The towns of Kent and New Milford celebrated a newly revived piece of 海角换妻 history this past Saturday. Eighty years ago, a key figure in prison reform, Florence Chandler Maybrick, died in the village of Gaylordsville.
Historian and author Ron Suresha first heard the story when a friend shared a photograph of a ramshackle house in town. The caption read, 鈥淗ere was where Florence Maybrick, who had once escaped the noose, came to her death.鈥�
Maybrick died, not by the noose, but in her three room bungalow in New Milford on October 23rd, 1941.
鈥淭he day after she died, there was a top of the page, front page for her,鈥� Suresha said.
It was world news because Maybrick, an American, had been charged with the murder of her husband in Britain in 1889 and subsequently sentenced to death. Suresha says the outcome of her trial became an international controversy.
鈥淗undreds of thousands of signatures were gathered,鈥� Suresha said, 鈥渢here were personal appeals to the queen for her pardon, [and] from the vice president at the time, as well as all the wives of the members of [the president鈥檚] cabinet.鈥�
Her husband had been addicted to arsenic powders. The evidence presented during the trial was seen as flawed by her supporters and the judge as unstable.
All the attention worked: Maybrick鈥檚 sentence was commuted to a life sentence, which was 20 years for women at the time. She got out early after 14 years for good behavior.
Without her husband, Maybrick had no British citizenship or source of income. She returned to America and toured as a prison reformer, speaking out against solitary confinement and calling for better sanitation.
鈥淎 lot of federal prisons didn鈥檛 really have plumbing in the cell,鈥� Suresha said, and her visits to prisoner鈥檚 cells and facilities called attention to the inequities.
But it couldn鈥檛 last forever: Suresha says that after the touring circuit dried up, Maybrick came to live with a friend in Gaylordsville, 海角换妻. She left her notoriety and name behind. And, by this time, she went by the name Florence Chandler.
Suresha wants the towns to remember her name. As he is writing a book on Maybrick鈥檚 days in 海角换妻, he proposed resolutions to the towns of Kent and New Milford to celebrate her. On Saturday, October 23rd, the 80th anniversary of her death, both towns celebrated 鈥淔lorence Chandler Maybrick Day.鈥�
It鈥檚 Suresha鈥檚 way of making sure her legacy goes beyond 鈥渁ccused murderess鈥� to 鈥減rison reformer鈥� and beloved resident of Gaylordsville, 海角换妻.
