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SirRobertAnderson
11-28-2009, 11:41 PM
THE TRUTH ABOUT JAMES MAYBRICK

I feel, therefore, compelled for the first time since the case was reported to let the public understand exactly what kind of a man James Maybrick was, in order that they may form some idea of the justice of the judge's invectives and the cold-blooded brutality of the sneer which Mr. Matthews put into Lord Salisbury's mouth.

James Maybrick, his friends will say, was "a very good kind of fellow," which, according to the standard of goodness that prevails in certain circles in Liverpool, may be true. But James Maybrick was a seducer, an adulterer and a debauchee. Before he married the young and innocent girl, for whose release the best and most influential Americans have been pleading in vain, he had seduced a young woman of eighteen under promise of marriage. He kept her as his mistress until she bore him five children and then he cast her off without remorse when he saw his chance of marrying poor Florence.

But after the marriage he continued occasionally to meet his forsaken mistress, paying her more or less irregularly a miserable pittance, and dying without making any provision for her maintenance. Mrs. Maybrick was suspected of having made away with her husband's diamonds, which, it was subsequently discovered, had been given by him to his old mistress within the last year of his life. But that was not all. James Maybrick was false to the young wife whom he had brought to his polluted home. His relations with loose women could have been proved in court, and as the result of his misconduct marital relations were suspended for the last two years of his life. It was not, however, for her sake that this virtual separation took place. He said he did not wish to injure any child he might have. Thus, by his own evil living, Mrs. Maybrick was virtually separated from her husband before she ever transgressed with Brierley. That does not condone or excuse her fall, but it entirely puts the husband out of court, and makes the judge's anathemas seem even more brutally unjust than they appeared at the time.

Ought Mrs. Maybrick to be Tortured to Death? An Appeal from North America, and a Confession from South Africa.
W. T. Stead (The Review of Reviews, vol. VI, October, 1892) pp. 390-396

http://www.jamesmaybrick.org/pdf%20files/Stead%20W.%20T.%20%28article%20on%20Florence%20May brick%29.pdf

SirRobertAnderson
08-10-2010, 02:02 AM
Just bumping to remind posters that JM was a nasty piece of work.

Nemo
08-10-2010, 06:43 AM
That's interesting

I thought Florence had stopped marital relations because of his behaviour, whereas that passage implies that James had stopped having sex with her as he didn't want to harm any future children

Was he worried about his drug habits or do you think he had syphillis or similar?

It also shows a considerate side to him and that he wasn't that much of a beast

The accusations there indicate a womaniser and a cad of which there are many

SirRobertAnderson
08-10-2010, 01:30 PM
T

It also shows a considerate side to him and that he wasn't that much of a beast



Of course everyone will read this differently, but I took it as saying he didn't wish to father more children with Flo as he might physically harm them. YMMV.

Caroline Morris
08-10-2010, 02:58 PM
I assumed it was a reference to Jim not wanting to risk a child of his being born with galloping syph. That would not have done his 'respectable' reputation any good at all.

Whether or not he had been infected by one of his many sexual partners, he was bound to have worried about it and feared the worst, imagining all sorts of symptoms. He would have maintained that hypochondria was the only condition he didn't suffer from. :nod:

Does anyone know if arsenic was thought to treat or cure sexual infections, in addition to being a tonic and the LVP equivalent of viagra?

I've always been suspicious about his malaria claim. It sounds a bit too convenient that he had to start taking arsenic for this because quinine didn't agree with him. He got on fine with every other sodding medicine under the sun, whether it did him a bit of good or made him worse.

If he was infected, and was taking arsenic in the hope of getting rid of it, this could easily have contributed to his death. And it would have been even more important for his family to cover this up at the trial than the arsenic habit itself. Florie would definitely have wanted to protect her children from anything like that coming out.

Love,

Caz
X

PS Both of Jim's legitimate children died childless - one in a tragic 'accident' after telephoning the woman he was due to marry. He unaccountably 'mistook' a glass of cyanide for water. Did he too fear passing something on to any children of the marriage?

Nemo
08-11-2010, 06:17 AM
Hi SRA
The statement seems to be connected with his relations with loose women so I don't think he means that he would beat or otherwise abuse future children, though that is a possibility

I was thinking the same thing in regard to the arsenic treating some condition Caz. He did state he took it for the aphrodisiacal properties so I wonder if he just had some "erectile disfunction" which he didn't understand the actual cause of?

Was such impotence understood in the LVP?

Caroline Morris
08-11-2010, 11:14 AM
You could be right, Nemo.

I've heard that in a 'functioning' man, one of the last things to fail in old age is his erection, so any disfunction in the trouser department at an earlier age would have been much cause for concern and embarrassment to the macho men of the LVP. I would imagine they would have tried virtually anything to get their mojo back but would sooner not admit it.

We know that Jim would complain of umpteen different symptoms to umpteen different doctors and chemists, but maybe he would have stopped short of asking about remedies for the old brewer's droop.

The idea of him taking arsenic as an aphrodisiac right up until shortly before his death has always struck me as an extra kick in the teeth for the long-suffering Florie, considering he was not getting it on with her any more. But if he had caught something from one of his loose women, then he shouldn't really have been trying to get his jollies anywhere after that.

I would imagine it was a common problem across all classes back then, with married men itching for a bit of the other and bringing a real itch back home with them.

Love,

Caz
X

Scott Nelson
08-11-2010, 11:36 AM
.."the old brewer's droop." Oh noooo!!!!