The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-10 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUIT—SEraEwsuuRT, DEC. 9.
(Before Mr. Baron Watson.),

Martha Trorrall, aged 24, single woman, was charged
with the wilful murder of her infant child, tit High Ercalt
on the 12th of September.

Mr. Scotland and Mr. Corbett appeared f er the prosecu-
tion ; Mr. Boughey defended the prisoner.
It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner was em•
ployed by Mr. Shakeshaft, a farmer in hary eat work. On.
the 12th of September last she had been engaged for save
ral hours in washing, and afterwards eon) plained to her
mistress of being extremely unwell. Her mistress asked
her if she could do anything to assist her, and eventually
she lent her a shawl, and gave her leave to go home. She
left at four o'clock p.m., in the directio a of Rowton,
where her mother lived ; and at half-past four she was
seen sitting by a footpath at a ditch side, at; a distance of
about half a mile from her home. She a ppeared to be
very ill, but said she should be better soot', and told the
witness not to tell her mistress that she wag sitting on the
ground. She was next seen at six o'clock the same evening
at her home. In the course of 'the eventng a woman
named Sarah Rogers came to her from Mrs. rihakeshaft to
inquire how she was. She told the wane is to tell her ,
mistress that she was a great dent better ; a nd, observing
that her mistress seemed to think she was i n the family
way, she denied that such was thi 3 case, and appealed to
her sister in confirmation. A witness named Elizabeth
Nicholls, who lived next door to the prisoner's mother,
said that some time before this event oleo had noticed that
the prisoner was in the family way, and that the prisoner
had mentioned the fast to her. About six o'clock on the
evening of the 12th of September the wi tnees saw the pri-
soner in her own house, and asked her if Bite had been un-
well. The
the child in a ditch, and asked her if sh e -would fetch it.
prisoner said she had been confined and put
The witness said she would as soon as she had had her
tea. She asked if the child was dead or alive, and she
(prisoner) said
"Oh ! I have killed it." The wa-
ness said, "Lord, Martha ! what did y on do that for ?"
The prisoner replied, " What could Ido • -with it ?" The
witness did not go for the child, beca xtl ie she said she
durnet. On cross-examination thelwit: le is said the pr:e
sonar had had a child before this, and had b rought it up at
her mother's house till it was six years oh i, when it was
taken by the putative father. John Hug' am a labourer in
the employ of Mr. Adeney, a farmer, pi :ov• d that on the
21st Sept. he found the naked body of :i eb ild in a ditch
with a garter tied round its neck. The * pc ,t was retired,
and a short distance from where the prisoner was seen sit-
ting, on her way home on the 12th Sept. The garter was
tied twice round the neck, and tied in a 1 :not. Beeston, a
police officer, proved that he charged tb e prisoner with
murdering her child and putting it in adi h belonging to
Mr. Adeney, at Rowton. The prisoner e aid " Yes,did I
it."

Mr. Baron Watson here condemned i' a fart mg terms the
practice which prevails for policemen tc , make long charges
against prisoners, as in this case, and ? ,o gettit !g admissions
of their guilt. A prisoner might mis' indersta. nd some part
of the charge, and thus the practice ( wkicir his lordship

there was no room to attach a ligature, and the child must
in any case have died of hemorrhage within ten minutes
or a quarter of an hour of its birth.
Mr. Boughey, for the prisoner, contended that there was
no sufficient evidence that the child was born alive ; still
less could it be said that the prisoner had wilfully destroyed
it. The learned counsel suggested that it was a case of pre-
mature labour, brought on by washing, and that, even if the
child was born alive it might have died of haemorrhage,
or from the effort of the prisoner to deliver herself. The
prisoner might be convicted of endeavouring to conceal the
birth.
Mr. Baron Watson, in summing up the evidence, said
that if the child was born alive, and the prisoner applied
the garter for the purpose of strangulation, and not, as
suggested, in order to deliver herself, the jury must find
her guilty of wilful murder. His lordship then went care-
fully through the facts as proved in evidence, and when he
came to the evidence of the policeman, observed that from
his heart he entirely deprecated the practice of policemen
getting admissions, as had been done in this case, from pri
soners. He had no doubt that the policeman Beeston was
an honest man ; but it was well known that policemen
were sometimes dishonest, and tried to get admissions, in
order that they might convict. In such C2BOB the police-
man had it all his, own way, and could not be contra-
dicted by the prisoner, ,and thus a jury might be led to
dip their hands in innocent.blood. It was impossible for
a jury to say how much of the charge the prisoner might
have heard, or how much she intended to admit. His
lordship said he felt bound to say this much for the
interests of public justice, and he hopel that what
he said would not be confined to this court. If
the jury felt that they could place implicit reliance on
what the policeman stated they must do their duty, and
find the prisoner guilty of murder ; but if, on the other
hand, looking at all the evidence in the case, they had any
doubt upon that point, they were at liberty to find her
guilty of endeavouring to conceal the birth, if they should
be of opinion that the evidence would sustait that charge.
The jury found the prisoner guilty of endeavouring to
conceal the birth.
Mr. Baron Watson then sentenced her to be imprisoned
with hard labour for three calendar months,
Alai Hollis, alias TVilliains, was charged with the wilful
murder of Benjamin Bromley, at Shrewsbuty, on the 29th
of October last.
Mr. Scotland and Mr. Corbett prosecn:ed ; and Mr.
Rupert Kettle and Mr. Talfourd. defended.
The prisoner pleaded "Not Guilty."
The circumstances of this homicide will be readily re-
membered, having recently been reported. On the night
of the 29th of October the prisoner qua/lolled under the
market-hall with a young woman named Usier, with whom
he had been accustomed to consort. Later in the evening
he found her with Bromley, and she, feariog his violence,
ran away. Bromley said to the prisoner, " Stand off ;
what did you hit the girl for ?" Upon wh ch the prisoner
inflicted upon him a mortal wound with a knife.
The evidence was remarkably clear, and the prisoner had
admitted that fact. His counsel addreted the court to
show that the crime was manslaughter, and the judge
having pointed out the legal bounclaris between that
offence and murder,
The jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter,
and the learned judge sentenced the prisoner to be trans-
ported for fourteen years.