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The mystery of Alabama's 'Mrs. Jack the Ripper'
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By KELLY KAZEK
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ” Rumors, unsubstantiated allegations, bad luck and outright lies shaped the life and legacy of a Mobile woman born during the Civil War, leaving her with the ignominious labels of convicted murderer and wife of Jack the Ripper.
So what is the true story of Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick, who was born to a wealthy family in 1862, but died in obscurity in 1941?
Alabama roots
Florence, known as "Florie," was the daughter of William George Chandler, a banker and former mayor of Mobile, but he died three months before she was born. After her mother, Caroline Chandler Du Barry, married German officer Baron Adolph von Roques in 1872, the family spent part of their time overseas.
In 1880, when Florie was 19, she was onboard ship with her mother, headed to England, when she met cotton broker James Maybrick, according to Murderpedia.com.
Despite the fact that he was 42, the two had a whirlwind courtship and married in London in July 1881. They lived in the Liverpool estate called Battlecrease. They would have two children, Gladys and James Chandler "Bobo," but the marriage was tumultuous. Maybrick was known to have many mistresses, including one woman with whom he had five children. At some point, Florence also began an affair, some say in retaliation of her husband's infidelities. He was a difficult man who was also a hypochondriac and administered himself medication, which in those days included arsenic and strychnine, which were thought to have healing qualities.
The "murder"
James Maybrick became ill in 1889, and died after languishing for two weeks. Arsenic was found in his system and authorities determined he died of poisons administered by "persons unknown." Florence was arrested and put on trial. Evidence included the fact that she had been seen soaking arsenic-coated flypapers to remove the poison, which she said was for cosmetic use. Still, she was convicted and sentenced to death, a sentence commuted to life in prison just four days later. She was the first American woman to be convicted of murder in England, according to a Nov. 26, 1995, story in the Mobile Register.
Even at the time, reporters questioned the way the case was handled, particularly because Maybrick was known to have used arsenic himself. In addition, the judge in the case was soon committed to an insane asylum and died there within two years.
W.T. Stead, who was editor of the Pall Mall Gazette during the trial, would write in "The Review of Reviews" in 1892: "Mr. Matthews ... was Home Secretary, and Sir Fitzjames Stephen was the judge, and between them they contrived to make as nice a botch of the whole business as wrong-headedness on one side and semi-dotage on the other could have brought about."
Stead also wrote that Florence herself would not allow testimony about her husband that may have spared her: "When the Messrs. Cleaver, her solicitors, were in consultation with her before the trial, Mrs. Maybrick pathetically implored them 'to spare Jim as much as possible. I know,' she said, 'he has done many wrong things, but he is dead now, and I would be distressed if his life were to be made public.'"
A movement began in England and the United States, calling for Florence's release. In 1904, that release finally came after evidence was reviewed by officials. Florence sailed for the U.S., and for a time gave lectures about her imprisonment, always declaring her innocence. She also penned a book called "My Fifteen Years Lost."
She eventually settled in Connecticut and became a recluse using the name Florence Chandler and living with cats.
When she died in 1941, people in her community knew her only as the "Cat Lady," and it wasn't until newspapers began to report her past that they learned of her true identity. She is buried in South Kent, Conn.
Mrs. Jack the Ripper
Florence Maybrick was allowed to rest in peace for the next five decades until a document surfaced that put her name back in the headlines, this time as "Mrs. Jack the Ripper."
In 1992, Warner Books Inc. announced plans to publish a newly discovered diary from a man purporting to have been Jack the Ripper. Although there was no name in the diary, which described the murders in detail, dozens of clues in the narrative identified the man as none other than James Maybrick, who had, until then, never been a suspect in the case. The sensational murders occurred in 1888, when Maybrick was 50 years old.
The diary, reportedly "discovered" in England, soon came under fire and Warner cancelled its publication in 1993, concerned it was a hoax. However, it was later released by an American publisher and, in 1995, London author Shirley Harrison published a version of the diary with her own conclusions. She said Maybrick's motive for the brutal slayings of prostitutes was his wife's philandering. According to the Mobile Register, he experienced "uncontrollable jealousy over his young wife, Florence, the Mobile-born beauty he'd fallen in love with eight years before."
To this day, some claim it is authentic.
Whether a hoax or real, James and Florence Maybrick will forever be linked to the unsolvable case, another stroke of bad luck for the pretty Southern belle who married well and died a cat lady.
