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Liverpool Mythology |
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During
the final few months of 1888, a savage killer murdered several prostitutes
on the outskirts of London, England. The killings sparked the largest
police manhunt ever, to no avail, the killer was never captured. Ever
since then, the crimes of Jack the Ripper have mystified historians and
become legend in the minds of people everywhere.
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In 1993 a book was published which included a transcript of a diary believed to have been written by a Liverpool businessman, James Maybrick. In the diary Maybrick confesses to being Jack the Ripper. Experts dismissed the diary as being a forgery for several reasons, although there is no proof that the transcript is a hoax. Nonetheless, the Liverpool connection in the Ripper theory is intriguing. |
| James Maybrick was born on 24 October 1838. He became a successful Liverpool cotton merchant and often travelled to Norfolk, Virginia on business. On one such trip he met Florence Chandler, aged 18. The couple married and later had two children, however, the relationship between Maybrick and his young wife was strange to say the least. Florie would often flirt with other men and possibly in revenge, an angry and jealous Maybrick would take up with several mistresses. |
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It is believed
that Maybrick was a hypochondriac who became addicted to arsenic having
been prescribed the drug during a bout of malaria. His increasing addiction
was fuelled by his anger at Florie for her infidelity. Jack the Ripper was a serial killer who pounced on seven women in London between August and November 1888. Each murder occurred at night in the Whitechapel district of London's East End. All of the victims suffered brutal attacks to such an extent that investigators believed that the murderer would need to have a thorough knowledge of the human anatomy given his method of killing. |
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Maybrick died in suspicious circumstances in 1889 and Florie went on trial for murdering her husband with arsenic. There are theories suggesting that Maybrick had increased his dosage to such a degree that his body had become immune to the drug and that he was dependent of it. Rather than poison Maybrick, it is suggested that Florie simply withdrew his dosage which ultimately killed him. Whatever the reason, she was convicted of murder and an initial death sentence was reduced to fifteen years imprisonment. The court case itself is thought to have been surrounded in controversy and prejudice against her, due to her alleged affairs. The judge was committed to an asylum only two years later, confirming the suspicions of his sanity at the time of the trial. Florie disappeared into obscurity following her release and always maintained her innocence. She is thought to have returned to America and died in squalor, surrounded by cats, in 1941. |
| Still undecided on the Maybrick theory? Order the Diary and judge for yourself | |
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©2002 Timbo's Liverpool - copyright notice |
