Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-25 00:00:00

but could not see him

and she came out, and I went to look for him. I looked
up and down the entries, and through the neighbours' houses.
I then got Agnes, Robinson, the child's cousin, to go up
Netherfield-road with me tolook for him. After I came
back, Mrs. Thompson told me to, go to Rose-hill station. I
did not go immediately, because a woman came in for a

Sandhill station. I met a man and asked him where it
was, and he told me to go down Blackstone-street ; and
afterwards a girl told me to,go, across the fields, as the sta-
tion was at Bootle. I met a man in the fields, and he
frightened me by telling me that there were kidnappers. I
then got over the wall, and went along the canal bank. I
met a boy named John Fox, and I asked him where Bank-
field-street was. We walked together for about 100 yards,
and then we saw the child floating on the top of the water.

I said, " What is that ?" and. he said, "It is only a
dog." I went on a step or two; and I said, "I think
it is a child." We afterwards saw a flat coming, and

pulled the

rom the

did come, he too
child out. He
he went on. When the child was brought out it was a
little warm, for I took hold of one of its hands to help to
bring it out. I did not know it was the child I was look-
ing for. I did not examine it. for I was afraid to lank at it

The boy Fox went for a police Man ; and two policemen.came,
and I remained by the body. When the police came they
put their ears to its mouth to try if it was breathing, . and

with them, and I went to the dead-tmuse. I left the dead-
house at a quarter-past eleven. When I went to the house
the people would not let 'me tell the mistress, as she was

going out of her mind. I went home at four o'clock in
the morning with two inspectors. I knew it was the child
when I went to the station, on the way to the dead-house.
It was a very delicate child. It could not have walked to
the bottom of Conway-street. It always cried to get car-
ried. It had a weakness of one side. I told the boy that
my mother lived in Bankfield-street ; but I don't know why
my mother has lived in Hedley-street about three or four

months
John Fox, aged 13, residing at Everton-view, Bootle, was
the next witness. I remember on last Thursday evening
meeting this girl on the Canal bank, just as I got through
the railway-bridge which crosses the canal. The girl came
behind me, and asked me where Bankfield-street was. It
might then be about a quarter to ten. I said I would show
her. When we got near the next bridge, about 40 yards
from it, she said she wanted Sand Hill Station, but she
thought I would not know it. She said she would find it
if she was at Bankfield-street. She said, " Look here ;
there is a child in the water." She was next the water
I looked, and thought it was a dog ; but on looking closer
saw its arms and legs, and found it was a child. The girl
began to cry. She did not tell me that she was looking for
a child. The flatman saw it when he was coming along.
I went for a policeman. When we were going to the
station, she said her mistress had lost a child. She said it
had a red frock, and blue woollen stockings, and I looked
and said that that must be it.. She said she would know it,
when she got to the light, if it were the child. She knew
it at the station, but did; not cry then. I never saw the
girl till that day.
Police-officer, Richard Burke (615), said he was on duty
on Thursday last in the neighbourhood of the canal, and a
boy went to him and told him that there was a child in the
canal. He went with another officer and found the child
was dead. When the child was taken to the station the girl
recognised it. She did not say that she was looking for a
child. The girl could have seen the child before it was
taken to the station. A man examined it under a lamp in
the presenee of the girl.
A little boy, named Charles Hill, aged nine years, was
the next witness called. lie said he lived in Conway-
street, and knew the deceased. On Thursday last he
saw him at the end of the opening that led into
Gordon-street. That was near his own house. He was
playing with another lad. Soon aft er that he saw a woman
lift the child uin her arms, and put it under a shawl. The
child screamed, and the woman ran down Gordon-street,
and along Great Homer-street. He thought he would know
the woman, as she had a yellow face. He said, " Will you
giVe me the child ? it is our child ;" and she said she would
not, for it was her's. She then ran away. He ran after
her along. Great Homer-street, and the woman went down
an entry, and he lost sight of her. He could not see a-
policeman, and he ran back and told Mrs. Thompson. He
pointed to a woman in Gourt, and said that was the woman,
for he knew her by her face. At the time she took the child
she had no bonnet or shoes on, but had a dirty shawl.
[The woman, was asked to stand up, and the boy said he
was certain that was the woman who lifted the child.]
Ellen Leahy was examined, and said her husband was a
warehouseman, and they lived next door to Mrs. Thomp-
son, in Conway-street ; she did not know the woman iden-
tified by the boy, but she saw her in the street on Thurs-
day night at eleven o'clock, laughing at Mrs. Thompson's
agony. Another woman
.joined her, and she laughed too.
On Friday she went again to the house, and looked at the
shutter, and laughed again. On Thursday she had a light
dress on, and an old plaid shawl, with a drawn brown bon-
net, and she had shoes on. On Friday she was dressed
different.
Police-officer Thomas Hays, 684, was next called, and
said he went with the other officer to the Canal bank, where
the child ws lying. That would be upwards of two miles
from Conway-street.
Dr. Ayrton said he was a surgeon, and made a post
mortem examination of the child and found the cause of
death to be asphyxia, or want of air, as would be caused by
drowning or by holding a cloth on its mouth that had been
dipped in water. There was a contusion on the right elbow
I and a contusion on the forehead. His opinion was, that

death was cause(
lungs.
The woman that had been identified by the boy, Georg(
Hill. was called, and asked if she wished to say anythin.

rowning as t:

here was water in the

the charge, being previously cautioned not to say anything
that might criminate her ; she said her name was Esther
Leatham. She was not guilty of .the crime laid to her
charge. She was not aware of the death till she was
charged with being the person who bad stolen the child.
She had been at the Vauxhall Distillery on Thursday to get
some grains for the cows and pigs, and never heard any-
thing of the matter till when she was going home that way.
She kneW she was there that day to answer the charge,' and
could bring forward evidence, if required, to show that she

aompson, fat