New Maybrick Website

[Mike Covell]

Excellent news Chris, I love the website and visit quite often, also have both yours and William Beadle's book on the shelves.

Do you have the recent article on "Spring Heeled Jack" from Fortean Times Magazine?

[Chris Jones]

Excellent news Chris, I love the website and visit quite often, also have both yours and William Beadle's book on the shelves.

Do you have the recent article on "Spring Heeled Jack" from Fortean Times Magazine?

Hi Mike,

Glad you like my book. I have included your kind review of it in my latest news section. Since its publication I have found some new material, will post it on the website over the next few months.

Have not read the article on Spring Heeled Jack that you refer to, must look it up. Happy to add articles like that to my website so that they can be widely read.

Best wishes, Chris J

[Mike Covell]

I have emailed you Chris, glad you liked the review, and happy to see you have found some new information. It's always the case!

[Archaic]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I went through your new Maybrick site & found it quite interesting.

I don't believe Maybrick was the Ripper, so I particularly appreciate the effort that you went to on your site to present "both sides"- or perhaps I should say, "multiple sides"- of what seems to be a very convoluted issue. Letting the different sides make their arguments separately and without interruption is rather refreshing too... and I did read them all!

I also found the site easy to navigate. Nice job!

[Chris Jones]

Website Update

Dear All,

I have just updated the Latest News and Archive sections of my Maybrick website. I have included a picture of West Freemason Street, Norfolk, Virginia, in the 1890s. It is a picture that James Maybrick would have recognised as this was the street in which he lived with Florence and his son, Bobo, in the early 1880s. I visited Norfolk in April 2009 and walked down the street. I was in the city, as I wanted to visit the sites associated with the Maybricks and carry out some research in the local library.

This month I have added twelve new items to the archive section. One of these is the response by Caroline (Caz) Morris to the article written by Bill Beadle which I placed in the archive section earlier in the year. In her article Caz does not attempt to make a case for the authenticity of the Diary, or to suggest when it may have been created, however, she does respond to a number of individual arguments with Bill’s article.

One of the items placed in the archives this month is a never before published picture of the fire insurance plans of the Knowsley Buildings dating from 1888. This was the building in which James Maybrick had his office. The plans also show Silk House Lane, the narrow street that ran at ninety degrees to Tithebarn Street and separated the Knowsley Buildings (northside) from the Grovenor Buildings (southside). The lane was a busy short-cut used by many people to access Tithebarn Street. It was so named because the buildings had originally been a silk factory.

Other new items in the archives include reports of Dr Humphreys and Dr Fuller at Florence Maybrick’s trial. The two of them were both witnesses for the prosecution at the trial. I have also added the report of the evidence of Bioletti. He was a hairdresser and perfumer of Dale Street, Liverpool, who was a defence witness at the trial. Bioletti’s testimony was an attempt by Florence’s counsel, Sir Charles Russell, to counter the accusation that Florence had bought the flypapers with the intention of extracting arsenic to poison her husband. Russell wanted to establish the fact that arsenic-based solutions were commonly used by women as a cosmetic.

Two other interesting archive items are the affidavits provided by Valentine Blake and Captain Fleming. These affidavits were part of a body of information given to the Home Secretary, some years after Florence’s trial, in an attempt to get her released from prison. Blake was the man who provided James Maybrick with a large quantity of arsenic early in 1889. Blake agreed to provide James with arsenic and in return James agreed to help him in promoting Ramie Grass seed. Blake gave James about 150 grains of arsenic in three packets: one packet of white and two packets of black arsenic (mixed with charcoal). Fleming said that he had known James when he lived in Norfolk, Virginia, some time between 1882 and 1884. He recalled that he had seen him putting a grey powder on his food and asked him what it was. James replied that it was arsenic.

Best wishes, Chris Jones

[Chris Jones]

From Lark Lane to Mobile, Alabama

For those of you who are interested in the Florence Maybrick trial, the police station in Lark Lane, Liverpool where she was held for a short time during the inquest into James' death has opened a small museum. There are some pictures and details of the museum on my website. Essentially, one of the police cells is open to the public and certain items have been put on general display in the cell. It is small, but interesting and well worth a visit if you are in Liverpool.

I am off to Mobile in April, Florence's birthplace, to carry out some research into her early life and into how the 1889 trial was recorded in local Alabama newspapers. I am also giving a talk on James and Florence in the main library in Mobile on Saturday 10th April 2010. The talk will be a useful exercise for myself as I am also to give a talk at the Whitechapel Society in June. I must confess to being a little apprehensive about the latter talk; the members are all very friendly but some of them will know a lot more more about the 'Maybrick Diary' saga than I do! Luckily, I do have some new material and pictures to show them.

