The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-30 00:00:00

NHUMAN CONDUCT OF THE

MASTER OF A UNION WORKHOUSE.
(From the Weekly Dispatch of this day.)
About a month ago a poor man, named William Hearnden,
a vendor of writing paper, called at the office ofThe Dispatch,
in an agony of mind that cannot be described -without har-
rowing up the feelings of our readers, and rated that his
little daughter Emma, an inmate of the Bled union poor-
house at Herne, had, by order of the governot, been locked
up in the dead-house of the establishment, as a punishment
for wetting her bed. This statement_ was •correborated by a
letter the poor fellow herd in his hand from anelter daughter
(Elizabeth), who had visited Emma in the unitini and learned
from her the ill treatment she had experienced. The 'editor
of the Dispatch at once communicated with the Pooi-law
Commissioners, at Somerset House, through the medium of
Edwin Chadwick, Esq. In his letter the matter was briefly
stated, and the Commissioners, greatly to their credit, at once
directed the Board of Guardians to prosecute an investigation
into the business, and acquaint them with the result. The
Board accordingly instituted an inquiry—what an inquiry !
and came to the conclusion that Emma Hearnden had never
been within_ the walls of the dead-house by day or night, and
that the guardians were perfectly satisfied that such were the
facts I Of course such a conclusion as this sagacious Board
arrived at was sufficient "to throw discredit upon
our statement ; but, after the lapse of a feii days,
having in the Meantime made further inquiry, we agate
thought proper to hint to the Poor-law Commissioners, that
n only was our statement corroborated by some observa-
tXns made by the editor of the Kent Herald, but that that
'spirited individual had stated that " too great severity was
used in punishing the boys and girls in the house by
flogging." Never, until this moment, could we discover the
utility of a triumvirate sitting at Somerset-house. We now,
however, see how necessary it is that there shinild be 'a con-
-trolling power, if it be only for the purpose of correcting the
„errors and inhumanity of,guardians. We can perceive, that
if this triumvirate would act with greater liberality towards
the poor, the Poor-laW Act, instead of a curse, might prove
'a blessing to persons in poverty. Had there been no con-
:trollinwpower, the conductof the master of the Blean union
would have appeared as pure as unsunned snow. But the
Commissioners were dissatisfied with the guardians' report.
They placed no faith in its correctness, and accordingly they
appointed an investigation to take place before Mr. Hall;
and a more searching inquiry, we believe, was never insti-
tuted. Our reporter was present during -the whole of the
proceedings, and by that gentleman we have been placed in
possession of a full and faithful report of the investigation ;
but the following outline will be found sufficient to establish
the truth of our statement, and confirm the guilty, the- crimi-
nal, and atrocious conduct of the master.
The inquiry Wok pia.* the ward-root. of ale
house at Herne-common, on Monday, and the meeting was
declared by the Commissioner, at the request of several of the
guardians, to be an open one, in consequence of which the
room throughout the day was crowded V. persons from
Herne, Herne-bay, and surrounding placet: -
Mr. Walker, solicitor, of Canterbury, attended to watch the
proceedings on the party of the accused. and Mr. T. T. De
Lasaux, Coroner for East Kent, kindly stepped forward on
behalf of the poor friendless child. The following guardians
of the respective parishes were present :—Mr. Rammell,
(Chairman) ; Mr. G. Goddard, Vice-Chairman; Mr. Hyder ;
Mr. W. F. Hilton ; Mr. Isaac Sladden ; Mr. Wootton, Chislet ;
Mr. Wootton, Westbere ; Mr. Knight ; Mr. W. Denne ; Mr.
Bedwell ; Mr. F. Neame ; Mr. Wacher ; and Mr. G. Austen.
Mr. HALL briefly opened the business, after which Emma
Hearnden was called in and examined. She stated that she
was between nine and ten years of axle,' and that up to Fri-
day last, at which time Mr. De Lasaux took her away, she
had been an inmate of the %vorkhouse, and had lived there
nearly two years, during which period she had often been
shut up in a room called the dead-house, by order of the
master, who would often, when ha„came up to read prayers
to the children, ask if she had "-wet her bed ;" and if the
other girls said yes, he used to say, '" then she shall go down
to the dead-room." Sometimes she was taken there, and
sometimes she went on being told to go, as she dared not re-
fuse. On one occasion, about a year ago, she was taken there
by the "young mistress" (the daughter of the master), at
which time the body of Mrs. Ingleton, who had died the day
before, was in the room; the body was covered over with
a sheet, but the face was not ; it was lying on a board, and
some straw under the head, and two carpenter's stools
(trestles) supported it from the ground. She cried very
much and begged to be let out ; she was placed in the dead-,
house shortly after breakfast, and was released just before
dinner time ; and on the following day, in the afternoon, she
was again placed there, and 'the body was still lying there.
On this occasion she was not let out till it was " darkish ;"
the women and children were about going to bed. Sometimes
she was locked in and sometimes not. One or more times she
slept there, when there was a bed carried in for her, and on
these occasions she was locked 'in, but when she was not, she
did not dare to come out, and if she cried, her young mistress
would bring a cane and beat her on the back. Witness be-
lieved that she had told one of the gentlemen present (meaning
the guardians), but could not identify which ; but not when
she was examined by them a short time ago, as she was afraid
to do so, as if she had, she would have been punished, not by
the guardians—they had never punished her, or ordered, her
to be punished, but she was afraid of the master, who has
often slapped her with his hands for the offence alluded to, and
he said if she said anything about him when she went out he
would give it her when she came home again.
Mr. Goddard (one of the guardians) said, at the time the
inquiry took place he was the visiting guardian for the week.
He went round the yard with the child. She did not say that
she had been locked up in the dead-house. She showed him
a dormitory in which she had been placed by herself, and
which statement was also reported to the board.
Mrs. Holborn, now residing at Herne Bay, was, in March,
1843, an inmate, with five children, of the workhouse. Re-
members Mrs. Ingleton dying on a Sunday, and she helped to
lay out the dead body, and assisted in taking it to the dead-
house. It was put in a shell, and some straw laid under the
head, a sheet was thrown over the body, but not over the
face. On the following morning, Emma Hearnden was
locked in the room by Sarah Bailey, the master's daughter.
The child cried very much, and witness, with anothet woman,
went to the window and endeavoured to console her. She
was clasping her hands together and begged to be released.
The room in question was known by the inmates as the
" dead-house."

