The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-08 00:00:00

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',LONDON, WEDESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1847.

One of those horrible cases at which humanity
shudders has recently taken place in Lincolnshire.
A poor Irishman named KANE was engaged in
gathering the harvest for a farmer named SPENCER,
who filled the situation of overseer of the parish of
HorkAow, in which he resided. KANE was accom-
panied by his wife and six children. During the
period of his engagement his family had been per-
mitted to shelter themselves in a barn on the lands.
When his employment ceased, on Friday, the 27th
ultimo, his wife and four of his children were
seriously ill with fever—the mother, who had been
attacked on the previous Monday, being also far ad-
vanced in a state of pregnancy. The unfortunate
man, having stated the severe illness of so many
members of his family, more particularly of his wife
entreated that they should be permitted to remain in'
the barn until they were sufficiently recovered
to undergo the fatigue of a removal. This
was, however, peremptorily refused, and he was
told that he would not be paid the humble
pittance he had earned by his honest industry until he
had removed his fever-stricken wife and diseased
children out of the barn into the road; in vain he
implored for a cart to convey the enfeebled sufferers
to a neighbouring village, where some shelter might
be obtained. He was told that no cart could be ob-
tained, and that he had better take them to South
Ferriby, where he might perchance get a cast in a
carrier's cart to Winterton. He had no alternative.
He was compelled to bring his wife, already affected
with the pains of labour, into the road, and then, and
not until then, did SPENCER pay him the amount of
wages due to him, 1/. 19s. Before she had proceeded
twenty yards the suffering creature was compelled to
sit down on the road side, and a considerable period of
intense suffering and bitter anguish was endured be-
fore the anxiously•desired resting-place was attained.
Here it might be supposed that in an English village
immediate help and shelter could be procured
for a person so afflicted, but such was not the case,
the nnserable woman was forced to remain in the
public street, while her half-frantic husband hurried
from place to place, seeking permission to bring her into
some empty barn or stable, but in vain. During his
absence, the children of
.the village gathered round
her, while the women, many of whom themselves were
wives and mothers, looked on at a greater distance,
regarding in silence, and without rendering the
slightest aid, a fellow-creature suffering under cir-
cumstances that should have awakened the warmest
sympathies of every heart possessed of the commonest
feelings of humanity. At length one, more compas-
sionate than the others, approached, but being too
frightened to remain, she retired to seek further as-
sistance. Before the return of the husband, who had
failed in his mission, or of the woman who went for
assistance, the unhappy woman, alone and unattended,
had given birth to a female child, which, as might be
expected, did not survive,indeed doubts were entertained
as to whether it had ever breathed, and the coroner's
jury returned a verdict that it was not born alive.
At length the suffering parent and her children were
removed into the stable of a public-house, where,
after an interval of nearly twenty-four hours, she
was visited by the parish surgeon, who found her in
a state of delirium, and in the greatest danger. It is
tie to that gentleman, Mr. MORLEY, to state that
e moment he became aware of the real circum-
stances of the case he afforded every assistance in his
power, and spared no exertions to counteract the
sad effects of her fearful sufferings. She was re-
moved into one of the rooms of the public-house,
where every attention that her situation required was
bestowed. Three of the children—one of them but
two years of age—remain in the stable still afflicted
with the fever, while the fourth was permitted to be
taken with its mother into the inn.
It is almost incredible that such things could
have taken place in a civilised, a Christian country
The most heartrending accounts of districts suffering
under the effects of pestilence or famine scarcely sur-
pass it in its horrible reality. If it were recorded in
a work of fiction it would be said that the writer had
far surpassed the bounds of probability—that it was,
utterly impossible that such circumstances could have
occurred. And yet we believe there can be no doubt
of
any portion of the heartrending statement. It is
possible that the farmer, SPENCER, was not fully
aware of the extreme urgency of the case—of the
fearful sufferings and risk that would be encountered '
by enforcing her immediate removal. But still he
must have seen enough to have convinced him
a
that she was not in fit state to travel,
and the husband told him that she was tdo
Ur well to be removed. There
the least of it, a very culpablewas, to say
degree of
neglige.nee and carelessness as to what might
be the ,result of his mandate. He desired to
" rid of the poor women from 'his premises, and
" get
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fron; 034 ph of which he was an.nfficer, and that