From Citizens of Liverpool
A petition for reprieve of Mrs. Maybrick’s sentence was signed by many and influential citizens of Liverpool. Among the reasons urged were:
3. Lack of direct evidence of administration of arsenic.
4. The weak case against prisoner on general facts unduly prejudiced by evidence of motive.
5. Preponderance of medical testimony that death was ascribable to natural causes.
[I feel a deep respect for the noble avowal given in the petition of the medical practitioners of Liverpool, who must have felt the honor of their profession at stake, and that their individual dignity and humanity were concerned. The feeling among the Bar on receipt of the verdict was an almost universal, if not a quite unanimous, one of surprise. I have already mentioned (in Part One), the change of attitude of the citizens of Liverpool toward me, as the trial progressed, from hostility to belief in my innocence.—F. E. M.]