The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-11 00:00:00

THE LEA-BRMGE CHILD MURDER.

FINAL EXAMINATION AND COMMITTAL OF
THE ACCUSED.

Ann Padfield was brought before Mr. Knox, at I
Worship-street Police-court, for final examination
on a charge of having wilfully murdered her illegi-
timate male child, Augustus Padfield.
All the witnesses were now in attendance, and I
the following important testimony was adduced :
Mr. John Gay, surgeon, of 10, Finsbury-place,
South, sa'cl—l was called upon to make a post
mortem examination on the 22d of September last ,
of the body of a male child, lying at Homerton
Workhouse'; it was a well-grown and fine child,
well nourished, evidently having been dead some
few weeks. It was discoloured, in some parts livid,
in others of a yellow or greenish hue. It was also
bloated, as though it had been in water some time.
The entire cuticle or scarf had been removed, with
the hair. It had a peculiarly offensive smell, and
in parts decomposition had set in. The body was
flaccid throughout. The hand was clenched, and
retained that form, but without rigidity. The eyes
were not, as usual, sunken. The eye-balls were
decomposed. The nose, as well as the two ears,
flattened, especially the lefi; one. The lips ap-
peared as though they had been compressed—the
mouth was half open, and the tongue swollen and
very livid. The inside of the mouth was far gone
in decomposition.
[At this point of the evidence the prisoner
fainted away in the dock, and by order of the
magistrate was removed into the yard, where Dr.
Gay attended her, and by his directions restora-
tives were applied. At intervals convulsive screams
were uttered by her, and when she was again
brought into court, it was found requisite to clear
it of all not connected with the proceedings. The
prisoner was then placed in a seat near an open
door, but sufficiently close to the witnesses, to hear
their depositions.]
Dr. Gay then continued-- On cutting through the
scalp I found that the pericraniurn, had separated
from the bones to a considerable extent along the
upper and central part of the Haul!. At the back
part of the head there was a little blood infiltrated
in the tissues of the scalp, but this was undergoing
decomposition. The bones of the skull had separated
at the sutures, and the two parietal bones overlap-
ped each other considerably; the brain had been
reduced by decompoSition to a pulp, as well as the
upper part of the spinal cord; the dura mater was
entire. I believe that the unnatural condition of
the brain and the skull was owing to decomposi-
tion, and that the position of the bones might have
been owing to the weight of their pulpy contents.
I found that the left aam had been amputated about
an inch below the shoulder joint.
[Here the prisoner again fainted, and the business
was delayed until her recovery.]
The wound was jagged, but had apparently been
made by a tolerably sharp instrument. There were
two distinct cuts through the skin, close to the edge
of the wound, and parallel with it, just above and
behind, another such cut through the skin, and ex-
actly opposite it, also paral'el to the edge of the
skin. These wounds were five-eighths of an inch
in length, and slightly gaped. There was another
wound, about an equal distance between these two,
but not through the skin; this wound was only
three-eighths of an inch in length. The surface of
the stump was much decomposed and worm eaten ;
the bone was broken through and splintered about
an inch below the joint. I examined the large artery
of the limb, and found the orifice very slightly con-
tused and without any clotted blood. The surface
of the wound was conical; the skin an inch below
the bone. I then proceeded to examine the chest,
and found in the left side of it some bloody fluid,
and the second rib on that side with the intercostal
tissue cut through at the angle with some mode-
rately sharp instrument. Both lungs were some-
what collapsed, and intensely congested ; they did
not contain any appreciable quantity of air. The
left one just floated, the right sank rapidly in
the water. The mucus membrane of the
bronchi was examined, and their small rami-
fications contained a little frothy matter ; the heart
was empty; the stomach was of a dark livid colour,
and contained a small quantity of mucus. In the
upper bowels I found, by microscopic examination,
an appearance of milk; and in the lower bowels
chyle and ordinary greenish faecal matter; the
liver was of a deep livid colour, and collapsed ; the
other organs were healthy. I could not at first dis-
tinguish anything on the skin, from the discoloura-
tion to which I have referred ; but on steeping the
skin some time in " distilled" water, the greater
part of the lividity disappeared, and I was enabled
to observe on the abdomen a mark, shaped as a
sugar-loaf, about one inch and three-quarters in
length, and about half an inch wide at the base;
the apex of the cone was about an inch to the right
of the naval; and from this point the mark took
its course down towards the outer part of the thigh.
1 also observed in front of the left ear slight marks
of bruises, and parts of the body were stained yel-
low, in all probability by sewage. I proceeded to
examine the jaw, the lower one contained ten milk
teeth, but they hal not arrived at that period of
growth at which they come through the gum. I
could not detect any rudiments of a permanent set
of teeth, but the gums had been separated by de-
composition, and the teeth loosened ; the rudiments
of the teeth might have been destroyed by decom-
position. I infer from these appearances that the
child could not have been seven or eight months
old, and I am inclined to believe, from the appear-
ances of the jaw, that it could not have been more
than three or four months old. There were not any
traces of natural disease to account for death. and
from the condition of the lungs I believe the child
to have died from asphyxia or suffocation—it was
impossible to decide satisfactorily whether the limb
was removed before or after death, but I am in-
clined to believe that it was immediately before or
immediately after death. My opinion of this is
based on the fact that, there was not any blood
in the heart and vessels, but any clot of blood in
the vessels might have been removed by decom-
position or by the water in which the body was im-
mersed. I believe that the stain on the body near
the navel was a mother's mark, and existed at the
birth. A little frock was given to me to examine.
I steeped it in distilled water for two or three days,
and then found blood globules on it by aid of a
microscope; the frock had been evidently washed
and ironed. I cannot take on myself to say whether
the blood was that of a human being. I had also
another article for examination, and found on it
clotted blood. lam not acquained with any mortal
natural disease which would produce the appear-
ances I have observed upon the child. I had a jar
containing the intestines of the child, and produce
it with the contents.
The prisoner was carefully kept from the sight
of this vessel and that part of the abdomen spoken
to as bearing the " mother's mark" was taken from
it and shown to the witnesses, Mrs. Mead and
Hannah Williams, who spoke to its being, in their
opinion, the same mark seen by them on the pri-
soner's child. These persons, in reply to questions
by Mr. Vann, for the prisoner, answered that she
bad always in their presence appeared fond of and
treated her infant as a mother would do.
Dr. Gay also stated that he had not found any
irritant or poisonous matter in the body of the child.
Ellen Webster, a married woman, depcsed to hav-
ing met the prisoner, whom she well knew, on the
19th of September last, in Back-lane, Clapton. Pri-
soner asked her how Mrs. Mead was, and witness
replied that she was in a sad way at having dis-
covered a child with its left arm off down a closet
in her house. Prisoner then observed that she was
going to meet her mistress at half-past five o'clock,
and return to Brighton, from whence she had rot
long arrived. She went away in the direction of
Clapton.
Ann Preston, a servant to Miss Alexander, in
Park•street, Islington, said that prisoner called on
her the same afternoon as she believed the prisoner
was apprehended on this charge, and after remark-
ing that she was going to leave Notting-hill for
Brighton, asked for an address that she had given
her to the former place to be returned. Walrle
did so and the prisoner left.
Inspector Bowler, of the N division, produced a
child's frock and pinafore, with other articles found
in the prisoner's box at Notting-hill.
Dr. Brooks, whose evidence was given at the