The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-19 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT—MAIDSTONE, DEC. 18.
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
Frances Wallace, 29, a respectable looking young
woman, was charged upon an indictment and also upon
a coroner's inquisition with ;the wilful murder of her
child, Frances Wallace.
The prisoner appeared in an almost unconscious state
during the trial. She was allowed to be seated, and was
supported the greater portion of the time by two of the
female warders of the prison.
Mr. Ribton and Ylr. Bridge csnducted the prosecu-
tion. The prisoner Ras defended by the Hon. G. Den-

man.
The learned counsel for the prosecution, in opening
the case to the jury, said—They were aware that the
prisoner was charged with the serious and awful crime
of murder, which in all cases was one of the highest
known to the law; and in the present instance was one
of the most revolting and unnatural kind, the prisoner
being charged with the murder of her own child, between
four and five years old. The case he should have to lay
before them was of a very melancholy character. The
prisoner lived at Dover, and got her living by working
as a laundress, and it. would appear that the child whose
death was the subject of the inquiry was an illegitimate
child, and that on tb e morning of the 27th October the
prisoner destroyed the life of that child by nearly sever•
ing its head from its body. It appeared that after the
fatal occurrence the prisoner was in a very excited state,
and she accounted for her act by saying that some man
had gone to London to give some information to her
sister as to who was the father of the child, and that the
result would be another murder. The learned counsel
said the jury would form their own conclusions upon the
point, and as to the motives that influenced her to com-
mit the crime, and they would say whether the fear of
the discovery who was the father of the child, by her
sister, bad led to the commission of the act imputed to
her. He said there could be no doubt that the prisoner
had destroyed the life of her child ; and he believed this
would not be attempted to be denied by his learned
friend, Mr. Denman, whose able assistance the prisoner
had obtained on the present occasion, bat that the an-
swer that would be given to the charge would be, that
at the time the act was committed the prisoner was not
in a state of mind to render her responsible for heractions.
The learned counsel then called the attention of the jury
to the law as applying to the defence of insanity, and
said that although undoubtedly a person who was not in
a condition of mind to be responsible for her acts ought
not to be punished, yet in so serious and dreadful a case
as this the jury would neglect their duty to the public
and to the law if they acquitted the prisoner on the
ground of insanity, unless there was some reasonable
evidence to justify them in coming to that conclusion.
The following evidence was then adduced :
Elizabeth Mitchell said—l am the wife of John Mit-
chell, and reside at Town Wall-lane, Dever. I have
known the prisoner for three years, and in October last
she was living at No. 15, Town Wall.lane. My hue-
band had a stable opp: site her house. Oft the more.
ing of the 27th October I was standing at my husband's
stable, when the prisoner came out of her house and
called to me. I went over to her and saw her hands
were covered with blood. I asked her bow she had cut
hen hand, and she replied, " Oh, Mrs. Mitchell, I have
murdered my own child—go and look at it." I went
into her room and 'aw the child opposite the fireplace,
with the head nearly severed from the body. I went out
again and saw the prisoner standing in the street. I
asked her how she came to do it, and she said it was
through a Mr. Wells, who had sent her man away that
morning to London to her sister. A man named Bligh
had been lodging in Well's house. Wells lived next door
to the prisoner, and she had seen the prisoner and Bligh
conversing together. The prisoner was trembling very
much, and I called to my husband and he came and took
hold of her. The prisoner is a single woman, and she
was a most affectionate mother and took great pains
about her child, and appeared very fond of it and kept
it as well as any tradelman's child in the town.
Cross-examined—The first thing I saw was the pri-
soner coming out of her house with her hands covered
with blood. She beckoned me to her.
John Mitchell said—l am the husband of the last
witness, and am a carrier. I remember the morning of
the 27th October when this occurrence happened. I was
near my stable, and I saw the prisoner come out of her
home and my wife went into her house, and she then
called to me, and, pointing to prisoner, said, "Oh, this
woman has killed her child." I asked prisoner how she
came-to do it, and she exclaimed, "That man." This
was all she said. A policeman came up, and the pri-
soner wai taken into custody.
Cross. examined—The prisoner trembled very chinmu
e
and apparently hardly able to stand. She ma
attempt to escape.
,
cline, said—
Irons, by
The prisoner was apprehended by the witness
app
eared quite
my directions. When I saw
her she app
in a fly.
frantic, and she was taken to
the
a
tion, and road it over to bee, a s tatioe
her the usual cau-
-1 wrote down the charge,
asdnd svbe said "I am guilty."
Mr. Cora©, superintendent of the Dover p
the same frantic state, and
her again she appeafie
She was then sehaerchweidshdbed a
telegraPh—there will be double
exclaisned " Telegrap
murder. I have been told of all
murder—murder upon mu orders, and when I saw
I afterwards took
pocket to be looked to that
this." yinihneyr to Maidstone, and on the
way she said s
ase
was in her house, and
I k dhwhat f he said
s some sugar of lead in it.
.
MrDellman, at the close of the case for the prosecu-
tion,, er or, an s
there w
made a most able and eloquent speech to the jury
on behalf of the prisoner, and, after a feeling appeal
upon the:distressing nature of the inquiry on which they
were engaged, he urged that all the circumstances that
had been adduced in evidence tended only to one conclu-
sion, which was that at the time this dreadful act was
committed the unhappy prisoner was not in such a state
of mind as to render her responsible for her actions.
The learned Judge having summed up with great care
and minuteness, and having explained the law relating
to the subject, the jury, after a short deliberation,
acquitted the prisoner on the ground of insanity, and
she was ordered to be detained during her Majesty's
ileasure.