The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-22 00:00:00

CHARGE OF CHILD MURDER.

CORONER'S INQUEST.--Satutday, at half-past eleven, an
Inquest was held at the Horse and Groom, -West-street, \Ve-
letas, on the body of Caroline Dcwhurst, a child two years
old, who was murdered by her father on Thursday morning.
The Jury went to No. 16, Brenti-place, the residence of the
prisoner. The body of the child was lying in the room in
which it was murdered. It was covered with bruin is, and the
face and head presented a most horrible. -spectacle, being one
mass of bruises. In various parts of the room were marks of
blood. The Jury, while viewing the body, betrayed horror at
the shocking scene.
Mrs. Adams (the first witness) deposed, that on Wednesday
evening last, about five o'clock, Mrs. Dcwhurst came to her
house, and begged that she would accompany her to bar house,
as her husband was in a passion.- Witness went with her, and
knocked at the door, which was opened by Mr. Dewhurst ;
he was then without his hat, and his hair stood apparently on
end; his looks were those of a crazy person. Mrs. Dewhurst
asked him for her bonnet, but he refused to give it her, and he
then attempted to kick her, and struck her a blow on the breast.
Witness then observed him enter the coons below stairs where
the child was lying, take it up in his arms and walk up stairs
with it. Mrs. Dewlmrst desired witness to watch him. At this
time the street door was shut against them, and she observed
Mr. Dewhurst came down stairs without the child. Witness
stood at sonic distance from the house wstcbing him, and oh-
' served bins come out of the house; on passing witnesshehieked
at her stedhstly, and walked up. to the top of Ltronti-place.—
Witness then went in search oflum, in company with his wife :
and after having visited all the public houses in the neighbour-
hood, could neither see nor hear any tidings of him. At length
Mrs. Dewhurst, with her eldest boy, found her husband,. who
was then at a public house in East-lane. AfterwardS Mrs. D.
went to witness's house, and from thence to her own house. In
-a little time slrs. D. returned, saying, " Oh Mrs. Adams !
God's sake come with me, my husband is beating one of the
children." She at this time had one ()flier daughters with her.
Shortly after a watchman came and mentioned that he saw no
light in the front room, and that he believed, ?,Ir. Dewhurst
was not in die house. The witness and Mrs. Dcwhurst again
proceeded to Ilronti-place, and having previously heard the
cries of a child, as if in pain, she went for Mr. Swift, the sur-
geon, and they all went up stairs, and in the front room they
were horrified upon seeing the infant lying in a corner of the
room completely covered with blood. It was quite naked, and
the face and head appeared as if dashed against the wall. Mr.
Dewhurst was, at this time, standing in the middle of the
room without his coat on, and the sleeves of his shirt tucked up.
He, in answer to their questions as to the shocking state in
which the child was, replied, " that it had fallen down stairs,
and that he had done the hest he could for it."

In answer to a question from a Juror, witness said that she
observed no marks of blood on the stairs.

Witness continued.—Dr. Swift then expressed a wish to exa.
mine the child, in which, however, he met with considerable
opposition from the father, who insisted that he should quit the
house. Witness got hot water, with which the infant was
bathed, and the blood cleansed from the body. She remained
sitting up the whole night, and left the house about 4 o'clock ;
she then went home, and returned about 11 o'clock, when she
saw the unfortunate infant expire. Here she became so dread-
fully agitated that she was unable to proceed for some time; at
length she went on to depose that when she expressed her
horror at the sight, Mr. D. calmly replied —" That do you
mean by such a sight ?" At this time there were several watch-
men in the house; and Mr. D. observed, on seeing the street.
door open-" Shut the door, I don't wish the neighbours to be
disturbed." The witness said that she knew Mr. D. about 3or
4 months since; she had had a child of his to nurse. _

In answer to questions from the Jury, witness said that Mrs.
D. had come to her house before upon being alarmed by her
husband's threats. The witness also said, that during the time
she had Mr. newborn% child to nurse, frequently, when that
Lady went to visit it, she chewed marks of violence to witness,
which, she said, she had received from her husband, who, she
also said, had often mentioned to her that he (Dewhurst) had
an antipathy to the deceased child.
Mary Ann Adams, daughter to last witness, deposed that
she Went by desire aiher mother to Mr. Dewhurt's house, sad
was there from eight to eleven o'clock. Saw the deceased in a
back room lying on the floor, covered with.x piece of blanket.—
Mrs. Dewhurst came up
stairs and said, don't touch the child,
she will cry. Witness afterwards left the house.
Other witnesses corroborated the above evidence in most par.
ticulars.

