The Express.
London, England, 1863-10-31 00:00:00

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rm CVWP THE DITELEHT FLOWZZ. Yams. W. H.
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Pusan Fyne. Conductor, Mr. A. Mellon—Commence at B.

HATKARFET,

Tan Irkstao, OUE MAZY ANNE:OWL AS A arCIIMBTA.
—Mr. Marie" Mathews; Mho F. Wrlsht and Mrs. L Fits-
GOLDYN I'LLICL Mr. sad Mrs. amiss
Malheira—Lud MY fIUSBAMDII OR MT. Mr. Clark.

LYCIFIL

THIS ETZSISO, UNCLE Bill. Xt. Widdkamb sad
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Yds.. Cranford sad Yarsold. —sftbm by Sam Collins, Mr. I.
dal!. and Man. Asoa.—AW TM/ HONOUR OF TILL MOIL

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LONDON, BAT(7IIDAY, OCTOBER 31.

THE affecting story of SARAH EMILY MITCHILLL,
told in evidence at the Central Criminal Court this
week, ought not to pass and be forgotten without
a word of comment. It draws aside for a moment
the veil that usually hides the wide-spread
irregularities of our decorous social life, and reveals
with sad distinctness the bitter shame and intoler-
able anguish produced every day and hour by a
fashionable code of honour opposed to every dio-
tate of higher morality, and which is not unfre-
quently in its results alike inhuman and unjust.
As the history is already familiar to most of our
readers, it will be sufficient to recall its main
features. About four years ago, Sinai RIMY
Mircnin.i., the daughter of an accountant at Liver-
pool, entered as housekeeper the service of a gen-
tleman named CHAPPLZ, living in the neighbour-
hood of the town. Mr. Cairn. was a widower,
living with his grownup daughters, and evidently
in easy circumstances, as he had a house in London
as well as in the country. About a year after she
had entered his family a closer intimacy sprung
op between Mr. CHAPPLE and Miss MITCHILL, and
in June, 1862, she came to London fora week or
two, and was confined, the child being registered
in Mr. Cairns's name. A few weeks after this
Mr. Cairns decided to remove the young mother
to London, taking her formally under hie pro-
tection, and giving her his name. Ile provided her
with a home first in Weymouth-street and after-
wards in the Marylsbourroad, both localities being
near his own town residence. She was always
called Mrs. Cairns, Mr. Cairns havin intro-
duced her as his wife when she first came to
London. "She wore a wedding-ring, and Mr.
" Cairns always talked of her as Mrs. Cairns."
On her establishment in Loudon, her sister
ELT:Lamm eszne from Liverpool to be with her as
companion and nurse. Mr. Cairns was constant
in his visita, and all went well tall the spring of the
present year, when the young mother discovered
that she had a rivaL The discovery appc as to
have roused her from the first to a sense of her time
position, and to have produced the results that
might have been expected in a et:miserly nature
which, though erring, was not corrupt. It not
only utterly destroyed her peace of mind, bat
filled her with an agony of shame, and jealousy,
and indefinable dread. The excitement end
din-
tress brought on the premature birth of a sesond
child, which died immediately after it was born.
This was at the end of April, and by this time Mr.
Cnirrts's visits had become leas frequent. Towards
the end of May, however, he came up, and be in-
terview with his reputed wife, still an invalid, led
to a terrible scene, which almost unsettled her rea-
son. She fell into a state of deep melserhaly, and
was occasionally the victim of hallucinative.. A
few weeks afterwards Mr. Cairns sent her a
letter, in which, from the tenor of one despatched
at the same time to her sister, there can be no
doubt he announced to her his determination to
leave her. Referring to this her sister says, " She
" was es distressed at the one which the had re-
" osived, and which led almost driven her mad,
" that I did not show her mine." In leaving her
Mr. Cairns proposed to make liberal provision
for the mother and her child, but she paseiona'sly
rejected the offer of money, refteirg even to listen
to any proposals for a settlement. When the
lawyer called to see bar for this purpose she fell
into a fainting fit ; and when the surgeon who had
all along attended her attempted, reldr.Cairris's
suggestion, to discuss the subject, she told him
that she "would not receive any mote money
" from Mr. Cairns unless elm had his affection."
This was three weeks before the end. Sober
quently she appears to have sunk into a condition
of fixed despair, and there being nothing further
to hope for or to live for, all her thoughts were
concentrated in the one resolve to put an sod to
her own existence and that of the child. Aocord-
ingly, on the 30th of July, having got her agar
out of the way, she stabbed the child sod at-
tempted to destroy herself. All the *Ahem
proves that she was devotedly attached to the
child, and one of the motives which In boy
darkened and confused mind prompted the dread-
ful deed was the fear that it would be takes away
from her. The child died two days after, bat the
mother eventually recovered. She was acquitted
by the jury on the ground of insanity, and, as
Baron MARTIN said, there can be no doubt the
verdict is perfectly just. When the frightful deed
was done all light of reason had fled before the
one absorbing determination to escape by any
means, and as speedily as possible, from a life of
intolerable misery and shame,

. .
This is the narrstive, and the man of the world
on reading it will naturally observe to his neighbour
that there is nothing in the least remarkable about
it ; that, however sad, it is quite a common ease ;
and then pees on to some topic more interesting
or more agreeable. Unhappily, this is only too
true. The case is common enough- u mere
incident of every-day life. Thousands of such
victims are thoughtlessly or ruthlessly trodden
down around us in the eager pursuit of unlawful
pleasures, and the conventional necessities that are
held to require it not to justify the sacrifice lead so-
ciety to turn away from the stifled groan, and refuse
even a passing sigh to the sufferers. But common 1