The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-11 00:00:00

IABY FARMING-4 STRANGE' STORY.

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A. else has just come to tight in the Vast-m(I34A
roans a curious pendant to the discldsures in the notoriouS
Jagger inquiry at Tottenham. On Saturday Dr. john
Chambers, a practitioner living at Hackney-road, paid
one of a series of visits to a Mrs. Cooper, of 10, Nelson-,
street, Hackney-road, who was suffering from the
effects of premature confinement. As he was leaving
the husband of the invalid addressed him and said,
"Don't you know that my child is dead ?" This ques-
tion astonished the doctor, for Mrs. Cooper had just
told him that she never had had a child. He therefore
asked, " What child ? I did not know you had one."
Mr. Cooper, however, took him into a room and chewed
him the body of a very beautiful boy, nearly two years of
age. A blue mark over the lips and some other indica-
tions raised a strong presumption that death was the result
of suffocation. Mr. Cooper stated that the child had been
found dead in bed that morning. The coroner was com-
municated with,and inquiries were set on foot. It transpired
that the boy was not the son of the Coopers. According
to their statement, they did not even know who the
parents of the child were. A young lady, they said, drov e
up to their house in a cab on the 23rd of March last and
handed the child to Mrs. Cooper, and left as mysteriously
as she came, without stating her own name or that of the
child, or her residence, or, in fact, any one single circumstance
about herself or the child's father. Such further facts as have
been elicited were got on Tuesday from a somewhat embar-
rassed witness at the inquest. It may be necessary to state,
for the full appreciation of the evidence and documents
which follow, that the Coopers occupy a very poor house
in a very poor neighbourhood, and that the furniture of
the domicile is in keeping with the general character of
the surroundings. Mr. Cooper, who is a brush-maker by
trade, occupies the position of foreman to a brush-making
factory in Bethnal-green. The inquest on the body of the
child " unknown " was held on Tuesday by Mr. Richards
the deputy-coroner for East Middlesex, at the Oxford
Arms Tavern, St. Peter's-street, Hackney-road.
William James Cooper, foreman at Mr. Butts's brush
manufactory, was the first witness examined. He stated
that they became possessed of the deceased by advertising
in the Clerkenwell News for a child to adopt. The follow-
ing letters, which passed between the parties, explain the
nature of the transaction :

" London, March 16, 1867.
"Mrs. Cooper, 10, Nelson-street, St. Peter's-square,
Hackney-road.

"Madam,—ln answer to your advertisement in the
Clerkenwell News respecting the adoption of a child, I
beg to say I have a little boy, fourteen months old, that I
wish to have adopted. I should feel obliged by your
letting me know what premium you require, and wish
full particulars as soon as possible.—l am, madam, yours
truly, " J. C. L.
" Address care of post office, 51, Fenchurch-street,
City, C.C."

The Coroner said that the jury had now got at the
important fact that a premium must have been paid for
the deceased child. They had also got some slight clue to
the parents of the child in the initials `J. C. L.," and the
fact that, .whoever the party was, he or she called at the
Fenchurch-street post office for letters. It would be
therefore advisable for Mr. Cooper not to keep anything
hack, but to state all he knew.
The following copy of Mrs. Cooper's reply to the fore-
going letter was then read :

"Sir or Madam,—ln answer to your letter of the IGth,
I beg to state that our decision in reference to the adoption
is as follows :-1. Boy preferred. 2. Age of no consequence,
so long as he is perfectly healthy. 3. Premium to be ade-
quate to the position of the parents, but we have decided
on £2O if under six months, or £l5 if over. 4. The child to
be entirely given up, and on no condition are either parents
to recognise themselves to the child in any manner
whatever at any future time. It is to all intents and
purposes our child. 5. The strictest secrecy will be
observed, if necessary. I may here observe that I have a
good, kind husband, and holding a comfortable position,
and having no children of our own, sincerely desire to
adopt one. It will be well taken care of and respectably
brought Np. I think I need say nothing further than that
I shall be obliged by your communicating with me
directly, as we have several respondents.—l am, yours
truly, " M. A. COOPER."
The next letter was written just before the child was
brought to the Coopers :

" London, March 19, 1867.
"Mrs. M. A. Cooper, &c.—Madam, I have only just
received your letter, and, in answer, beg to say I
quite agree with all you say. lam sorry to say I can-
not afford so much as £l5, as the child is now over four-
teen months old, and of course getting very pleasant. I
could give £lO premium and a very good outfit of clothes
which he has got. He is a very healthy and a very good
child, and of good birth. Of course I should require the
strictest secrecy, and would give him entirely up. Wait-
ing your reply to know whether the £lO premium would
do, believe me, yours truly, " J. C. L."

It was ultimately decided to adjourn the case in order
to give time for inquiries to be instituted in order to dis-
cover the parents of the child. It is hoped that the cab-
man who carried the lady and the child and the large
bundle of clothes, on the 23rd of March, to Nelson-street,
Hackney-road, may be found.