James Maybrick

**SteH** · 03-04-2007

Sorry Chris I wasnt born till 1971 so cant help you there! Upstairs at the Poste house has only become a gay bar in the last 12-18 months.

**ChrisGeorge** · 03-05-2007

Originally Posted by SteH

Sorry Chris I wasnt born till 1971 so cant help you there! Upstairs at the Poste house has only become a gay bar in the last 12-18 months.

God you're only a kid, ha ha.

Chris

**Jericho** · 03-05-2007

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that Maybrick was sometimes partial to a bit of ***** loving on the side.

Type, type, type...

What's that? Another lost diary! So that's what he was using arsenic for - the dirty get.

**TonyMay** · 03-25-2007

Hi Everyone,

Long time - no post eh? Dunno why really just ran out of ideas I guess (oh and went on holiday to Amster**** for a few days). A woman at my writing group came up with an interesting exercise for homework last week. She told us all to think of our favourite book and then try to compose a letter from one of the characters in it to another about a part of the story we ourselves have invented. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to learn by doing so but the idea got me thinking about my old friend Maybrick again. What if James had been caught red handed? What kind of letter would he have written, the day before his execution in his cell and who would he have written it to? I came to the conclusion that James would almost certainly have written to his brother Michael. 'Just for jolly' this is what I imagined he might have said. Tell me what you think eh?

To my dear brother Michael,

How are you? Forgive me dear brother but I know no other way of beginning this letter. Of course I know all too well how you are. Perhaps I have even lost the right to ask you such a question?
It is cold and damp in here. I am most grateful at least that my stay in such conditions shall not be a prolonged one. The hangman shall do his work tomorrow. I pray for a quick death, though I am aware how I deserve to suffer for what I’ve done.
Take care of Gladys and Bobo for me will you? Do this for the man I once was for the brother you once had I beg of you. Oh how I have worried about my dear sweet Gladys. Has her heath improved with the coming of the spring?
I regret I shall not live to see my most favourite of months, feel the warming air upon my skin and smell the sweet scent of the flowers on the wind.
I shall not ask for your forgiveness. That alone only God can give me now. Soon my body shall lie beside mother and father…Oh how could I have done such deeds Michael? How? How could I have brought such shame upon our family and such pain to so many?
My head aches almost as much as my heart. Hands as cold as ice shall soon matter no more. Of earthly worries I will at least be free.
How is my dear friend George? I feel such guilt about having deceived him so. Such a dear and true friend, no man could have wished for better. I pray only that with time he will recover and forget if not forgive.
Am I sorry for all I’ve done? I know not? Perhaps I am incapable of feeling so, if a man cannot explain his actions is it even possible for him to understand them?
I leave the care of my estate in your capable hands dear brother, I know you will ensure bunny and the children are well provided for. Indeed have you not always been the most sensible among us?

Farewell then. Oh how inadequate are words?

Your loving brother James.

**Jericho** · 04-06-2007

A petition for the posthumous pardon of old ma Maybrick:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/PardonFlorie/

**Ged** · 04-06-2007

Bless maaa soul, a cuppa cofffeee.

**ChrisGeorge** · 04-06-2007

Hi Jericho

Thanks for the news of the petition to pardon Florence Maybrick. We'll report it in the new issue of Ripperologist.

Hi Tony

Your letter comes across as if it could have been written by James Maybrick. It worries me that you might make it too authentic sounding that you will put yourself in the frame as a suspect for having written the Diary, ha ha.

Chris

**Jericho** · 04-06-2007

Did I imagine this or is there talk about making a movie about James Maybrick Esq?

Better still one about old Flo.

A very dark couple. If that house could talk or even whisper ...

**ChrisGeorge** · 04-06-2007

Originally Posted by Jericho

Did I imagine this or is there talk about making a movie about James Maybrick Esq?

Better still one about old Flo.

A very dark couple. If that house could talk or even whisper ...

Hello Jericho

There has been talk of making a film about the Maybricks for over ten years. At one point, Anthony Hopkins was going to play James Maybrick, but he backed out supposedly saying he had played too many "dark" parts (e.g., Hannibal Lecter). The director William Friedkin, responsible for The Exorcist and The French Connection, was said to have been making a movie about the Maybricks called Battlecrease. Friedkin's project was bounced about between studios and at one point he was involved in a law case over one studio backing out of the project. The screenwriter Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I) was also said to be involved in a screen project involving the Maybricks but he has apparently turned instead to writing a book on the subject, according to a March 24, 2003 story in the Daily Express. The latest is that Friedkin is said to be coming to the "The Trial of James Maybrick" at the Liverpool Cricket Club on May 19-20 -- so whether that means his projected film is back on, I don't know. I'll try to find out when I am in Aigburth in a few weeks!!!

Chris

DaisyChains · 04-07-2007

I just bought the 'Murder Most Foul' Liverpool Echo special.
Big double page feature about the Maybricks...

**UKRobP** · 04-10-2007

Just a couple of things...

I saw a script for "Fifteen Lost Years" about six years ago when it was due for a re-write. The story is very one-sided, as you'd imagine, but it also included extracts from the diary as though it has been proved to be undoubtedly real. It basically makes out that Mrs. Maybrick found the diary and killed her husband to stop him killing others. It also gives the hint that Alice Yapp (a maid) and Matlida Briggs (a neighbour) were in on the murder.

I have also seen a copy of the script for The Ripper Notes, an unathorised script based on the Maybrick Diary but thankfully they do point out that it's yet to be proved real.

I don't for one minute think the diary is real. There are too many questions but it is at least a good read... ish!

I'd be interested in attending this Maybrick event. Can anyone give me more details?

**ChrisGeorge** · 04-10-2007

Originally Posted by UKRobP

Just a couple of things...

I saw a script for "Fifteen Lost Years" about six years ago when it was due for a re-write. The story is very one-sided, as you'd imagine, but it also included extracts from the diary as though it has been proved to be undoubtedly real. It basically makes out that Mrs. Maybrick found the diary and killed her husband to stop him killing others. It also gives the hint that Alice Yapp (a maid) and Matlida Briggs (a neighbour) were in on the murder.

I have also seen a copy of the script for The Ripper Notes, an unathorised script based on the Maybrick Diary but thankfully they do point out that it's yet to be proved real.

I don't for one minute think the diary is real. There are too many questions but it is at least a good read... ish!

I'd be interested in attending this Maybrick event. Can anyone give me more details?

Thanks for this information UKRobP and welcome to Yo Liverpool. Are you a scriptwriter? You can find information on the Maybrick Trial at

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3451

Chris

**Jericho** · 04-10-2007

Alice Yapp - fantastic name

**UKRobP** · 04-11-2007

Hi Chris,

No, I'm not a screenwriter. Well not officially, although I have done the odd bit.

I work in the industry, hence seeing the scripts, and also have an interest, as a hobby, in crime.

Cheers for the link. Will check it out.

Rob.

**UKRobP** · 04-11-2007

I know this is a forum about Liverpudlian Celebs so I don't want to turn it into a Jack The Ripper thread but... can someone tell me (as there seems to be quite a few Ripperologists here) why of the 11 murders added to the Whitechapel casefiles, only 5 are ever mentioned as being by the Ripper. The police at the time thought the others were and evidence still suggests that they were Ripper murders but no one ever mentions them.