~~~~~~~~
By KELLY KAZEK
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ” Rumors, unsubstantiated allegations, bad luck and outright lies shaped the life and legacy of a Mobile woman born during the Civil War, leaving her with the ignominious labels of convicted murderer and wife of Jack the Ripper.
So what is the true story of Florence Elizabeth Chandler Maybrick, who was born to a wealthy family in 1862, but died in obscurity in 1941?
Alabama roots
Florence, known as "Florie," was the daughter of William George Chandler, a banker and former mayor of Mobile, but he died three months before she was born. After her mother, Caroline Chandler Du Barry, married German officer Baron Adolph von Roques in 1872, the family spent part of their time overseas.
In 1880, when Florie was 19, she was onboard ship with her mother, headed to England, when she met cotton broker James Maybrick, according to Murderpedia.com.
Despite the fact that he was 42, the two had a whirlwind courtship and married in London in July 1881. They lived in the Liverpool estate called Battlecrease. They would have two children, Gladys and James Chandler "Bobo," but the marriage was tumultuous. Maybrick was known to have many mistresses, including one woman with whom he had five children. At some point, Florence also began an affair, some say in retaliation of her husband's infidelities. He was a difficult man who was also a hypochondriac and administered himself medication, which in those days included arsenic and strychnine, which were thought to have healing qualities.
The "murder"
James Maybrick became ill in 1889, and died after languishing for two weeks. Arsenic was found in his system and authorities determined he died of poisons administered by "persons unknown." Florence was arrested and put on trial. Evidence included the fact that she had been seen soaking arsenic-coated flypapers to remove the poison, which she said was for cosmetic use. Still, she was convicted and sentenced to death, a sentence commuted to life in prison just four days later. She was the first American woman to be convicted of murder in England, according to a Nov. 26, 1995, story in the Mobile Register.
Even at the time, reporters questioned the way the case was handled, particularly because Maybrick was known to have used arsenic himself. In addition, the judge in the case was soon committed to an insane asylum and died there within two years.
W.T. Stead, who was editor of the Pall Mall Gazette during the trial, would write in "The Review of Reviews" in 1892: "Mr. Matthews ... was Home Secretary, and Sir Fitzjames Stephen was the judge, and between them they contrived to make as nice a botch of the whole business as wrong-headedness on one side and semi-dotage on the other could have brought about."
Stead also wrote that Florence herself would not allow testimony about her husband that may have spared her: "When the Messrs. Cleaver, her solicitors, were in consultation with her before the trial, Mrs. Maybrick pathetically implored them 'to spare Jim as much as possible. I know,' she said, 'he has done many wrong things, but he is dead now, and I would be distressed if his life were to be made public.'"
A movement began in England and the United States, calling for Florence's release. In 1904, that release finally came after evidence was reviewed by officials. Florence sailed for the U.S., and for a time gave lectures about her imprisonment, always declaring her innocence. She also penned a book called "My Fifteen Years Lost."
She eventually settled in Connecticut and became a recluse using the name Florence Chandler and living with cats.
When she died in 1941, people in her community knew her only as the "Cat Lady," and it wasn't until newspapers began to report her past that they learned of her true identity. She is buried in South Kent, Conn.
Mrs. Jack the Ripper
Florence Maybrick was allowed to rest in peace for the next five decades until a document surfaced that put her name back in the headlines, this time as "Mrs. Jack the Ripper."
In 1992, Warner Books Inc. announced plans to publish a newly discovered diary from a man purporting to have been Jack the Ripper. Although there was no name in the diary, which described the murders in detail, dozens of clues in the narrative identified the man as none other than James Maybrick, who had, until then, never been a suspect in the case. The sensational murders occurred in 1888, when Maybrick was 50 years old.
The diary, reportedly "discovered" in England, soon came under fire and Warner cancelled its publication in 1993, concerned it was a hoax. However, it was later released by an American publisher and, in 1995, London author Shirley Harrison published a version of the diary with her own conclusions. She said Maybrick's motive for the brutal slayings of prostitutes was his wife's philandering. According to the Mobile Register, he experienced "uncontrollable jealousy over his young wife, Florence, the Mobile-born beauty he'd fallen in love with eight years before."
To this day, some claim it is authentic.
Whether a hoax or real, James and Florence Maybrick will forever be linked to the unsolvable case, another stroke of bad luck for the pretty Southern belle who married well and died a cat lady.
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