The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-05 00:00:00

the present Mrs. Kent were Minnie Saville Kent and
Francis Saville Kent, the deceased ; his age was about four
years ; and Eveline Kent, aged about two years. There
were no visitors staying in the house at that time. There
were three servants, viz., witness Sarah Cox (housemaid),
and Sarah Kerslake (cook). No man-servant slept in the
house. At that time the prisoner had been home for her
holidays about a fortnight. She slept by herself. Her
brother William also slept alone. Each of the other bed-
rooms were occupied by two persons.

The prisoner being asked if she had any question to put
to the witness, shook her head, and replied in the negative.
Thomas Benger, farmer, of Road, deposed that he was
passing Mr. Kent's house about eight o'clock on the morn-
ing after the murder, when Mr. Kent came out and said
his little boy was lost, and that he would give £lO to have
him found. Witness then, with a policeman named Nott,
searched about the premises. On coming to the closet
they found some blood on the floor, and a light being
fetched the body of the deceased was found in the hole, the
lid being closed. It was wrapped in a blanket, and had
also a night-dress on. Its throat was cut through to the
bone of the neck, and there was blood upon its night-
dress, and a little on the blanket.
Mr. Joshua Parsons, surgeon, of Frome, Somerset, de-
posed as follows :—On the morning of June 30, 1860, I went
to Road-hill House, the residence of Mr. Kent, between 8
and 9 o'clock, where I saw the body of the deceased in the
laundry, on a table. It had a night-dress and flannel on,
and a blanket was wrapped round it. These were stained
with blood and soil. There was an incision on the night-
dress and on the flannel, on the left side, near to the region
of the heart. The first thing that struck me was a black-
ened appearance round the mouth of the body. The tongue
was not injured, but it slightly protruded. The blackened
appearance round the mouth contrasted so strangely with
the pale appearance of the rest of the body that it struck
me there had been strong pressure against the mouth be-
fore death. It did not appear as though anything had
been forced into the mouth. I found an incision in the
throat, which had been made by a cut from left to
right, and which had divided all the structures—
air-tubes, blood-vessels, and nerves—quite to the front of
the spine. I afterwards, by order of the coroner, made a
post-mortem examination of the body of the child. Wit-
ness here described the internal organs as healthy, but com-
pletely drained of blood. He did not think any narcotic
had been administered to the deceased. The stab in the side
had divided the cartilage of two ribs. This had pushed the
heart and its bag out of the way, and the stab then pene-
trated the diaphragm and wounded the upper surface of the
stomach. There were two slight wounds on one of the
hands. The body was rigid when he first saw it, and might
have been dead from five to six hours. In conclusion, wit-
ness said—My opinion is that the immediate cause of death
was the incision in the throat ; but the appearance of the
place where the body was found was such as to lead me to
suppose either that the throat was not cut there, or
that the circulation of the child was in a great
degree stopped by suffocation before that was done.
My opinion is that the cut in the throat must have been
made by a sharp knife or a razor ; either would have done
it. The wound in the chest I think could only have been
inflicted with a long and sharp-pointed knife. The length
of the stab was about II inch, and there was a notch in
the side as if the knife had been drawn out in a diffe-
rent direction to that in which it had been forced in.
The witness added—l accompanied the late Superin-
tendent Foley in searching Mr. Kent's house. Among
other things I examined the night-dress of Miss Constance
Kent, the prisoner, and I made the remark at the time that
it was exceedingly clean, and thought the starch was not
gone from the wristbands and frills so much as it would
have been if it had been worn from the Saturday before.
Witness also described the marks of blood found in the
closet. All this blood was of a dark colour, and appeared to
have dropped down straight, and not as if it had spurted
from living arteries. There was some splashes of blood on
the perpendicular front of the seat in the closet, but these
must all have been made by the fall of blood on the floor.
He was shown a piece of bloody paper which was picked
up outside the closet door.
Mr. Rodway observed that the statement of the witness
as to the blackened appearance of the mouth, and the infe-
rence which he drew therefrom, was not made at the inquest.
The witness, in reply to this remark, said he believed his
explanation on this point had formed part of his evidence
on the inquest, and that he had then stated that he believed
on a diligent examination of the premises more blood would
be found.

Examined by the Chairman—l accompanied Superin-
tendent Foley in an examination of the closet. I did not
see there so much blood as I should have expected to have
seen if the whole of the blood had fallen there from the
body of the child ; but it was difficult to form an estimate
of it on account of the soil and paper there. I was struck
by the appearance of the prisoner's night-dress. I and Mr.
Foley also examined the night-dresses of the other in-
mates of the house, and I was struck by the contrast be-
tween them and that of the prisoner, which latter had so
much less appearance of having been worn. I was the re-
gular medical attendant of Mr. Kent's family at the time of
the murder in 1860. When I and Mr. Foley examined the
prisoner's night-dress we found it on the bed in her room.