Mrs. Browning, also an inmate at the time, was next
sworn. She gave the same facts in evidence as the above,
but said that the body was hot in a shell, but only on the lid
of one.

Mr. Walker asked her if she had any conversation with the
child after she came out of the room, to which the witness
somewhat sharply replied,," No, I dared hardly to speak to
my own children."

Sarah Overy, also in the workhouse at the same time, cor-
roborated the last two witnesses. She also assisted in re-
moving the body of Mrs. Ingleton ; she went twice to the
window to pacify the child, and persuade her not to cry so.
She also deposed to a bed being carried down to the room for
the child to sleep on, but she was, on that occasion, let out at
bed time. Believed that this was after Mrs. Ingleton was
buried.
On the second day, the Court was opened at eleven o'clock,
and was again soon filled by an anxious auditory. Previous
to the examination of the witnesses,
Mr. AUSTIN said that the rate-payers of the vine of the
Archbishop's Palace had come to the resolution of engaging
Mr. De Lasaux, professionally, to watch the case in their
name on behalf of the child.
• Mr. DE LAsAux then called a woman named Sarah Chees-
man, aged 77 years, but her evidence went merely to prove
the testimony which was admitted by the master on the
former investigation before the Board of Guardians--namely,
that the child had been shut up one night in a down-stair
room away from the other children.
This closed the case for the child.

Mary Walker, on behalf of the master, was first called in,
and on being sworn said—She was between 15 and 16 years
old, and had been an inmate of the workhouse for eight
years. She knew Emma Hearnden, and loved her, and Emma
loved her in return. The Hearndens had been there from the
2d of December, 1842. Emma was never punished. Never
kept on bread and water. Never locked up. Never pu-
nished in any other way. Emma was in the habit of wetting
her bed, but never punished for it. Had been reprimanded,
as the other girls had complained to the mistress about it,
and she had been threatened to be sent down to the straw-
room to sleep, but she never was sent down. The threat was
only said to frighten her. The straw-room is one of the
lower rooms away from the other sleeping rooms. It had
been formerly the dead-room, but not for the last twelve
months. The dead-room is now two doors from it. Mrs.
Ingleton died on the 12th of March. No girl could be shut
•up without witness knowing it. Emma Hearnden was once
shut up, it was in April, but does not remember what day of
the month it was, for wetting her bed. The school mistress
shut her up (Miss Sarah Bailey acts as upper school mistress)
only about one hour. Thinks it was on a Tuesday about two