Florence Maybrick: Death Sentence Commuted

If anyone had told Florence Chandler she would be sentenced to hang from an English gallows in Liverpool, she probably would never have left the comforts of her Mobile, Alabama home. But misadventures are never known beforehand, so an unwitting Florie (as she liked to be called) and her mother, Baroness Caroline von Roques, boarded the SS Baltic on March 12, 1880. Their final destination was Paris.

By the time the Baltic docked in Liverpool, Florie had changed her destination. Impulsive and headstrong at age eighteen, she had fallen in love during the crossing. She decided to marry an Englishman.

James Maybrick was 24 years old the day Florrie was born. Now, at 42, Maybrick had several dark secrets that he did not tell the young American. Had she known, one can only hope Florie would have made better choices. Had she known, she might have later recalled the Baltic voyage as a wonderful memory, not as a time to regret.