The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-24 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

Yesterday an inquiry took place before the city
magistrates at Manchester, arising out of very ex
traordinary and painful circumstances connected
with the death of a lady at Manchester, who is
supposed to have gone to the town for the purpose
of undergoing an operation to procure abortion.
The lady is supposed to have visited Manchester
early in 1861, and to have undergone a surgical
operation, but whether of a similar character is not
known. The inquiry was brought before the magis-
trates yesterday in the form of a prosecution
against Mr. Thomas, a respectable surgeon of that
city, for wilful and corrupt perjury. From the evi-
dence sought to be established it appears that on
Wednesday the sth of January, Mrs. Ann Bell, a
widow lady from Bassenthwaite, near Keswick.,
arrived at the Victoria Railway station, Manchester,
by train, about midnight. It appeared that some
communication had previously taken place between
Mrs. Bell and the defendant, for he had given in-
structions that a bedroom should be prepared for
her at the Cathedral Hotel, kept by Mr. Batty.
Soon after her arrival at the station the defendant
arrived there also, and they walked together to the
hotel, where she was shown to her bedroom, into
which defendant accompanied her. He only re-
mained there with her a very short time, and then
left the hotel. The lady is then supposed to have
retired to bed, but, although she appeared to have
arrived at the hotel in good health, she rang the
bell as early as seven o'clock in the morning for the
chambermaid, and ordered a cup of tea. This girl
says that when she saw her she appeared to be la-
bouring under considerable alarm, and said that she
had passed the night in great pain. That morning
(tne 6th inst.) the defendant went to the hotel be-
tween nine and 10 o'clock, and went into the lady's
bedroom and locked the door after him. Cor-
rigan, the chambermaid, who was in the adjoining
bedroom, says that she heard the door locked,
and went to listen at the door, where she heard
a noise such as would be produced by the
placing of a pair of scissors on a table. In about 10
or 15 minutes after entering the room the defendant
opened the door, and desired the chambermaid to
call Mr. Batty, the landlord. Mr. Batty was called
and entered the bedroom, and the defendant then an-
nounced to him the fact that the lady was dead. The
defendant told him that the lady was suffering from
some disease of the womb, and that, while under-
going an examination, she had been suddenly seized
with a fit of epilepsy, and had died almost imme-
diately. It appears that subsequently the defendant
locked the door of the bedroom and left the house.
He then appears to have sought an interview with
Mr. Herford, coroner for the city, and, after a con-
versation with him relative to the case, he deter-
mined to make a post mortem examination of the
body. He next proceeded to the workhouse, where
he saw the resident surgeon of that institution (Mr.
Brad don), and was accompanied by that gentleman
at his own request to the Cathedral Hotel, for then
purpose of making the post mortem
When they arrived at the hotel the defendant
pro-
duced the key of the bedroom from o
poc-
kets, and they entered the bedroom o e
I's
lifted from
wtnai of his
ether. At
Mr. Braddon's suggestion, the body
the bed and placed upon some ilEyt-nut matting on
Led to make the exa
the floor. Mr. Braddone p
mination, and it_p d thatr the lady was in a state
hl-I.erofvound all the organs of the body
of pregnancy.
y he could find nothing to account
perfectly healthy
ter death, but on opening the uterus ho found a
foetus between five and six months old, and some
Conversation occurred between him and the defendant
as to the sex of the child. An inquest was held in
the subsequent part of the day, and the defendant
then stated that deceased died irom epilepsy, lle
further stated that at the post mortem examination
a tumour was found in the stomach, and that there
was also intense congestion of the brain. Mr. Batty's
wife beingill he WaStIIIXIOUS to get thebody removed,
and at his request the body was removed the same
night in a coffin to the house of the defendant. The
deeeesed lady (Mrs. Bell) was the widow of a substan-
tial yeoman at Bassenthwaite. She had been a widow
nine years and was about 34 years of age at her death.
Her family medical attendant was Dr. Bell, of Cocker-
mouth. It appears that on the day of her death the
defendant sent a telegraphic message to Cocker-
mouth addressed to Dr. Steele, and as there was no
Dr. Steele it by some chance got into the hands of
Dr. Bell. He received the message late in the even-
ing, but he thought the facts disclosed by it s_u
o_s
re-
markable that he went the same night to Mr. ikeince
grave, the deceased lady's solicitor. In consequence
of this communication Mr. Musgrave startedu for
Manchester by train early the next morning, the
7th inst. On his arrival he sought an interview