MRS MAYBRICK’S CASE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4956, 26 March 1926, Page 1

MRS MAYBRICK’S CASE.

STORIES OF .UONFSSSIONSi.

STATEMENTS REPUDIATED.'

Did Mrs Maybrick kill her husband with arsenic, or did she not ? After thirty-five year's this question, which intrigued millions of people, is still unsolved, and Mrs May; brick how makes a statement) denying istories that confessions in the hands of the authorities have “placed her guilt beyond question.” Mrs ; Maybrick now' lives in retire'ment at Atlanta. Georgia, U.S.A. 'According to a newspaper reporijer, who ;cablesi- that he has just-interviewed her, she stated: “The story .made a ‘confession is. utterly false.

Millions followed the ' fortunes-of Mrs Maybrick when she stood in the shadow of the 'scaffold 35 . years, ago on • the charge of poisoning her husband with.. arsenic at .their beautiful home' on the outskirts of Liverpool, and in her? native land, America, the. case was followed. eVen more closely because people tried to make ’political capital:, out. of 1 it by 1 suggesting that this woman was. being sent ip the, scaffold on insufficient, evidence merely: because she was- an Afnericajh. ? The tragic figure’ of those days still survives, a sad-faced.-and aged woman, living a hermit-like life ,in 'Atlanta,; where her. identity is known only to few. Interest in her case has been, revived by the cabled ne.Ws *from England that two confesislons in the possession of the authorities have placed her guilt beyond question. The weak point in the case from the proSiecution was- their .'inability to bring home'.to Mrs Maybrijck the, possession; of sufficient’ arsenic to'kill her husband,, and it is now said .tifiat'an expoliceman wfio waist -in Liverpool a,t the time has. revealdd.'the fact that a chemist avowed afterwards that he had supplied the woman', with large quantities of arsenic onspecified dates on .the plea, that she wanted it for killing rats.... SIGNED “CONFESSION 1 .”

Even more sensational is the story cabled on, ,the. authority of a London newspaper - that the Home Office to Whitehall holds a full confession signed by Mrs Maybrick when - she lay under sentence of- death in Walton Gaol.

When I interviewed Mrs Maybrick, here she’said: “Both s|tofies are. utterly false. .. I'do not'.doubt, that -a chemijst ■ did . say something of the ]jind, and, in fact, I know he- did, for the story was brought to :the notice of Hie defence before the trial. It was investigated, and both slides were satisfied th.at‘ on at least one ot the dates indicated I cpuld -not have been. in Liverpool. On the, .contrary, •it was. part -of the, case against me that on thaU.date I-was in a London hotel with a man mentioned in the 'case.

“As for - the other stpry of my own confession, you have..only to think to isee. how absurd it is. I .-wasj ;in the condemned cell, waiting for, death' at the handsuf;the. executioner., My- one hope of escape was in strengthening/ belief in my innocence. Was it likely I would choose that moment for avowing guilt, and, having done’so, w.as'it likely that-the reprieve: .which had been ref used, up to then should- be. granted, within- a few hours, of/ the time' fixed for my death 1” • . • /

Mj-si Maybrick chose this spot for lier refirement; becajise of its association.with one of her lovers, before she had met Mr Maybrick. - ’ ;

THE MAN WHO HORGOT., ; She '■ vfrote a story o# her life in. prison, and shortly .afterwards married a. Baltimore merchant, but the marriage was. short-lived. j -

. Confirmation of her repudiation of ithe alleged confession lodged, witn the .Home Office is.found in-•the faded/letter she showed me from the American State Department at Washington .to her mother in the; early ,part of 1904, announcing that in. view of the doubt that existed about-., her guilt ; the 'Engy J>ish authorities had-agreed’to; release her earlier than wbuld otherwise have been the case. / , Obviously, had- there been a. confession ; in existence .at the Home Office this concession could not have been ma.de, ..to ■■’the American re,presentafiohs- on' liter 'behalf. -

One -pi the/'bitter disappointments of Mrs ~Maybrick’s life was the. fact thSt Brierley,' the man who figured in the case her’lo.yer, had shown no desire to join -her , atifer release.

'“He had forgotten me, and did not seem to min'd, what happened to- me,” she said., ; ’, • - : -