Mr. John Swift, surgeon, of Newington, sworn.---On Wed.
nesday morning I was called by Mrs. Dewhurst and Mrs.
Adams, who requested I would come to Mr. Dewhurst's house
immediately. She said she thought her husband was tipsy,
and had lam upon the child anti suffocated it, and she was
afraid it was dead.. I went with her to the house, and en.
tered a back room up stairs, and saw Mr. Dewhurst standing
in the middle of the room, in a violent alteication With two
watchmen. Mr. Dewhurst asked me what I wanted there ?
I told him I came to see his child. lie said he would be cursed
if I should see it. 1 told him, if he did not treat me with civi-
lity, 1 should quit his house. On looking about the room I saw
the child ; it was then ;dire, anti covered over with a rug. I
took it off; and, on seeing the child's condition, 1 told Mr.
Dewhurst, that if he did not sit down and conductlimself pro.
perly while 1 examined it, I should give him in charge. Ile
swore he would not, and 1 gave him in charge, and he was
taken down stairs. I then examined the child, and found
considerable violence had been used upon the thighs, Jeffs, arms,
and particularly along the spinal column and buttock. '1 le whole
ex ternal part of the head and lace were amass of violence, which
was of recent infliction. On looking round the room, I saw seve_
vend large patches of blood on the floor, and some of them had
the appearance of' being just wiped up with a piece of flannel
petticoat, which lay on die ground, quite bloody. There was a
quantityrnofubtlhooedilooonr,tlwieiasiksirotmineg.lllitn
tliaalatln, chair,ainlad hair
I antattlasikceieli wall
to ,
tli.i:ouwlt
a yard
went down stairs, and ordered a warm bath to be prepared,
and seeing Mr. Dewhurst sitting on
it had happened. He said he had done nothing to the child,
and that the bruises on the face were caused by its falling
down stairs some days before. 1 asked him fur a candle, and
he said he knew nothing about housekeeping or candles, and he
could do very well if he had not a rogue of a wife. lie said he
knew that he had done something that would hang him. Mrs.
Dewhurst said that her husband had had two candles, and in his
fury she supposed he had destroyed them. The little candle I
had at first, having burnt out, I was kept an hour without a
light or tire. 'When I procured a light and hot water, I put the
child into a bath, and it tuts then in a dying state. The pupils
of the eye were dilated, and it appeared-to labour under
compression on the brain. It was affected with rattling 'in the
throat, and continued in that state till eleven o'clock, when it
died. This evening I opened the head, in company with an.'
othrtwvei twelve ounces
oncit;s thef belxotoderriannl
the erbratine, ainandl crnorarne.spoln bi
nu gn dnt
markse of violence
surface of the skull. The pressure of the blood on the brain
caused death. There was sufficient external violence to cause
death. I found in the middle of the room a leather strap,
about a foot and a half long, and 'an inch and a half wide, and
a quatter of an inch thick, upon which there were marks of
blood.

The Connwrat addressed the Jury, he said, that the child
had died from the most extraordinary violence committed on
her person, was a fad beyond dispute, and it Only remained
for the Jury to say who was the person or perions who comf
mined it.
The Jury retired for a few minutes, and, on our re-admission,
the Foreman read from a paper the following verdict We
Are of opinion that the Child was killed by the violence of its
father, llewhurst."
• The CORONER bound over the witnesses to give evidence
on the trial at Kingston, and issued his warrant against the
accused.

The following very singular circumstance oc.
curred recently on the farm of Mr. Chatfield, at Horton, near
Steyning. His men engaged in the pursuit of the plough,
while taking their lunch in the field, placed their horses under
a hedge to graze, but where they had. not long been, before
it was observed that the tongue of one of the horses exhibit-
ed an unusual extension from ity mouth, and it was so much
swelled that it could not be returned to its -natural position,
suppose►l to have been caused by the bite of a viper, whose
venom was so active and powerful in its operation, that it
baffled the veterinary aid that was called in, and the animal (a
Valuable one) soon died from its effects, apparently in great
pain, and with its bead swollen to nearly three times its natural
size.—( Kent Herald.)