The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-18 00:00:00

MURDER AT WALSALL.

A young woman named Sarah Barber, aged 22, has
been arrested at Walsall, South Staffordshire, charged
with the wilful murder of her child, a boy aged about
two years. The unfortunate woman would seem,
with the utmost determination of purpose, to have
cast her child into an old coal pit, which was upwards
of eighty yards deep, and had in it more than twenty-
three feet of water. Once she was a domestic ser-
vant in Walsall, but, after her confinement in the
workhouse of that town, she appears to have been with-
out the means of obtaining a livelihood by honest in-
dustry, herself being unmarried, and her widowed mo-
ther, if disposed, unable to afford her a home. Then
the young woman and her child would seem to have
suffered great privation, until re-admitted into the
workhouse, and passed thence to the neighbouring
one of Brend, which she had left only a fortnight
before she committed the murder. On Sunday last she
visited at. Bloxwich, near to Walsall, her aunt, a mar-
ried woman of humble means, named Jane White-
house, and then the child was with her. On Monday
she repeated the visit, when she was alone, and in ex-
planation of the absence of her child said that a young
lady from Derbyshire, visiting a gentleman in the neigh-
bourhood, having heard it cry in distress, had asked to
be allowed to adopt the child, and that she (the mother)
had consented. This extraordinary statement reaching
the ears of police constable No. 9, of the Walsall
police force, he instituted inquiries at the residence
referred to, and finding that the tale was truthless,
made search for and eventually apprehended the mo-
ther on the evening of the same day at Walsall. Re-
quiring her to show him the spot at which, as she
stated, she gave up her child, she walked with him about
a mile when she confessed that she had murdered her
child in the manner stated, appealing at the same time
for mercy to the Almighty. She then guided the con-
stable to the pit, which was situated away from a path-
way on Pelsall-common, and which, although long since
disused, yet was fenced by two planks, which lay with
an opening between each, across the centre of the pit's
mouth. Here she pinned her child's clothes over his
head, and deliberately cast him into the pit. The child
has been since discovered, and without a bruise upon his
person.

THE NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.—Yes-
terday the annual distribution of prizes to the pupils in
the North London Collegiate School, Camden-town, St.
Pancras, took place, by permission of the vestry, in the
spacious Vestry-hall. The Rev. Thomas Dale, the vicar,
presided, and having feelingly addressed the pupils and
their parents, the report was read, which showed that
during the year the school had greatly progressed, and
there had been an increase of scholars, as compared with
last year, the number now amounting to 240, instead of
200. Letters were read from the Marquis Camden and
other patrons, expressive of regret at unavoidable ab-
sence. The prizes Were then distributed, consisting of
very handsomely-bound and valuable books, certificates
of merits, &c. ; and at the conclusion the company
separated, the committee adjourning to the Collegiate
School, in High-street, where an elegant dejefinei was
provided.

- ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.---ThiS
being the 38th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, it
will be passed over in silentio. In consequence of the
death of the late Field-Marshal his Grace the Duke of
Wellington, there will no longer be the usual annual
banquet at Apsley House on the occasion, nor any extra
parade of troops in St. James's Park. A notice having
appeared that there would be a grand review of the regi-
ments now encamped at Chobbam this day, before her
Majesty, Prince Albert, and' the distinguished royal
visitors at present in this country, their Majesties the-
King and Queen of Hanover, his Royal Highness the
Prince ofMeecsks
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CParimnbcreisdsgeSs,istaenrdtoothheir
for s •
Roeyiaglneliighn
rs, is incorrect, as the review will not take place
until Tuesday next, the 21st instant, which will be on a
grand scale,