Sarah Rogers, wife of Joseph Rogers, of Shepton Ashton,
deposed that her maiden name vas Cox, and that in 1860
she was housemaid in Mr. Kent's family. It was her duty
to fasten all the windows and doors at night. On the even-
ing of June 29, 1860, she fastened the drawing-room door
and windows as usual and closed the shutters. The drawing
room window was a sash window to throw up, and opened
from the ground. The shutters fastened with two iron hasps.
When I went to bed I locked and bolted the drawing-room
door. Next morning it was open, and the top shutter of the
window open. The window also was raised a little. There
did not appear to have been any force used. It was my
duty every Monday morning to collect the dirty linen from
the bedrooms. Some of this *as collected on the Sunday.
Miss Constance's night dress and stockings were thrown
out on the landing on the Monday morning after the murder.
I had some other of her clothes on the Sunday. Ido not
recollect finding her night-dress on the landing before this.
Miss Constance's clean linen was kept in a drawer in her
own room. I took the night-dress to a lumber-room on the
first floor with the other linen, and there sorted it out, and
Miss Kent having taken down the number, I put the linen
in a basket to go to the wash. lam quite sure that I put
Miss Constance's night-dress into the basket with the
other linen. The only night-dresses I put up besides Miss
Constance's were Mrs. Kent's and Miss Kent's. Miss Eliza-
beth always put up her own clothes in a bundle herself,
and a separate book was kept for them. The clothes were
packed up in two baskets, and while I was packing them
up Miss Constance came to the room and asked me to look
in her skirt pocket and see if her purse was there. I there-
upon pulled the clothes on one side, found the skirt, and
told her that the purse was not there. The night-dress
of Miss Constance was there then. When I told her that
the purse was not in the skirt pocket, she asked me to get
her a glass of water, and I went out for that purpose to the
kitchen, leaving the basket of clothes uncovered. When
I returned, I found Miss Constance on the top of the back
stairs, where I had left her. I gave her the water, and she
drank it, and then she went up the other back stairs lead-
ing to her own room. I was very quick in fetching the
water. Water fit tor drinking was usually kept in the bed-
rooms, and a water-bottle was there also.
Mrs. Holly, wife of John Holly, labourer, of Road, deposed
—I am a washerwoman, and washed for Mr. Kent's family
in 1860. I remember on the Monday after the murder
going to Mr. Kent's house about eleven o'clock in the
morning to fetch the clothes to wash. My daughter Martha
accompanied me. We went to the lumber-room, where
two baskets of clothes were handed to us. They were
not packed up. We carried them home, and I and my
three daughters opened the basket. Miss Constance's night-
dress was not there. There were only three instead of four
in the two baskets, viz., those of the two elder Misses Sent
and Mrs. Kent's. There were two books used to enter the
washing in. I think the one was for the nursery clothes ;
but it is a long while ago, and my memory is not good
enough to remember about that.

By Magistrate's Clerk—Have you seen anything of a
night-dress of Miss Constance's since ?

Witness (in surprise)—No, sir ; I wish I had.

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In further examination the witness said she did not men-
tion the fact of the missing night-dress to anyone on the day
they brought the linen home ; but she supposed she had
done so afterwards. The night-dresses worn by Miss Con-
stance bad plain frills on them, and Mrs. Kent's and the
two other young ladies' had edged frills on them.
A short adjournment for refreshments took place at this
point of the proceedings, and the Court re-assembling,
Martha Nutt, wife of Edward Nutt, labourer, was called.
She deposed that she was the daughter of the last witness,
and she corroborated the testimony of her mother as to the
fetching away of the two baskets of clothes from Mr. Kent's
on the morning after the murder. There was no night-dress
belonging to Miss Constance in either of the baskets. Her
dresses were made of different materials to those of the
others. They were made of long-cloth, with jaconet or
plain frills ; and the night dresses of the other young ladies
were made of calico. The three night-dresses in the basket
belonged to Mrs. Kent, Miss Elizabeth, and Miss Mary
Ann. In consequence of there being no night-dress of
Miss Constance's among the clothes witness went down to
Mr. Kent's to inquire about it.—(The result of this inquiry
was not elicited.)
Police-sergeant Jas. Watts deposed—ln consequence of
information received by me I proceeded to Mr. Kent's house
in June, 1860, to search therein... Ton the course of my search
I found in the fire-hole in the scullery a chemise wrapped
in thick brown paper. I took it into the stable in the
yard to examine it, and while so employed Superinten-
dent Foley came and I showed it to him. There was blood
on it. Mr. Foley took it away, saying he would hand it to a
medical gentleman, and I have not seen it since. The blood
was on the lower part of the chemise. There was a good
bit of blood about it. The blood was on both the fore part
and the hinder part as well. I don't think there was any
blood on the garment about the shoulder part. The marks
of blood and smears would nearly cover the lower part of
the dress. It was both before and behind. I found this
chemise on the Saturday afternoon about 4 o'clock.
By Mr. Rodway—l don't know of my own knowledge
whether the chemise was ever shown to a medical man. I
have never seen it since.

Jonathan Richard Whicher, late chief inspector of the
Metropolitan detective force, was next called. He said—On