The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-22 00:00:00

CHARGE OF INHUMANITY AGAINS7 A

MID WIFE.

On Saturday Mr. H. Raffles Walthew, the de-
puty coroner for East Middlesex, held an inquest
at ',the Town of Ramsgate Tavern, High-street,
Wapping, respecting the death of a mile child,
newly born, whose parents reside at 3, Red Lion-
place, Wapping, who, it was alleged, had died
from the neglect of a midwife connected with the
Tower Hamlets Dispensary.

James Grady deposed that he was a blacksmith,
and on Friday night, the 12th inst., he went to bed
about seven o'clock. His wife was near her confine-
ment, and she awoke him about three o'clock the
following morning, complaining of labour pains.
He went and called a female neighbour, who came
directly. He remained outside the room for some
time, when the female gave him two papers and
requested him to take them to Mrs. Tongue, a
midwife, at Stepney-causeway. He went there,
and was told to go to Mrs. Ayres, at
the side of the London Hospital. He went
there and knocked at the door and rung the
bell. A female raised an upper window and
asked him what he wanted, and he informed her
that his wife was in labour. She then asked him if
he had the papers, and he replied, " Yes." She told
him to put them under the door; at the same time
she said, " It is a strange thing to send a parcel of
men at this time," and asked him how long his wife
had been ill. He stated that she had been in labour
since 12 o'clock, and it was then half-past four. She
replied, " I will follow you in ten minutes."
Deputy Coroner—What time did she wait upon
your wife ?
Witness—She never came to my wife at all (sen-
sation). When I reached home two children were
born ; the first was dead, but the second was alive.
Dr. Ross, of High-street, Shadwell, had been called
in. My wife was very ill from loss of blood.

John Cotton, a neighbour, who accompanied the
first witness, gave confirmatory testimony.
Mary Ann Ayres, of No. 16, Mount-street, New-
road, Whitechapel, was called, and said she was a
midwife to the Tower Hamlets Dispensary. On
the morning of the 13th inst. she was knocked up
by two men. It was about four o'clock, and they
brought a letter, said that she was required at No.
3, Red Lion-place, Wapping. She asked them if
they had a letter ; they replied, " Yes." She spoke
to them from the window, and directed them to place
the papers under the bottom of the door. She went
down to the door, and found only one paper, the
order for attendance was missing, and that was the
reason she did not attend.

By the Deputy Coroner—l did not ask the hus-
band if he had the order, and no one was up in the
house at the time.

Dr. J. B. Ross, the medical officer of the district,
said that he received an order from the relieving
officer of the union at 3 o'clock on the morning in
question to attend the mother of the child.
The order was marked " Urgent." He went
and reached the house about half-past three
o'clock. He found the female was suffering
from exhaustion through extreme hemorrhage.
One child was dead, but the other was alive. The
mother told witness that when the first child was
born she had no one with her. _ _

By the DeputyCoronr—l am of opinion that if
the mother of the child had had the assistance of a
midwife or any other female the deceased would
have been saved.
After some further evidence,
The Deputy Coroner summed up, and
The Jury, after some consultation, returned the
following special verdict :—" That the deceased was
found dead, but it is the unanimous opinion of the
jury, from the evidence of the witnesses, and more
especially the testimony of Dr. Ross, that the
child's death was caused by the neglect of Mary
Ann Ayres, a midwife, in not having attended the
mother of the deceased during her confinement, she
having received an order from the Tower Hamlets
Dispensary to attend, and we (the jury) cannot
separate without expressing an opinion that the
conduct of the midwife was inhuman and highly
culpable."

ST. ALBAN'S PETTY SESSIONS, Sept. 20.

(Before the' Earl of Verulam and a Bench o:
Magistrates.)

lIOPTOI4 V. MAJOR STAPLETON-TRESPASS IN 11:111.

SUIT OF GAME.

This was a very singular case, in which the plain-
tiff sought to inflict the full penalty of 40s. for pur-
suit of game in the neighbourhood of St. Alban's.
The matter was originally brought before the
court on the previous Saturday, when an applica-
tion was made for an adjournment on the ground
that the defendant was unavoidably absent in Berk-
shire. The application was resisted on the allega-
tion that on the day following that on which the
summons was served on the defendant, he, under
peculiar circumstances, committed a second trespass,
but the Court, on the condition that the defendant
should pay the costs of the day, consented to the
requested postponement of the hearing. This day
the parties were not present, but Mr. Hopton was
represented by Mr. G. Annesley, solicitor, of St.
Alban's, and Major Stapleton by Mr. T. W.
Blagg, solicitor, of the same place. The object
of the plaintiff's solicitor was evidently to
bring before the magistrate some remarkable cor-
respondence which had taken place between the
plaintiff and defendant on the subject of the tres-
pass, and also between the defendant and the late
mayor of St. Alban's (Mr. Kinder), who is the free-
holder of the ground upon which the trespass took
place. It will be seen from the few observations
made before the Court that the plaintiff's solicitor
had not an opportunity of producing the correspon-
dence, a copy of which was, however, furnished to
the reporter. It would be exceedingly unfair to
one of the parties connected with the matter to deal
with the correspondence, but it is not trespassing
upon its comparatively private character to say that
a portion of it is in an exceedingly bellicose tone;
and:that had all the writers been of an equally ex-
citable temperament the probability is that a couple
of challenges, if not a.brace of duels, would have
been the result. Without in any way making use
of the correspondence in question it may be stated
that Mr. Hopton rents from Mr. Kinder the right
of shooting over some 600 acres of land in the neigh-
bourhood of St. Alban's, and that Major Stapleton
considered he had a kind of permissive right from
Mr. Kinder to shoot over a small portion of the land
in question. Mr. Kinder denies that he ever gave
such permission, and stated to Mr. Hopton that the
major had no right to be on the ground. Mr. Hop-
ton wrote to Major Stapleton to this effect, and
hence the remarkable correspondence which the
plaintiff's solicitor was desirous of giving to the
world, but which the defendant's solicitor prevented
being read by pleading guilty to the trespass.
Mr. Annesley, at the hearing to-day, was pro-
, ceeding to call the attention of the bench to what
he termed an aggravated case of trespass on the part
of the defendant in the pursuit of game, when
Mr. Blagg said that since the adjournment of the
case he had made inquiries into the matter, and he
was satisfied Major Stapleton had no right to go
over the ground. He should therefore plead guilty
to the information.
Mr. Annesley did not understand whether Mr.
Blagg would submit to the full penalty of 405., and
therefore perhaps the bench would permit him to
go into the particulars of the trespass.
Mr. Blagg—lt is simply a trespass.
Mr. Annesley—lt is an extremely aggravated one,
and a fine will be totally inadequate to the offence.
It is a case that should be made public.
Mr. Blagg said it was evident that Mr. Annesley
desired the whole of the case to be made public.
Mr. Annesley—Just so, and that is what you do
not wish.

Mr. Blagg—l plead guilty to the trespass, and
I do not see how you can go into the case after that.
Lord Verulam—We know nothing of the case and
cannot tell how to deal with the trespass until we
know under what circumstances it was committed.
Mr. Blagg—l am willing to submit to the full
penalty of 40s.
Lord Verulam certainly thought that if one gentle-
man pleaded guilty to deliberate trespass in search
of game on the lands of another gentleman, the full
penalty of 40s. was net too much to be enforced.
The fine, with the costs of two witnesses and the
solicitors for the plaintiff, was immediately paid.
The case will come again before the petty sessions
on summons for a second trespass, and will probably
be subsequently heard of before one of the superior
courts.

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