The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-02 00:00:00

ILL-TREATMENT OF A CHILD.

Last evening Mr. Carttar, coroner for West Kent, con-
cluded an inquiry, which had been five times adjourned. at
the Chequers Inn, Eltham, on the body of Augusta Con-
stantia Engleheart, aged four years and nine months, who,
it was alleged, had died from ill-treatment. The evidence
taken was very conflicting. It appeared that on the even-
ing of Friday, the 31st July, Dr, King, of Eltham, was
called to the house of the parents of the deceased, who was
suffering from injuries to the head, and dying. Death en-
sued on the following morning. One of the witnesses exa •
mined, Jane Maynard, 'servant to Mrs. Engleheart, said
that the child had been put into a cold bath on the day pre-
ceding its death, because of its dirty habits. When taken
out of the bath it had a spoonful of cod-liver oil, some of
which fell over the shoulder of the child, and was washed
off by the mother holding the deceased under a pump in the
kitchen, and pumping water upon it. The servant also
stated that the mother had, about a fortnight previously,
compelled the deceased to swallow four chilies, and that
two or three days before her death the child had said that
a tooth had been knocked down her throat by her mother.
The latter, it was said, was in the constant habit of beating
the deceased with a thick cane, used as a walking stick.
Mrs. Engleheart, on being sworn, said that the deceased was
naturally very weak, of a peevish disposition, and of dirty
habits. A former medical attendant had advised the cold
bath, with salt, to be used, and on the child being taken
from the bath, and some of the cod-liver-oil administered
falling on her shoulder, she held it under the pump while
the servant pumped the water to wash the oil away, not more
then a tumbler full of water being obtained by pumping.
She then carried the child upstairs, but seeing it shivered
she was about to take it downstairs, where her dress caught
in the bolt of the gate at the top of the stairs, causing her
to let the deceased fall over the banisters on the steps, and
to roll nearly to the bottom. She denied being in the habit,
or indeed ever beating the deceased with the cane as alleged,
and explained the accusation of causing the child to swallow
chilies by saying that while emptying sums pickles the de-
ceased took one and swallowed it, and put a second chili in
its mouth, but after holding it in its mouth she spat it out.
She also said that on picking the child up after the fall she
called the servant, but received no answer, owing to her hav-
ing left the kitchen to empty the bath which had been used,
and she immediately sent the servant to neighbours for as-
sistance and a medical man. The medical evidence was to
the effect that death had resulted from concussion to the
brain, caused either by a blow or a fall, and which, also,
might have been occasioned by the head of the child being
knocked against the stone sink when in the act of being
pumped upon. Louisa Alvis, who had lived in service with
the parents at Bermondsey, while stating that the deceased
was very often beaten, said that the correction never took
place except when the child had been in fault. Two of the
neighbours who were called in deposed that the mother first
told them she was fearful she had kept the child too long in
the cold bath, and it was not until some minutes afterwards
that she suggested that the injuries had been occasioned by
her having let the child fall over the stair banisters. The
Coroner summed up at very great length, and the jury)
after an absence of three-quarters of an hour, returned an
unanimous verdict of manslaughter against Helen Hannah
Margaret Engleheart, the mother, who was thereupon com-
mitted, on the Coroner's warrant, to take her trial at the
next old Bailey Sessions. Substantial bail was tendered
and accepted for her appearance.

ENCLCSURE OF WANDSWORTH-COMMON.---UP"
wards of 200 ratepayers have signed a memorial to
Earl Spencer, in which they say :—"That during the past
few years enclosures to the extent of upwards of 100 acres
have taken place on Wandsworth-cat-anion, and that some
of these enclosures have been effected by private individuals;
that within the last few months an enclosure to the extent
of eight acres has been effected by the Brighton Railway
Company, a footpath has been stopped, and this has taken
away a pleasant and much frequented part of the common.
That for centuries the parishioners and their funilies have
enjoyed undisturbed the healthy walks on -Wandsworth-
common, and the cnbtom of years, right or wrong, has
given them an apparent right to this enjoyment. Your
memorialists view these encroachments with deep sorrow
that
and regret, and if permitted to go on they must at no dis-
tant period lead to the entire extinction of Wandsworth-
common. Your memorialists, therefore, humbly pray
your Lordship would Le pleased to exert ycur izflaunee to
preserve to the public those privileges which have been en.,
joyed from time immemorial, end to institute such inquiries
theireu children,
to
t theh
with reference to enclosures not sanctioned by your lordship
e
yre
and
v al'sand
apublic,sw ltehaed
inhabitants
s Battersea,pecied
continuance of these rights they have s 0 long and so freely
evjoyed,".