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

ALLEGED CHILD IiEURDER.

SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—An inquest was Held
to-day before the borough coroner (E. Coxwell,
Esq.), touching the death of au infant child, whose
body had been diecovered buried beneath the
ground near a leading thoroughfare in 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 thereto;
We have already published the 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 had 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
held, and the following evidence taken :
Police-constable Blake stated that on Tuesday
last, from information he had received, he pro-
ceeded to Crabinton (in the vicinity of Southamp-
ton), and after digging the ground to the depth of
about four feet, he discovered the body of an nfant
quite naked lying on its face.
Mr. Mackey, surgeon, stated that he had made
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 external mark of
injury. A fall shortly after birth might produce
congestion of the brain without there being any
outward appearance 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. There 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 RAILWAY.

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 aftesnoon a coal
train broke down about half a mile or, the Gates-
head side of the Brockley Whins 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 coal train,throwing its own
engine off the line, and bringing all the passenger
carriages together with very considerable violence,.
The passengers were pitched 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 cases of disloca-
tions and slight concussions ; but, upon the best
information that can be gathered, none of them are
likely to prove fatal. Amongst the Shields passen-
gers that are injured are Mr. Drummond, fruiterer ;
Mr. Davies, shipowner ; Mr. Roe, carver and
gilder ; Mr. Moatt, builder ; and Mr. Middleton,
shipowner. Messrs. Drummond and Davies had to
be sent home in cabs. The engineman and fireman
escaped with but slight scratches. The trains
which run hourly on this line got out, of course, by
the accident, and at a quarter past seven a train was
dispatched from Newcastle with passengers 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 seven, nor nine
o'clock train from Sunderland had arrived at Shiel•:ls.
No one is reported injured by the last accident.