of his right leg; he was apprehensive of paralysis on that side?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, I believe he was.
Sir Charles Russell: Did he also complain of derangement of the digestion?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did he tell you these symptoms were symptoms of old standing?
Dr. Fuller: No, he did not.
Sir Charles Russell: Did he tell you he had had the numbness before?
Dr. Fuller: I cannot recollect.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know now that they were of old standing—that he had complained of them as far back as 1882?
Dr. Fuller: I have not that knowledge.
Sir Charles Russell: You examined him, and found him free from organic disease?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, I did.
Sir Charles Russell: He told you he had been taking some pills you had prescribed for his brother, and you understood him to say that was the only medicine he had been recently taking?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Was he a man who seemed inclined to exaggerate his symptoms?
Dr. Fuller: I thought so. He seemed a nervous man.
Sir Charles Russell: As regards the pills, they are described as Plummer’s pills?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Plummer’s pills contain from a grain to a grain and a quarter in each pill?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, of the sulphuret of antimony.
Sir Charles Russell: I don’t think that you on the second occasion gave any fresh directions about Plummer’s pills; you simply told him to continue?
Dr. Fuller: I told him to omit the pills, and take lozenges as a substitute.
Sir Charles Russell: I was struck by one observation you made in answer to a question my friend put to you as to whether any suggestion was made about his taking arsenic, your answer being, as I took it down, "No, it was not suggested to me by him then"?
Dr. Fuller: It was never suggested to me.
Sir Charles Russell: Then you do not mean to qualify your answer?
Dr. Fuller: No; if I have suggested that subsequently a suggestion of the kind was made, I do not wish to do so.
Sir Charles Russell: You mean to say, then, that it has never been suggested to you?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I understand you. You mean that it was never suggested to you by any one?
Dr. Fuller: Never suggested by any one.
Sir Charles Russell: No opinion has been asked of you with reference to the supposition of his having at any time taken arsenic habitually?
Dr. Fuller: No; I have never been asked about it.
Sir Charles Russell: In reference to the use of arsenic, I think when conveyed medicinally it is frequently conveyed in Fowler’s solution?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, frequently; but I ought to say there is another solution of arsenic made with hydrochloric acid.
Sir Charles Russell: Fowler’s solution is the more common one?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I wish to make it quite clear; it contains arsenic which has been made completely dissoluble—it has completely dissolved?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: May I presume generally that it is made from crude or arsenious acid?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: It is arsenious acid in a state of solution?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: It dissolves in water?
Dr. Fuller: Yes; but not so easily.
Sir Charles Russell: Have you ever known a case at all in your experience of a person in the habit of taking arsenic not prescribed in doctor’s doses—any case in your own experience?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, several cases.
Sir Charles Russell: Under prescriptions?
Dr. Fuller: No: they had a prescription first, and subsequently got it from the chemist on their own account.
Sir Charles Russell: In small doses?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Any experience of your own kind?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, one.
Sir Charles Russell: When was that?
Dr. Fuller: About six years ago.
Sir Charles Russell: Had you prescribed it?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, originally.
Sir Charles Russell: And after your prescription it had been continued without, as I understand, your authority?
Dr. Fuller: It had.
Sir Charles Russell: And what was the result?
Dr. Fuller: He got a swelling about the eyelids and a redness of the eyes, together with a tenderness over the stomach.
Sir Charles Russell: Would those be the symptoms which you would say would be produced by an undue use of arsenic—redness of the eyelids, intolerance of light?
Dr. Fuller: No, I do not think there would be an intolerance to light.
Sir Charles Russell: But there would be a swelling about the eyelids, redness of the eyes, and a tenderness over the stomach, especially in pressure?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: As far as there are any distinctive indications, would you say those are the most prominent?
Dr. Fuller: I do.
Sir Charles Russell: But you have found them associated with other cases, cases of undue use of arsenic?
Dr. Fuller: I have.
Sir Charles Russell: Is it not correct to say that it is impossible to mention one symptom and say that it is distinctly from an over-use of arsenic and from nothing else?
Dr. Fuller: I should say so, any one of them.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you in the case of the patient come to the conclusion that he or she—I don’t know whether it was a lady or a gentleman?
Dr. Fuller: It was a gentleman.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you come to the conclusion that he had foolishly prescribed for himself and taken what were excessive doses?
Dr. Fuller: They were not excessive doses according to the Pharmacopœia, but they were excessive doses for him.
Sir Charles Russell: That is to say, the effect of doses varies according to the idiosyncrasy of the particular person?
Dr. Fuller: It does vary in that way.
Sir Charles Russell: And regarding the particular state of health and the course of life of the individual?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And the kind of treatment he was undergoing in other respects?
Dr. Fuller: All those things would interfere very much with the action of arsenic.
Sir Charles Russell: Have you had a case where you had to consider whether the effect of antimony upon a person who was taking arsenic had accentuated the action of arsenic?
Dr. Fuller: Personally I have not.
Sir Charles Russell: Can you tell me this—whether if a person has been in the habit of taking arsenic the desire for it grows strong; in other words, whether the passion for it increases?
Dr. Fuller: No, it is not like opium.
Justice Stephen: Your words are, "Nothing like opium." Do I understand you that you know it is not like opium?
Dr. Fuller: Yes, my lord.
Sir Charles Russell: Just see, Dr. Fuller, if you realise what his lordship is putting to you?
Dr. Fuller: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I was asking you about your own experience, and I understood you to say not. Do you undertake to say that arsenical dosing does not grow upon a person?
Dr. Fuller: I am unable to say one way or the other from my own experience.
Justice Stephen: Do you, as the result of your general knowledge on the subject, believe that the habit does grow or that it does not grow?
Dr. Fuller: That it does not grow.
Sir Charles Russell: I must press you upon this. Did the leaving it off in the case of the person to whom you refer cause any depression?
Dr. Fuller: Although that case is six years ago, I called upon the gentleman to inquire whether he felt any difference whatever, and he said he did not.
Sir Charles Russell: How long did he take it?
Dr. Fuller: I cannot tell you exactly, but for some months.
Sir Charles Russell: Very well, then, I mush tress you upon this. Do you remember the well-known case, which attracted a great deal of attention among medical men, of the Styrian peasants?
Dr. Fuller: I do.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you agree that much depression occurs on the withdrawal of the drug from those who take it?
Dr. Fuller: Only with those who take it in very large doses.
Sir Charles Russell: But those are doses which begin by very small doses?
Dr. Fuller: The case to which I refer was very small doses indeed—only about three drops—and therefore there would not be much depression. I account for the absence of depression by the smallness of the doses.
Mr. Addison (reexamining the witness): My friend has implied that there is some pleasure in taking arsenic or a passion for it. Have you ever heard of such a thing in your experience?
Dr. Fuller: No. I never have.
Mr. Addison: My friend speaks of an arsenic habit. Do you recognise any such?
Dr. Fuller: No; I really have had no experience.
Mr. Addison: Well, but as far as your experience of and treatment of patients go, does the taking of arsenic, as opium, produce pleasure?
Dr. Fuller: I never heard of such a thing.
Mr. Addison: Did you ever hear of it being taken except by some one how thought it would do him good?
Dr. Fuller: No. I never did.
Mr. Addison: When you speak of people who have taken arsenic having redness in the eyes and eyelids, have they taken it for medicinal purposes?
Dr. Fuller: It may be so.
Mr. Addison: What do they generally take it for?
Dr. Fuller: Generally for skin eruptions.
Mr. Addison: Anything else?
Dr. Fuller: Sometimes as a tonic.
Mr. Addison: I think the word my friend suggested, something about an aphrodisiacal tendency, it being taken by him for sexual purposes. Did you ever hear that?
Dr. Fuller: I have never heard of it.
Mr. Addison: To create a desire?
Dr. Fuller: I have never heard of arsenic being taken for such purposes.
Mr. Addison: Did Mr. Maybrick, in any shape or form, when speaking of his nervousness, ever suggest anything of the kind?
Dr. Fuller: He did not.
Mr. Addison: Did you ever hear it spoken of in connection with him until this moment?
Dr. Fuller: No.
Mr. Addison: Were you not here yesterday?
Dr. Fuller: No.
Mr. Addison: What was the cause of the numbness of which he complained?
Dr. Fuller: Functional disturbance of the nerves, I suppose.
Mr. Addison: Will any disturbance of the nerves produce numbness?
Dr. Fuller: Certain disturbances will.
Mr. Addison: Such as disturbances produced by dyspeptic derangements generally?
Dr. Fuller: It is almost impossible to say what is the cause of constant disturbances in the nerves.
Mr. Addison: How do those who take arsenic for their skins or as a tonic usually take it?
Dr. Fuller: It is usually taken by Fowler’s solution.
Mr. Addison: Did you ever hear of it being mixed with food or drink or medicine ordered by doctors?
Dr. Fuller: Never.
Mr. Addison: As a cosmetic, how is it taken?
Dr. Fuller: It is taken in water, the same as for other purposes.
Mr. Addison: My friend has examined you about Styrian peasants. They say that by gradually increasing the dose, these people get to take large doses, beyond even poisoning doses?
Dr. Fuller: So I have read.
Mr. Addison: Styrian peasants can take more than those who are unaccustomed to it?
Dr. Fuller: So it is said.
Mr. Addison: What do they take it for?
Dr. Fuller: I don’t know.
Mr. Addison: Is there any such habit in England?
Dr. Fuller: I never heard of such a thing.
Mr. Addison: How many Plummer’s pills did he take?
Dr. Fuller: I saw him first on the 14th and again on the 20th. He had taken one every night.
Mr. Addison: You don’t know how many he had taken before the 14th?
Dr. Fuller: He had taken none. I prescribed them for him.
Witness: Mr. Christopher Robinson
Mr. Robinson: I am an assistant to Messrs. Clay & Abraham, chemists, Liverpool. I recollect the late Mr. Maybrick bringing a prescription to the shop on the 16th April and this was compounded in the ordinary way, and handed to Mr. Maybrick. I identify the two bottles (produced). They were given to Mr. Maybrick on the 24th April. Before they were handed to Mr. Maybrick they were carefully tested in the usual way. There was no arsenic in the medicine; and if Fowler’s solution had been present I should have detected it by the smell.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you see a mark o the tip of the prescription, "Bell & Co."? They are well-known chemists in London. Now was that on the prescription when it was handed to you on the 16th?
Mr. Robinson: It may or may not have been. I cannot say.
Witness: Mr. Fredrick Early Tozer.
