The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-13 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—YORK, Dec. 12.
(Before Mr. Justice Keating.)
Alice Wilson was indicted for the wilful murder of her
child, Thomas Wilson, aged 9 months.
Mr Perronet Thomson and Mr Newton conducted the
prosecution; Mr Campbell Foster, at the request of his
Lordship, defended the prisoner.

It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner was mar-
ried in 1857, and there were two children by the marriage;
the eldest child died, but the youngest, a little girl of three
years old, still survives. In 1862 her husband deserted her ;
from that time till last March she was in service, when she
returned to her mother's house at Booth, and gave birth to
a male child. whose death forms the subject of the present
inquiry. She afterwards went with her two children to the
union workhouse, and then to the union at Beverley, where
she remained until Friday, the 11th of November last,when
she left the workhouse with the two children, who were
both in good health, with the exception that the youngest
was suffering from an eruption, by which it was subse-
quently identified. It appeared that the prisoner slept at
South Cave on the Friday night, and on the Saturday
morning she went with Wm. Robinson, the carrier, to How-
den. Soon after she had got into the cart a Mrs Gibson got
in, in whose service the prisoner had been six years ago.
The prisoner told her that she was going home to her
mother's and that she intended getting hired at the statute
hirings at Howden, and that she was going to put her
children out to be nursed—whereon Mrs Gibson told her
she would not be able to maintain them. She appeared
at that time kind and affectionate to the child. , At a quar-
ter to 1, the cart having arrived at Howden, she got out
and told the carrier she had no money, but she would go to
her mother's, who lived at Howden, and get it (which was
untrue, as her mother lives at Booth, which is two miles
from Howden.) She was next seen by Mrs Dennis carry-
ing her youngest child and going towards Booth, who
heard her talking to her children. Mrs Dennis noticed that
the younger child had a gray hood on. She was seen next
by Mary Barker, a little girl of 12 years old, at 3 o'clock,
carrying a bundle on one arm and the elder child on the
other arm. It seems, therefore, that between half-past 1
and 3 o'clock the child disappeared. Mary Barker accom-
panied her to her mother's house, but she found the door
locked, and therefore sat down on the steps for a few mi-
nutes. The prisoner then wont to the house of her sister
Maria Harrison, at half-past 3, who 'asked her where her
youngest child was. The prisoner answered, t' the child
was dead, that it had died on the Monday before, and was
buried on the Wednesday, and that she had come out of the
Beverley Union on the Friday. The prisoner got the key of
the house from Maria Harrison. Her mother, who ,is a
most respectable woman, and was greatly distressed while
giving her evidence, returned home from work at half-past
6, and. hiding the prisoner, asked her where the other child
was. In reply she said she had buried it. Her mother no-
ticed that there was a small bundle on the chair (which it
was found contained all the clothes of a child,including the
hood, and which were perfectly dry.) Her mother had to
go out to market, and returned again at half-past 7 to tea,
and having put her own children to bed, being alarmed
at only seeing one child, she asked the prisoner when she
had buried the other child. She answered " This week."
Her mother then said, " Surely you have done nothing at
the other." She answered, "I may as well tell you the
truth; the child is in Sarah Ling's pigsty" (who occupies
the next cottage to Ann Harrison, the prisoner's mother).
The mother then said, "If it is in Sarah Ling's pigsty,
fetch it out directly." She answered, " I can't ; I have
buried it." The prisoner afterwards said she had dropped
it into the well, The mother then inquired if it was still in
the well. The prisoner then repeated that it was in the pig-
sty. The mother then said, If it had been in the well, you
would never have got it out." There is a well about a yard
from the pigsty, 23ft deep, with 20ft of water in it. The pri-
soner asked her mother to say nothing about it ; but the
mother said she could not live in the house with the child
there. The prisoner then said to her mother, "If you had
had the same to do as I have had to do, you would have
made an end of yourself, the other, and all." The prisoner
after this made an attempt to get out of the house, and
said she was ping to drown herself, but her mother locked
the door and seat for the police, who searched the pigsty,
and found the child buried about a foot below the surface in
the pigsty, entirely naked, with the exception of a cloth
round its head, The police had some difficulty in getting
the child out, as it was most carefully buried and the soil
was stamped down, with stones placed over it. The cloth
over the child's head was damp, but the hair was dry.
From the evidence of Dr Grieve it appeared that the
deceased child met with its death from suffocation, and most
probably by the process of drowning. And although there
was no water in the lungs or stomach, as people generally
might expect, yet that would be easily accounted for, if the
child's head was held under water and had no opportunity
of breathing from its first submersion.

Mr C. Foster contended that the child met its death by
accidental suffocation while being carried by the prisoner.
The jury, after three hours' deliberation, found tho pri.
soner Guilty, but recommended her to mercy.
Sentence of death was passed in the usual form.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—WORCESTER, Dec. 12,

Mr Justice Byles opened the Corarnission, and attended
divine service here this afternoon,

The county calendar contains the names of 27 prisoners,
whose offences are comprised in the following cases :—Mur-
der, 2; manelaugtaei, 2, az mon, 2; hurZlaly, 3 , uulawful
wounding, 2 ; robbery with violence, 2 ; larceny from tho
person, 1 ; perjury, 2; forgery, 1 ; larceny, 2 ; damaging a
house by throwing gunpowder therein, 1; doing grievous
bodily harm by throwing hot water, 1,

The city calendar contains the names of four prisoners, of
whom one is charged with receiving btolen property know-
ingly, two with coinage offences, and one with falsifying
the books of a gas company with intent to defraud.