The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-20 00:00:00

Extraordinary Case of Child Stealing.

A novel and romantic case of child-stealing, which has
created the greatest interest throughout Wiltshire, engaged
the attention of the Salisbury magistrates for three or four
hours on Saturday. A woman named Annie Shipaey was
charged with stealing an infant from the wife of John
Yarlett, a workman employed on the London and South-
Western Railway, and her husband, John Shipsey, stood
charged as an accessory after the fact. A summons had
likewise been issued against Mr. Samuel Pyle, a surgeon of
more than 20 years' standing at Amesbury, to show cause
why he should not be similarly charged as an accessory.
The Shipseys were not defended, but Mr. Lewis, senior, of
Ely-place, London, appeared on behalf of Mr. Pyle.
The facts, as they were deposed to in evidence, were
these :—On Tuesday, the 3d inst., Mrs. Yarlett, the prose-
cutrix, who had been confined only about five weeks, was
on her way to see her mother, who is an inmate of one of
the Salisbury almshouses, having her baby in her arms,
when she was accosted by the female prisoner, who said that
she had taken suddenly ill, and would be glad if Mrs. Yar-
lett would accompany her into a publichouso hard by, for
the purpose of having some peppermint. Mrs. Yarlett
agreed, and they had not been more than a few minutes in
the house when she was asked by the female prisoner to go
to a draper's shop in the town for a parcel which had been
left there for a Mrs. Brown, and which she herself was too
ill to be able to fetch. Mrs. Yarlett went, leaving her baby
in the hands of the prisoner, but when she returned to say
that there was no parcel for any Mrs. Brown, the prisoner
and the infant had disappeared. Every effort was made by
the police to trace the woman, who was a perfect stranger to
the presecutrix, that night, but without the slightest suc-
cess. On the following Thursday it was ascertained that the
female prisoner had accosted a carter, to whom she was known,
on Tuesday evening, a mile from Salisbury, saying, " I wish
you were going the other way; you see I've got my bargain:,
" When did that happen ?" he inquired, and she replied,
" Since I left home this morning." it was further ascer-
tained that a farmer returning from Salisbury market had
given her a lift as far as Amesbury, and that she told him
she had three children, including the infant she then had
in her arms. This being known to be untrue, Superinten
dent Caldon, of the Salisbury police, went to her house on a
farm at Milston, where her husband was shepherd, and
there found an infant being nursed by her sister. The
female prisoner, who was in bed upstairs, stated that she
was confined immediately after her return from Salisbury
on Tuesday evening, and that two women, neighbours, were
present. These women, however, did not appear to have
been called in until after the little stranger was in the
house, and having his suspicions that the said little stranger
was considerably more than two or three days old, Mr.
Caldon called in Mr. Pyle, and paid him the usual fee to
examine the woman. He went upstairs,and in a few minutes
gave it as his opinion that she had been recently confined,
that she had milk, and that the child might be about four
or five days old. The statement of John Shipsey, the hus-
band, who was then sent for, was to the effect that his wife
was suddenly taken in labour on her way home from Salis-
bury, and that he himself had been to the spot which she
had pointe out, and there found certain evidence, which he
removed. To this statement he did not afterwards adhere,
and consequently further suspicion was excited. On the
following day Mrs. Shipley was examined by Mr. Wilms,
surgeon. of Salisbury, who gave it as his opinion that she
bad not been recently confined, even if she had ever been
confined at all, and that the child was at least four or five
weeks old. A warrant was accordingly obtained for the ap-
prehension of Mrs. Shipsey and her husband, but on Satur
day Mr. Pyle refused to allow the police to enter the house,
on the ground that the woman was suffering from inflam-
mation of the bowels. Later in the day, Mr. Martin
Coates, another surgeon of Salisbury, was taken over to
examine her, and while his opinion fully corroborated that
of Mr. Winzar, he could discover no traces of inflammation,
although the woman complained of pain on pressure, She
was very agitated, and Mr. Coates accordingly suggested
that she had better not be removed before Sunday. The
house was placed in charge of a constable, and Shipsey
himself was taken to Salisbury. He then made a written
statement to the effect that his wife came home between six
and seven on Tuesday evening, and knocking at the door
said, " Oh, dear ; oh, dear ; I have got your bargain." He
said, " What in the world have you got ?" and she replied,
"Oh, do take hold of it, and let Igo upstairs." The infant,
he said, had only a calico bandage round it. He asked her
if he should go for a surgeon, and she said " No," he had
better call in some of the neighbours, which he did. Mrs.
Yarlett was taken to the house, and immediately identified
the child, which was given up to her. She likewise iden-
tified the calico bandage, but none of the other clothes which
the infant had on when it was lost could be found, and it is
supposed that the prisoner destroyed them on her way home.
On Sunday evening Mr. Pyle consented to her removal,
wifeo were
ake r and expressed his re!,ret at not having originally made a
m
PfsoerYm andal y h s
more
minute ex
a mn
before
tion
the.
magistrates, 0n Monday
andh i
re-
manded until Saturday, the latter still declaring, and call-
S
lug Heaven to witness, that the child was her own. On
Saturday she s iid that if she stole it she could not recollect
it, and begged the magistrates to have mercy upon her hus-
band. Mr. Lewis, on the part of Mr. Pyle, contended that
he had committed no offence. Mere negligence did not
render him liable to an indictment as an accessory. The
bench, talKing this view of the case, dismissed the But,
mons. John Shipsey, too, was discharged, but his wife
was committed for trial at the Salisbury Borough Sessions.
—Western Daily _News.

SIIICIDE.—On Wednesday night last a man of
respectable exterior applied for and obtained lodg-
ings at the Britannia Tavern, Henry-street, Woolwich ; but
as he did not make his appearance at a late hour on the fol-
lowing morning, the chamber door was forced open, when
it was found that the stranger had committed suicide by
suspending himself to the bedpost. Two bottles contain-
ing laudanum were found in his possession ; and also du-
plicates of articles, pawned in the name of John Mewett, at
the shop of Mr. Charles Jeames,l6, Norfolk-street,Fitzroy-
square.