Mr. Tozer: I am a chemist in the employ of Messrs. Clay & Abraham, Castle Street. I recollect prescriptions being brought to my firm by the late Mr. Maybrick to be made up. "C" prescription, I believe, I dispensed; and also "D", though the mixture only. Of the "E" prescription I dispensed two articles. I compounded them according to the prescription. There was no arsenic in the ingredients.
Sir Charles Russell (cross-examining): When you get a prescription to make up in certain proportions, you have to measure, or weigh, the quantities?
Mr. Tozer: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Yes, if it is an article in the Pharmacopœia; but pills, I suppose, are already made up?
Mr. Tozer: No, I have to make them.
Sir Charles Russell: You don’t keep them ready made?
Mr. Tozer: We keep one or two ready made in the rolled mass.
Sir Charles Russell: That is what I mean. You have the material ready made for some, and then you simply put them in the form of pills?
Mr. Tozer: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You don’t compound them for the purpose of each particular prescription?
Mr. Tozer: Some I do.
(Re-examination): Part of one of the prescriptions was already made.
Witness: Alice Yapp (Nurse)
Nurse Yapp: I was a nurse in the family of the Maybricks, and when Mr. Maybrick died I had been with them one year and eight months. During that time there had been nothing the matter with my master. There was an inner room near the bedroom in which Mr. Maybrick slept sometimes, but I am not certain. I remember the day of the Grand National, the 29th April, and before that I was aware that my mistress had gone to London. Before going she said she was visiting London to see her mother, and I promised to write to her. On the day of the Grand National Mrs. Maybrick came home at ten minutes to seven, and my master returned a few minutes after. Mrs. Maybrick entered the nursery and so did Mr. Maybrick; but neither spoke.
Mr. Maybrick carried the youngest child down to the nursery. I heard Mr. Maybrick say to Mrs. Maybrick, "This scandal will be all over the town to-morrow." They then went down into the hall, and I heard Mr. Maybrick say, "Florie, I never thought you could come to this." That was all I heard. They then went into the vestibule, and I heard Mr. Maybrick say, "If you once cross this threshold you shall never enter these doors again." I did not know that a cab had been ordered at that time. I went down to Mrs. Maybrick, and asked her to come to her bedroom. She did not answer, and I put my arm around her waist, and took her upstairs. I made the bed for her that night, and she slept in the dressing-room. The next day, on the Saturday, Mrs. Maybrick went out, and Dr. Hopper came in the afternoon.
About a fortnight or three weeks after the Grand National the housemaid, Brierley, told me something in the nursery which caused me to go into Mrs. Maybrick’s bedroom. I went there, and I saw the wash-basin covered with a towel, which I took off. There was another town on a plate. I lifted the plate and say a basin containing some fly-papers. I cannot say how many. I knew that they were fly-papers, because I saw "fly-papers" written upon them. There was also a small quantity of liquid in the basin. I put the things back as I found them.
Mr. Addison: What did the household consist of besides Mr. and Mrs. Maybrick?
Nurse Yapp: I was nurse, Brierley was housemaid, Humphreys was the cook, and the waitress, Cadwallader.
Mr. Addison: Did you ever up to that time see any fly-papers in the house at all for killing flies, or anything of that kind?
Nurse Yapp: No. So far as I know there were not any flies giving trouble. I do not know what became of the fly-papers, and I never say any again. About ten o’clock in the morning of the Wirral races, 27th April, Mrs. Maybrick spoke to me after the master had left to go to his office. She said that Mr. Maybrick had taken an overdose of medicine. I asked what kind of medicine, and she said, "Some ordered him by a doctor in London. He was very sick and in great pain." That was all that passed. When I went to bed that night my master had not returned. On the next day, Sunday, 28th April, I heard the bedroom bell ring. It was not my duty to answer the bell. As I was coming downstairs I saw Mrs. Maybrick on the landing. She came to the night nursery door, and asked if I would stay with the master. I went into the bedroom and I found that he was lying on the bed with his dressing gown on. My mistress came to the bedroom a few minutes afterwards with a cup in her hand and said to her husband, "Do take this mustard and water; it will remove the brandy and make you sick again if nothing else." I did not see much of him on the Monday and two following days. I was attending to the children at the top of the house. I only know generally from what I heard from the other servants. In the evening of Friday, 3rd May, Mrs. Maybrick brought the children up to see him, and I followed them in to the room. I heard him say that he had been sick again. Later on Mrs. Maybrick told me that he had been sick again.
Justice Stephen: Did she say "sick" or "ill"?
Nurse Yapp: I am not sure which one.
I said that it was very strange that he was sick so long, and that she had better get another doctor. She said that Dr. Humphreys said it was only his liver that was out of order, and then she added, "But all doctors are fools. They say that because it covers a multitude of sins." On Monday, 6th May, Mrs. Maybrick went out shopping. After she had gone, I went into the bedroom, as I heard the master moaning. He seemed flushed and hot, and was moving from one side of the pillow to the other. He asked me if I would rub his hands as he complained of numbness. I did this, and I stayed with him, I should think, for ten minutes. When I went out he said he thought he could go to sleep. I did not see my mistress until the afternoon, when I spoke to her and said that I had seen Mr. Maybrick. I added that I thought she should call for another doctor. I wanted to send for Dr. Hopper, but Mrs. Maybrick said that if he came Mr. Maybrick would not take anything he prescribed. I replied that I did not think but that he would see him if he came.
Mr. Addison: Where were the medicines kept at that time?
Nurse Yapp: Some on the table in the bedroom and some in Mr. Maybrick’s room. On Tuesday, 7th May, there was a table with medicine bottles near the bedroom door. I saw Mrs. Maybrick on the landing near the bedroom door.
Mr. Addison: What was she doing?
Nurse Yapp: She was apparently pouring something out of one bottle into another.
Mr. Addison: What sort of bottles were they?
Nurse Yapp: Medicine bottles. On Wednesday, 8th May, I asked Mrs. Maybrick how the master was, and she said "About the same." I was then near the bedroom. I heard Mr. Maybrick ask Mrs. Maybrick to rub his hands. She said, "You are always wanting your hands rubbed; it does you no good." About three o’clock that afternoon I was in the roadway near the house. Mrs. Maybrick came to the garden gate and gave me a letter to send by the 3.45 post. I opened the letter and read part of it; in the consequence of what I read I did not post it. I gave it to Mr. Edwin Maybrick. Mr. Michael Maybrick and Mr. Edwin Maybrick were in the house that night, and I spoke to both of them. On the next morning, 9th May, I saw Mrs. Maybrick in the night nursery. She said to me, "Do you know I am blamed for this?" I said, "For what?" She answered, "For Mr. Maybrick’s illness." From what Mr. Michael Maybrick told me, Bessie Brierley in the night nursery we found a chocolate box and packet. They were in a tray inside a trunk belonging to Mrs. Maybrick. I opened the chocolate box in the presence of Nurse Wilson. I noticed the label, "Arsenic—poison for cats." I took the chocolate box and parcel as they were found to Mr. Michael Maybrick, and I saw him take the lid off the box. I observed a piece of handkerchief in the box with two bottles underneath.
Mr. Addison: This is still Mrs. Maybrick’s trunk?
Nurse Yapp: Yes. It was Mrs. Maybrick’s handkerchief.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you remember Mrs. Maybrick coming to you and saying that she had been blamed for his illness?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you say, "Why"?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: What did she say?
Nurse Yapp: She said it was for not sending for another doctor and nurse.
Sir Charles Russell: I want to go back a little and understand the position of things. You heard the quarrel after the day of the Grand National?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: There had been up to that time no quarrel of any serious nature?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: And non after the reconciliation?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: They appeared to be reconciled?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Were you aware that Dr. Hopper had, in the matter of bringing about the reconciliation, acted as Mrs. Maybrick’s friend?
Nurse Yapp: Yes, sir.
Sir Charles Russell: On that night you know that Mrs. Maybrick had ordered a cab?
Nurse Yapp: I heard afterwards.
Sir Charles Russell: You knew the cab was there waiting, and she was apparently going away?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: She came down into the hall dressed, apparently for that purpose?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And I think you made some appeal to her yourself, and made some reference to the children?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You appealed to her to come and see the baby?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did she yield?
Nurse Yapp: When I put my arm round her waist she came with me.
Sir Charles Russell: About this question of the fly-papers. Have you ever acted as lady’s maid?
Nurse Yapp: No; only as nurse.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it in the morning that the girl Bessie Brierley told you as to having seen these fly-papers?
Nurse Yapp: No; it was soon after dinner.
Sir Charles Russell: But did she tell you that she had seen them in the morning when she was doing up the room?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And you, out of curiosity, went into the room after the dinner was over?
Nurse Yapp: It was about two hours after when I went into the room.
Sir Charles Russell: Out of curiosity?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You had no business in the room?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: And having been told by Bessie Brierley that she had seen them in the morning, you found them still there as she had described them?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Where were they?
Nurse Yapp: On the washstand.
Sir Charles Russell: In the principle bedroom?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: That is to say, in the bedroom which is directly approached from the landing?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Whereabouts was this washstand placed?
Nurse Yapp: By the door leading to the inner room.
Sir Charles Russell: And in a position in which you could see it on entering the door of the bedroom?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: These were reported to you by Bessie Brierley as having been there early in the morning, and you have no reason to suppose that they did not continue there the whole of the day till you saw them?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: That would be about three o’clock?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You did not think it right to ask your mistress anything about them?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: You were asked about Mr. Maybrick’s health. Do you know that he had been attended to by Dr. Hopper almost constantly, or that he had gone twice to London to consult another doctor?
Nurse Yapp: No, I did not know that.
Sir Charles Russell: But you said before the coroner, at the inquest, that although you did not hear him complain, he had not looked well for some time. When you say he was in good health, you mean he did not make any complaint which came to your ears?
Nurse Yapp: I mean not before the Grand National.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, you were examined at the coroner’s inquest. Do you remember giving an answer to this question, "Do you really mean to say that up to the 27th of April he seemed to everybody to be in perfect health?" You answered, did you not, "No, he did not look well for some time, but I did not hear him complain." Now, it is true that he did not look well for some time?
Nurse Yapp: Yes, he did not look well after the Grand National.
Sir Charles Russell: The fact is that, whatever time you refer to, he did not kook well for some time?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know that he had been ordered to Harrogate for his health in the previous year?
Nurse Yapp: I remember him going there; but I do not know what it was for.
Sir Charles Russell: Now I come to the 27th of April, when he went to the Wirral races, at the other side of the river. Did you hear that he had been riding there on a wet day?
Nurse Yapp: Yes, I have heard so.
Sir Charles Russell: And he dined on the other side of the water with some friends. He did not dine at home, at all events?
Nurse Yapp: No, he did not.
