The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-21 00:00:00

MARCH 19.

This case was resumed this morning at half-past eight
o'clock.

The case for the prosecution having finished,
IP. King then addressed the jury for Hitchcock, ask-
ihg for a general acquittal.
Mr. Coleridge addressed the jury for Sparkes, in a
speech of great power, not asking for an acquittal, but
urging that the blow had been struck in a quarrel between
Blackmore and Sparkes, both excited by drink, and that
the offence, therefore, only amounted to manslaughter.
Mr. Justice Crompton summed up with great care
and firmness.

The jury having retired for some time, found Sparkes
guilty and acquitted Hitchcock.
The learned Judge passed sentence of death upon
Sparkes. His lordship was dreadfully overcome, and
sobbed audibly.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.-COVENTRY, MARCH 18.
CROWN COURT.

Mary Minn, aged 26, was indicted for the wilful
murder of William Barnes, at Atherstone, on the 9th of
August last.

Mr. O'Brien prosecuted, and Mr. Macaulay, Q.C.,
defended the prisoner.

From the evidence adduced orl, the part of the prose-
cution, it appeared that the deceased was a child of two
years old, and that on the day in question he was in the
arms of his brother, a boy about 12 years of age, when
the prisoner, who lived with her father and mother in
the same street, came into the house and asked the
little boy to go and fetch her mother, at the same time
taking the child from him. When the prisoner's mother
returned with the little boy they found the door of the
house fastened ; an alarm was immediately given, and
the boy was put in at the window. The prisoner was
then discovered standing by a tub of water, in which
was the body of the child, with its head under the
water. Means were used to restore animation, but in
vain ; and the medical man who was in attendance then
turned to the prisoner and inquired how she came to
do it. She appeared quite pleased at what she had
done, and replied that she wished to die ; that she
should have time to repent, and should go to heaven,
and that the child, not having committed any sin, would
certainly go to heaven. She was in a very wild and ex-
cited state, and the doctor was clearly of opinion that
she did not know that she had done a wrong thing. On
the part of the prisoner still further evidence was given
to show that she was insai,e when she committed the
offence. Her father and aunt were examined for this
purpose, as well as Dr. Parsey, the superintendent of the
county lunatic asylum, and from their statements it ap-
peared that the prisoner had been a very well-behaved
girl up to the age of 18, and had been out in service, but
at that age she began to complain of her head, to be
subject to extraordinary delusions, and to be unable to
do her ordinary work. She sometimes fancied that her
clothes were covered with worms, and required them to
be shaken off ; at others she insisted upon wiping the
faces of her father or aunt, asserting that there was
something upon them which would injure them. She
would get up in the middle of the night with scarcely
anything on, and wish to run out of the house. At one
time she complained to Dr. Parsey, who was requested
by some friends to visit her, of her head being drawn
down by the ends of her nerves, of the ends of her nerves
starting from her brain, and of her inability to walk, be-
cause her head was drawn forward by her nerves. She
also felt as if everything she did would injure some in-
sect or dumb animal ; and even after she was in gaol she
continued subject to such delusions. She once insisted
upon wiping the pump, upon which she said she had put
some soap, for fear it should poison the other prisoners.
Under these circumstances Dr. Parsey's opinion was
that at the time of the commission of the offence the pri-
soner was labouring under a delusion, which would
render her incapable of distinguishing right from
wrong.

The learned Judge then put it to the jury whether
they were satisfied with that evidence of the prisoner's
insanity.
The jury immediately found a verdict of not guilty,
on the ground of insanity ; upon which the prisoner
was ordered to be detained during her Majesty's plea-
sure.

George *Milton, Thomas Buckler, George Ridgway, and
William Lepton, were indicted for the manslaughter of
John Neale, at Nuneaton, on the 19th of November
last.

Mr. Adams prosecuted, and Mr. O'Brien defended.
The deceased and George Shilton were the principals
in a prizefight which took place at Nuneaton on the
10th of November last, and the other three prisoners
were the seconds upon that occasion. After fighting 41
rounds Neale was carried off the field very much beaten,
and he died in nine days afterwards ; but upon the post
mortem examination of the brain the surgeon was unable
to say that death was occasioned either by blows or falls
during the fight. The vessels all over the brain were
very much congested, but none of them were ruptured ;
it was impossible therefore to say that the death was not
produced by the mere excitement and exertion of the
conflict.

The prisoners were consequently acquitted.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

LAMBETH.—The Hon. G. C. Norton was for some
time engaged in investigating a case of a delicate and
exceedingly suspicious character.

Some days since information reached his worship to
the effect that, since the beginning of January last, no
less than three females, all of them from the country,
and of great apparent respectability, had been delivered
of still-born infants, and some months before their pro-
per time, in the same apartment, in a board and lodg-
ing-house in the vicinity of the Waterloo•road. It was
also stated by the person conveying this information,
that those females had all been introduced to the house
by a person representing himself as a surgeon, but of
whose qualifications there are some doubts, and who, it
was further stated, is in the habit of advertising in the
newspapers, offering to attend and take care of ladies in
a certain situation during their trouble. When made
acquainted with the above particulars, the magistrate
sent for Hayes, one of the detectives belonging to the L
division, and placed the case in his hands.

Hayes now brought to his worship a decent-looking
middle-aged female, who acknowledged that she had at-
tended all three females, and who gave, in answers to
the questions of Mr. Norton, the following account of
the affair :—She said that in the month of November
last she was engaged by a lady stopping at the house of
Mrs. ,to attend her during her confinement. In
the early part of January she was sent for, and the lady
after three days' illness, was delivered of a still-born in-
fant, which had not come to maturity by two or three
months. She represesented herself as wife of a shipping
clerk at Southampton, but witness did not believe her.
She seemed to witness to be too dashing for the wife of
a person in medium circumstances, and she told witness
that she had come to town to be confined, knowing that
she should have superior attention and advice to what
she could receive at Southampton. The witness went
on to say that after this person left she attended two
other ladies.

Mr. Norton--Were they also delivered of still-born
children !—Female—Yes, sir.

Mr. Norton—Did it not strike you as exceedingly ex-
traordinary, if not very suspicious, that these females, all
from the country, should have been delivered of still-
born infants !—Female--It certainly did, your wor-
ship, and I candidly acknowledge that I should not like
to attend any other lady there.
Hayes—l understand, your worship, that the same
room is now engaged for another lady, who is coming
from the country to be confined there.
Mr. Norton—l must say thrt the whole affair has a
startling and suspicious appearance. Quite enough has
been shown to prove the necessity for a further investi-
gation.
His worship then directed Hayes, the officer, to call
on the medical man, and tell him that his professional
character was much involved in the disclosure, and that
he wished him to attend before him and explain his con-
duct in the matter.

HUNTING APPOINTMENTS.

STAG-HOUNDS.

Bath—To-morrow, Corsham ; Saturday, Hunter's-hall—
at half-past eleven.
Cheltenham—Wednesday, the Balloon-inn----at twelve.
Baron Rothschild's—Wednesday, Stewkley—at eleven.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 21, 1853.