The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-29 00:00:00

THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND SLOANE CASE.

(nos Übe liento hdivemitnet.)

Wo gave last week a report of the two first days
proceedings, in the inquiry opened by the coroner into this
cause of death of Ann Griffin. The inquest was held at
the house of the father of Ann Griffin, and great interest
was excited in consequence of reports that she had died
from the effects of ill-treatment, whilst in the service of
Mr. and Mrs. Benham, of the City Mills, Elstgate,
Winchester. . . . .

S. R. Everett, superintendent in the Hants constabulary,
described the cellar where Ann Griffin is stated to have
been shut up.
Emily Waldron sworn, in the service of Mr. Benham,
of Winchester, as nurserymaid, said, I have been in
the same situation four years. I recollect the deceased, Ann
Griffin, coming there as under nurserymaid last April or
May. She was then in good health. She told me, when
she first came, she was nineteen years old htr neat birth-
day. She went on very well at first, but after a little she
became very tiresome and d.sobedient. We were obliged
to fine her to do what she did by standing by her and
seeing her do it. She was corrected a great many times by
mistress and myself. She had nothing to do with any one
else. She was scolded—never beaten, but shut into the

cellar three times. The tint time was for stealing some
jam on a Sunday, before the 2nd of August, when her mo-
ther came. It was the Sunday before the 2nd of August
that she was first put into the cellar. Mistress told her to
!to into the cellar. She asked her if she had taken the
jam. The girl said she had not. Mistress then told her
she should shut her down in the cellar till she did own it.
She went down by herself. She went into the beer cellar.
1 saw her there. She did not cry. She never cried. It
I was a little before one when she went down just
11before our dinner time. She remained there about a
quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. The door at the top
of the cellar stairs was shut. I went to draw the beer for
dinner and found her sitting un the stairs. Mistress again
asked her if she took the jam. She still denial! it. She
then made her empty her pockets, in which were some
bread, one of the children's books, and a half-penny. Mis-
tress then went up stairs with her, and made :ler empty her
box, and at the bottom was a sixpence, which mistress said
was hers. Anu would not own where she got it
from. Mistress then told her she must go down in
the cellar again until she owned it. We bad not
had our dinner then, but had it directly afterwards.
After our dinner, mistress called her op again, be-
ing about half au hour after she went down the second
time. She then owned that she took the sixpence olf the
dining-room mantlepiece. She then went up into the
nursery for the remainder of the day. She had her dinner
that day as usual in the little hall. She always dined
there by herself, but had the same sort of dinner as I
did. She was not ill or dull that day alter coming out
tit the cellar, and did not complain of anything. On the
following Saturday, the 21 of August (being Magdalen Hill
fair day) Ana's mother came to see tier, and saw her in the
hall. Mistress then hail her mother into the drawing-room,
and told her what she hail done, and that she had punished
her for it; and as I was going up stairs I heard her mother
say that was right. Her mother stayed with her some time
in the hall (mistress being then in the dining-room), and
then she went away. The next day (Sunday) she was put
into the cellar again for disolmlienee and neglect of work.
Mistress told her to go into the cellar for punishment, in the
morning between ten and eleven. She was there &,out an
hour. I wont down to draw some beer, and found her in
the coal-hole. I told her she had no business there. It
was not where she was told to go, but into the cellar.
I told her to sit on the stairs, and she did so, and I
left her there. It was a fine day. After about an hour
mistress called her up, and she went up stairs to her
work. She was not put in the cellar any more that day.
On the following Saturday (August 9th) she was put into
the cellar again for breaking a shrub iu the garden. She had
been in the garden all the eveningjat play with the children,
drawing them round in a carriage. I was out that evening
for abut a quarter of an hour, and when I returned about
eight o'clock I wanted Ann fur something, and mistress
told me she was in the cellar for breaking a tree. She
was up again in the nursery before nine o'clock. There
did nut appear to me anything the matter with her. She
emnplained of nuthirg. That was tls last time I ever
knew her put in the cellar. If it had occurred again
must have known it. I never heard her complain of any
illness till the morning of the day she went away—Satdr-
day. the IGth of August. She then complained of pain in
her back. Knowing Mr. Wickham was in the house, I
went and told mistress, and she had her down directly.
After Mr. Wickham was gone, mistress told me that she
was to put on her things and go home, by Mr. Wickliain's
advice. I then took her up to Mr. White's between 12 and
I. She walked up with me, and was able to walk very
well without support. I saw her into the chair—a donkey
:hair—and she was brought in it to Mr.llenhenia dour, where