Sir Charles Russell: What time did he come home?
Nurse Yapp: I cannot recollect.
Sir Charles Russell: You did speak to your master on one or two occasions when you went to his room?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you ever see him about this medicine which was said disagreed with him?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: I wish to call your attention to the fact that, from the 25th April, Mr. Edwin Maybrick was in the house?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: He slept there from the 25th April to the 11th May, when your master died?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Therefore he saw your master every day?
Nurse Yapp: I should think so.
Mr. Addison: I object to this. She does not profess to know anything about it; she says she should think so.
Justice Stephen: She does not definitely affirm he did see him.
Sir Charles Russell: At all events, he had the opportunity of seeing him?
Nurse Yapp: Oh, yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you recollect, on Sunday, the 28th, hearing your mistress’s bell violently rung, but it was not your business to attend to it?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Don’t you know that as soon as possible after that time—as soon as possible after the bell had rung—Dr. Humphreys had come and was in attendance on your master?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You have referred to the drinking of mustard and water—that was on the Sunday?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you know whether that was made by Humphreys, the cook?
Nurse Yapp: I don't know.
Sir Charles Russell: I think you heard Mrs. Maybrick say to her husband that he should take it, and that it would make him sick?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: That it would relieve his stomach?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I think you said that she went down for the mustard, and that she asked you to go and see Mr. Maybrick while she was getting it ready?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you say that you saw your mistress on Tuesday, the 7th May—is that the right date? —apparently pouring or putting medicine from one bottle into another?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I wish you to follow this again. Was that on the landing on the first floor?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Opposite the bedroom?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And is that the landing which all the servants—all the persons in the house, in fact—who desire to go up and downstairs must pass?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: For instance, if you wanted to go up to the nursery?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: At that time you did not attribute any importance to the incident, I presume?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, with regard to this letter, you had heard the name of your mistress couples with the name of Brierley before you got the letter?
Nurse Yapp: Never.
Sir Charles Russell: Why did you open the letter?
Nurse Yapp: Because Mrs. Maybrick wished that it should go by that post.
Sir Charles Russell: Why did you open that letter?
No reply.
Justice Stephen: Did anything happen to the letter?
Nurse Yapp: Yes, it fell in the dirt.
Sir Charles Russell: Why did you open the letter?
Justice Stephen: She has just said so now.
Sir Charles Russell: Well, I did not catch it. Anyhow, I want to have it out again.
Why did you open that letter?
Nurse Yapp: I opened the letter to put it in a clean envelope.
Sir Charles Russell: Why didn’t you put it in a clean envelope without opening it?
No reply.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it a wet day?
Nurse Yapp: It was showery.
Sir Charles Russell: Are you sure of that?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Will you undertake to say that? I ask you to consider. Was it a wet day?
No reply.
Sir Charles Russell: Aye or no?
No reply.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it wet or dry?
No reply.
Sir Charles Russell: Had the day before been a dry day?
Nurse Yapp: It was showery.
Sir Charles Russell: Will you swear that on Wednesday it was showery?
Nurse Yapp: I cannot say positively.
Sir Charles Russell: Was the child in a perambulator?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: Was the child able to walk?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: What do you say you did with the letter?
Nurse Yapp: I gave it to Mr. Edwin Maybrick.
Sir Charles Russell: No, no. I mean when you got it from Mrs. Maybrick?
Nurse Yapp: I gave it to the child to post.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you ever do that before?
Nurse Yapp: Always, and Mrs. Maybrick always gave letters to the baby to carry to the post.
Sir Charles Russell: I was asking what you did with it?
Nurse Yapp: I gave it to the baby.
Sir Charles Russell: Always did?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did this incident ever happen, or anything like it, before?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: Let me see the letter. Have you got the envelope? Where did the child drop it?
Nurse Yapp: Right by the post office, in crossing the road.
Sir Charles Russell: Which side?
Nurse Yapp: Near the post office.
Sir Charles Russell: Then you had securely passed the road and were stepping on to the kerbstone?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did any one see it but yourself?
Nurse Yapp: I don’t know.
Sir Charles Russell: Then you picked it up?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And saw this mark upon it, did you?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Just take it in your hand. Is the direction clear enough?
Nurse Yapp: It was very much dirtier at the time.
Sir Charles Russell: It hasn’t obscured the direction, which is plain enough?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: You didn’t rub the mud off. What did you do?
Nurse Yapp: I went into the post office and asked for a clean envelope to re-address it. I opened it as I was going into the post office.
Sir Charles Russell: Did it never occur to you that you could get a clean envelope, if you were particular about cleanliness, and put it unopened into that?
Nurse Yapp: Oh, I never thought of that.
Sir Charles Russell: Then, between the picking of it up on the post office side of the pathway and your going into the shop you formed the design of opening it, and did, in fact, open it as you were going in?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: If, as you suggest, this fell in the mud and was wet, there is no running of the ink on the direction?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Sir Charles Russell: Can you suggest how there can be any damp or wet in connection with it without causing some running of the ink?
Nurse Yapp: I cannot.
Sir Charles Russell: On your oath, girl, did you not manufacturer that stain as a excuse for opening your mistress’s letter?
Nurse Yapp: I did not.
Sir Charles Russell: Have you any explanation to offer about the running of the ink?
Nurse Yapp: I have not.
Sir Charles Russell: I put it to you again for the last time. Did you not open the letter deliberately, because you suspected your mistress?
Nurse Yapp: No, I did not.
Mr. Addison (cross-examining): Did you suspect your mistress?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Mr. Addison: When you saw the fly-papers did you suspect her?
Nurse Yapp: No.
Mr. Addison: Why did you look at them?
Nurse Yapp: I thought that Bessie Brierley had made a mistake when she said there were fly-papers in the bedroom.
Mr. Addison: Was that your reason?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Mr. Addison: When you did see them, what them?
Nurse Yapp: I did not think anything of them.
Mr. Addison: When you opened the letter you still thought nothing of it?
Nurse Yapp: Yes, when I was what was in the letter.
Mr. Addison: What that the first time that you had any suspicion about it?
Nurse Yapp: No, sir; I had been told of soup, and bread and mild, and things tasting differently.
Mr. Addison: Had you been told this by some of the other servants?
Nurse Yapp: Yes, by Cadwallader and the cook Humphreys.
Mr. Addison: That was before you opened the letter?
Nurse Yapp: Yes.
Witness: Elizabeth Brierley (Housemaid)
Elizabeth Brierley: I was housemaid at Mr. Maybrick’s house at the time of his death. I had been there seven weeks. I remember, about the 21st March, Mrs. Maybrick’s going to London and returning the day before the Grand National. Mrs. Maybrick came home on the evening of the Grand National about seven or half-past. I did not know when Mr. Maybrick came home. I heard, however, some loud talking in the bedroom and heard the bell ring. I went for a cab by orders, and afterwards, without any orders, sent it away. I remember seeing some fly-papers in one of the rooms about twelve o’clock one day. They were in the bedroom. This was one day after the Grand National. They were in a small sponge basin on the washstand in my master and mistress's bedroom. I did not see how many fly-papers there were, but I called the attention of Alice Yapp to them. I never mentioned the matter to Mrs. Maybrick again. At that time Mrs. Maybrick was in the house. I found some traces of the fly-papers afterwards in the slop pail next morning. There were no fly-papers in use I the house for killing flies, either before or immediately after I saw them in steep in the room. The flies were not troublesome at that time. On the 27th April my master went to Wirral races. I heard him complain that his feet and legs were dead to the knees. On the following morning he was taken ill, and, acting on Mrs. Maybrick’s instructions, I prepared a hot-water bottle, which I took to his bedroom. I saw him later on in the week, but I did to notice anything the matter with him. On Friday, 3rd May, he came home from business and was seized with vomiting at that time. My mistress told me to prepare the bedroom at once, as the master was going to bed. I did so, and filled a hot-water bottle, giving it afterwards to Mrs. Maybrick. At that time Mr. Maybrick was in bed, where he remained until the next day. I do not remember taking any food to him on the next day; but in the evening I got from cook Humphreys a glass of mild, which I took up to him. On Sunday I asked how the master was, and I think Mrs. Maybrick replied that he was no better. I do not think she gave me any orders to prepare any mustard and water again. I prepared a small footbath, which I left at the bedroom door. On Monday, about eleven o’clock, I asked Mrs. Maybrick if I should change the bedclothes, and she said that the master’s bed had better not be disturbed. Afterwards the clothes from the bedroom were brought out by Mrs. Maybrick herself. She left them outside the bedroom door. On Tuesday I asked how the master was, and she said she thought he was no better. On Thursday I remember taking a cup of tea into the mistress’s bedroom. It was the front room I took it to. I passed through the chamber. Mr. Maybrick was in bed, and the nurse was rubbing his hands. When I passed through on returning Mr. Michael Maybrick was in the room, and I saw him take something off the washstand. I think that this occurred on the evening of Thursday, the 9th May. I do not remember having seen the bottles, and I therefore could not identify them. Before Mr. Maybrick’s illness it had been my duty to empty the slops; but from the beginning of his illness I suppose Mrs. Maybrick did this, for I only emptied them twice. Generally, before this period, Mr. Maybrick seemed to be a healthy man.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it in the morning when you were doing up the rooms that you saw the fly-papers?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes, before dinner time.
Sir Charles Russell: And it was before dinner time that you mentioned it to your fellow-servants?
Elizabeth Brierley:
No, it was later then that—about three or four o’clock.
Sir Charles Russell: Is it not a fact that Mrs. Maybrick was in the room upon the occasion when you noticed the fly-papers?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You said so in your examination before?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: At that time both Mr. and Mrs. Maybrick occupied the same room?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: When the inner room was used as a bedroom it was occupied by Mr. Maybrick?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it also used as a dressing-room?
Elizabeth Brierley:
No.
Sir Charles Russell: Only as a sleeping room?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: But we have heard of some things being there. What were they?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Only Mr. Maybrick’s hats were there.
Sir Charles Russell: In reference to this question as to the slops, did you mistress not give you a reason?
Elizabeth Brierley:
No.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know that they were kept for Dr. Humphreys to see?
Elizabeth Brierley:
I did not know at the time.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know now?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: On 3rd May (Friday) Mr. Maybrick was sick?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you mean that he was ill, or that he was actually vomiting?
Elizabeth Brierley:
He was vomiting.
Sir Charles Russell: You have not said that before, have you?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes, I think I did.
Sir Charles Russell: At the coroner’s inquest you said that he came home from business ill?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes; I meant the same thing.
Sir Charles Russell: You did not yourself see him?
Elizabeth Brierley:
No, because he went into the lavatory.
