The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-25 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—May 24.

LAMBETH.—THE EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE
OF ALLEGED CHILD MURDER AT PECKHAM.—
Elizabeth Beagin, a middle-aged female, who had
been remanded on a charge of having caused the
death of her illegitimate offspring by overlaying
and smothering it, in the month of October, 1857,
was again brought up and placed at the bar
before the Hon. G. C. Norton for further examina-
tion.

Inspector Dann informed the magistrate that he
had given notice to several witnesses whose evi-
dence he conceived to be necessary to the case, to
be in attendance, and they promised him they,
should, but some of them had forgotten their pro-
mise.

Mr. Denne, a surgeon, of South Cottage-grove,
Southampton-street, Camberwell, said that on the
morning of the 22d of October, 1857, he attended
the prisoner at her house, 16, Camden-square, and
delivered her of a child arrived at proper maturity,
and alive. He remained with her 20 minutes or
half an hour, and on leaving proceeded to the house
Smith, of Mrs. l her sister, to request she would go
to her, as there was no nurse or female there. He
saw Mrs. Smith, told her of the prisoner's confine-
ment, and requested her to go to her sister, as she
had no female to attend on her.
Mr. Norton—Did you see any person at the house
besides the prisoner ?
Witness—Yes, her father, by whose request I
attended.
Mr. Norton—Did you continue to visit the pri-
soner after her confinement ?
Witness—yes, I attended her for some days
after.
Mr. Norton—What state did you leave the infant
in when you left on the morning of its birth
Witness—lt seemed quite well, cried, and I gave
it into the arms of the mother.
Mr. Norton—Did you see the child after that
time ?
Witness--No, I did not.
Mir. Norton—Then, what account did the prisoner
give you of its absence ?
Witness—She said she had made arrangements
with a party to take it.
Mr. Norton—Then she did not mention anything
about overlaying it, and its being dead and buried ?
Witness—Certainly not, or I should, of course,
have caused the 'necessary inquiries respecting it.
Alfred and George Benin, the brothers of the
prisoner, were called and examined, but not on
oath, at some length. They admitted that they
thought they had been made acquainted with the
fact that their sister, the prisoner, had been de-
livered of a child on the morning of the 22d of
October, 1857. They had never given themselves
the trouble to inquire what had become of the
infant, and declared they knew nothing of its
burial in the garden. They acknowledged that
they had spoken to a person named Gill on the
subject of the birth of the child with the view of
punishing their brother-in-law, Smith, for his gross
indiscretion and misconduct, and had put their
name to the following document

Fetter-lane, Nov. 2, 1857.
" This is to certify and declare on oath, before
the undersigned witnesses, that I, Edward Greaves,
hold myself answerable to the law if I at any time
divulge anything respecting an affair that is sup-
posed to have taken place, whereby the character,
situation, or liberty of Mr. S. B. Smith is in any
way affected, and that, on the receipt of £lO, no
further application or demand will be made by me,
either directly or indirectly, as witness my hand.
"EDWARD GREAVES.
" Witness, Alfred Beagin, George Beagin.
" I hereby acknowledge the receipt of £lO.
" GEORGE GREAVES." _
In reply to the questions of the magistrate, both
the Beagms said Greaves and. Gill, whom they had
mentioned, were one and the same person, and
further declared that, though the £lO had been
paid by Smith, they (the witnesses) had not
received a farthing of the money.
Inspector Dann informed the magistrate that he
had warned the person Gill to be in attendance to
give evidence in the case, but ho was one of the
absentees.

Mr. Neale, who attended for the prisoner, con-
tended that the extent this charge amounted to was
one of neglecting to register the birth and death of
the infant, and which, no doubt, had been occasioned
to avoid exposure of the unfortunate affair.
Mr. Norton, however, considered the case was
one calling for the utmost investigation, and told
Inspector Dann that if the necessary witnesses did
not think proper to attend on summonses which
should at once issue, he should grant warrants to
compel them. He then remanded the prisoner to a
future day.

WORSHIP-STREET.—MORAL TURPITUDE.—
John Evans, 26, a carpenter, living at 45, Murray-
street, New North-road, was charged before Mr.
D'Eyncourt with grossly misconducting himself
towards several young ladies, the children of
highly-respectable residents at KingsKingsland.The attention of the Court was directed to this
case for two hours, and several of the complainants,
varying in age from 10 to 14 years, were neces-
sarily subjected to much unpleasantness by having
to give evidence in support of the charge. This
however, was efficiently done, and proved that they
had been, on more than one occasion, victims of
inherent vileness on the part of the defendant,
who, while in a field Ridley-road, Kingsland, .
first invited their attention, and then most scan-
dal° isly insulted their modesty.
Inspector Lang:don, N division, mentioned that
numerous complaints had recently been made of a
person answering the description of the defendant
frequenting the fields and misconducting himself as
deposed to by the young ladies.
Mr. Abraham Beresford, an accountant in the
High-street, Kingsland, stated that, frominforma-
tion given by this daughters, he, on the previous

evening, caught the offender, and handed him over
to the police.

Mr. -D'Evncourt told the defendant that he would
assuredly have dealt with all the cases against him
had the evidence in each been sufficient. The
punishment he should inflict would be for one
committed on Friday week last, which was indis-
putably clear. The worthy magistrate strongly
remarked upon this class of offence, as effecting
incalculable mischief by its demoralising character,
and highly commended the parents of the young
ladies for pursuing the perpetrator to justice.
Defendant was sent to the House of Correction
for three months, with hard labour.