The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-21 00:00:00

THE QUEEN V. HALL AND LAYOUCADE.

In the case, which arises out of the now notorious case
of " Bouillon v. Valentin," Mr. Coleridge, Q.C., moved for
a rule absolute, in the first instance, to move into this
court the trial here of any indictment or indictments
that might bo found at the Central Criminal Court
against Mr. Hall, the solicitor in this case, and Lafoucade,
who is now undergoing his sentence for perjury. Mr.
Hall had been committed on bail for forgery and con-
spiracy, and this being the first day of the Old Bailey
session, it was necessary to make the application in order
to prevent the trial taking place at the Old Bailey. Mr.
Coleridge read extracts from Mr. Hall's affidavits, explain-
ing and exonerating his conduct in reference to the various
transactions ; after which

Mr. Justice Mellor said the learned counsel was entitled
to a rule.

The Lord Chief Justice, who is still suffering from a
severe cold, came into court about middle day, and took his
seat on the bench.
THE QUEEN V. CHARLOTTE WINSOR.
_ _

Mr. Folkard, about 8 o'clock in the afternoon, moved for
a rule for a habeas corpus, to be directed to the keeper of
the county gaol at Exeter, to bring up the body of Char-
lotte Winsor, at present under sentence of death for the
murder of the illegitimate child, at Torquay, of a woman
named Harris. The convict was respited until the 27th
instant in order that the point taken at the second trial
might be argued in this court on a writ of error. He moved
for the habeas in order that she might assign errors on the
record. The affidavits were in the usual form, and ho
asked their lordships to name a day for hearing the argu-
ments.

Mr. Justice Mellor—Have you seen any ono on the part
of the crown relative to the day ?
Mr. Folkard—No. According to the rules of this court
it will be almost impossible that the arguments on the
errors can take place this term.
The Lord Chief Justice—That is what we are consider-
ing. To-day is the 20th, and term ends on Saturday.
Your rule, as a matter of course, will go down that night.
Mr. Folkard—Scarcely that.
• The Lord Chief Justice--Why not ?
Mr. Polkard—The attorney in the country who would
have to serve the rule lives many miles from Exeter, and
it is a matter of impossibility that the errors can be argued
this term. After the crown has joined in error we are en-
titled to eight days before we move for a concilium (ac-
cording to Corner's Practice), being more than 40 miles
from London.

Tho Lord Chief Justico --It is so laid down, is it ?
The Queen's Coroner (Mr. Norton)—lt is so.
The Lord Chief Justice--Thou that would make it im.
possible to hear the arguments this torm.
_ _

Mr. Folkard—lf there has been any delay in this case
tho fault is on the part of the Crown. Tho writ was re-
turnable on the second day of term, but it was not returned
with the record until the seventh.

The Lord Chief Justice.--All ;e can now do is to gran
you your rule absolute in the first instance.

Mr. Folkard—lt is desirable to name the day on which
she should be brought up.
The Lord Chief Justice—l think it is desirable you
should come to some understanding with the crown as to
the day to be fixed.

Mr. Folkard—l don't think there will be time for that.
The Lard Chief Justice—Then let errors be assigned on
Friday, that being the earliest day on which it can ho
done.

The convict will therefore be brought into court some
part of the day on Friday, and errors assigned, which is a
mere formal matter. She will have to be further respited
to a day in or after Trinity term. In the meantime she
will be in the custody of this court, and in all probability
she will be confined in Newgate.

Horrible,Charges of Child Murder at Hutton

and Mark, SoinerEet.

- -

On Friday afternoon and Saturday ]astMf. Bruges
Fry, coroner for the northern division of Somerset-
shire, was engaged in investigating two cases, each
of which disclosed a charge of child murder of the

most deliberate and wicked character.
The first was held at the Fox and Goose Tavern,
South Brent, on the body of the illegitimate female
child of a girl named Jane Baker, a servant in the
house of a farmer named Robert Luff, who occupies
a farm and lands in the parish of Mark, adjacent.
. _

It appeared from the evidence that both Mr. and
Mrs. Luff had suspected the girl to be in the family
way, and that the latter more than once spoke to her
about it, and intimated their suspicions to her. She,
however, resolutely denied that there was any ground
for their apprehensions, and ascribed the appearance
to other causes. On the morning in question she got
up at 6 o'clock for the purpose of going as usual to
milk the cows. She was not seen again till some
time afterwards, when she went to her mistress'sbed
room, after Mr. Luff had gone away on business of
the farm, and said, " Mistress, I PAU very ill, I can-
not go and do the milking this morning." She left the
bedroom door and went to her own bedroom, and
Mrs. Luff, remembering the suspicious circumstances
she had before noticed, at once got up, and without
waiting to dress herself went at once to the girl's
chamber, where she found her lying on the bed
dressed. She asked her what was the matter with
her, to which she merely replied, "I am very ill."
Mrs. Luff then went into the kitchen, and from cer-
tain things she observed she came to the conclusion
that the girl had either given birth, or was about to
give birth to a child. She returned to the girl's bed-
room and told her what she thought, to which she
replied, " I could not have had a child, because I
have never been in the family way." Mrs. Luff told
her she could not believe her, and again told her what
she thought was the case. The girl still denied it, and
then she (Mrs. Luff) told her that as her sister only
lived half a mile off she had better get up and go to
her, and the girl got up and left. Snbsequently Mrs.
Luff saw further suspicious things, and traced stains,
which Mr. Luff afterwards found led from the back
door of the farm to a watercloset in the rear of the
premises which emptied itself into a ditch. The
family then sent for Mr. J. C. Williams, a medical
practitioner, who at once came. Having gone to the
girl and satisfied himself that she had recently given
birth to, a child, he communicated with the police,
and be and Police-constable Perry, of the Somerset-
shire constabulary, made a search of the watercloset,
and in the ditch behind discovered the body of an

infant. Subsequently Sergeant Gillbanks searched
the room occupied by the prisone'r, in which he found
upon the bed a dress with marks of blood upon it,
and in a box which was the property of Jane Baker
a knife with four blades. He afterwards proceeded
to the house of Alfred Fox, who married Jane
Baker's sister, where Jane Baker was then residing,
and received sundry articles of dress covered with
blood, which Mrs. Fox gave him, and said they
were the clothes of Jane Baker, who had como to
her house the morning previous.
Mr. J. C. Williams, surgeon, deposed that on the
morning of the 14th inst. he examined Jane Baker,
and found that she had been confined within six
hours. He also stated that by desire of the coroner
he made a post-mortem exanAination of the body of
a female child. I; was well-formed and of full size.

He noticed 14 or 15 cuts on thc body, which might
have been made by the knife produced. He men-
tioned that two marks upon the liver were particu-
larly noticeable, and that they were sufficient of
themselves to cause death, althought he was not of
opinion that either of the stabs would produce in-
stant death. He concluded by stating that the lungs
floated in water. This, coupled with the fact of the
wounds not gaping, left little doubt in his mind that
the child was born alive, and that the wounds were
inflicted during life, in which conclusion Mr. Wade,
a surgeon, of Compton Bishop, who was present,
fully concurred.

The Coroner having summed up the evidence,
After a brief deliberation, the jury returned a
verdict of " Wilful Murder" against Jane Baker.
The
second inquest Was held wit Saturday last, at