Sir Charles Russell: And on the 27th I think you heard him complain of numbness in his feet and legs?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Was that all?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Mr. Addison:
When you went into the bedroom, did you see your mistress there?
Elizabeth Brierley:
She was on the landing.
Mr. Addison:
Was she there when you took the towels off to look at them?
Elizabeth Brierley:
Yes.
Witness: Mary Cadwallader
Mary Cadwallader:
I was a waitress in the employ of Mr. Maybrick at the time of his death. I remember being sent by Mrs. Maybrick for Dr. Humphreys on Sunday, 28
th April. It would be about 10.30. Dr. Humphreys came. I remember about the time bread and mild being prepared by the cook. I took it from the cook to the dining-room. Mr. Maybrick was not there at the time. I do not know how long it was before he came in. I sounded the gong and went out. I do not know who went in after. At the dinner that day arrowroot was prepared for him by the cook. I took that into the breakfast room. For supper arrowroot was made. I began to make the arrowroot, and Mrs. Maybrick finished it. After this Mrs. Maybrick gave ma a jug to put in to soak. The jug had been used to put the arrowroot in out of the jar. When the jug was given to me I noticed something dark in it. Up to the time that I left off making the arrowroot I had not put anything dark into it. I went for Dr. Humphreys about half-past nine on Sunday night, a second time. Mr. Maybrick said to me that he had had an overdose of medicine from London. This was before I went for Dr. Humphreys. Mr. Maybrick said he felt very dizzy. I remember the professional nurses coming on the Wednesday before he died. Mrs. Maybrick had had entire charge of him from the Friday to this Wednesday. She told me that Dr. Humphreys had said that nothing was to go up to him except through her. Before the nurses came on the Thursday, I assisted Mrs. Maybrick to wash Mr. Maybrick. I saw her give some medicine then, but nothing else. On the Tuesday, 30
th April, I remember some food being prepared for him. It was prepared by the cook to be taken to the office. The cook handed it tome, and I took it upstairs to Mrs. Maybrick. There was no person else there at the time. Mrs. Maybrick said she wanted it wrapped up, and I went for paper and string, afterwards going down into the kitchen. Afterwards I came up again into the room, and found that Mrs. Maybrick had wrapped up the parcel. Two or three times food was prepared in this way, and one morning the master forgot it. I remember on one occasion, when I brought in some bread and milk which I got from the cook, that the master left a great portion of it. I had done nothing to sweeten the milk. I remember some fly-papers being brought to the house by the chemist’s boy, but up to the time the master died no fly-papers had been used. I did not notice the flied to be troublesome. Up to the day the master went to the Wirral raced he appeared, so far as I could judge, to enjoy good health.
Sir Charles Russell: On the 28th of April you recollect hearing your mistress’s bell ringing violently?
Mary Cadwallader:
Well—no.
Sir Charles Russell: Just recollect, the day after the Wirral races?
Mary Cadwallader:
Oh, yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it your business to answer that bell?
Mary Cadwallader:
Not the bell in the bedroom.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you answer the bell?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, I did not.
Sir Charles Russell: After hearing the bell ring violently, were you sent by your mistress anywhere?
Mary Cadwallader:
She came downstairs.
Sir Charles Russell: Before the bell could be answered?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And sent you for a doctor?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: What time was that on the Sunday?
Mary Cadwallader:
About half-past nine.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you recollect anything happening the same day?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes; about half-past nine in the evening master rang the bell.
Sir Charles Russell: You went up?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes. Mast told me to call Mrs. Maybrick.
Sir Charles Russell: And you sent her?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: After she came, did she give you any directions?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: When Mr. Maybrick told you to bring Mrs. Maybrick, did you go back with her into the room?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Mr. Maybrick then felt very poorly?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And from that time he was in attendance up to Tuesday, 7th May, when Dr. Carter was also called in?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: In reference to this arrowroot you have been speaking about, did you notice anything dark in it?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you put anything dark in it?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Sir Charles Russell: What was it caused the dark colour?
Mary Cadwallader:
The cook explained it by saying that some vanilla had been put into it. There was a new bottle of vanilla that I thought had not been opened; but, when I came to look at it, I found that it was.
Sir Charles Russell: Did that account for the dark colour?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: As regards the bread and mild, you did not ordinarily sweeten it. You left that tot he person who used it, as he or she thought right and to their taste?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You recollect the statement you have just made as to something that Mr. Maybrick said to you on that Sunday morning as to the cause of his illness. I which you to repeat it again?
Mary Cadwallader:
He said he had taken an overdose of medicine from London.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you recollect his having said anything more about medicine? Did he refer to the medicine that came by post?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes, he did, because I took it in.
Sir Charles Russell: Tell us what he did say?
Mary Cadwallader:
He said he had taken an overdose of London medicine, and it was the same as I had taken in on the Friday.
Sir Charles Russell: Then some medicine had come from London by post?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And you yourself had taken it in?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: There is no mistake about this?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, there is not.
Sir Charles Russell: Your master told you this?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: He asked you if the medicine had come on Friday morning, the 26th?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: The next day was Saturday, the 27th, the Wirral races day?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And the conversation took place on Sunday, the 28th?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: What day did the medicine come?
Mary Cadwallader:
On Friday morning, at half-past eight.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you see it?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, it was in a box.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know whether it was pills or in a bottle?
Mary Cadwallader:
It was in a bottle. I could tell by the shape of it.
Sir Charles Russell: Can you say what kind of box it was?
Mary Cadwallader:
A small box made of pasteboard.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you learn where it had come from?
Mary Cadwallader:
I believed it came from Dr. Fuller, but I did not hear the name.
Sir Charles Russell: You recollect the Monday before Dr. Carter came to the house?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You recollect being in Mr. Maybrick’s room on the Monday?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Was he sitting up in his bed?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Reading the papers and writing letters?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes. He sent some telegrams away.
Sir Charles Russell: That would be Monday, the 6th?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you remember making up any food for Mr. Maybrick to take to the office?
Mary Cadwallader:
I do not remember.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you remember the parcel of fly-papers coming?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: When the parcel arrived where did you put it?
Mary Cadwallader:
On the table.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it rolled up with paper and open at both ends?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did any one go through them?
Mary Cadwallader:
Mr. Maybrick saw them.
Sir Charles Russell: Did he look at them?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes. I saw him pick them up and look at them.
Sir Charles Russell: I think it was you that took the telegram to Mr. Edwin Maybrick asking him to send the doctor?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I don’t know whether you also took the telegram from Mrs. Maybrick to the nurse at Hale?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know who took it?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, about these fly-papers. Did you and the servants talk about them at all?
Mary Cadwallader:
Well, they were mentioned one day.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you recollect if any one suggested what they were used for?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes; the cook said they were used for cleaning silk.
Sir Charles Russell: That was what the cook suggested?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you at that time think anything of consequence of them?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Sir Charles Russell: Let me ask you this—you said your mistress seemed very attentive to your master during his illness?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Until after his death, and it was discovered that there were traces of poison about, did you think there was anything suspicious about what was done or not done?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, I did not.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, I want to take you to another thing in connection with the fly-papers. Do you recollect the domino party or ball to which Mr. Edwin Maybrick escorted Mrs. Maybrick?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you recollect how long before that you saw these fly-papers in the hall?
Mary Cadwallader:
About a week before that.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you see any fly-papers after this trouble arose in the house?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, I did not see them afterwards.
Sir Charles Russell: Have you not said that you and the cook saw some papers downstairs and destroyed them?
Mary Cadwallader:
Oh, yes; that was afterwards.
Sir Charles Russell: It was before his death?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes, I think it was the same week that he died.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you see the cook destroy them, or did she tell you?
Mary Cadwallader:
I saw her.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you destroy any papers?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes, I did, but I don’t know how long they had been there.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know how many?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Mr. Addison: When did you say so?
Mary Cadwallader:
I said so to the solicitor about three weeks since.
Mr. Addison: That is since you have been before the coroner and the magistrates?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Did you mention it before the coroner or before the magistrates?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, I did not mention it. I did not think of it.
Mr. Addison: Were you asked about fly-papers?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: At that time what did you recollect about them?
Mary Cadwallader:
I did not remember that I had burned a lot of them.
Mr. Addison: You said at that time you had never seen any fly-papers.
Sir Charles Russell: She did not say that.
Mr. Addison: Well, we will see what there is on the depositions.
Mary Cadwallader:
I do not think I was asked if I destroyed any.
Mr. Addison: When you were asked about it you did not at that time remember it, but when Mr. Cleaver spoke about it some weeks ago you did remember?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: What did you remember then and now about the fly-papers?
Mary Cadwallader:
I remember destroying them three or four days before he died.
Mr. Addison: How long before he died?
Mary Cadwallader:
About three or four days.
Mr. Addison: Where did you find some fly-papers?
Mary Cadwallader:
In the butler’s pantry.
Mr. Addison: Had you charge of the pantry?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Did you know how they got there?
Mary Cadwallader:
I think they had been there a good bit.
Mr. Addison: Had you ever seen them before?
Mary Cadwallader:
They were behind some things.
Mr. Addison: What sort of things?
Mary Cadwallader:
Behind a tray.
Mr. Addison: Had you ever seen them there before?
Mary Cadwallader:
I had not noticed them.
Mr. Addison: Do I understand that two or three days before he died you found some fly-papers behind a tray?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: How many?
Mary Cadwallader:
I did not notice. About five or six.
Mr. Addison: What did you do with them?
Mary Cadwallader:
I took them down to the kitchen and burned them.
Mr. Addison: Did you show them to the cook?
Mary Cadwallader:
The cook was there when I went down.
Mr. Addison: You burned them in presence of the cook?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Why did you burn them?
Mary Cadwallader:
I thought it best to burn them.
Mr. Addison: You said something about a policeman?
Mary Cadwallader:
I thought it was best to burn them before a policeman arrived.
Mr. Addison: And that was forgotten, was our of your mind, when you were before the coroner and the magistrates?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: You remembered it when, two or three weeks ago, the solicitor for Mrs. Maybrick came to know what you had to say?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: That is the way it came about?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: When was this talk about the fly-papers?
Mary Cadwallader:
It was a week before he died, when Bessie Brierley spoke of it downstairs.
Mr. Addison: Was that the first time that you heard of fly-papers?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: That was the week before when Bessie Brierley had talked about it?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: And was that the time that the cook suggested they were used for cleaning silk?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Did you say anything upon that?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Mr. Addison: Then, this tray of yours, was it one that you used?
Mary Cadwallader:
It was one that was left there.
