Mrs. Maybrick’s Own Story [Illustration: FLORENCE ELIZABETH MAYBRICK] MRS. MAYBRICK’S OWN STORY MY FIFTEEN LOST YEARS By _FLORENCE ELIZABETH MAYBRICK_ [Illustration] FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK and LONDON 1905 Copyright, 1904, By FLORENCE ELIZABETH MAYBRICK [Printed in the United States of America] Published December, 1904 To ALL THOSE FRIENDS IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND WHO, WITH UNWAVERING FAITH IN MY INNOCENCE, WORKED STEADFASTLY FOR MY FREEDOM, THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED FLORENCE ELIZABETH MAYBRICK. CONTENTS PART ONE MRS. MAYBRICK’S OWN STORY PAGE FOREWORD.--Sketch of My Ancestry, 9 CHAPTER I.--BEFORE THE TRIAL--My Arrest--A Prisoner in My Own House--At Walton Jail--Alone--The Coroner’s Inquest--A Plank for a Bed--The Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury--The Doctors Disagree--Letters from Walton Jail--Lord Russell’s Opinion--The Public Condemns Me Unheard, 23 CHAPTER II.--THE TRIAL--The Injustice of Trying the Case at Liverpool--An Unexpected Verdict--The Judge’s Sentence--In the Shadow of Death--Commutation of Sentence, 50 CHAPTER III.--IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT--Removal to Woking Prison--The Convict Uniform--In Solitary Confinement--The Daily Routine--The Exercise Hour--The Midday Meal--The Cruelty of Solitary Confinement, 61 CHAPTER IV.--THE PERIOD OF PROBATION--A Change of Cell--Evils of the Silent System--Insanity and Nervous Breakdown of Prisoners--Need of Separate Confinement for the Weak-Minded--Reading an Insufficient Relaxation--My Sufferings from Cold and Insomnia--Medical Attendance--Added Sufferings of the Delicately Nurtured--How Criminals and Imbeciles are Made, 76 CHAPTER V.--THE PERIOD OF HARD LABOR--Routine--Talk with the Chaplain--My Work in the Kitchen--The Machine-made Menu--Visitors to the Kitchen--The “Homelike” Cell--The Opiate of Acquiescence--Visits of Prisoners’ Friends--My Mother’s Visits--A Letter from Lord Russell--Punished for Another’s Fault--Forms of Punishment--The True Aim of Punishment--The Evil of Collective Punishment--The Evil of Constant Supervision--Some Good Points of Convict Prisons--My Sickness--Taken to the Infirmary--The Utter Desolation of a Sick Prisoner, 93 CHAPTER VI.--AT AYLESBURY PRISON--Removal from Woking--New Insignia of Shame--Arrival at Aylesbury Prison--A New Prison Régime--The Board of Visitors--Regulations Concerning Letters and Visits--My Letter to Gail Hamilton--A Visit from Lord Russell, 127