The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-09 00:00:00

MIDDLETON OA SMACK.

• A few investments have been mad on Mishap, whom
I shall reserve for a cockhoat.

The minor events are likely to bring out comparatively
large fields. For the Railway Plate, Lizzie, Gondoline,
and Jane Shore attract my fancy. Flacrow will doubt-
less carry off the Inkerman Plate. For the Two-Year-
Old Stakes, Amorous Boy and Apathy are my selections.
April 9. ' A FRESH MAN.

CRIMINAL COURT.—(This Day.)

OLD COURT.

(Before Mr. Justices Cresswell and Crompton.)
THE MURDER OF TWO CHILDREN BY THEIR MOTHER 4°

UXBRIDGE.

Mary Ann Harris, spinster, was indicted for the
wilful wur,ler of Ellen Harris, her illegitimate child.
Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Clerk prosecuted ; and the P
sonar was defended by Mr. Sleigh, at the instance of tb°
sheriffs.

The prisoner, who is a pretty-looking young woulP3'
having as infant in her arms, remained seated during the
whole of the trial, and seemed to fed most poignantly the
situation in which she was placed.
Mr. Bodkin, in stating the case to the jury, said, thll
from the facts which had been disclosed in connection iviw,
this painful tragedy they would have no doubt bat tbP
the deceased child came to its death by the hand of Os;
unhappy woman at the bar, who was their mother,
and in laying before the jury the facts connected Ili° f
the one crime charged in this indictment he cou°
not disguise from them that she had also been the
cause of the death of her other child, which formed the
subject of another inquiry. The prisoner had, before thii
time of the murder, been in the union at Uxbridge, slll`
left there, accompanied by the two children in questioth
and the one she then held in her arms. She was about
_it°
go to Portsmouth, to join some one with whom she b""
been previously connected, and who was the father of the
infant now alive. She called at a public-house afteiles/'
iug the union, and at that time had with her the throf
children. In the evening she left the public-hence Wit)
two of the children, stating that she was going f.O takd
them to sleep at another house. She left the baby,
was soon afterwards seen near the Grand Junction C*ll,l
with the zhildren. Shortly after this she came back sip'
fetched the infant, and thou left. At a later period of the
evening the two children were seen floating 1113°P
the surface of the canal, and upon being take°
out were found to be quite dead. It Ist°ll
known the road she had taken, she was followed and slri
prehEnded. The learned counsel then called the witness!!!

whose evidence, which was not disputed, -;;;;ed the
lowing facts. The prisoner was the mother of three chP
dren, Agnes and Ellen, and a baby, all of whom ill
illegitimate, and it appeared that the father of the is"
child was living at Portsmouth, and at the time of
t a
fatal 'occurrence he was anxious that the prisoner dist
join him with the baby. The prisoner and her three st
dren had been in the Uxbridge workhouse, but on the 1.5'
February she left, taking with her all the children, Id
same time expressing her intention of proceeding to rsr"
mouth with them. She was seen by some of her relatiops,
who reside in the neighbourhood of Uxbridge, at differesi
periods of the day, and towards the evening the pris°l3el2,
commenced her out return to proceed by the train fret
the West Drayton station, on her way to Portsreet"'
About half-past seven o'clock in the evening she was OA
with the two elder children near a bridge over the Orw
Junction Canal, called Yewsley-bridge, and a very fr,
minutes afterwards she was seen coming away from we
canal without the children. In about half an hour tl°°
this time the bodies of the two unhappy children .
seen in the canal by a labouring man, and on their be'D°
taken out they were found to be quite dead. Suspicil:
of course, immediately fell upon the prisoner, and
was taken into custody the same evening, at a puisi"
house in the neighbourhood, and an her being t°lll
that the bodies of two children had been tik°l
out of the canal, and that she answered the dota'
tion et the person who was last seen with them she OIL
no reply. The Constable then took the prisoner, to "'-
public-house where the bodies of the children were lyl°
and when the prisoner saw them she went up to thenlslll
kissed them, and said they were her children, and that .14
had brought them out of the workhouse that Mornisia
The prisoner was then taken to the police-station, ,
while the woman employed for that purpose was sear:o4 I
her, she said to her, " Oh dear, oh dear, do you knUir Whl
yos have been doing ?" to which the prisoner replied,
know very well what I have been doing ;" and upon gap.
other person who was present observing that it was a 'II!:
der she had not drowned the baby as well as the et's"
children, the prisoner exclaimed, " The baby has got
father, but the other children have not."
slj
She subsequently, after having been cautioned that
. _a.
she said would be given in evidence against her, tcours..
statement, which amounted to an entire confession, 614 "Li
had thrown the children into the water, and that she 11"--
done so because she would not take them with her to r°l44;
mouth ; and she also stated that she was. sorry her bs,s"
was not thrown in as well as the other children, and
lidded that she had gone through so much trouble not
had no desire to live.

Mr. Sleigh, in a very able and impressive speech, it
that he never rose to address a jury with feelings of der-
t
responsibility than upon the present. There was
thing so painful, so revolting in the case that a inotbi"
should with premeditation take away the lives of the "4
children.
Mr. Justice Cresswell then summed ,up,
upon the probabilities of the defence set up.
The jury. after consulting a few momenta, returnell
vardict of Guilty.
Mr. Justice Cresswell then passed the extreme multitili
of the law, telling the miserable woman not to Ind
in any hope that mercy would be extended to her.
Upon hearing her sentence she shrieked out, " I ei1t...11
nocent ;" and was removed fram the dock screaming, Pl'
in an almost fainting state.