Mr. Addison: Then some time after you found some fly-papers behind the tray, and burned them in the way you have told us?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Did you speak to any one about burning them?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, I did not mention it except to the cook.
Mr. Addison: Was that before you burned them that you mentioned it to the cook?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, but finding she was there when I burned them, and there was a smell, I told her that perhaps the best thing to do was to destroy them.
Mr. Addison: Then Mr. Maybrick was expecting his medicine from London?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Do you remember if he told you where it was to come from?
Mary Cadwallader:
No. I am quite sure of that.
Mr. Addison: What is your recollection?
Mary Cadwallader:
He told me he had been up to London, and was expecting medicine a day or two before it came.
Mr. Addison: It ought to have been a day or two before it actually arrived?
Mary Cadwallader:
Yes.
Mr. Addison: Then at last the bottle arrived. Did you look inside to see the chemist’s name?
Mary Cadwallader:
No.
Mr. Addison: Do you remember whether Dr. Fuller’s name was mentioned or not?
Mary Cadwallader:
No, I don’t.
Witness: Elizabeth Humphreys.
Elizabeth Humphreys: I was cook at Mr. Maybrick’s at the time of his death. And have been there about seven months. I remember that day of the Grand National. Mrs. Maybrick went away from home about a week before, and returned before the race. Mr. Maybrick was at home during that week. On the day of the Grand National both were away from home, Mrs. Maybrick going out first and returning first. After they returned, in consequence of what Mary Cadwallader told me, I went to the front of the house. I saw my master and mistress, and heard the master say, "By heavens, Florie, be careful. Once you go through this door you shall not enter the house any more." My work was in the kitchen; and, during the present year, up to the month of May, no fly-papers had been used in the house, and there was no necessity for them at all. I never asked the mistress for them.
Mr. Swift: Do you remember Bessie Brierley speaking to you about the fly-papers some days after she had spoken the first time?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No. I had no conversation with Bessie Brierley, but with Mary Cadwallader.
Mr. Swift: Had you any conversations with one of your fellow-servants?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, but not for some time afterwards.
Mr. Swift: About when was it you had the conversation with Cadwallader?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Before the death of Mr. James Maybrick. I entered the service of Mr. Maybrick in October. It was in October I found some fly-papers on the window sill in the kitchen. There would be about half a dozen. They lay there a long time. Mary Cadwallader then arranged to destroy them. I ultimately destroyed them shortly before Mr. Maybrick’s death. They had been in the kitchen all the time. Mary Cadwallader was with me when I destroyed them. I remember Sunday, the 28th April, the day after the Wirral races. On that morning, about nine o’clock, I saw Mrs. Maybrick. She asked me for some mustard and water immediately. The master had taken a dose of medicine, she said, and she wanted it at once. She was in a great hurry, and mixed the water with her finger. I followed with another cup, but the first had been giving to the master when I got up. I met the mistress on the landing at the bedroom door. I gave the water to Mrs. Maybrick, and she took it. I did not see Mr. Maybrick but heard him vomiting. Subsequently I saw Mr. Maybrick and Mr. Edwin Maybrick together in the breakfast room. The mistress was not there. I took the children in on the 28th April, and saw the master, who said he was a little better. Later on in the day I was asked by Mrs. Maybrick to prepare some oxtail soup. I gave it to her, and she took it into the morning room. I do not know what became of it afterwards. I do not remember Dr. Humphreys calling on the following day, but about eleven o’clock Mrs. Maybrick brought in some Du Barry’s food, which she asked me to prepare. She gave me a brown jug, and said that the master was going to take the food down to the office. I gave the jug to the witness Cadwallader, and do not know what became of it. On the following day I made the master’s breakfast. He had bread and milk, which was taken into the breakfast room by Cadwallader. In consequence of something which she said to me when she brought back the remains of the mild, I tasted it, and found it was sweetened as if sugar had been put in it. It was different to what it was when it left, for I put salt in it. I put no sweetening mixture in it. I prepared food for taking down to the office about four times altogether during the week, but on one occasion it was not taken. I never gave the jug to Mr. Maybrick myself. I handed it to Cadwallader. On the night after the Wirral races Mrs. Maybrick brought some meat juice in to me and instructed me to make some beef tea, with the addition of some stock. This I did, but I am not sure who took the beef tea from the kitchen. On the 4th May the chemist’s lad brought some medicine, which I took up to the bedroom. I afterwards told Mrs. Maybrick what I had done, and she asked me why I had taken the medicine up, as she had given instructions that nothing was to be taken into the sick-room unless she saw it herself first. Later on that same day I saw Mrs. Maybrick again. I asked for the master, and she said he was no better. She said something about the medicine he had been taking. She remarked that if he had taken that much more (pointing to her finger) he would have been a dead man.
Mr. Swift: What did she do with the medicine?
Elizabeth Humphreys: She threw it all down the sink.
Mr. Swift: Did you suppose that she meant the London medicine, or did she say the London medicine?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I thought she meant the London medicine. She said that "horrid" medicine. On the following morning, when I came downstairs, I saw Mrs. Maybrick. I spoke to her, asking how the master was, and she replied that he was much worse. She said he had been ill all night. At that time, no professional nurses had been called in. I suggested going in to look after the master. She said the master would not recognise me. She said that she could manage, and she asked me to make a cup of tea.
Mr. Swift: Did you go into the bedroom?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No. Upon the following day I went upstairs to get some order about dinner. Mrs. Maybrick was then standing on the landing near the master’s bedroom. I got the order, and I asked how the master was.
Mr. Swift: Did you make any request?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I asked to see the master for a moment.
Mr. Swift: She did not give permission?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No, but I followed in without permission. The master was very poorly. He recognised me the moment I entered the room, and called me to him. I asked him how he was, and he replied that he was very sick and wanted a drink of something. He then requested me to get him some lemonade with a little sugar. He said he wanted a good drink to rinse his mouth out with, and he wanted to feel that he had rinsed it out. He also
said—"I want you to make it as you would for any poor man dying of thirst." He then told me how to make the lemonade, viz., to cut up a lemon in slices and put a little sugar in. Mrs. Maybrick, who was in the room, offered him lemon juice, but he said he didn’t want lemon juice in a glass, but lemonade from the kitchen. His wife thereupon replied—"You cannot have it except as a gargle." I then asked the master if he would like anything—any lemonade, lemon jelly, or barley-water, and he replied that he would like something, anything of that sort. Mrs Maybrick did not say anything at that time, but immediately afterwards she said it was no use making anything, as he could not take it except as a gargle. I made some lemonade and took it up to Mr. Maybrick, going to the right side of the bed; but Mrs. Maybrick took the lemonade from me, and put it on the washstand at the left side of the bed. She said to him, "You can’t have it, dear, except as a gargle," and he replied, "Very well"; but he looked very wistfully after the glass as his wife took it away from him, as thought he would like to drink it. I then left the room, and the deceased had none of the lemonade while I was there. I did not see him again until after Nurse Gore had arrived, at which time I and the nurse were in the room together. I asked him if he felt any better, and to this he replied that he did not feel any better at all. Mrs. Maybrick then entered the room and said, "What is it, dear?" I leaving at that point. Mr. Michael Maybrick arrived the same evening. On Thursday evening, the 9th May, I went to my master’s bedroom, and, as I got to the bedroom door I met Mrs. Maybrick coming out. I afterwards retuned to the kitchen, and Mrs. Maybrick followed me. The accused ordered dinner, and after giving the order she began to complain, and used the words, "I am blamed for all this." I asked her in what way; and Mrs. Maybrick replied, "In not getting other nurses and doctors." After saying this, she went into the servants’ hall, and there commenced to cry. She said she was very much put out, and added that her position in the house was not worth anything.
Justice Stephen: Mrs. Maybrick said, "This is all through Mr. Michael Maybrick."
Mr. Swift: Tell us all she did say?
Elizabeth Humphreys That he had always had a spite against her since her marriage. Mrs. Maybrick told me that she had been turned out of the master’s bedroom, and not allowed to give him his medicines. In speaking about Mr. Michael Maybrick, I remember her saying that if he went out of the house she should not allow him to enter it again. She said that, if she could, she would turn us every one out of the house. I asked her if I had done anything to her, and she said "No." I saw her several times after that before Mr. Maybrick died. On the Thursday I asked her how the master was, and she replied that he was no better. She said that inflammation had set in, and I replied that it was very dangerous. I do not remember Mrs. Maybrick getting some ice from the landing. The professional nurse came on the Wednesday. Nurse Gore was the first. From that time I did not cook anything more for the master, nor did I know of anything being cooked except by nurses. Upon the Friday I saw Mrs. Maybrick in the kitchen about nine o’clock at night as far as I remember. She asked me for a sandwich and a glass of milk. She had a sandwich or two in the kitchen; and, as she was leaving, she asked me to get her some soup and a sandwich ready for night.
Mr. Swift: Did she say anything else?
Elizabeth Humphreys: She thanked me for my kindness to her, and kissed me. I asked her how the master was, and she said he was sinking very fast. She said there was no hope, and seemed very much distressed. Upon the Saturday morning Mrs. Maybrick came to our bedroom door about three o’clock in the morning. She wanted one of us to go and fetch Mrs. Briggs.
Mr. Swift: What reason did she give?
Elizabeth Humphreys: She said that the master was dying. I believe Cadwallader and Brierley went. The last thing I remember making for Mr. Maybrick was some broth on Saturday night. Mrs. Maybrick requested me to make it. That was the Saturday before he died. I never made anything but the lemonade after that. During the days following that Saturday I suggested several things I thought Mr. Maybrick might like made for him. I made these suggestions to Mrs. Maybrick.
Sir Charles Russell: Are you married or single?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Single.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, in reference to these fly-papers, you saw some of them on the window sill of the kitchen?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Had they been in the house some time—when was it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I went back to the house in October, 1888, and it was directly that I went back that I saw them.
Sir Charles Russell: There were also some found behind a tray in the pantry, I believe?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I know nothing about them.
Sir Charles Russell: I think you are aware that Cadwallader had destroyed some?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I knew nothing about it at the time; she came afterwards and told me.
Sir Charles Russell: On the 28th April you yourself saw Mr. Maybrick; did he not tell you he had had a very bad turn that morning?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, he did.
Sir Charles Russell: And it was later on that evening that your mistress ordered some oxtail soup?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, I had made some for dinner that day.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you remember when you got the direction to make the soup whether Dr. Humphreys was in the house?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I believe he was in the morning room at the time.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you know whether it was he who suggested the soup?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I do not remember.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, as regards the food on the 29th April, you said you got a tin of the food from Mrs. Maybrick?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, it was Du Barry’s food.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it a fresh tin, and unopened?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, it was a fresh and unopened tin which had been sent for.
