The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-02 00:00:00

CONCEALMENT ot an INFANT'S BIRTH.

An event, which naturally attaches a degree of
Culpability to the implicated parties,' became a
subject for the inquiry of a Coroner's inquest
held on Sunday last
,before J. H Holiway, Gent.,
coroner ,for the borough, at the Peacock Lin, iu
this town. The following general outline of the
facts, as they appeared in evidence, will explain.
the origin of the inquiry:
Some months' have elapsed since suspicions
were first excited of the pregnancy of a.widow.
named Darby, whose husband has been dead a
considerable periods and who with her three
children were the sole inmates of a. small house
in Lawrence-lane, in this town. On the even-
ing of Sunday se'nnight she was suddenly taken
ill, but, as she declared, was not aware that the
time of her pregnancy was complete. During
Monday she still continued indiSposed ; -on
Monday afternoon her illness increased, and she
stated she was four hours in very great distress;
between seven and eight o'clock on Monday
night , she became the mother of a female child.
No one was present with her at the time of the
birth, and with the exception of her children no
human being entered her door during the whole
of Monday. She declared the child was dead
when born ; it never cried ; and she laid it upon
the bed. She allowed the infant to remain four
hours upon the bed where she first laid it, and
then she secreted it under the bed clothes. On •
the day after the birth two of her female ac-
quaintance went in to see her, but she did not
mention to them what had occurred. She said
She had no one to send for a Doctor on Monday
afternoon, when she was's() seriously ill ; her
eldest child, who is a boy nine years old, was
out of doors playing, and did not come home
till nine o'clock that night. She declared she
had never been taxed with pregnancy, nor .had
She ever denied it to any one. -Samuel Bowers,
the reputed father of the child, was next called.
He said he was a sawyer by trade, but had
latterly got his living by making mattresses:—
About ten o'clock on Tuesday morning last
Mrs. Darby sent for him, and when he went to
her house he found her in bed. She handed a
key to him, and asked him to lock up a box
Which stood at the foot of the bed. He did so ;
and she afterwards told him the box contained
the body of a child born on the night preceding,
and begged him to take it away, and bury it.—
About ten o'clock the same night he again visited
her ; the child was then taken out of the
box, and wrapped up in a pocket hand-
and
kerchief,
nailed ieldemaday tnfuofprr
from
t thea
Tuesday
box, whichodsae;
fil he had
htuiires
rmdeaayadleni
night,
about in winch state he carried it home,
it
l
about half-past ten; when he interred it in St.
John's burial ground. The mother told Bowers
that if he buried it privately no.,stir would be
Made about the matter. He admitted he never
mentioned the birth nor interment to any person.
Mrs. Darby had frequently conversed with wit-
ness during her pregnancy, and said she would
not have a doctor if she could possibly do without.
Maria Bills, an acquaintance, the first disin-
terested person who- called upon Mrs. Darby
after the birth, merely said she found Mrs. Darby
ill, and that she. told witness she had taken 3d.
worth of laudanum on the Monday without its
producing any effect.
Mary Lusely said she called on Mrs. Darby
on Tuesday last. She suspected that Mrs.
Darby was pregnant; and had observed that a
length of time. The witness mentioned this to
Mrs. Darby, who replied that she knew it had
been reported some time, but it was all false. in
making this declaration she did not seem at all
confused.

The next door neighbour of the deceased was
called to ascertain whether any thing like infant
cries were heard. But it turned out that this
neighbour was a woman named Waltham, whose
appearance proved her to be upwards of seventy
years old, and whose deafness prevented the like-
lihood of the child's cry being heard, supposing
it bad been born alive. '
Hannah, wife of John Brewster, sister-in-law
of Mrs. Darby, said she called upon her on
Wednesday, when Mrs. Darby said a breeder on
her side had broken inwardly. Witness had re-
peatedly taxed Mrs. Darby with being in the
family way, but she always denied it. On Satur-
day she taxed her with it again, and she again
denied it.
Bowers was recalled, and said be had agreed
surgeon, with Mrs. Darby to deny the fact of the child
being born and interred. He declared his only
. ,
motive in uenying it was that Mrs-Darby might
not lose employment at some houses where she
usually w
ur
believed the child
waar, burn
born
alive. a
pearances whether the child
w
ie ungs oated in water, but
that test is not now considered conclusive. The
ti
sl
ll rl
. oH.
ti
ht e r
Mr. Parsons,arpl
l time : could not, say posi-
tively from washed.
s full
child appeared healthy, and likely to live. The
whole of the evidence was then summed up
by the Coroner ; after which the Jury consulted,
and returned a verdiet—,, That the child was
found dead, but whether it was born alive no
evidence appeared to the Jurors."--Boston Ga-
zette.

BIRTH.
On the let inst. in Burton-crescent, the lady of F. Re-
hello, Esq., of a son.

MARRIED.

On the Ist inst., at Hampstead Church, Wm. Lovell,
Esq., of Cold Ashby, Northamptonshire, to Miss Miller,
of Hampstead.
On the I2th ult. at Dumbartonsbire, N.B. by the Rev.
Dr. Scott, of Greenock, Edwin Sandys Bain, of the Middle
Temple, Esq., and eldest son of Lieutenant-Col. Bain, of
Livelands, county of Stirling, to Christian Jane. Fullerton,
eldest daughter of Lieut.-Col. T. Gells, of Gelston, late of
the 3d Foot Guards.