About the end of April, 1889, Mr. James Maybrick was seized with a peculiar illness, of which the main symptoms consisted of a rigidity of the limbs and a general feeling of sickness, which quite prostrated him, and eventually confined him to bed. The medical man who was called in to attend him, attributed the cause to extreme irritability of the stomach and treated him accordingly; but, becoming puzzled by the persistent sickness and the rapidly increasing weakness of his patient, a second practitioner was called in consultation. From this time he grew considerably worse, severer symptoms and diarrhoea set in, which caused the doctors to suspect the cause was due to some irritant poison. This was confirmed by the discovery that arsenic had been placed in a bottle of meat juice that was being administered to the sick man. Trained nurses were placed in charge, and a close watch kept on the patient, but without avail, and he died on May 11. Suspicions having been aroused, and from statements made to the police, Mrs. Maybrick was arrested, and eventually charged with the wilful murder of her husband. From evidence given at the trial, it transpired that the relations between husband and wife had not been of the most cordial character for some time. There were frequent disagreements, and just before Mr. Maybrick was taken ill there had been a serious quarrel, resulting from his wife's relations with another man. The lady resented the accusation, and a separation was talked of. The fatal illness then intervened, during the first portion of which Mrs. Maybrick nursed her husband; but through a letter addressed to her lover, which she had given to her nursemaid to post, having been opened by the latter and handed to Mr. Maybrick's brother, trained nurses were called in, and the sick man was placed in their charge entirely. This letter, which formed one of the strongest pieces of evidence against the accused, revealed the connection between Mrs. Maybrick and her lover, and contained the intelligence to him that her husband was "sick unto death." Evidence was also given by the servants, of flypapers having been seen in process of maceration in water in Mrs. Maybrick's bedroom. The trained nurses also gave evidence concerning the suspicious conduct of Mrs. Maybrick, with reference to tampering with the medicines and meat juice which were to be administered to the patient. These suspicions culminated in the discovery of arsenic in a bottle of the meat juice by one of the medical attendants. Considerable quantities of arsenic were found by the police in the house, including a packet containing seventy-one grains, mixed with charcoal, and labelled "Poison for cats."