The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-11 00:00:00

SHOCKING MURDER OF A NEW

BORN INFANT.

On Saturday, May 2, a great sensation was raised in that
part of the township called Little Bolton, by a report get-
ting abroad that a young woman had died in childbed from
neglect, and that her infant had met an unfair death.
Upon inquiry it came out, that a fine young woman,
aged 21, named Ellen Boardman (the daughter of William
and Jane Boardman, of Little Bolton, with whom she re-
sided), had been delivered of an illegitimate male child on
the 29th of April, and that both mother and child had died
suddenly the same day, under suspicious circumstances ;
consequently the mother of the deceased Ellen Boardman
was taken into custody, and on Saturday an inquest was
held on the bodies of the deceased mother and child.

From the evidence it appeared that soon after the birth
of the child, the grandmother, who was drunk at the time,
was seen to take up the child and pinch it in the throat.
Immediately afterwards it was discovered that the child was
dead, and blood was found upon its face and neck, as well
as marks of violence ; and there was blood upon the grand-
mother's hands. The medical men proved clearly that the
death was occasioned by the violence used.
The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against
Jane Boardman. The prisoner was committed to Lan-
caster Castle to take her trial at the next county assizes.
She appeared much affected, and observed, that she could
not say how the child had come by its death, but she was
innocent.

After the other necessary forms had been gone through,
and the Coroner was about to retire, Mr. Myerscough the
foreman of the jury, said that he could not suffer the jury
to part without recording an opinion, whether this case was
not one arising out of that infamous clause in the Poor-law
Amendment Bill, which removed the responsibility of
assisting to maintain 'their illegitimate offspring from
the father, and placed it upon the mother or her
parents. In his opinion, the present case was one of the
fruits of that clause.

Mr. C. J. Derbyshire (one of the jury) said he was de-
cidedly of a contrary opinion, for there was not one tittle of
evidence to show that the Poor-Law Amendment Bill had
anything whatever to do with the present case.
Some of the jury were of the same opinion as the fore-
man, and a few dissented.—Bolton Chronicle.

NARROW ESCAPE from CANNIBALS

The* Sydney papers, received yesterday, contain Mrs.
Guard's narrative of her sufferings, and those of her chil-
dren, while in the power of the New Zealanders. It may
be remembered that the ship of which Mrs. Guard's hus-
band was commander, was wrecked on one of the South
Sea Islands, and that Mrs. Guard, her two children, and
nine seamen, were made prisoners. The islanders were
cannibals : hence her escape may be better imagined than
described :

Mrs. Guard states, that when the New Zealanders first
took her prisoner, she was nearly exhausted with the loss of
blood, which was flowing from the wounds she received in
her head with their tomahawks. They voraciously licked
her blood, and, when it ceased to flow, attempted to make
an incision in her throat for that purpose, with part of an
iron hoop. They then stripped her and her children naked,
dragged her to their huts, and would have killed her, had
not a Chief's wife kindly interfered in her behalf, and when
the bludgeon was raised with that intention; threw a rug
over her person, and saved her life. The savages took the
two children from under her arms, and threw them on the
ground ; and, while they were dividing the property they
had stolen from the crew of the Harriet, kept running
backwards and forwards over the children as they lay
on the ground ; one •of whom, the youngest, still re-
tains the marks of this brutal operation. They after-
wards delivered the youngest child to the mother, and
took the other away into the bush, and Mrs. Guard
did not see it for two months after. A short time
had elapsed, when the natives took Mrs. Guard to Wy-
mattee, about forty miles from where . the Harriet was
wrecked, being in a perfect state of nudity, both her and
her children, where they gave her an old shirt ; this was
the only covering she and the infant sucking at her breast
had for the whole of the winter. They gave her potatoes
to eat ; and as she had made them great promises of what
they would receive when Mr. Guard returned, if they spared
her life, they did not afterwards ill-use her. In this state
she remained for about five months ; and during that time,
saw the natives cut up and eat those they killed belonging
to the Harriet (one of whom was Mrs. Guard's brother),
occasionally bringing some pieces of human flesh to her,
and asking her to partake of it with them. When the
vessel arrived off the Nooma, they brought her down and
expected the long-promised payment ; Captain Guard im-
mediately seized the man who had her, and secured him.—
The natives, on seeing this, fired several shots at Mrs.
Guard ; and the military not having come up to Captain
Guard's assistance in sufficient time to secure her, the New
Zealanders ran away with Mrs. Guard into the bush, and
took her back to Wymattee. Here they again -wanted to
kill her, but as numbers .of them were against it, expecting
she would fetch a large sum, she was allowed to live. The
Alligator followed to Wymattee, and exchanged the native
prisoner for Mrs. Guard and her child ; the other child was
afterwards given up.