The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-05 00:00:00

SUSPECTED CHILD MU.RDEB.

On Thursday forenoon, the body of a male child
was exhumed at Droylsden, near Manchester, and
a warrant for the apprehension of the mother, on a
charge of wilful murder, is now in the hands of the
police.
We stated at the time that on the morning of
Saturday, the 21st ult., the body of a male child,
four months old, had been found in the Manchester
and Oldham Canal, near Droylsdon ; it was tole-
rably well dressed. On the same morning, and not
far from the same point, a bundle, containing clothes
for a child three or four years old, was found depo-
sited near a footpath. These facts seemed to point
to foul play with two children. On the 23d ult.,
Mr. W. S. Butter, county coroner, held an inquest
on the body. when Mr. Gould, surgeon, w. hcs had
made a post mortem examination, stated Ills belief
that the child was not alive when put into the
water. As there was no evidence leading to an in-
ference as to how death had been caused, the jury
returned an open verdict. Mr. Ludlam, superin-
tendent of the county constabulary, caused inquiries
to be made by his officers, Superintendent Wiley
taking the most active part. The result was a convic-
tion that the body was that of the illegitimate child
of a woman named Nancy Armsfield, who had been
residieg at Newton Heath; and the coroner was
accordingly applied.
to re-open his inquiry. As
he did not feel justified in adopting this course, a
statement of the facts was drawn up by Mr. Hall,
magistrates' clerk, at Ashton-under-Lyne, and for-
warded to the Home Secretary, with a request that
an order for disinterring the body might be granted.
This was complied with, and the exhumation took
place on Thursday morning.
The facts connected with the case, as far as
they are known at present, are these :—Several
years ago the suspected woman, whose maiden name
was Nancy Gorton, was married to a man named
Armsfield. Their married life was a very un-
happy one, owing, it is said, to Mrs. Arms-
field's conduct towards a lodger, named James
Shepherd, generally called " Ginger," and who was
a " sinker." Some time ago Armsfield died, and
soon afterwards Mrs. Armsfield went to live with
Shepherd, who until recently worked and resided
at Chapel-en-le-Frith, and they have continued to
live together. Since leaving Chapel-en-le-Frith
Shepherd has been working at Ashton-under-Lyne;
and for sonic days before the 20th ult. Mrs. Arms-
field had been staying with a married sister named
Kaye, at Newton Heath, near Manchester, having
with her a child four or five mouths old, the father
of which was of course understood to be Shepherd.
On the morning of Friday, the 20th, Armsfield left
Mrs. Kaye's without saying where she was going,
as was her custom when she went out; but no im-
portance was attached to this, as Mrs. Kaye thought
it likely she had gone to ask Shepherd for some
money. She had taken her child with her. That
evening, about seven o'clock, a labourer who was
walking on the towing path of the Manchester and
Oldham Canal was met by a woman carrying a
child, which the man says was then living and
well. The woman asked the way to Hollinwood,
but the man noticed that she averted her face as.if
to escape notice. The nearest road to Hollinwood
was pointed out, and the woman passed on with
"Thank you ;" but the man observed that instead of
taking the indicated route, she sauntered along the
towing path. it Was a short distance from the
spot where this occurred that the body and the
bundle were found the next morning. Between
the hours of 10 and 11 o'clock on the night of the
20th, Nlrs. Armsfield returned without her child to
Mrs. Kaye's house, at Newton heath. In reply to
Mrs. Kaye's question, "Where is the child ?" she re-
plied, "I have left it at sister Mary's, as a lady wants
to see it ; but Mary will bring it here directly."
Shortly after, all retired for the night ; but next
morning, when one of Mrs. I; aye's daoglitess got up
early and went to kiss the child, it could not be
found. Mrs. Armsfield, when appealed to, could
only say that she was just going out herself, and
that Mary had taken the child along the road for a
bit. Since then she has not been seen in the neigh-
bourhood, and Shepherd has also disappeared ; but
the police believe that they will be able before long
to trace the woman.
The first clue obtained by the police was the
identification by Mrs. Kaye and Mary Gorton of
the clothes taken from the dead body us those worn
by their sister's child when last they saw it alive.
On 'Wednesday, after the body had been disinterred,
it was taken to the Church Inn, where Dr. Lees, of
Ashton, carefully examined it. Of his conclusions
we are not informed ; but, although decomposition
-was considerably advanced, the aunts were enabled
positively to identify the body by a tuft of light
brown hair on the 'ordeal, When apprehended