witneea gave her a gla a of MILIC and a penny bun. She
drank the wine, but did not eat the bun. She had Ito.

breakfast in the nursery that morning as usual, but nothing
afterwards till she went away. She only complained of her
hack, and never till that morning to me. She did not say
when it first came on, or what was the cause of it. The
night before she had nut done her work. I asked her about
it several times, but she did not my she was not well. M, lieu
I went into the cellar the second Sunday I found her stand-
ing in the coaTeellar. I was going to draw beer for dinner
about half-past 12. I never put her in the cellar myself,
nor took her down. She always went down of herself by
mistress's order. The boots and shoes were always cleaned
in the cellar, and are now. I have done it myself sines
Griffin left. She was very dirty in her habits. Sarah
Clover and E. Sims gale evidence confirmatory of that
testified by the witness Waldron.
Henry Giles Lyford, of Winchester, said—l knew no-
thing of the deceased, Ann Griffin, until Friday, the 6th
of September, when 1 visited her professionally, at the re-
quest of her father. 1 saw her about three or four in the
afternoon, in bed upstairs in her father's house. She was
then quite insensible, and appeased to be in the last stage
of fever ; and inflammation of the air passages appeared to
have been going on for some time. She could not take any
medicine. 1 advised her mother to get some wine down, if
possible. She mid her husband's master provided them
with everything. She appeared to me to he in a dying
state, sad I told her mother that in all probability it would
be all over in 21 or 36 hours. I saw her again next day in
much the same state, only more exhausted. The mother
informed me that Mr. Bayles had been attending her.
Such an illness might have been occasioned by a chill, but
other causes might bring it on. The usual course would be
for the consequences of a chill to show themselves im-
mediately ; but it is possible there might be an in-
terval of some days before they developed themselves. The
effect might not be apparent even to the individual, and
might not show itself to others for some days, but might
be lingering in the system all the time. From my know-
ledge of the old County Bridewell, I have had considerable
experience of the effect of chills from confinement in a
damp place. From that experience, and generally es a
medical practitioner, I can speak confidently on the above
points. By the desire of the coroner, I have seen the cellar
at Mrs. Benham's. It is approached by eight or nine steps,
each step eight or nine inches deep. Then you pees
across a landing place, and arrive at a door which leads to
a small room about six feet high, in which are coals and
faggots. Opposite the door is a window, rather large for
the site of the room. If the window were cleaned, a good
deal of light might be admitted, but when I saw it it
was covered with dirt and cobwebs. It was not
fixed with hinges, but could only be taken out
and put up again. When removed there was a
small area, covered with a moderate-sized grating. The
aspect is east. The coal cellar which I have described was
darkish. You could not see to read there, and, unless you
bad been in there for some time, you could not discern the
features of a person. remained there about five minutes ;
it certainly fi tl toe cold and damp, so that when I came
out I felt the difference, that I had been in a cellar, pro-
ducing that sort of coldness and rawness which every one
is conversant with after being in a cellar not much occupied.
I should not say the fluor was very damp. It was paved
with brick, but nearly covered with coals and faggots. I
bad the windows removed. This morning I sent a ther-
mometer there, requesting that it might be hung up
there, and the cellar left as when I first went into it
After hanging an hour it stood at temperate, 60 degrees
but I am satisfied it was much colder yesterday, and
that the air in the cellar had become warmer by the
admission of the external air in the meantime. The beer
cellar was a spacious apartment, very clean and light,
and rather dryer than the other place, looking as if
more used. I should consider confinement in the coal
cellar, as I found it yesterday, for an hour or more, at-
tended with danger, unless there were strong powers in
the constitution to resist it. It might have produced mis-
chief, or it might not. A person might find no incon-
venience from it except feeling chilly. Whether such a
confinement would be dangerous to such as the deceased
would depend very much on the state of her health and
feelings, and whether she was there of her own accord or
under tear or depression. I should not like to take upon
myself the responsibility of cocfining a child there for any
time—l mean in the coal cellar ; the other cellar is much
less objectionable, approximating more to an upstairs room.
' Damp without light is more injurious than with light. The
' cells in the old County Bridewell were rather larger and
higher than this coal cellar, and they were not underground.
' There was a direct communication with the external air
through an open grating of considerable size not glazed. I saw
the coal-hole yesterday between 11 and 12. I did not see the
thermometer put there this morning. I found the window of
the cool-hole down this morning when I went. The thermo-
meter b-id only sunk about two degrees, and from the door
and window having been left open I do not think it would
have sunk much lower, nor do I think it would have sunk
lower in the other cellar. The, morning sun had been
shining in this morning. I found the cellar to-day quite a
different place from what it was yesterday. I should
think the cellar would be lighter with a less quantity of
coals in it, and that if it were empty, and the window and
door open, it would be far less dangerous. If a person
in their ordinary state of health were tent into the large
cellar for an hour or two I do not think it would pro-
duce any serious consequences. If the coal cellar were
quite empty, so that a person could walk about in it, it
would be less objectionable. I first saw the girl on Fri-
day. We generally endeavour to ascertain the cause of
sin h an illness, Having heard the evidence of Mr. Bayles
read over, I see no reason to doubt its correctness; but I
only
.saw her in the last stage of tho illness he has
described. Stich an illness might arise from a variety
of causes; fifty people might be put into a cellar
without illness following, and fifty others might have a
sunder illness without having been in &cellar at all. There
must be some cause, and damp is a frequent cause, espe-
etally with absence of light and want of power to move ,
about, so as to keep up the vital heat. Similar complaints
are sometimes brought about by malaria, without damp,
but they frequently go together. The cellar in question Is
in & very low part of the town. 1 should not expect to dad

