The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-17 00:00:00

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THE MURDER in HARLEY-STREET

MARYLEBONE POLICE-COURT.
Sarah Drake, the woman charged with the murder
of Lewis Drake, her own child, aged two years, was
again brought before Mr. Long, on Saturday, at.
the Marylebone Police-court, to undergo a re-exami-
nation. She is about forty years of age, with a some-
what ugly expression of features—was respectably
dressed, and seemed deeply impressed with the awful
nature of her position. She held a white handker-
chief to her eyes, and appeared to be crying
during the whole of the inquiry. Being in a
weak state of health, she was accommodated
with a seat at the request of her solicitor.
The singular circumstances attending the disposal
of the child after its murder, and the fact of it having
been insinuated that this was not the first offence of
this nature the woman has committed, have invested
the case with a good deal of interest, and some time
before she was placed in the dock the court was
thronged with eager lovers of the horrible and mys-
terious, while the various approaches to it were
equally besieged with well-dressed people, including
many females, who were unable to obtain admission.
Mr. Herring, the solicitor, attended to watch the
case for the prisoner.
Mr. LONG said the first thing to be done was to
read over the depositions, to give the
.prisoner's soli-
citor an opportunity of cross-examining the wit-
nesses.
The depositions of the two officers who arrested
the prisoner were read over and signed without
an observation.
It will be remembered that Thomas Kinder, the
superintendent of the Nottingham constabulary, at
East Retford, deposed to the finding of the box at
North Leverton, containing the body of the child,
while Sergeant Whitcher, of the detective police, 27
A, spoke to the arrest of the prisoner at the residence
of F. Huth, Esq., 33, Upper Harley-street, in whose
service the prisoner had lived as housekeeper and
cook, when she asked him how he knew that she
had murdered her child. Mary Anne Wignell,
the housemaid in the same service, stated that the
prisoner entered upon her situation on the Monday
week previous to the first examination, and a
few days afterwards a woman named Johnson
called at the house in Harley-street with a child,
which was never seen to leave it again. George
Glass, the butler, wrote the direction for the box, and
the footman took it to the station at Euston square.
The female searcher of the Marylebone police station
spoke to a conversation she had with the prisoner on
the night of her arrest, in the course of which she con-
fessed having murdered the child. This was the
substance of the depositions.
The first witness examined was Mrs. Johnson,
the female who had brought up the child. She
deposed as follows :—My name is Jane Johnson. I
am a married woman, and my husband is a policeman,
living at Shirley-common, near Croydon. I know
the prisoner at the bar. It is two years next January
since I first saw her. She was introduced to me
through a Miss Harrington, who lives at
Chelsea, and I agreed to take the child to
nurse for six shillings per week. The money
was to be paid, and all communication on tha subject
of the child was to pass through Miss Harrington.
At this time the child was called Lewis, and was
about three months old, and I was to bring it up as
my own. At the end of the month the prisoner came
and paid me 2-is. for the support of the child. After
that I received three letters from her, which
she signed with the name of "Taverner." I
have fourteen letters in all, but with the ex-
ception of those I have named they are
signed with the name of Mary Drake. In time the
child was taken ill, and at the request of the prisoner,
who stated that its father was a Catholic, it was
baptised by a Roman Catholic clergyman as Lewis.
I then understood that the prisoner went to
Northampton, where she remained till August, when
the prisoner came over to my house and proposed to
take the child away to get it into a Catholic institu-
tion in France, where its father had been brought up.
She owed me at this time ill. 124. She then took the
child away, and I did not expect it would return
again. I went with Mrs. Drake to the Croydon sta-
tion and she paid her passage to Dover, and went
away by the train, taking the child with her. This
was on a Friday morning. On the following Saturday,
between eleven and twelve o'clock, she came to our
house in a cab. I was in bed at the time, but got up
and again received the child. She told me she had
been to a doctor, and he had ordered the child medi-
cine for water in the head, and it would not live long.
She said she would not take him away any more, if
I would but keep him, and I said " Very well ;" and
she gave me 1 le. in liquidation of the old debt. I
told her that I would keep him for ss. a week from that
time, and she agreed to that. I did not see her
again, but received several letters from her at diffe-
rent times, enclosing various sums of money. On
the 27th November I received the letter I now pro-
duce, dated the 26th of November, which I believe
to be in the prisoner's hand writing. [The letter
stated that she was going to Madrid with a family,
and as she could not afford to maintain the
child any longer, it was to go on the parish.]
