The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-10 00:00:00

MURDER OF A CHILD.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, Sarah
Price, 27, a miserable looking creature, was indicted for the
wilful murder of her child, Robert Crawley Price. Mr.
Payne having briefly opened the case, the following evi-
dence was adduced :—Benjamin Morris deposed that he
knew the prisoner, and was aware that she had a child
seven months old, and he said that he saw the dead body of
that child at the workhouse. By Mr. Sleigh : The
prisoner had been in the workhouse v ith her child up to
Monday, the 16th of March. She came to his house on
the Tuesday morning, and said that she had left the
workhouse and was destitute. At the time she appeared
to be like a woman out of her mind. He sent for Mr.
Wildbore, a surgeon, and he came to see her, and took
the knives out of the cupboard, and told witness to watch
her. The witness added that he had been that day to
ask Mr. Wildbore to attend and give evidence, but he
refused to do so unless he was subpoenaed, and paid his
fees. The prisoner always appeared fond of her child.
The father had deserted her entirely, and had left the
prisoner in a destitute condition. By Mr. Payne: The
prisoner had no home or place to go to when she came to
his house. Her mind appeared to be wandering, and she
did not seem to know what she was doing at that time.
She said that her blood was all turned to cold water,
and she had no blood in her ; and witness's wife made
her some tea. He asked the prisoner what had
become of the child, and she said that she had strangled
it and thrown it over the bridge into the river. Mr.
Richard T. Tubbs, relieving officer of St. Marylebone
parish, said that on the 20th March, after the inquest had
been held upon the child. he saw the prisoner in St. Pan-
cras workhouse. She was in the insane ward, partly
undressed. He asked her name, and she said twice
Crawley, but afterwards she said her name was not
Crawley but Price. She had been living with a man
named Crawley, who had died three years before. He
then inquired how many children she had, and she said
she had a boy seven years old, and she said that she had a
baby, but that she had made away with it, and threw it
into the water. She then asked him if he knew where it
was then, and he told her it xv as in Marylebone work-
house, and she wished to know when it was brought there.
He told her that it was taken there on Tuesday morning,
and she said that she had thrown it over the bridge on
Monday night about half past eight o'clock, and she said
she intended to have destroyed herself at the same time,
but a policeman called out to her, and she said she was
frightened and ran away. She had half a shawl on, and
said she had wrapped the other half round her child, and
that her blood was all turned to cold water, and that
she felt it all cold about her at that moment. The
prisoner also said that the child was suffering from dis-
ease of the kidneys, as she thought, and that it was a
great sufferer, and that she herself had suffered greatly.
As she was going to the police station the prisoner re-
peatedly said that she wished she was with her baby.
By Mr. Sleigh ; The prisoner was placed in the insane
ward by direction of Mr. Wildbore. As she was being
conveyed to the police station she said she intended to
destroy herself, and she was only sorry she had not done
so at the time. In consequence of her demeanour, he
directed that she should be watched, and told the inspec-
tor to take care of her. Mr. Mackrell, an inspector of
police, proved that the prisoner also told him that she
should have thrown herself into the water with her
child, if the policeman had not come up. Evidence was
then given that, on the morning of the 17th of March, the
dead body of the child was found in the canal in the
Regent's Park. A piec3 of towel was tied tightly round
the neck, Mr. W. B. Muskett, the surgeon who examined
the body of the deceased child, stated that if the ligature
had been tied round the neck of the child before it was
thrown into the water, it might have presented the
appearance that it exhibited when he saw it.
The causes of death were not, however, well
marked, and there was no obvious cause. The
only diseased symptoms he observed were collapsed
state of the lungs, and appearances as though the child had
had diarrhoea. There were some indications that the cause
of death was suffocation, but they were not at all well
marked. Mr. Sleigh made a most earnest appeal to the
jury en behalf of the prisoner, and he urged that there was
not sufficient proof that She was the actual cause of the
death of the child, and that if the jury should be of
opinion that she was, there could be no doubt that at
the time the act was committed she was not in a state
of mind to be criminally responsible for her conduct. Mr.
Gibson, the chairman of the gaol of Newgate was of opinion
that she was decidedly not of sound mind. 'flee learned judge
then briefly summed up the whole of the evidence, and the
jury at once returned a verdict of not guilty, on the ground
of insanity. She was ordered to be detained during her
Majesty's pleasure,