The Poisoned Life of Mrs. Maybrick

The Whitechapel district of London was terrorized in the late 1800s by a serial killer known as “Jack the Ripper.” Although his identity was never proven, some historical scholars claim a cotton broker by the name of James Maybrick was responsible. Maybrick was never brought to trial. Instead, his wife was tried, convicted, and sentenced to execution for her husband’s murder. Born in America, eighteen-year-old Florence Elizabeth Maybrick met the forty-two-year-old Englishman in 1881 on board a ship. Despite the reprehensible treatment by James’s family toward Florence, the two married, but their marriage was not a happy one. Mrs. Maybrick went so far as to spend a romantic weekend away with one of her husband’s handsome business associates. Eventually, James Maybrick succumbed to arsenic poisoning. Before Florence even went to trial, the press found her guilty of his murder. Even though England’s leading barrister proved her not guilty in the public mind, she was still convicted. Yet, she somehow managed to live a long life as a cat woman in Connecticut. In fact, Mrs. Maybrick’s life might be even more mysterious than that of her purportedly murderous husband.