The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-13 00:00:00

INFANTICIDE.

Hannah, Pratley, aged 21, was indiCted for the wilful
murder of her male illegitimate child, at Burford, on the
14th June.

Mr. Cripps conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Cooke
he defence.

Hannah Pratley, by no means a good-looking woman,
was housemaid in the service of a gentleman named
Waller, at Burford, in this, county, and had been so for
two years and a quarter, and had, until this affair, con-
ducted herself very respectably. The other servants in
the family were a cook and a footman, named Iles, who
was a married man, about 40 years age, and was con-
sidered very respectable, and had been in Mr. Waller's
service for upwards of nine years, and whose wife and
family of three children were living in the town of Bur-
ford. For some time before the 14th June Mrs. Waller
and the cook suspected that the prisoner was pregnant,
and spoke to her on the subject, but she always denied
it so firmly that their suspicions were very much shaken.
No one seemed to suspect her and Iles of any illicit in-
tercourse. On the night of the 13th June the three
servants had supper together, and the prisoner, on going
to bed, told the cook that she had taken medicine.
About four in the morning the cook observed her pass-
ing out through her room with a shawl round her, and
returning soon afterwards. About six o'clock they both
got up, and the prisoner proceeded to work, and con-
tinued to do so, until about half-past seven, when, the
bell being rung once or twice and she not answering,
the cook went to look for her, and found her sitting on
the side of her (the cook's) bed in a state of great weak-
ness and trepidation. She told the cook that she had
a miscarriage, and had put it away. The cook said,
" I hope it is nothing worse," and she made no an-
swer. She afterwards begged the cook to save her
if she could, and the cook promised to do so, if pos-
sible. She then went down stairs to work, but her
mistress soon noticed her, and she was obliged to
go up to her bed-room again. The cook and her mis-
tress followed, and the cook found traces of blood
in the prisoner's room and her own, and proceeded to
wipe them off. On noticing the spots of blood, her
mistress and the cook insisted on a more detailed expla-
nation, and then she said that she had had a miscarriage
in her own room about half-past seven o'clock, and that
the child was quite dead, and she had put it away. A
surgeon, Mr. Cheadle, was sent for : he came about
half-past nine. He questioned her. She said she had
been only four months gone with child, but would not
tell him what she had done with it. On his leaving the
room she, however, told the cook she had put it in the
wood house, but could not exactly tell where, and
' begged her to look for it, and he and the cook went
into the wood house—could find nothing there, but on
going up stairs into the cheese room over the wood
house found a full-grown male child in a pail there. On
removing the cover of the pail the child gave a stifled
cry. There was a cloth and a chemise in the pail. The
surgeon examined the child, found the after-birth at-
tachtd to it, cut this away and tied up the umbilical cord.
Proper care was after that taken of the child—around
the neck was found the mark as of a ligature—but that
might have arisen from natural causes. The child was
cold when found, but afterwards rallied a little. It died
about two o'clock in the clay, and the surgeon thought
the immediate cause of death was want of care immedi-
ately after birth—that is, as in answer to his lordship
he explained, want of care immediately after the birth,
and continuance of that want of care. As soon as the
child was found it and the mother were removed to the
Mermaid public-house, a short distance from Mr. Wal-
ler's, and then the mother, when she was able, attended
to it with care and kindness, and on examining her
boxes it was found that she had been preparing
baby-linen. From the cross-examination, it appeared
that in cases ' where the umbilical cord becomes
encircled round the neck it often happens that the
circulation is so impeded that animation is suspended
and the child appears still-born perhaps, for an
hour, or longer, but afterwards recovers of itself.
Where the pail was found there were no marks of blood,
and the surgeon thought that she could not have been
the person who took the pail there. It appeared that,
during that morning, Iles had been up and at work
about the place. The circumstance of her being deli-
vered was soon hinted through the town, and suspicions
were directed to various parties, and amongst others to
her brother-in-law, who was the superintendent of Mr.
Waller's farm. In the course of the day, however, she
told his wife (her sister), and the landlady of the Mer-
maid, that Iles was the father of the child, and that he
promised to provide for it, and begged she would not
say he was the father, and that after putting the child in
the pail she gave it to him below stairs, and he promised
to see it safely cared for and nursed. In the even-
ing, on his return from the farm, his wife called on
him and spoke to him on the subject, and lie said to
her, "Are you jealous of me," and she said, "No, I
never was," and then asked could he declare before God
that he had had no connection with Hannah Pratley,
and he said he could. She then went away, and in the
evening he appeared in the same spirits as usual, at-
tended the family prayers, and when, after prayers, his
master bade him good night, nothing unusual was ob-
servable in his demeanour. In the morning, however,
he was found suspended by a cord from a beam in his