I malaria in Coe beer cellar, nor perhaps in the other, but it
• would be more likely there. Making use of chamber uten-
sils instead of the privy, and sleeping in the room after-
wards, would make a person more liable I. any injury to
health than otherwise. If the deceased had been put into
the cellar for several hours on the Saturday or Sunday pre-
ceding her illness, and complained of coldness of her legs
at the time, and afterward,' on the following Friday stated
that she had felt ill ever since she 1,13.4 put in the cellar—if
such were the facts of the case, they are quite sufficient to
laccount to me for all that f 'flowed, so that I should not
have thought it necessary to inquire for any further cause.
I am of opinion that if the deceased had been confined in
the coal cellar as I saw it yesterday fur several hours it
i would be likely to produce illness of which no one could
tell the result.

William John Wickham, recalled, said—l saw and exa-
mined the deceased on the Saturday morning she was re-
moved from Winchester; fever was approaching, but nad
not set in ; only the state of the tongue, and the pains in
her hack and limbs, led me to think of fever at all. I feel
convinced that it was a malarious fever, and that it was im-
possible fur her to have carried about the effects of damp
fur a whale week without having produced further conse-
quences, but malaria might have remained in her fur that
time, and then exhibited itself in fever. If she had Bern
continually exposed from day to day to damp I could
understand the illness going on, and that damp would
produce it. If fever had actually begun I should have sent
her home. I think fever would be the first symptom of the
ill effects of damp, and that it would have made much more
progress in the course of a week.

.CUNCI.I:6IOB OF THE INQUIIIT.-VERDICT OF MAN-