The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-24 00:00:00

CHARGE OF CRUEL NEGLECT OF A

CLIILD.

An inquiry has lately taken place before the
borough magistrates at Morpeth, on a warrant
granted by Mr. Orde, a magistrate of Northumber-
land, touching the alleged ill-treatment and starva-
tion of one Isabella Jane Rutledge, an infant of
tender years, at which circumstances have been
elicited causing a painful feeling among the inhabi-
tants of the town and neighbourhood, and a strong
manifestation of public indignation. The investi-
gation was mainly instituted at the instance of the
Hon. and Rev. Francis Richard Grey, the rector of
Morpeth, a hrother of Earl Grey, and a brother-in-
law of the Earl of Carlisle, a hard-working clergy-
man, who is held in much esteem there, and has
been the incumbent for nearly 20 years. A general
impression prevails in the locality that, but for his
humane and timely interference, the child in ques-
tion must have perished. The persons charged
with neglecting it are man named John Cowens and
Isabella. his wife, the former of whom has for some
years past acted as a warder in the county gaol of
Northumberland, and has until now, it is said,
borne an irreproachable character. Some time ago
he sustained injuries, resulting in permanent lame-
ness, while in pursuit of a fugitive prisoner, with
whom he had a struggle. He and his wife have
latterly resided in a little cottage, consisting of two
rooms, formerly used as a toll-house at the bridge,
on the south entrance to the town. The subject of
the inquiry is a child of nearly six years of age, the
illegitimate offspring of a sister of the female pri-
soner, to whom and to her husband it was confided
while the mother was at domestic service at a dis-
tance, and who are understood to have received
money for its maintenance from the reputed father,
a person of means.
The investigation, which lasted over three sit-
tings, was held in the Council-chamber, which was
crowded, before Mr. M. J. O'Connor, the Mayor,
and Mr. Hugh Creighton, another of the borough
magistrates.

The prisoners were defended by Mr. C. S. Swan,
a solicitor.