Sir Charles Russell: We have heard that your master did not take much of that; it was brought down to the kitchen uneaten?
Elizabeth Humphreys: A good deal of it was.
Sir Charles Russell: That was on the Tuesday, I think?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Had he eaten the bread and milk, or only a little of it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Only just tasted it.
Sir Charles Russell: Not eaten much of it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No.
Sir Charles Russell: And when you came back you found it sweetened?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you taste it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes. I put my finger in and found it had been sweetened.
Sir Charles Russell: And he inquired whether you had sweetened it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: As regards his habits of taking sugar or not, Mary Cadwallader would know more about that than you?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No; he used to give me his instructions.
Sir Charles Russell: Did it seem to you there was anything suspicious in the food having been sweetened?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No; not at the time.
Sir Charles Russell: And you found it had been sweetened; there was no mistake about it at all?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No; I found it had been sweetened.
Sir Charles Russell: Sweetened with sugar, I suppose?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Justice Stephen: Did you know who sweetened it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No.
Sir Charles Russell: You have spoken about the meat juice essence being brought for the purpose of making strong stock?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I suppose you tasted it before you sent it up?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I did not.
Sir Charles Russell: Now, in reference to the intervening days up to the 8th, I wish to ask you do you recollect on Monday, the 6th, going into Mr. Maybrick’s room?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes. I asked if he wanted anything.
Sir Charles Russell: What was the answer?
Elizabeth Humphreys: "No, thank you; Mrs. Maybrick will attend to all my wants."
Sir Charles Russell: You went, in fact, to ask whether you could do anything for him?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I went in with some papers and telegrams.
Sir Charles Russell: And on the 6th he was sitting up in his bed reading the papers and letters, and sending some telegrams?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And when you asked if he wanted anything, he said that Mrs. Maybrick would attend to his wants when she returned?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Where was she at that time?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I don’t think she was in the house.
Sir Charles Russell: Who brought his letters and telegrams?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Lowery.
Sir Charles Russell: On the 5th, did you see him?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, I did.
Sir Charles Russell: And on Monday, the 6th, did you see him?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No.
Sir Charles Russell: You have just told us that it was on that day you saw him. Let me remind you again, wasn’t it on Monday, the 6th, that the boy came up from the office with letters and telegrams?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, it was.
Sir Charles Russell: You saw him on the 7th?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No, I did not.
Sir Charles Russell: Dr. Carter came on Tuesday, that day?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I heard of that.
Sir Charles Russell: Do you recollect on the Wednesday morning saying to your mistress she ought to lie down, she looked so worn and tired?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And it was a fact that she did look worn and tired?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: Did you learn that she had been up all night?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: I will put to you the question. Until after you heard of the result of the examination showing that there was arsenic, did you regard our mistress’s conduct at any part of the story as in any way suspicious?
Elizabeth Humphreys: No, I did not.
Sir Charles Russell: Did it seem to you that she was attending to her husband?
Elizabeth Humphreys: She seemed very kind to him, and spent all her time with him.
Sir Charles Russell: You have already said so, have you not?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, I did.
Sir Charles Russell: And when she told you she had been blamed you took her part—you sided with her?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, I did, because I thought she was doing her best under the circumstances.
Sir Charles Russell: You sympathised with her, if fact?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I did, certainly.
Sir Charles Russell: And she was in great distress?
Elizabeth Humphreys: She was very much grieved over it, and was very sorry.
Sir Charles Russell: Crying in a manner painful to witness?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes she was indeed.
Sir Charles Russell: At the time were you aware that what particularly distressed her was that she was no longer recognised as mistress of her house?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, and I told her I would rather be in my own shoes than hers.
Sir Charles Russell: You know she was set aside by his brothers and these nurses?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, she was set aside.
Sir Charles Russell: I am not criticising the action of the brothers for a moment, but I ask the question for present purposes. I notice in giving directions for the lemonade he told you, you say, to cut the lemon up, and put a little sugar with it?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes; I asked him the question about it.
Sir Charles Russell: With reference to that, do you know, in point of fact, that the doctor had ordered he was to have as little as possible to drink, and to use the lemon only as a gargle?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I did not know it at the time.
Sir Charles Russell: Did not Mrs. Maybrick say so?
Elizabeth Humphreys: She did afterwards when I took up the lemonade. I made it notwithstanding what she said.
Sir Charles Russell: Is this what she said, "The doctor says he is not to have anything like that except as a gargle"?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, she did say so to me at the time.
Sir Charles Russell: I don’t know whether you were present at the inquest when Dr. Humphreys was examined?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I was.
Sir Charles Russell: Ands he said something very much to that effect?
Elizabeth Humphreys: He did.
Sir Charles Russell: Upon the occasion Mr. Maybrick observed there were strange things knocking about him, I don’t know whether you could pledge yourself to the exact form of words he used?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Those were the words he used.
Sir Charles Russell: Was it not that after Nurse Gore had come?
Elizabeth Humphreys: It was.
Sir Charles Russell: And didn’t you say, when you were examined with reference to that observation, that he made the statement at the time there was a stranger in the room?
Elizabeth Humphreys: I did. I thought he was referring to the nurse.
Sir Charles Russell: Whom he did not know before?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: And did you also add that he was a little delirious?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes, he was certainly.
Justice Stephen: The nurse will be called, I presume?
Sir Charles Russell: Yes, my lord.
Sir Charles Russell: On the 9th May you mentioned Mrs. Maybrick coming down to the kitchen when you were at your ordinary dinner?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: At that time the two brothers of the master were in the house, and she was ordering dinner?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: You spoke to her sympathetically in her trouble, I believe?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Sir Charles Russell: On Saturday, in the early part of the day, she came down to the kitchen and put her arms around your neck and kissed you?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes; she was always very good to me.
Sir Charles Russell: Have you known your master sometimes to use sugar in his bread and milk?
Elizabeth Humphreys: Yes.
Witness: Dr. Richard Humphreys.
Dr. Humphreys: I am a surgeon and general practitioner, residing in Garston Old Road, Garston. In the early months of 1887 I was attending the children of Mrs. Maybrick for whooping-cough. That was not the first time I had been in the house. I had attended Mrs. Maybrick. I had never, however, attended Mr. Maybrick but once, when he had a slight injury to the nose, and I washed it for him. When I was attending the children in the early part of March, Mr. Maybrick never complained to me. I did not ask Mr. Maybrick purposely about his health. I just casually said, how are you? but I asked Mrs. Maybrick about her husband’s health when I was attending the children. I do not remember the exact words spoken, but Mrs. Maybrick made a specific complaint about her husband taking something. That conversation took place some time in March this year. She said he was taking some white powder, which she thought was strychnine, and she asked what was likely to be the result. I said that if he took a large enough dose he would die. That would be before the 21st March; I cannot bring the date nearer than this. I said to Mrs. Maybrick, not meaningly, however, "Well, if he should ever die suddenly call me, and I can say you have had some conversation with me about it." I was first called in to see Mr. Maybrick on Sunday, 28th April, about eleven o’clock.
Mr. M’Connell: Where did you see Mr. Maybrick?
Dr. Humphreys: In bed.
Mr. M’Connell: Was Mrs. Maybrick present when you saw him?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: What did Mr. Maybrick say to you?
Dr. Humphreys: He said to me that he was not well.
Mr. M’Connell: Did he complain specially that morning of some peculiar condition?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, about his chest and his heart. He was afraid of being paralysed.
Mr. M’Connell: Did he say so to you?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you ask him how long he had been suffering from these symptoms?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: And what was his reply?
Dr. Humphreys: He said they came on that morning.
Mr. M’Connell: Did he assign any cause?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, he said it was the result of a strong cup of tea.
Mr. M’Connell: Did he say whether he had experienced these symptoms before?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, he said that tea had upon other occasions produced similar inconvenience. Witness attributed the symptoms to distress and palpitation of the heart.
Justice Stephen: Would a cup of strong tea have produced all these symptoms?
Dr. Humphreys: Not usually, but I have known it to have done so.
Dr. Humphreys: Deceased complained as to the state of his tongue, saying that it had been furred for a long time, and that he could not get it clean. He told me that he was not well the previous day. He said he had been at Wirral races, and before starting, in going downstairs, he felt very funny and his legs were very stiff, and during the whole day he was at the races he felt in a peculiar state—in a dazed condition. After coming from the races he went to dine with a friend, and whilst there his hands were so unsteady and twitching that he upset some wine, and he was greatly distressed lest his friends would think he was drunk.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you prescribe anything for him?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes. I gave him some dilute prussic acid, and advised him to drink nothing but soda water and mild that day.
Mr. M’Connell: If you had known that he had been sick on the previous day would you have attributed it to the cup of tea taken that morning?
Dr. Humphreys: Probably not.
Dr. Humphreys: I saw him next on the evening of the same day, and witness Cadwallader met me at the house. Deceased was then in quite a different condition from that presented a few hours before. All that he had complained of in the morning had disappeared, and he was then suffering from stiffness of the legs. He showed me Dr. Fuller’s prescription in the morning, after which I directed him to discontinue it, and gave him another prescription to replace it. Deceased know he was taking nux vomica in the prescription which Dr. Fuller had given to him, and he had an idea that the stiffness in the limbs was due to that. He was a man who prided himself on his knowledge of medicine.
Mr. M’Connell: You say that after having seen him three times only?
Dr. Humphreys: Oh, no! He told me so himself. He said; Humphreys, I think I know a great deal of medicine; I have read a good deal of medicine." And, knowing he was taking nux vomica, he thought the stiffness of the previous morning was due to that. Consequently, I advised him not to take any more. He said his liver was wrong, and I made an examination and did not contradict him. The deceased also complained of other things already referred to, and I remained with him for about an hour, and advised him to stay in bed the following morning.
Mr. M’Connell: Did he say anything about his friends saying he was hypocondriacal?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes; but he said, "I am not. I know how I feel."
Mr. M’Connell: Anything said about mustard and water being used?
