The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-05-19
DEATHS MYSTERIES.
An INSANE WOMAN VINO KILLED A
NUMBER OF CHILDREN WITH
OUT BEING DISCOVERED.
fSt. Louis Postl.

twenty years ago remarkable example o
the deyilish ingenuity and apparent safety
with which this crime could be pcrpetrated
was brought to light in England. As the gen,
eral reader i aware the head of young in
fant Is soft; the bones OF the skull are not yet
closed or firm, that is, the coronaI suture,
called 70 the yernacular the mole Of the
skull, IS very large. The os fronts and pa
l1etal bone have not yet closed this aperture
leading TO the brain. By the insertion of a
very line needle through this sllture far
enough to reach the brain, instantaneous
death is caused even to. perfectly healthy
infant. Until this particular case was dis
covered no one even dreamed Of such u
method Of infanticde, and il has been com
puted by statistcians that fully ten per cent
OF the cases OF infanticide have been performed
in that manner
In 1855, in Ipswich. the county seat of the
shire Of Suffolk in England resided a toIera-
bly, wealthy couple Of the name of Amos and
Elizabeth Cooper. They had one child about
three years of'age, and AS their circumstances
enabled them they employed regular nurse
1hls nurse was apparently
MODEL TO HER PROFESSION.
devotedly attached to children and of great
reliability and discretion. The nurse had been
In the employ of Mr.. Cooper for about twelve
months when another child was born. and
upon this nurse, Eliza Mickethwaite. de-
volved the duty OF carrying and tending to
the infantile wants of the little stranger
The baby was a thriving, healthy boy and at
tanned the age OF four months without any
thing like symptoms of sickness or bad health.
One day the mother found her babe living
dead In Its bassinet. Doctors were called
in; no reason for this sudden death
could be found: a post mortem exam
inatton followed all of no avail The
dead refused to yield up its secret and it was
buried with the body in the grave Two more
years lew by and another boy was born in
the same household, and it was nursed by
the same woman. Three months elapsed and
this babe was also found dead in its cot. This
caused immense excitement in the town Al
coroner 9 inquest and post norton cxamina.
tion were held, but nothing was elected
After few months thepublic forgot all about
It, when in another eighteen months a third
guest was added to the family, and this time
a girl. This babe was watched and tended
with the greatest devotion by the parents,
ana the nurse in particular. and the little
ehernb thriyed amazingly until its fourth
month, when it too was suddenly stricken
down without apparent cause. The whole
tclty was III commotion. The parents were
ARRESTED; an investigation and usual post
mortem examination were instituted The
latter was apparently about to terminate in |
Sthe same unsatisfactory manner as the former
when young doctor named Leblanc asked
permission to examine the corpse of the child. |
This was accorded and to the doctor belonged |
16ae honor of
TNRAVELING THIS DARK MYSTERY
by the aid Of a most powerful microscope
me was just able to detect traces of a slight !
punctuTe in the brain, and thus find the cause
OF death. The parents were charged with |
murder, but before the trial began, to the as
tonishment'of every one who knew her. the |
nurse, Eliza Micklethwaite came forward and |
admitted that she was the murderess She !
admitted that she had killed all three of the |
infants, when asleep, by punching the brain
through the coronal suture with an exceed
ingly fine needle. She was arrested, found to
be insane and confined for life in Col. Hatch's
insane asylum. 1t seems that she had. a NOR
bid nrepressible tendency to infanticide, and
these mnrde1ous instincts prompted her to
the foul deeds despite the love and affection
she had always displayed for children.