In consequence of that letter I went to Edward-street,
Dorset-square, to try and hear where she had gone.
From information I received there, I went to Upper
Harley-street, but I did not know the number. This
was on the 27th of November, in the evening, but
I did not succeed in finding the prisoner. On the
28th I went again and found her at Upper Harley-
street, at the corner of the New road. I brought up
the child with me, and I saw the prisoner in the
housekeeper's room. She said in consequence of what
she had heard the night before, she was not going
abroad. I said " Don't say that, for I believe you had
no intention of going." She replied "I think the
family have put it off till April or May." She said
she thought the child was looking very much better,
and had got stout since site saw it last. I said he was
quite well and a very hearty eater, and I could not
keep it any longer, as it was the second time she had
deceived me. She asked me to take him back again
for a week or so till she could get some one to take
care of him. I told her no ; I must leave the child with
her. She was at this time indebted to me 9/. 103.
She took off the hat and coat of the child, and then
came to the street door with me, where I told her
that my husband intended to summon her for the
money. I went up the area steps, and she called
after me to know how much it was. I told her, and
then left. The next day was Thursday. I saw her
again on the Friday in the housekeeper's room, and
she asked me if I had received her letter. I told
her no, and said I have brought the child's things
with a note in it from my husband, and also the bill.
She said very well, I will look at them by and bye.
She said she had got the child out to nurse
without any one knowing it was here, at a
friend's, who would lend her the money. I then
went home and there I found a letter from the pri-
soner, which I now produce, stating that she would
pay the money in January. Last Saturday morning
I went down to North Leverton where I saw the body
of a child, which I am quite certain is that of the
child I brought up and received from the prisoner.
I saw some of its clothes—the same it had on when I
left it with the prisoner. I can swear to them. (The
clothes were produced and identified by the witness.)
I had been in the habit of calling the child by the
name of Lewis Drake.
The Solicitor who appeared for the prisoner, post-
poned his cross-examination till he had had an op-
portunity of reading the letters.
Mr. LONG agreed to this, observing that it was
impossible the case could be tried at the next session.
Mr. William Hall, of South Retford, deposed as
follows :—I am a coachman, driving a coach from
Newark to East Retford. On the 30th of November
I received a box, to be taken by my coach. I got it
not from the station at Newark, but through a Mr.
Gillstraps, who has an omnibus running to the
railway. I took it to the White Hart, Retford.
I left Newark at half-past two, and reached Ret-
ford at half-past four o'clock. The box now pro-
duced is the box. The direction now produced
is that which was on the box when I
received it. The direction is Theophilus Burton,
North Leverton." North Leverton is six miles from
Retford.
William Drake deposed as follows :—I live at Hab-
ble3thorpe, in Nottinghamshire, and am a shoemaker.
The prisoner at the bar is my sister, and as far as I
am aware she is a single woman. I have a married
sister living at North Leverton. Her name is Bur-
ton. Her husband's name is Theophilus Burton. On
the 30th of November, by the direction, of Mrs.
Burton, I went to the White Hart at Retford, and
received the box now produced. I saw "Theophilusßurton ' upon it. It was between four and five
o'clock in the evening. The direction produced I
believe to be the same. I took the box to my sister's
house at North Leverton. She received it from me,
but her husband came in afterwards. Burton and
myself opened the box in another room ' • we found
inside of it the body of a dead child. I saw a letter
in my sister's hand, which she gave me to read. I
know the handwriting. My sister burnt the letter.
One of her children cried for it, and then she threw it
into the fire. It was a short letter. There was no
name. It ran thus :—" There will be a box left for
you at Retford ; phase to fetch it as soon as possible."
I do not know the handwriting.
Theophilus Burton. the husband referred to by the lest
witness, deposed as follows :—I live at North Lever-
ton, and am a blacksmith. hly wife is the sister of
the prisoner. I received a letter on Friday, the 30th
of November last. The paper now produced was the
envelope of the letter. It bears the London and
Retford post-marks. My wife destroyed the letter,
but the contents were as has been stated. Ido not
know the handwriting. It was to this effect :
There will be a box at Retford on Tuesday; fetch it
away as soon as possible. On the same day the last
witness brought me a box, which I opened with a
chisel, and found it contained the body of a dead