The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-03-12 00:00:00

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

At the assizes held at Chelmsford, Mica Smart,
forty, was indicted for the wilful murder of the child
of her danghter, Rebecca Smart, of the age of one hour '
or thereabouts, by strangling it. Mr. Walford and
Mr. Edwin Lucas, conducted the prosecution, and
thejarisoner was defended by Mr. Codd.
This was a very remarkable case, as will be seen by
the following outline of the trial. The prisoner was
a married woman, the wife of a labourer, residing at
Nazeing in the county of Essex, and the allegation on
the part of the prosecution was that she had murdered
her grandchild, the illegitimate offspring of her daugh-
ter Rebecca, a young woman of twenty. The principal
witness for the prosecution was a married woman
named Susan Starks, and, according to her evidence,
she actually saw the prisoner commit the murder, and
there was this corroboration of her testimony that
upon a search being made in the garden attached to
the cottage of the prisoner the bones and other de.
composed remains of a child were discovered. The
murder was represented to have been committed in
August last, but no information appeared to have been
given by the witness respecting it until several
months afterwards ; and, upon inquries being made by
the police, the result WWI that the prisoner was com-
mitted fir trial upon the present charge.
Susan Starks, who was the first witness examined, said:
In August last I lived next door to the prisoner and her
husb .nd st Nazelng, and I remember being called up In the
night on account of the prisoner's daughter being confined.
After the child had been born, the prisoner put one of her
fingers into its mouth, and the baby cried and the prisoner's
daughter said to her, "Dan! mother, don't let the baby cry."
The pris-nor replied, " Don't fear; It will not trouble any-
li,dy bug" The prisoner then asked me what she was to do,
and I replied, Please yoursell, Mrs Smart; you know your
own ease hest." The prisoner then took MI one of her gar-
ters and tied it round the baby's neck, and tied it on the bet,
and I went away and never LW the child again. Two days
after this the prisoner told me that she had burled the child
in the garden.
i Cross-examined: When I was first examined, I told the
magistrate that the prisoner put her finger down the throat
of the child. I did not know what the prisoner was going to
do when she took off her garter and pot it round the child's
neck.

---
Mr. Dodd: What did you do when you new her, as you say,
tie her garter round the throat of an Infant just born 1-1 did
not do anything.
The Lord chief Justice to the witness: Did you believe
that the prisoner was going to murder the child I—l did not
know what she was going to do.
His lordship : What did you mean by saying to the prisoner
"Please yourself," when she put the question to you what
she was to do ?--Witness (hesitating) : I understood her to
ask me whether she was to kill the child or not. (Sensation.
His lordship And you coolly told her to please her,elf.
Is that what you mean to say I—The witness made no
answer.
In further cross-examination, the witness said she would
swear that she did not say to the prisoner, "If I were you I
would but let the child live, and no one should know any
thing about It. She did not mention anything of what had
happened until five months afterwards, and the reason for
her silence was that the prisoner told her not to tell any-
body what had taken place. Her COUScibIICO woad not let
her keep the secret any longer.