The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-22 00:00:00

INFANTICIDE AT WOLVER-
HAMPTON.

WOLVERHAMPTON, TUESDAY.
In The Sun of Monday appeared an account of a
serious charge of infanticide, in which three persons
who have hitherto moved in a respectable sphere of
society were implicated. In consequence of the re-
quest of the coroner, it was not intended to publish the
evidence (the inquest being adjourned) until the close
of the proceedings on Thursday next; but as the pri-
soners were brought before the magistrates at the
police-office on Monday last, and publicly examined,
further secresy is no longer necessary. Mr. Hill and
Mr. Dehane were the presiding magistrates ; and as
will be seen from the subjoiried report, in addition to
Miss Railton, Mrs Hildreth (her sister), and Mr.
Sheriff (the surgeon's assistant), Mr. Hildreth, the
printer, has, since the adjourn Merit of the coroner's
inquest, been taken into custody.
Miss Railron, when brought bet Ore the mae,istrate=,
appeared to feel deeply her unhappy situation. Both
prisoners were accommodated with chairs. The of-
fice was crowded to excess.
Colonel Hogg deposed as follows am deputy
constable of Staffordshire. On the 29th of October
last I attended an inquest at the Greyhound public-
house, on the body of a female child. On Saturday,
the 9th of November, in consequence of information
which I received I went to the house of Mr. Quinton,
the surgeon. I asked him if he knew Miss Railton,
the sister of Mr. Darby, the postmaster ? He said
he did not; he never saw her. I asked him if he had
ever attended her professionally ? He said he had
not. I asked him if he knew Mr. Hildreth, the
printer, and if that gentleman had not applied to him
to attend professionally his sister-in-law,
ton ? He said he had not ; that he hat lee •,. le) -:
Mr. Hildreth's application supplied Miss Raitrou wait
medicine. He admitted that he had given Mr. Hil-
dreth medicine for a woman at his house, who he
supposed from what was stated to him must be in the
family-way. I told him I put those questions to him
in consequence of information I had received, to the
effect that he had attended Miss Railton during her
confinement. He said he might have seen her, but
he did not know her, and never attended her. I
, went to Mr. Hildreth's the same evening, and asked
' him if his sister-in-law, Miss Railton, was staying in
his house, or if she had been staying there ? He
said she had left there since the races (in August),
and was now at the post-office. I said I had
reason to suppose that she had been delivered
of a child at his house, to which Mr. Hildreth
replied, it was false, and that the person who made
the assertion ought to be punished for injuring the
character of a respectable woman. I then asked
him if he ever had been to Mr. Quinton's surgery, to
see Mr. Sheriff for medicine or advice ? He said he
had been there, but not for medicine or advice. I
went to Mr. Hildreth's house again on Friday last,
the 15th of' November, when I took his wife into
custody. Mr. Hildreth said to me, " You are
going too far with this business ; you had better
drop it, it will not end well." On Monday week I
saw again the prisoner Mr. Sheriff, and told him I
had still grounds to suspect that he had attended
Miss Railton in childbed, and that I understood he
had some time ago applied to Mr. Doubler, another
surgeon in the town, to procure abortion. He said he
had done so, and the person was cook at Mr. Dehane's,
the surgeon, in Queen-street. He again denied all
knowledge of Miss Railton. I was at the adjourned
inquest on Tuesday, the 12th of November, and,
from the evidence I heard there, I considered it my
duty to arrest him. I went with the surgeon
and Inspector Casey to the post-office. I saw Mr.
Darby, the postmaster, and told him what I came
for, awl asked was the charge against his sister-in-
law, Miss Railton, true ? He said it was false. I
afterwards saw Miss Railton in his (Darby's) pre-
sence, and told her I had received information that
she had been confined, and that the child had been
destroyed. She said, "It is not the case ; it is
quite a mistake." I then requested Mr. Fowke to
go upstairs and examine her. Mr. Fowke went up
stairs, and after he came down, he and I had soma
conversation. I afterwards saw Miss Railton, and
told her Mr. Fowke had informed me that she had
recently been delivered of a child, and I was sorry
she had told me a falsehood. She told me that
she had been confined at her sister-in-law's, Mrs. Hil-
dreth, within three or four weeks ; that her sister
took the child away ; that she knew nothing more
about the child than that it was represented as being
dead. Mr. Darby, the post-master, was present, and
said, " The child the inquest is being held over is not
our child ; you will get the body of our child." I
then took Miss Railton into custody, between ten and
eleven o'clock. On Friday morning, the 15th of
November, the Coroner came to me, and I told him I
had got Miss Railton and Mr. Sheriff in custody. He
said I was quite right. While I was at the inquest
on Friday, in consequence of a communication I re-
ceived through Inspector Casey, I went to Miss
Railton. She was crying bitterly, and in great agi-
tation. She said, "I am sorry I did not tell you all
the truth. I will tell you all about it ; but what will
become of my sister and her seven children (I under-
stood her to mean Mrs. Hildreth), and the poor
young man (I understood her to mean Mr. Sheriff),
and me ?" She then said, " I was confined at the
house of Mr. Hildreth last Sunday three weeks. At
twelve o'clock at noon that day Mr. Sheriff came to
me, and performed an operation. I was in dreadful
agony and excruciating pain from the time he had
done this until a late hour that night, when my sister
(meaning Mrs. Hildreth) delivered me of a child,
which she killed." I then asked her how she knew
the child was killed. She replied, "I heard the child
cry; it was born alive." She then said Mr. Sheriff
had performed the same operation three or four times
within two months, but never with effect until that
day. I asked her if he had used instruments before?
She said, " Yes, he did." I asked her what had be-
come of the child ? She said, "In three or four
nights afterwards, Mr. Sheriff came, and took
the child away. That is the whole truth,
and I hope you will do what you can for me."
I then arrested Mrs. Hildreth. She said she was
quite ready to go. Last Saturday night I had a
message from Miss Railton. When I saw her she
said, "I have been most unhappy since I saw you
last, lest in the state of mind I was then in I may
have said anything that was wrong or untrue." I re-
peated to her what she had said; and when I came to
that part where she charged her sister with killing
the child, she said, " Oh, did I say so ? If I did, I
must be mad, and did not know at the time what I
was saying. My poor sister, she took the child,
rolled it up, and took it to the fire, and gave it some
nourishment. Ido not know what it was, and it died.
lam sure she felt very much for it." She was more
agitated on this occasion than before. I forgot to
say, that after she made the first communication to me
on Friday, she asked me if I thought her poor sister
would be hanged, and what would become of her.
Mr. T. 11. Fowke, surgeon, deposed that he exa-
mined, by desire of the Coroner, the body of a female
infant at the Greyhound public-house. It was that
of a child nearly at its full time. There were disco-
loured marks on the legs and arms, as if violence had
been used. The head was very much swollen and
puffed. It might have been born three or four days.
I opened the body, and examined the lungs by the
hydrostatic test, and I was satisfied the child was born
alive. I also examined the heart, which satisfied me
the child was born alive. I afterwards examined
Miss Railton by her consent, and I ascertained that
she had lately been delivered of a child.
Henry Doubler—l am a chemist in Wolverhamp -
ton. Between two and three months ago the prisoner
Sheriff came to me, and said that a respectable person
had got into trouble—that money was no object—anal
that secresy would be observed, I said, "Do you
wish me to procure a miscarriage ?" He replied
either, " Yes,' or " I do," but Ido not remember
which. I said, "I would not for any inducement on
the face of the globe." 'When he left me I informed
Inspector Casey of the conversation which had oc-
curred. Last Monday I called at Mr. Quinton's
gery to see Mr. Sheriff. Ihai b, e q,
attend the inquest. I said, 4' This business is Hie'.
to turn out serious; I should like to know who the
parties were you came to me about." He said it was
the cook that lived at Mr. Dehane's he came about. I
said, "It could not be the cook, as you stated the
party was respectable, and money was no object." He
made no reply.
Mr. W. Quinton—l am a surgeon in this town.
The prisoner Sheriff is my assistant. About two or
three months -ago I observed that Mr. Hildreth's