Dr. Humphreys: I do recollect something about mustard and water, but when I don’t know. I called again on the deceased in the evening and found him in bed, having been sent for as Mr. Maybrick was suffering from stiffness in the limbs—the two lower limbs. I prescribed for that bromide of potassium and tincture of henbane. I promised to call again the following morning, Monday, 29th April, and called shortly after ten o’clock. I found him in bed, where he had remained at my request. He did not complain of anything, and all the symptoms had disappeared except the furred tongue. I made an examination of him, and arrived at the conclusion that he was a chronic dyspeptic, and prescribed a dietary for him in writing, and gave it to him himself. I believe I saw Mrs. Maybrick every day I was at the house. The dietary consisted of coffee, toast, and some bacon for breakfast, some Revalenta food and tea for luncheon, and for dinner he was to take alternate meals of fish and bacon. I prescribed for him Seymour’s preparation of papaine and iridin. The papaine was a vegetable digestive, and the iridin a slight laxative to act on the liver. The quantity to be taken was one teaspoonful three times a day. On leaving I promised to call again on the evening of Wednesday, the 1st. This I did, and found Mr. Maybrick much better. I advised him to continue the same treatment. Mr. Maybrick told me I need not call again, as he would call on me. On Friday, however I received a message to go and see Mr. Maybrick. I would be about ten o’clock on the 3rd May. I found Mr. Maybrick in the morning-room on the ground floor. He said he had not been so well since the day before, and he added that he did not think my medicine agreed with him. Mrs. Maybrick was present, and said, "You always say the same thing about anybody‘s medicine after you taken it two or three days.’ I said to Mr. Maybrick, "I really cannot see anything the matter with you. Your tongue is certainly not so clean as it ought to be, but otherwise I cannot see any difference in you. My advice is to go on the same for two or three weeks; the medicine cannot disagree with you, as it tends more to assist your digestion than anything else." Mr. Maybrick then asked me whether he ought to get a Turkish bath, and the reply was in the affirmative. Later on in the day I saws Mr. Maybrick, at about four o’clock, but he only said, "Good afternoon." About midnight that night I was called up to see Mr. Maybrick. He was then in bed, and he was in great pain. The pain was in the two thighs, running from the hips down to the knee.
Mr. M’Connell: Who was present when you saw him in bed?
Dr. Humphreys: Mrs. Maybrick.
Mr. M’Connell: Had anything been done to alleviate the pain?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, they had rubbed his legs with turpentine.
Mr. M’Connell: Where had the rubbing been applied?
Dr. Humphreys: To the inner aspect of the thighs.
Mr. M’Connell: Was there any rubbing going on in your presence? Did you rub or apply your hand to the part?
Dr. Humphreys: I am sure I did.
Mr. M’Connell: What sort of pain was it?
Dr. Humphreys: He complained of gnawing pain.
Mr. M’Connell: Not pain from pressure?
Dr. Humphreys: No. It extended from the hips down to the joints, and was more particularly located in the back aspect of the joint.
Mr. M’Connell: That is the seat of the great sciatic nerve?
Dr. Humphreys: It is.
Mr. M’Connell: Do you know that he had taken the Turkish bath spoken of in the morning? Did you connect the symptoms in any way with the bath?
Dr. Humphreys: I did.
Mr. M’Connell: In what way?
Dr. Humphreys: I thought it might have been caused by an excessive towelling and rubbing. Mr. Maybrick told me that when he arrived home that day he was sick.
Justice Stephen: That was after the Turkish bath?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Dr. Humphreys: Deceased had been sick twice after arriving home, and he said he thought it was due to some inferior sherry having been put into Du Barry’s Revalenta food. I did not inquire whether it was put in or not. As the pain continued, I gave him a morphine suppository.
Justice Stephen: What is that?
Dr. Humphreys: It is in the form of small capsules of gelatine which is mixed up with morphia, and introduced into the lower bowels instead of swallowing.
Dr. Humphreys: There was a quarter of a grain in one of them, which had been prescribed for Mrs. Maybrick at one time or another. On Saturday, the 4th May, I saw Mr. Maybrick early, and found that the pain had passed away, but there were other symptoms, and he was sick and vomiting. He could retain nothing on his stomach, and that was a common result of the administration of morphia. I advised deceased to take nothing at all, but to abate his thirst by washing out with water, or by sucking ice or a damp cloth, and to take nothing else. I prescribed also some ipecacuanha wine for allaying the vomiting. It was a prescription either homœopathic allopathic, according to how it was regarded. I saws him again on the Saturday, but I do not recollect the visit. I saw him the following morning—Sunday—when he was still vomiting, or hawking more than vomiting, and complained of his mouth being very dirty, and his throat was troubling him. His throat showed a slight redness, but his tongue was very dirty and furred. I changed his medicine, because deceased had not made the improvement I had expected. I prescribed again prussic acid from the bottle which he had not finished the previous week. I told deceased also to take Valentine’s beef juice, and wash his mouth with Condy’s fluid. Mrs. Maybrick was present at the house every day. I saw her on Monday, and asked her if—as her husband was worse than ever he had been before—would she not like to have another medical man? She replied, "No, Dr. Humphreys; as he has seen so many before, and they have done him so little good, I don’t think it is necessary." At that time I was not exactly bothered by the symptoms, but deceased had not made the progress I had anticipated.
Mr. M’Connell: You considered he was getting worse?
Dr. Humphreys: No, I can’t say that. On the whole, he was rather better.
Mr. M’Connell: But you have just told us he was worse than ever he had been?
Dr. Humphreys: His illness was worse than any illness he had ever had. I again saw deceased on the Sunday, but did not notice anything particular about him. I saw him on Monday, the 6th May, at 8.30 in the morning, and his state was then something similar, but he still complained of his tongue very much. He was, however, better able to retain a little food. Some o the Valentine’s extract of meat had been taken, but it did not agree with the deceased, and it made him vomit. I do not remember him vomiting in my presence, but he complained of it. I told the deceased to stop the Valentine’s beef juice, and said I was not surprised at it making Mr. Maybrick sick, as it made many people sick. I also stopped the medicine, and gave deceased some arsenic—it was Fowler’s solution. I could not say whether that was Sunday or Monday, but it was not Tuesday. Fowler’s solution is a mixture of white arsenic, carbonate of potash, and lavender water.
Mr. M’Connell: What per cent. of arsenic?
Dr. Humphreys: One per cent. I gave the deceased four drops in about five tablespoonfuls of water. He was to have a few drops of that in less than half a teaspoonful every hour. I made the medicine myself while I was there. It was put into a medicine glass, which contained about sixth or eighty doses. In the whole of the doses there was about 1-25th of a grain. I showed him how to take it, and gave it to him myself. He took three doses altogether.
Justice Stephen: How much arsenic would there be in the three doses?
Dr. Humphreys: About 1-250th of a grain.
Dr. Humphreys: I saw him in the evening, and ordered him some Brand’s beef tea, some chicken broth, Neave’s food, and some mild and water. On the Monday night I recommended the application of a blister to the stomach, thinking it would put an end altogether to the vomiting. I had seen two samples of the vomit. One was greenish, bilious-looking, and the other was yellowish. On Tuesday I saw Mr. Maybrick in the morning, and he appeared better. He said, "Humphreys, I am quite a different man altogether to-day, after you put on that blister last night." He was constantly complaining of the offensive feeling of his mouth. I advised him to wash his mouth with sanitas to clear it. He was able to retain a tablespoonful of food every hour. In the afternoon of the same day I was there with Dr. Carter. I threw the remainder of the medicine containing the Fowler’s solution away on the Monday morning. I threw it into the basin on the washhand stand—the slop basin. The object of administering the solution was to allay his condition and improve him. Mr. Edwin Maybrick made the appointment for me to meet Dr. Carter. Mrs. Maybrick told me that she had not sent for him, but that Mr. Edwin Maybrick had. I saw Mr. James Maybrick with Dr. Carter in the afternoon, at half-past five. Mr. Maybrick seemed to be much the same as in the morning, and was certainly no worse. He complained to Dr. Carter, in my presence, about his throat. I think he was able to retain his food that day. I had a consultation with Dr. Carter, and we resolved to administer certain medicines. He was prescribed tincture of jaborandi and antipyrine. The antipyrine was to allay his restlessness and to allay the pain of the throat. The jaborandi was given to increase the saliva and to relieve the throat. We also gave him a wash for the mouth of chlorine water. We held the opinion that he was going on very favourably, and would be well in a few days. I formed the opinion that Mr. Maybrick was suffering from congestion of the stomach. I could not remember telling this to Mrs. Maybrick that day, but I did tell Mr. Maybrick. I formed a hopeful prognosis, and thought Mr. Maybrick would soon recover. My next visit was on Wednesday, when I found him better. I made no change in his treatment, there being no sickness.
Mr. M’Connell: No more symptoms than there were on the afternoon of the 7th?
Dr. Humphreys: No, but he had had a restless night.
Mr. M’Connell: And his condition was still as hopeful as it had been the night before?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you say to Mr. Maybrick, or use any words to the effect that all depended on how long he could hold out?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you say that he was sick unto death, or any words to that effect?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Mr. M’Connell: Had he been in any was delirious since the Sunday, or did you say so?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you see him again on Wednesday, the 8th May?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you send any telegram about a nurse?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, one about nine o’clock in the morning. Mrs. Maybrick asked me on the morning of the Wednesday prior to the death to telegraph to Mrs. Howell, her nurse, who had been with her on her confinements, to come to attend on her husband, as she was getting tired herself. I had no other conversation beyond that. I went to the telegraph office and sent a message to the nurse at Halewood, signing no name, but saying Mrs. Maybrick would like to have a nurse. About seven o’clock I went to the hose and found Nurse Gore there. I have not been informed up to the present time why Mrs. Howell was not called. At that time the patient was not worse. I could not state whether my attention was called to the state of Mrs. Maybrick’s bowels. I did not make any change in the medicine or prescribe anything that afternoon. About 10.30 Mr. Michael Maybrick came to my house and asked about his brother’s health and prospects. The interview was lengthy, but I did not go to the house with the brother. I visited the patient again on the following morning, and found that there had been considerable straining, the bowels being loose. That was what was termed "tenesmus." He complained of pains in the rectum before I introduced the suppository. It had to be made, and was afterwards introduced. Mr. Maybrick was complaining of great pain. Dr. Carter was present that afternoon.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you consider your patient’s condition then as favourable as before?
Dr. Humphreys: Not so favourable.
Mr. M’Connell: What were the unfavourable symptoms?
Dr. Humphreys: They were diarrhœa and straining. I saw the fæces that afternoon.
Mr. M’Connell: Did they present any characteristic that led you to make more than a casual observation?
Dr. Humphreys: They themselves did not; but I had a conversation with Mr. Michael Maybrick which lead me to believe that something more might be seen if a further examination were made.
Mr. M’Connell: Was any further examination made?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: You made a slight examination?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Dr. Carter was aware of what you were doing?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: What examination did you make?
Dr. Humphreys: I boiled them in copper with a little hydrochloric acid.
Mr. M’Connell: What were you testing for then?
Dr. Humphreys: I was testing for some metal, probably antimony, arsenic, or mercury.