The Hon. and Rev. F, R. Grey was the first wit-
ness called. He said on Monday, the 15th of July,
having heard that a child was living in the house
of the prisoners in a dreadful state, he went there
between 11 and 12 o'clock in the morning, and
found Mrs. Cowens in the house. A healthy child,
well elressed and clean, was sitting upon a table
near a window. He asked her if the child was
hers. She replied it was. He inquired if she had
another child under her care. She said she had.
He saw an open door in a corner of the room, and
asked if it led to where the child was. She replied
" Yes." He said be should walk through and have
a look at it. He went and saw in a back yard a
miserable little child. He had seen many wretched
children, but never one so bad as it. It was like a
skeleton, and was covered with filth, It had on a
dirty petticoat and jacket, and was without shoes
or stockings. The yard in which it was had a
watercloset at one end, and an ashpit near it. The
child was at first standing near the ashpit, and Ras
afterwards breaking sandstone on the step of the
watercloset door. He returned to the house, and
r spoke to the female prisoner about it. He told her
that it was a disgrace for any child to be in such a
state, and pointed out the difference between her
own child and it. He mentioned particularly the
filthy condition in which it was. She said the child
was not dirty. The words she used were, " It is
skin clean." He complained of the way in which
the child was clothed. She replied it was not
dressed, and that she had a child of her own in bed
and not then dressed. He then said nobody could
look at the child without seeing it was in very bad
health. He asked if it had been seen by a medical
man. She replied that Dr. Paton had seen it. He in-
quired how long ago. She said not since the winter.
He complained again of the condition in which the
child was, upon which she said it was a great burden
to her, or words to that effect. He asked if she
meant to say that she had not received anything
for taking care of it. She admitted that she had,
adding that it was not likely she would keep the
child for nothing. He then told her he should feel
it his duty to bring the case before the magistrates.
He left the house and went to the Visiting Justices,
who were sitting at the county gaol, and gave
information.
By Mi. Swan, on behalf of the prisoners—When
he saw the child in the yard it was breaking little
pieces of sandstone. He had never seen it before.
The female prisoner used an expression to the effect
that the child was a burden to her. Mr. Grey (the
witness) added on a subsequent examination that
he had seen the child twice since Monday, the 15th
of July—namely, on the 17th and 19th of July.
He was present when the magistrates visited the
prisoners' house on the 17th, and heard what passed.
The superintendent of police asked the child where
bad children went to. It replied, " To gaol." He
asked it where good children went to. It answered
" To school." In reply to other questions, it stated
that it had tea and coffee for food, that it was 20
years old ; and it pointed out the place where it
slept—a cradle in the kitchen. He (witness) saw
the child on Friday, the 19th of Jul;, in the work-
house. It was then playing with some flowers.
To questions he put it said it liked being there, and
would not like to go home. It had some knowledge
of the Lord's Prayer.
Mr. William Brown, master of the union work-
house, said the child was brought to the work-
house on the 17th of July. It was weighed, and
its weight then, without its clothes, was 161 b.
14oz. It was weighed again on the 27th of July,
and was 201 b. soz. The child's whole person, when
it was brought to the workhouse, was filthy and
its head infested with vermin. He had watched
the food the child had taken. It had not re-
ceived any medicine from the time of its admission.
(Witness described in some detail the nutritious
diet upon which it had been put in the work-
house from day to day.) On Saturday morning,
the 3d of August, th 3 child weighed 221 b. 60z.,
making a total gain of 5-11 b. in 17 days.
Mr. Matthew Brumell, a surgeon, said at the
request of the magistrates he visited the child on
Thursday, the 18th of July. On examination he
found it in a very emaciated condition. Every
particle of fat was absorbed, and the muscles were
exceedingly wasted. The bones were almost un-
covered, except with skin.
He found no marks of
violence or ill usage upon it. He considered the
child's health delicate, but found no disease suffi-
cient to account for its extreme emaciation. The
child was then five years and nine months old. On
Thursday, the 18th of July,istawweiitg‘eigh
hvedle7dlb;itlohza.d;
on the 20th of July, when he
gained B,ltoz. ; and on the 27th it weighed 201 b. and
50z., having gained daily upon an average nearly
6oz. Since its admission to the workhouseitbuhg.
gone on steadily improving
The colour and appearance of
it
and inesrkeainsinwg inere
quite.
round,
altered, the unhealthy hue and harssh feelingthe having
left it. On Thursday, the 18d). July, child's
thigh, which he measured,
was sixinches
the 24th, it was nearly seven
and on Wednesday,
inches. The change had been brought about by
proper diet, warmth, and attention.
Cross examined—The child answered pertinentlyall questions put to it, except as to its age,
which
hit
stated to 'oe 20 years. The child had beenelicate
mesenteric
for years. It might be suffering
disease. A child subject to such il"21
ru
disease would
hriva better in summer than winter ;
hut that was
shaking
a ?natter of opinion. He had not noticed
a
of the head by the child. If a child were emaciated
s
by mesenteric disease to the extent this ch ild was
emaciates it would not improve in the
degree this
had by any amount of nutritious diet. There was
31G disease C
aboutonrt....Titthoaat emaciation,
io
account for
in his tsemaciatn
By the opinion,

