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MY FIFTEEN LOST YEARS

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FOREWORD

Sketch of My Ancestry

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

The Injustice of Trying the Case at Liverpool

An Unexpected Verdict

The Judge’s Sentence

In the Shadow of Death

Commutation of Sentence

Removal to Woking Prison

The Convict Uniform

In Solitary Confinement

The Daily Routine

The Exercise Hour

The Midday Meal

The Cruelty of Solitary Confinement

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

Routine

Talk with the Chaplain

My Work in the Kitchen

The Machine-made Menu

Diet for Female Convicts

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

Removal from Woking

New Insignia of Shame

Arrival at Aylesbury Prison

A New Prison Régime

The Board of Visitors

Regulations Concerning Letters and Visits

A Visit from Lord Russell

Denied by the Secretary of State

Report of My Misconduct Refuted

Need of a Court of Criminal Appeal

Historic Examples of British Injustice

The Case of Adolf Beck

Dedication of New Chapel

Influence of Religion upon Prisoners

Suicide of a Prisoner

Tragedies in Prison

Moral Effect of Harsh Prison Regime

Attacks of Levity

Self-Discipline

Need of Women Doctors and Inspectors

Chastening Effect of Imprisonment on the Spirit

A Death-bed Incident

I am Set to Work in the Library

Newspapers Forbidden

How Prisoners Learn of Great Events

Strict Discipline of Prison Officers

Their High Character

Nervous Strain of Their Duties

Standing Orders for Warders

Crime a Mental Disease

Something Good in the Worst Criminal

Need of Further Prison Reform

I Learn the Time When My Sentence Will Terminate

The Dawn of Liberty

The Release

In Retreat at Truro

I Come to America

My Lost Years

Introduction

Petitions for a Reprieve

Illogical Position of Home Secretary

New Evidence of Innocence Ignored

Lord Russell’s Letter

Efforts for Release

Even New Evidence Superfluous

The Doctors’ Doubt

Public Surprise at Verdict

Character of Jury

The “Mad Judge”

Justice Stephen’s Biased Charge

Lord Russell’s Memorandum Quashed

Repeated Protests of Lord Russell

The American Official Petition

Secretary Blaine’s Letter to Minister Lincoln

Henry W. Lucy on Lord Russell

Lord Russell’s Conviction of Mrs. Maybrick’s Innocence

Explanation of Attitude of Home Secretaries

Upholding the Justiciary

Need of Court of Criminal Appeal

Opinion—Re F. E. Maybrick

Justice Stephen’s Misdirections

Misdirection as to Mr. Maybrick’s Symptoms

Misdirection as to Mrs. Maybrick’s Access to Poisons

Misdirection as to “Traces” of Arsenic

Misdirection as to Arsenic in Solution

Mr. Clayton’s Experiments

Misdirection as to Arsenic in Glycerin

Misdirection as to Evidence of Physicians

Misdirection as to Times When Arsenic May Have Been Administered

Misdirection as to Mrs. Maybrick’s Changing Medicine Bottles

Misdirection as to Administration With Intent to Kill

Exclusion of Prisoner’s Testimony

Misdirection as to Identity of Meat-Juice Bottle

Misdirection in Excluding Corroboration of Prisoner’s Statement

Misdirections to Jury to Draw Illegal Inferences

Misdirections Regarding the Medical Testimony

Conflict of Medical Opinion

Misdirections as to Cause of Death

Misdirection to Ignore Medical Testimony

Misreception of Evidence

Cruel Misstatement by the Coroner

Medical Evidence for the Prosecution

Maybrick Died a Natural Death

The Chief Witness for the Prosecution

Medical Evidence for Defense

A Toxicological Study

The Medical Weakness of the Prosecution

The Administration Of Arsenic

The Fly-paper Episode

How Mrs. Maybrick Accounts for The Fly-Papers

Administration of Arsenic not Proved

Intent to Murder not Proved

Absence of Concealment by Prisoner

Some Important Deductions from Medical Testimony

Symptoms Due to Poisonous Drugs

Death from Natural Causes

Prosecution’s Deductions from Post-mortem Analysis Misleading

Recapitulation Of Legal Points

MEMORIALS FOR RESPITE OF SENTENCE

From the Physicians of Liverpool

From the Bars of Liverpool and London

From Citizens of Liverpool

NEW EVIDENCE

Arsenic Sold to Maybrick by Druggist

Arsenic Supplied to Maybrick by Manufacturing Chemist

Depositions as to Mr. Maybrick’s Arsenic Habit

Justice Stephen’s Retirement