Best wishes, Chris Jones

[caz]

Hi Chris,

I find the whole Flo and Jim story fascinating (if tragic) in its own right, without going into any of the modern day diary and watch business, and I imagine that goes for pretty much all the WS members too. So anything you can add to our knowledge and understanding of the former will be much appreciated.

There's no need for any apprehension on your part, but I would certainly share it if you were planning to stray into the latter (any 'new material' aside of course, because that should always be welcome).

Love,

Caz
X

[Graham]

Yes, the Maybrick Case is fascinating in its own right, but I get the impression that most people view Maybrick only as a Ripper suspect and not the victim of one of the most sensational murder (?) cases of the LVP.

Cheers,

Graham

[Chris Jones]

Mobile - update

I have updated the Maybrick website to include some new archive material and some scenes from Mobile, the birth place of Florence Maybrick. I have included a picture of the remains of one of the columns that once formed part of the home of Daniel and Sarah Chandler. Daniel Chandler was Florence Maybrick's paternal grandfather. The Chandlers lived in a magnificent mansion on Government Street, Mobile, built in 1850. The site today is a car park and it is in this car park that one of the original columns of the house can be seen. Many books suggest that Florence was born in the house and lived there for some of her childhood. For reasons explained on the website, I do not think either of the latter two statements to be correct.

Two new items in the archives concern Captain Franklin Bache Du Barry, the Confederate Officer who became the second husband of Florence’s mother. Both items refer to his military service in the Civil War prior to his death in 1864. One shows a complete summary of his service record. The other refers to particular times in his army career, for example, he served in Dent’s Battery of Artillery at the start of the war. A letter from the Governor of Alabama to the Confederate President refers to Du Barry by name and states that apart from Du Barry, the commanding officer at Fort Morgan has ‘scarcely another officer upon whom he can fully rely.’ Du Barry was later appointed the District Ordnance Officer in Charleston. General Ripley’s report (April, 1863) states that Du Barry was ‘active and energetic in the supply of ammunition and material for the batteries.’ Further items on Du Barry will appear in future Latest News sections. We are still busy carrying out research into this colourful character.

Best wishes, Chris Jones

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Chris

I'm pleased to hear you had a successful trip to Alabama. Many thanks for alerting us to the updates on the site.

In regard to your comments about Captain Franklin Bache Du Barry, I am doing a lot of digging into Napoleonic Wars history right now for a follow-up to my War of 1812 book and it is surprising how much Wellington complained about the poor quality of the generals he had to work with. Apparently the standard of the British generals in the 18th Century was pretty lamentable and though improved by the Duke of York in the early years of the 19th Century the standard still left much to be desired while Wellington was fighting Napoleon's troops in the Iberian peninsula.

So the comment by the Governor of Alabama about Captain Du Barry being about the only officer on whom the commanding officer at Fort Morgan could "fully rely" in some respects reflects the poor standard of officers in armies in the 19th century generally. Of course in the case of the British Army, money, family connections and aristocratic breeding played a part, and lazy officers got appointed not through quality but whom they knew and what money could be laid out to buy their climb up the ranks of the officer corps.

Chris

[SaraCarter33]

Chris i love your site it is awesome.

[ChainzCooper]

Yeah I'll second that, its a really cool website Chris. You should be proud.
Jordan

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Yes, the website is interesting.

But personally I find it not plausible, that Maybrick could have been JtR!

But like people have said on this thread; the Maybrick case is interesting on its own!

All the best
Jukka

[SaraCarter33]

that's a very respectable answer and well said.

[Chris Jones]

Thanks for feedback

Thank you to those who have viewed the updated Maybrick website and have posted comments on this website. We do appreciate positive feedback.

I do not claim that James Maybrick was JtR. What I try to do is provide an objective overview of the facts/arguments and let people make up their own mind.

I personally am more interested in the James/Florence story - hence my visits to America. I want to unearth relevant documents and gradually place them in the archive section of the website. I have some great new material from Mobile, including the Will of William Chandler, that will go into the next update. Did you know he left a slave girl for his wife, Caroline?

Chris - very interested in your comments on British generals. Wellington's own promotion was in part due to patronage and connections. It wasn't until Gladstone's army reforms of the 1870s (post-Crimean War) that a serious attempt was made to recruit and train officers without regard to patronage. While in Alabama, I drove down to New Orleans (same time as the Jazz festival) and visited the site of the battle of 1812. A rather patriotic ranger gave a vivid description of the defeat of the nasty Brits!

Best wishes, Chris Jones