was produced by neglect or improper food, or by '
an insufficiency of food or clothing. He could
detect no specific disease. The child since it was
taken to the workhouse had been treated for emacia•
tion, not for disease; and that treatment was one
which he himself should adopt.
Dr. Paton deposed that at the request of Mr.
Woodman, the town-clerk, and by the authority of
the Mayor, he visited the child, at the workhouse,
on the evening of the 24th of July. He found her
to be a pale, emaciated, sickly-looking child, five
years and nine months old, with a subdued expres-
sion of countenance, but intelligent enough to
understand what was said to her and to answer
simple questions correctly. Her bones were promi-
nent, the muscular system was very slightly deve-
loped ; there was scarcely any fat, and the skin
moved freely. She walked with an unsteady gait,
and weighed in his presence 201 b. He examined
carefully and minutely all the principal organs of
the body, but failed to detect any disease to account
for her emaciated condition. He saw her again on
the 26th of July, forty hours after the previous
visit, and found that in the interval she had in-
creased in weight five ounces and a half, showing
that the vital processes of assimilation and nutrition
were in an extraordinary state of activity, and that
her emaciation could not be the result of disease of
the organs upon which those vital processes de-
pended. An apparently healthy female child, aged
six years, selected by him at random, weighed 391 b,,
being nearly one-half heavier than the child in
question. With those facts before him, and kilow-
ing nothing professionally of her prevous history,
he could account for the emaciation in no other way
than that the child, before her admission to the
workhouse, did not receive a sufficient supply of
food, or that its quality must have been unsuitable
for the nutrition of a child of her tender years.
Cross-examined by Mr. Swan—He could detect
no symptoms whatever of disease of the head, chest,
or bowels. Some of the glands of the neck were in
a chronic state of enlargement. A child suffering
from mesenteric disease might have disease of the
heart along with it. A child afflicted with mesen-
teric disease most decidedly would not improve to
the extent that the one in question has.
By the Court—Apart from its emaciated state it
was perfectly free from disease.
A hawker named Mary Carving, who was ac-
quainted with the prisoners, deposed to being in
their house three or four months ago, and going to
the back yard. She saw the child in questi:in sit-
ting in a corner in the yard; it appeared cold, and
she took it into the house to have it warmed. The
female prisoner put it out of the house again, and
shut the door. About six weeks afterwards witness
called at the house. The back door was half open,
and she saw the child sitting in the same place in
the yard. On another occasion, after the interfer-
ence of the magistrates, witness was in the house
again, and during a conversation the female prisoner,
who seemed much annoyed, said she had no sin in
her head about the child, that it was not a thriving
child, and that she wished it was in hell, for caus-
ing her and her husband to be so scandalised.
Mary Ann Cowens, a single woman, who also
I knew the prisoners, spoke to being in their house
when they lived in another part of the town, about
1 two years ago. She then saw the child standing by
the door. The female prisoner knocked it down with
her hand, and kicked it twice ; the second time
under the table. Witness asked her to whom the
child belonged. She replied, " Oh, -- it; it is my
sister's." On a subsequent occasion witness was in
the house, and saw the child under the table, cry-
ing. The female prisoner shook her " kneif" (fist)
at it, and spoke harshly, upon which it immediately
ceased crying. It was then very shabbily dressed
in an old jacket, without stockings or shoes, and
was nothing like her own child. Witness, in cross-
examination, said the child appeared healthy at
that time, that it was in the same room with
the other children, and that it was a common thing
for some women to hold up their hands and scold a
child when crying.
Margaret Potts said that on Wednesday, the 10th
of July, she called at the prisoners' house in passing,
as it was raining, to ask for the loan of an umbrella.
A little girl answered the door ; she went into the
house, and asked the girl to show her to the water-
closet. On opening the door of the closet she saw
the child in question, sitting on the floor. It was
raining. She spoke to the child, but it did not an-
swer. She saw the female prisoner, on returning to
the house, but did not speak to her about the child.
Other witnesses were examined, but their evidence
was not material. One of them, Eleanor Wight,
who a few years before had lived next door to the
prisoners, said the child was then very dull, and
was in the habit of moving its head about as if it
had a " trouble" there. She also spoke to seeing
it getting its food with the prisoners' children
without any difference being made between them
or in their general treatment.
The child was occasionally produced in court for
identification. Its appearance produced a general
feeling of commiseration among the audience.
The defence of the prisoners, by Mr. Swan, was
in substance that the child from its birth never
throve, that it presented symptoms of a disease in
the head, that it suffered from a mesenteric com-
plaint common among children, and that its feeble
and wasted condition was due to those causes, Pn d
not to anything like systematic cruelty or neglect
on the part of the prisoners, or either of them. He
also sought to show that there was no difference
between its treatment and that of their own chil-
dren, and that it was in the habit of resorting to
the yard and watercloset to amuse itself, and was
not driven there.

