The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-30 00:00:00

HOME CIRCUIT.-KINGSTON, MARCH 29.

CROWN SIDE.
(Before Mr. Baron Martin.)
Mary Jones, 19, a good-looking young girl, was
charged with the wilful murder of her female ille-
gitmate child by cutting its throat.
No counsel was engaged either for the prosecu-
tion or the defence. The prisoner was in an almost
fainting state during the trial, and appeared to be
hardly conscious of what was going on.
The evidence against her lay in a very narrow
compass. It appeared that she was an unmarried
woman, and that she lived in the house of a person
named Ede at Hambledon, near Godalming. She
had been seduced, and was in the familyway, and
about the month of August last the people about
her suspected that she was in that condition, but the
prisoner always denied the fact. On the 27th of
August she was taken very ill, and a neighbour
named Gell made some mint tea for her, and upon
going into her bedroom she at once suspected that
she had been delivered of a child. Blood was seen
to be issuing from a box that stood near the pri-
soner's bedside, and a knife covered with blood was
lying on the floor. Upon the box being opened, the
dead body of a full-grown female child was dis-
covered, with the throat cut, and everpthing in the
box was completely saturated with blood. Mr.
Chandler, a surgeon who was called in, upon ex-
amining the body, ascertained that the wound in
the throat had been inflicted from the right to the
left hand, and it was of such a severe character that
death must, in his opinion, have been instantaneous,
and he expressed himself confidently that the infant
was born alive, and that death was the conse-
quence of the wound. The prisoner subsequently
admitted that the child was hers, and said that she
had used a knife to divide the umbilical cord, and
that she put the child into the box because she did
not know what else to do with it.

The prisoner, in her defence, sobbed out a few
unconnected words to the effect that she was in
such agony at the time that she did not know what
she was about.

The learned judge having summed up, the jury,
after a short deliberation, found the prisoner guilty
of wilful murder, but at the same time strongly
recommended her to mercy.
Mr. Baron Martin, having put on the black cap,
addressed the prisoner, and said that the jury had
felt themselves compelled to find her guilty of an
offence for which her life was forfeited, and,
although it was no doubt very painful to them to
be compelled to do so, still, upon the evidence be-
fore them, he really did not see how they could
have given any other verdict. The jury had
strongly recommended her to mercy, and he would
take care that that recommendation should be for-
warded to the proper quarter, but at present the
duty he had to perform, and a most painful duty it
was, was to pass on her the sentence which the law
affixed to her crime. Offences of this character
were unhappily very prevalent, and he hoped that
her unfortunate example would be a warning to
other young women, and that if they sinned in the
manner she had done they would learn that the
proper course for them was to communicate with
their friends and inform them of their condition,
and not endeavour to conceal their shame by an
act of this dreadful character. The learned judge
then passed the sentence of death in the usual form,
and the prisoner, who fainted when he had con-
cluded, was carried out of court insensible.
Mary Ann Adams, 29, was charged with unlaw-
fully endeavouring to conceal the birth of her
illegitimate child.

I'tr.
Lilley was counsel for the prisoner.
It appeared that the prisoner was in the service
of a gentleman at Dulwich, and that she was de-
livered of the child in question inFebruary last. It
seemed that a man had been employed to empty a
cesspool upon the premises, and in doing so he
discovered the foot of a child in the soil. This led
to further search, when the body of an infant, cut
into no less than 27 pieces, was found concealed
about the place. The prisoner admitted that the
child was hers, and that she had disposed of it in
the manner stated, in order that it might not be
discovered that she was in the familyway.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty.
Mr. Baron Martin said that this was really a