Mr. M’Connell: Some metallic irritant?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: How much did you subject to the test?
Dr. Humphreys: About a tablespoonful.
Mr. M’Connell: With what result?
Dr. Humphreys: Nothing conclusive. I got no deposit on the copper.
Mr. M’Connell: Had our patient had bismuth in his medication before?
Dr. Humphreys: He had.
Mr. M’Connell: Was there any deposit of bismuth on the copper?
Dr. Humphreys: There was no deposit of any metal.
Mr. M’Connell: The result was negative?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you examine the urine at all?
Dr. Humphreys: I did the same afternoon, and subjected it to a similar test, but the result was negative. There was no mineral deposit found in the urine. On Thursday evening Mr. Maybrick was in a state of restlessness, complaining of his tongue and his throat and his bowels, but his strength was maintained pretty well, and he could take nutriment to swallow. I did not apprehend any serious results on the Thursday. I felt his pulse, but did not think that there was anything characteristic about it, though it was certainly quicker than at the beginning of the week. I made some temperature tests on the Saturday and Sunday previous, nearly a week before his death. The first day he as slightly feverish, the temperature being 99.4. After that day it was normal, the average normal temperature being taken as 98.4. I did not try the thermometer during the Friday. On Thursday [Friday?] afternoon deceased asked for Dr. Carter, and I said I would tell Dr. Carter, which I did, and the doctor came out the same afternoon. On Friday morning I found the deceased weaker, pulse more rapid, and bowels not moved so frequently as during the previous day. There was hardly any sickness, but I thought deceased was rather worse, especially as he himself seemed much depressed about his condition. In the afternoon the patient’s pulse was still more rapid, and one of his hands was becoming white. Generally he was weaker, and decidedly worse. The tongue was simply filthy, and Mr. Maybrick was very restless, having had no sleep. I ordered some sulphonal for his restlessness, the dose being thirty grains, in the form of a powder; nitro-glycerine for his hand; and he was to continue cocaine, ordered the previous day, for his throat, and also some phosphoric acid for his mouth. On Friday afternoon I considered deceased’s condition to be serious, and the doctors had reason to suppose then that the suggestion made to them the day before might have some grounds.
Mr. M’Connell: Was Dr. Carter given a bottle to examine?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, on Friday. I visited my patient again about 10.30 on Friday night.
Justice Stephen: What time was your consultation?
Dr. Humphreys: In the afternoon about half-past four.
Mr. M’Connell: What was this bottle?
Dr. Humphreys: The bottle containing the meat juice.
Mr. M’Connell: When you visited your patient again at about 10.30, how did you find him?
Dr. Humphreys: Very ill; his pulse laws very bad, almost uncountable. He was getting weaker. I told Mr. Michael Maybrick his state so that a solicitor might be seen as to his affairs. At that time I apprehended danger.
Mr. M’Connell: Had you any difficulty in administering nourishment?
Dr. Humphreys: On that day, yes.
Mr. M’Connell: What had you been administering?
Dr. Humphreys: Nutritive suppository.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you do anything on the 10th?
Dr. Humphreys: I don’t remember.
Mr. M’Connell: On Saturday, the 11th, what time did you see him in the morning?
Dr. Humphreys: About 8.30.
Mr. M’Connell: How was he then?
Dr. Humphreys: He was then dying.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you see Dr. Carter on that day?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you have a consultation as to his state?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: What time was that?
Dr. Humphreys: Between twelve and one o’clock.
Mr. M’Connell: What collusion did you arrive at as a possibility of doing anything?
Dr. Humphreys: There was no possibility of going anything.
Mr. M’Connell: At that time did you consider the case hopeless?
Dr. Humphreys: Certainly.
Mr. M’Connell: Was the man dying?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: You determined as there was nothing more to be done to take no steps?
Dr. Humphreys: I think it would have been useless.
Mr. M’Connell: And I suppose from that time he gradually sank?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Were you present at his death?
Dr. Humphreys: I was in the house.
Mr. M’Connell: It took place about 8.30 on Saturday, the 11th?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Except the examination you told s about, you made no examination of the excreta afterwards?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you at any time tell Mrs. Maybrick that if he had taken so much of that horrid medicine he would be a dead man?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you direct that nothing nutritious or medicinal should be given to the patient except by Mrs. Maybrick?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Mr. M’Connell: On the night of the 11th, about 12.30, did dr. Carter make any communication to you of what he found in the bottle of meat juice?
Dr. Humphreys: No, it was 12.30 in the afternoon.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you make a post-mortem examination on Monday, the 13th?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Who were present?
Dr. Humphreys: There were present Dr. Carter, Dr. Barron, and myself, and Superintendent Bryning. Dr. Carter took the written statement, and we all assisted. The examination was made in the room he died. Rigor mortis was present and well developed. I have made notes of the post-mortem.
Justice Stephen: It has been the practice, first introduced by Lord Campbell, it being allowed in the Scottish Courts, that notes should be read, although they cannot be called the strictest evidence. You can now do as you please.
Dr. Humphreys (with notes before him): The frame and condition of the man were well developed, his countenance being classical. The pupils of the eye were mediumly and equally dilated. There was a discharge from the lower bowel, and when turned over, a slight discharge of fluid from the mouth. The discharges were chemically tested. [The witness then described the post-mortem appearances resulting upon examination, and said that when they opened the chest the first rib on each side was found to be slightly ossifies.] The lung was found in the left chest to be adherent; it was fixed by an old adhesion, and that meant the evidence of pleurisy. The right lung was free from adhesion, but it contained some fluid. The lung was taken out, and was found to be normal. When the sac of the heart was cut into, fluid was found; and the heart itself was found to be covered with fat. Upon taking the tongue and the larynx out, and the œsphagus and the gullet, we found that the tongue was black, and the gullet at the top of the throat was slightly red. Below that for some distance the appearances were quite natural; but lower down again before getting to the stomach, on the lower part of the mucous membrane, there was a gelatinous appearance, which had the appearance of frogs’ spawn, of a yellowish colour, with black patches. In the larynx, at the posterior part of the epiglottis, we found that there was a little ulcer, about the size of a pin head. It was red and very shallow, and that also the free margin of the epiglottis was eroded or rotten. Upon the posterior aspect of the cartilage, which goes to form the voice box, we found two little red patches. The stomach was tied at each end and taken out, and we found that it contained some fluid—some five or six ounces of a brownish fluid. When the stomach was opened and the fluid poured out we found each end of the stomach was red, and here and there were small ecchymoses of blood spots effused under the lining of the stomach. Getting out of the stomach into the duodenum we found there about three inches of red inflammation, and this appearance continued down for about three feet in the intestines. About eighteen feet lower down in the intestines we found another area of red inflammation, and it corresponded to the blue patch I referred to first, with the vessels running over it. The very extremity of the bowels—the rectum—was also slightly red. The liver seemed natural, and the kidneys were natural. The spleen weighed five or six ounces, and was of a kind of mahogany colour. The brain was natural. Some parts of the viscera were put into jars, but I have not copies of the numbers, although I know some of them. I placed the stomach with its contents into a jar, the whole of the intestines and parts of the liver, and I think the spleen.
Justice Stephen: Were they all put into jars?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, I closed the jars, and after sealing them gave them to Mr. Baxendale.
Mr. M’Connell: From what you saw during his life and from the post-mortem examination, what do you say was the cause of death?
Dr. Humphreys: Arsenic. Arsenical poisoning.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you have anything to do with the sealing up of certain fluids and other matters that came from the drains?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Were you present when the matters contained in these four jars were taken?
Dr. Humphreys: I was. Just now you asked me what I thought was the cause of death. I said arsenical poisoning. I said that knowing as I do that an examination had been made of the contents of the stomach; but, asking me what conclusion I came to after having made the post-mortem, recollection the symptoms that he died of, I could only say that it was due to some irritant poison, must probably arsenic, but I should not like to swear that it was. I was present at the taking of the list of the articles with the jars numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. I was present afterwards when the body was exhumed.
Mr. M’Connell: Did you see certain further parts removed?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes.
Mr. M’Connell: Were they placed, like the others, in bottles?
Dr. Humphreys: No. In one large jar, which was given to Mr. Baxendale.
Sir Russell (cross-examining): When you gave the answer in the first instance you were taking into account not merely the symptoms before death, but the statements of the results indicated to you by others?
Dr. Humphreys: I was when he asked me the question.
Sir Russell: Excluding these results, were you when examined before, and are you now, able to say more than that the symptoms during life, and the post-mortem appearances after death, are consistent with death from some irritant poison?
Justice Stephen: The word "consistent" is so very misleading. Do you mean to say any two things which exist together must always be consistent? There is a great difference between one thing indicating another with a less degree of strength, and one thing consistent with another. When you say that there are symptoms consistent with death in consequence of some irritant poison, do you mean to say that there are symptoms consistent in the strict sense of the word, or that they indicate or point to death by irritant poison?
Sir Russell: I mean to imply that they point to death by irritant poison.
Sir Russell: Did you, in fact, use these words, when first asked, "Having regard to the post-mortem appearance, the symptoms before death, and the symptoms described by the witnesses, what is your opinion"? Was your answer this, and this only, "They were consistent with arsenical poisoning"?
Dr. Humphreys: It was.
Sir Russell: And that is what you mean to convey?
Dr. Humphreys: They are consistent, taking the symptoms collectively.
Sir Russell: I must ask you not to use the work "consistent," but I will understand by it "indicate," "point out."
Sir Russell: Did you not go on to explain that, when you used the word irritant poison, you meant anything, as, for instance, impure food, would cause these symptoms?
Dr. Humphreys: I mean (taking it apart from the analysis and the corrected statement) that I did not know what the post-mortem appearance of an irritant would have been; but I say that an irritant food, causing certain symptoms during life, like those produced by an active poison, would probably produce a similar appearance after death.
Sir Russell: You have never assisted at a post-mortem examination of any person supposed to have died from arsenical poison?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Sir Russell: I think I might also ask you whether you have ever assisted at a post-mortem where it was alleged that death had been due to irritant poisoning?
Dr. Humphreys: No.
Sir Russell: Up to the time that the communication was made to you which, to use your own language, suggested that there might be some foundation of supposing foul play; did it in any way occur to you that there were symptoms present during life of arsenical poisoning? When was it that the idea was first suggested to you?
Dr. Humphreys: I think on Thursday, or on the Wednesday night, when Mr. Michael Maybrick came to me.
Sir Russell: From a communication made to you by Mr. Michael Maybrick?
Dr. Humphreys: Yes, that there was something unsatisfactory.
The court adjourned.
Our thanks to Stephanie Thompson for transcribing this page.