visits to my surgery were very frequent, and that
there were no entries in the day-book for medicines
or anything else. I asked Mr. Sheriff the object of
Mr. Hildreth's visits, and he told me that Mr. Hil-
dreth wished him to procure abortion for a highly
respectable person if I could take the case in hand.
I asked him who the party was. He repli&d Miss
Ralton, and that she would be in a room privately
at Mr. Hildreth's, the printer, in Cock street ;
the greatest secresy would be observed, and money
was no object. I declined having anything to do
with it. I had given directions on the Wednesday
before the child was found for a team to come up and
take the manure from our stable. The team came on

the Saturday- and took our horse manure. I saw the
men emptying the place, and about half-past one
o'clock on that day Mr. Sheriff came to me, and said
a child had been found in the privy. I said it was
impossible. I went down the yard with him, and
saw the body of a female child lying in the yard.
Two policemen were there. The body was taken
away by the police. No one had access to the water-
closet in my yard but Mr. Sheriff, my man-servant,
maid-servant, and myself. In consequence of a
question put to me by the Coroner at the inquest, I
was, with her consent, induced to examine my maid-
servant, and I can say that she has not been brought
to bel lately. Witness further deposed, that the pri-
soner Hildreth called upon him last Wednesday night,
when the inquest was sitting, and he ordered him out
of the house.