The Sun.
London, England, 1833-07-31 00:00:00

:iven iu res

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUIT —STAFFonD, JuLT 29.
INFANTICIDE-THE KING V. DIARY SMITH.
The prisoner was indicted for the murder of a certain female
child, to the jurors unknown, by drowning it in the canal at
Bloxwich, in this county.
Mrs. Fowler examined by Mr. COOPER—Is a midwife.
Knows the prisoner. She came to witness to make an ar-
rangement for her delivery. I delivered her on the 21st of
June of a male infant. I attended her four days, till the Ist
of July, when she went off. Saw her again at the inquest.
The child had an opening in the upper gum. I did not be.
lieve it to be the same at first, but examined it, and finding
that mark, I knew it to be the same.
Cross-examined—She got up on the second day after her
delivery, and was then somewhat light-headed. I saw the
baby four times alive. The infant when found had all its
proper clothes on it. The mother said it should be called
Mary Anne, and it was so called. She was as kind and tender
to it as a mother could be.
Luke Head, a farmer, on the 6th of July found a bundle in
the water beyond Pratt's-bridge. Took it out with a fork, It
was a dead female child. It had some clothes on.
Foxall, police-officer, had her in custody, and asked her
if the father had anything to do with the drowning of the child.
I asked how she could come to do such a horrid deed. She said
the devil must have put it into her head. She meant to
have drowned herself and her child. She loosed the child in
the water, and it sunk. She put her hand in for it to get it
out again, but she could not feel it or draw it out again. I took
her to the station-house.

Mr. West, superintendent of police at Walsall—Harrison
nd the prisoner were in ad joining cells. He overheard him
say to her," Good God, Mary, see what you have brought me
to." She said she was very sorry for it, as she was innocent.
She could not tell what had induced her to do it—it came into
her head all at once. Witness told his men not to ask her
any questions, and cautioned her not to say any thing to im-
plicate herself. Afterwards he asked her if her child had a
flannel petticoat on with a stone. She said no. She said she
put her:child under one of the bridges. I said,," Good God,
what were your feelings when you saw it struggling in the
water ?" She said she was very wretched, and had a great
mind to throw herself in. She tried to get it out, but could not.
Henry Paget, a surgeon, examined the body. It was a fe-
male child, and had been drowned. It had a fissure in the
upper gum. _ _ _

- - -
The jury found a verdict of Guilty.
The sentence was deferred until next assizes.
This concluded the business of the Crown Court, but the
Chief Justice in the Civil Court has yet two causes to try.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—EXETER, Jurx 29.
MURDER OF A WIFE BY HER HUSBAND.
Wm. Nicholls, a respectably dressed man, seventy years of
age, was indicted for the wilful murder of his wife, by admi-
nistering arsenic to her on the Bth July instant, of the effects
of which on the following day she died.
The case has already appeared in The Sun.
The Learned Judge having summed up, the Jury returned
a verdict of Not Guilty.