The Chilling True Stories Behind The Seven Most Popular Jack The Ripper Suspects

Published April 20, 2023
Updated March 28, 2024

James Maybrick: An Unassuming Cotton Merchant Who Became A Jack The Ripper Suspect

James Maybrick

Wikimedia CommonsJames Maybrick, a cotton merchant who was later allegedly poisoned by his wife.

Who was he?

Born in 1838, James Maybrick was a Liverpool cotton merchant. Due to his profession, he was constantly traveling between England and the United States.

In 1871, Maybrick settled in Virginia, an important location in the cotton trade. There, he eventually contracted malaria and then became addicted to the medicine used to treat the disease (this medicine contained arsenic).

By 1880, Maybrick had returned to Liverpool. Soon afterward, he married Florence Chandler, an American girl whom he had met during his voyage back to England. Chandler was only about 18 or 19 years old when she first met Maybrick, and he was more than 20 years older than her.

Though some people were surprised by the age difference, this didn’t stop their wedding. However, their marriage quickly soured, and both of them began to engage in extramarital affairs.

Then, in April 1889, Maybrick’s health suddenly deteriorated and he died in May at age 50. Maybrick’s family became suspicious of his sudden illness and requested that police take a closer look. Before long, Chandler was accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic (despite his addiction to medicine that contained arsenic).

Chandler was eventually sentenced to life in prison for the alleged murder, but after a re-examination of the case — and the shaky evidence against her — she was released in 1904.

Then, decades later, Maybrick, the man once thought to have been a murder victim, was accused of being a murderer himself.

Why is he one of the Jack the Ripper suspects?

In 1992, a former Liverpool scrap metal merchant named Michael Barrett claimed that he had found a diary that belonged to James Maybrick.

The diary’s author takes credit for the five victims attributed to Jack the Ripper, explaining that he committed the brutal crimes after exploding into a murderous rage after catching his wife cheating.

Some experts who have examined the diary say that it contains specific details about the murders that only the real killer would know.

Furthermore, in 1993, a Victorian pocket watch was discovered, with engravings reading “I am Jack, J. Maybrick” and the initials of the five known Ripper victims. But these pieces of evidence didn’t necessarily mean that the identity of Jack the Ripper had been uncovered.

Does the case against him hold up?

Only if the diary is authentic.

Ever since the diary emerged, it’s been examined multiple times, and experts disagree on whether the document is authentic or not. But the story of how it ended up in the hands of Barrett has changed multiple times, which is enough to raise doubts about its authenticity.

Barrett first claimed he received the diary from his friend Tony Devereux in “late” 1991, but it was later learned that Devereux died in August of that year. Then, Barrett said that he forged the diary.

However, he later retracted this confession, and his estranged wife then claimed that the diary had actually been in her family since World War II.

As for the pocket watch, experts believe it’s from the same time period when Maybrick was alive, but it’s unclear whether he was responsible for the etchings. And even if he was, scrawling on a timepiece is not generally considered solid evidence of a person committing a crime.

Tellingly, little else known for sure about Maybrick’s life would connect him to the Ripper murders.

author
Gabe Paoletti
author
Gabe Paoletti is a New York City-based writer and a former Editorial Intern at All That's Interesting. He holds a Bachelor's in English from Fordham University.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.