At the conclusion of the evidence, the material
portions of which are given above, the magistrates
announced their intention to commit the prisoners
for trial. On receiving the usual caution, the male
prisoner said he was not guilty. His wife replied
she had done nothing wrong, and had, therefore,
nothing to answer for ; and that they (the magis-
trates) were sinning their souls.

The Bench intimated that bail would be taken
for the prisoners, themselves in £lOO each, and two
sureties of £5OO each. For want of the requisite
sureties the prisoners were conveyed to the county
prison to await their trial. They were followed there
by an indignant crowd of people. Four of their
children were afterwards taken to the workhouse;
a fifth, an infant at the breast, was allowed to accom-
pany its mother.

- The whole circumstances have since been brought
under the consideration of the Home Secretary, Sir
George Grey, by the local authorities.

COMMERCE OF NEW YORK.

The commercial letters from New York continue,
in a guarded manner, to express weariness of the
war and desponding anticipations, whatever may be
its mode of termination. The difficulty of estimat-
ing the extent of feeling favourable to a compro-
mise was undiminished, owing to the stringent
measures, direct and indirect, for putting down all
opinions except those of the majority. The ques•
tion whether abolition is to be recognised as a main
• issue for which the struggle is to be conducted was
equally without fresh light. The most influential
recent speaker (the Hon. Joseph Holt) had pro-
claimed that the war is not a war against the South,
but a war for their deliverance from a band of
military conspirators. In a subsequent passage,
however, the same orator described the conflict as
between 20,000,000 in the North, and 10,000,000
in the South. Business generally was more
active, but the existing tariff and the doubts as to
the possibility of its being permanent prevent mer-
chants
cannot
be
from
wound up quickly.
entering
any
Asthe
transactions
country
c
that
now pay for its imports only by its supplies of grain,
a conviction is stated by some of the most expe-
rienced financiers that if the war continues all the
banks will inevitably suspend before next summer.
The rate of exchange was very firm, at 107,1,
to 108, and there were very few drawers.
Up to the 6th instant, although the loan of
£10,000,000 had been two or three weeks
in the market, only £BOO,OOO had been sub-
scribed by the public. During the few subsequent
days the applications are understood to havein-
creased, but the anxiety of the Government and of
the banks was considerable with regard to the pro-
bable floating of the additional £10,000,000, which
must be paid out in October, and which must be fol-
lowed by another £10,000,000 in December at the
latest. As nothing could be published in the papers
that was not agreeable to the heads of departments
the trading community knew little of the operations
pending. It had transpired, however, that the ad-
vanced posts of the Confederates were nearer to
Washington than at the beginning of the month,
..and that the Secessionists in Kentucky were likely,
in consequence of the effect produced by General
Fremont's proclamation, to succeed in carrying that
State out of the Union. The most important inti-
mation, however, is that it is believed an expedition
is now in course of organisation to attack the port
of Savannah as soon as the weather shall become a
little cool. The practice of arresting the funds and
dividends of Southern proprietors of Federal and.
State securities, and also of shares in Northern com-
panies, was calculated to put a final stop to all
chance of the negotiation of advances in Europe,
tm sincee, it th followse policy that.oi
confiscation,incase ofwwh
iacrhawt
was
snsyu future
to have totally fallen into disuetude among civilised
d
peoples, will be put in force. During the Crimean
war Russia with scrupulous fidelity paid all her
dividends due to English and French holders, and
Russian funds were equally respectei. on this side.
The argument that in the present case the war is
with " rebels" is not available, the terms of capitu-
lation granted to the Confederates at Hatteras hav-
ing put an end to that plea.