The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-18 00:00:00

ALLEGED CHILD MURDER.

SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—An inquest was hel'
to-day before the borough coroner (E. Coxwell,
Esq.), touching the death of an infant child, whose
body had been discovered buried beneath the
ground near a leading thoroughfare iu this vici•
nity. Ellen Hallett, a female servant, was charged
with having caused its death, she being the mother
of the child ; and a labouring man, named Charles
Dummer, was charged with being accessory theretol
We have already published tho circumstances of
the case, which are briefly these :—The female pri-
soner left her service for the purpose of being con-
fined, and delivered herself of a child, which she
stated was still-born. She secretly got rid of the body,
and on being questioned respecting it stated that
she had buried it in the cemetery, and afterwards
said she bad buried it in a garden, both statements
being false. Another statement made by her was
to the effect that the male prisoner had got rid of
the body.

The body having been found, an inquest was
hold, and the following evidence taken :
Police-constable Blake stated that on Tuesday
last, from information he had received, he pr•.
ceeded to Crabiuton (in the vicinity of Southamp,
ton), and after digging the ground to the depth of
about four f et, he disc vered the body of an nfant
quite naked lying on its face.
Mr. Mickey, surgeon, stated that he had mad•
a, post-mortem examination of the body, which
appeared to have been dead for some time. From
the appearance of the brain, which exhibited great
and unnatural congestion, he concluded that death
had resulted from a fall or suffocation, not from
natural causes. There was no r xterual mask of
injury. A fall shortly alter birth might produce
congestion of the brain without their) being any
outward appeal ante of injury. From many natural
causes he concluded the child was born alive. It
had not lived many hours, inasmuch as it had not
received any nourishment. nen, was every ap-
pearance of the lungs and heart having performed
their functions.

Several other witnesses were examined, whose
evidence went to show that the female prisoner had
been confined, and that the body of a child was
seen in her possession at the time she was in com-
pany with the male prisoner.
The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder
against the female, and was committed to prison
under the coroner's warrant.

SERIOUS COLLISION ON THE NORTH-
EASTERN RAIL TVA Y.

SHIELDS, Thursday morning.— A serious collision
occurred upon the Shields, Sunderland, and New-
castle branch of the North Eastern Railway last
night. About four o'clock in the afternoon a coal
train broke down about half a mile ou the Gates-
head side of the Brockley Whim station, and either
the guard of it had not got the signals back, or had
neglected to make them, for the four o'clock train
from Newcastle, Gateshead, and Pelau Main, with
passengers from the two first-named towns, and from
the south for Shields and Sunderland, ran with con•
siderable violence into the ccal train, throwing its owls
engine off the line, and bringing all the passenger
carriages together with very considerable violence.
The passengers were pitchcd from their seats with
great force, and nearly all of them are more or
less bruised. The Sunderland passengers have suf-
fered the worst ; there are several eases of dislooa.
tions and slight concussions ; but, upon -the best
information that can be gathered, none of them are
carver
Middleton, ai
likely to prove fatal. Amongst the Shields passen.
erM;r.anßd °lie r.
gers that are injured are Mr. Drummond,
amviers.,msohaiptto,wnbuerild;
gMiliderD;
shipowner. Messrs. Drummond and D • Davies had to
be sent home in cabs. The enginem%ri d a fireman
'
escaped with but slight scratches. The trains
got
which run hourly on this line out,
il
the accident, and at a quarter pastseven o f
a course,t ran,,,by
dispatched from
Newcastle withpassengers for
Shields and Sunderland ; but, to further compli-
cate matters, it got off the line between the Felling
and Pelau Main, and down to 10 o'clock last night
neither it nor the six, half-past :.even, nor nine
o'clock train from Sunderland had arrived at Shields.
No one is reported injured by the last accident.