The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-19 00:00:00

THE SUN', LONDO

The Alleged Child Murder at Limehouse.

COMMITTAL OF THE MOTHER.

Yesterday forenoon Mr. H. Raffles Walthew, the
deputy coroner, resumed, at the Victoria Tavern,
Three Colt-lane, Limehouse, the inquiry respecting
the death of the male child of Rebecca Porter, said
to have been murdered on Christmas-day.
The prisoner, Rebecca Porter, a respectable look-
ing middle-aged woman, was brought up in the cus-
tody of Inspector Beare, under a warrant obtained
from the Secretary of State.
It will be remembered that the accused had been
for a period of five months in the service of the
keeper of an eating-house in Hales-terrace, Lime-
house, and that, as she wore an immense crinoline,
the suspicions of her mistress were at one time ex-
cited. The accused, however, indignantly denied
the imputation, and gave notice that she would leave
rather than leave off wearing crinoline. On Christ-
mas-day, while playing cards with the other ser-
vants, she was noticed to be ill, and, though she
denied having given birth to a child, the deceased
was found in a box.

Mrs. J. Harris, 2, Hales-terrace, West India-
road, was re-called, and she stated that she did not
know that the accused Lad prepared any baby linen.
Witness never saw any. Rebecca Porter used to sit
at work in her room in the evenings for nearly the
whole time. She was in service ; but witness saw
her make no preparation for a child. She worked
for herself as well as for witness. When, on Christ-
mas-day, witness taxed her with having given birth
to a child, she denied it for half an hour. She after-
wards showed the child to witness in her box, whieh
was under her bed. She asked witness to allow her
to bury the child, and to take her again into her
service, but that could not be done.

George Cronk, 330 K, said that on Christmas-day
he was sent for by Mr. Harris. By the inspector's
orders he then accompanied Mr. Brownfield, the
divisional surgeon, to Mr. Harris's house. He saw
the child in the box of the accused. There was a
hassock in the box, and one or two other things,
but no baby clothes.

The prisoner said she bad no questions to put to
,he witnesses.

The coroner then cautioned the accused in the
usual manner, and asked her if she wished to make
any statement.

The prisoner merely replied, "No, sir."
Mrs. Harris, recalled, stated that she had been
informed by the sister of the prisoner, that the pri-
soner had been married and had iven birth to two
children: These children were dead. Witness did
not inquire what was the cause of their deaths.
The coroner then read over the depositions at
length, and said that all the circumstances were of
such a character as seemed to render a verdict of
wilful murder inevitable. The medical man exa-
mined in the case indeed said that, though the child
had fully breathed he could not conclusively say
that the child had been fully born alive. Bat the
other facts should not be overlooked—the deter.
mined persistence in concealing her condition by
means of a large crinoline—no clothes being pro-
vided for the child, although the accused must have
known that she had gone her full time—the denial

for half an hour that she had given birth to any
child—the concealment of the dead body is a box—
and the marks of violence on the throat, which
were plainly visible—all seemed to show a settled
intention to make away with the child, and doubt-
less to deposit it in the street at a convenient oppor-
tunity.

The jury, after a tong deliberation, returned a
verdict of wilful murder agaiusi., Rebecca Porter,
but stated, in tendering their verdict, that had the
law given them an option they would have brought
in a verdict of manslaughter in preference, as they
believed that there could have been no malice
against the deceased, but that the mother had de-
prived it of life in an attempt to conceal the fact
of its birth in order to avoid the shame of detection.
The coroner then made out the warrant for the
committal of the mother to Newgate for trial at the
Central Criminal Court.