The Democratic advocate., 1896-06-13
Infants Murdered by a Baby Farmer


LoypoN. ENGLAND, June l0-Mrs.s Annie
| DYER. the baby farmer, OF Reading, who was
arrested on April on the charge of murder
/ ing many infants entrusted TO her care, was
hanged in Newgate Prison at nine o clock this
morning.
Mrs. DYER was one of the most extraordin-
/ ary criminals of the age a Wholesale, cold
/ blooded murderess.
! The police first became suspicious Of her
and her son-n- law, Arthur Z. Palmer, early
| in April, when the bodies of number of
children, apparently strangled to death, were
| recovered from the River Thames, where
| they had been thrown, weighted down with
| bricks, &c. An investigation led to the arrest
Of Mrs Dyer and Palmer. Letters found in
| her house showed that many of the parents
with whom she and her accomplice had deal
/ ings were aware of the fate intended for the
| infants These letters were from persons in
all ranks of society, The coroners had long
been puzzled at the fact that so many bodies
| of infants were found in the Thames between
/ Wap3ing and Battersea, some of them naked
and others wrapped in old linen or brown
paper, but all of them weighted down in some
way or other, and all of them evidently
strangled to death.
The preliminary examination developed a
most horrifying condition of affairs. 1t was
proved that since Christmas at least twenty
children had been entrusted to Mrs. Dyer's
keeping, and of this number only four were
then living. In addition, prior to Christmas
many other children that had been placed in
the woman's charge were unaceounted for,
and are admitted to have been murdered.
A conservative estimate places the number
of children killed at forty, but oiher estimates
have it that as many as one hundred infants
were either strangled or drowned by Mrs.
Dyer.
Mrs. Dyer and her son-in-law lived in
Reading, where they had great reputation
for piety. Over the door of her home was
figure of Jesus Christ, beneath which was the
inscription
''Suffer little children to come unto Me, and
forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom
of Heaven
Mrs. DYER had been arrested upon four
previous occasions, but somehow she not only
managed to escape punishment. but succeeded
in maintaining her reputation for piety.
But in court the woman's nerve entirely
deserted her. She had detected, terrified
took, aud apparently was in despair and saw
the gallows ahead.
The baby farmer was a gaunt vet fairly
good-looking woman of about fifty years of
age, and she seems to have derived quite a
good income from her crimes.
Three children were found at Mrs. Dyer's
residence when she was arrested. They were
boy seven years of age, a girl of eight years
and boy three months old. There is little
doubt that they would have gone the way of
the other charges of the baby farmer had the
latter not been arrested. Some idea of the
extent of the business done by Mrs Dyer may
be gathered from the statement that baby
clothes weighing nearly three hundred pounds
were found at her house when the police made
the first search. A box containing the de-
composed body an an infant was also disc0y-
cred in the woman's dwelling, evidently hav-
ing been placed there while she awaited an
opportunity to throw it into the Thames.
Little by little evidence against Mrs. Dyer
was gathered. A large piece of brown wrapp-
ing paper, in which the body Of one of the
infants was found was identified by railroad
porter as being the covering of a parcel which
he delivered to the prisoner.
1t was further proved that Mrs. Dyer started
on one journey with baby and carpetbag,
and that when she returned she had the bag,
but the baby was missing.
In all cases Mrs. Dyer insisted upon being
paid before taking charge Of an infant sums
varying from $50 to $500. She also made
considerable money by pawning or selling the
wardrobes with which nearly all the infants
were furnished.
The particular prey OF the baby farmer
were single women who had been misled, or
servants ard poor workingwomen who were
unable or unwilling to take care of their chill
dren. In such cases Mrs. Dyer would write
that she was glad to have the chance of having
a dear little baby to bring up and call her
own, not for the sake of money, but for the
darling's company
In some instances parents tried to regain
possession of their children, but when they
became too pressing, and danger was in the
air, Mrs. Dyer would move, and the par
enis, generally too poor to employ legal as
sistance, would give up their attempts.
Late in April Mrs. Dyer made written
confession, admitting the murders of which
she was accused. 1t was proposed to intro
duce the plea of insanity in her defence. She
was examined later by physician employed
by the Home Office, and was declared to be
sane.
On May 21 Mrs. Dyer was indicted for
murder, and on the following day she was
sentenced to death.
In prison Mrs. Dyer made several attempts
to commit suicide. At Reading she tried to
strangle herself with her shoe laces; some
time later she tried to force handkerchief
down her throat, and upon another occasion
she attempted to cut her wrist against piece
of iron.
The baby farmers last attempt at suicide
was on May 26, in Newgate prison, when,
while lying in bed, apparently asleep, she
twisted handkerchief around her throat, and
almost succeeded in stranglng herself