The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-06-17
MURDERED MANY BABES.
Mrs Annie Dyer Hung Wednesday in
Newgate Prison London

Mrs. annie Dyer Hung Wednesday in
Newgate Prison London.
LONDON, June 10.-Mrs. Annie Dyer,
the baby farmer, Of Reading, who was
arrested On April 3, on the charge of
numbering many infants entrused to
her care, was hanged in Newgate pri-
son at Q o'clock this morning. Mrs.
Dyer was one of the most extraordinary
criminals of theage, a wholesale, cold
blooded murderess. The police first
became suspicious of her and her SON
ln-law, Arthur E. 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, etc. An
investigation led to TIE arrest of Mrs.
Dyer and Palmer. Letters found in
her possession showed that many of
the parents with whom she and her
accomplice had dealings were aware
of the fate intended for the infants.
These letters were from persons in all
ranks of society. TIE coroners had
long been puzzled at the fact that so
many bodies Of infants were found in
the Thames between Mapping 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 devel.
oped 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 Christ
mas, many other children that had
been placed in the woman's charge
were reunaccounted for and are admitted
to have been murdered. A conserva-
tive estimate places the number OF
children killed at forty, but other
estimates have it that as many as 100
infants were eithec 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
a 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 on four
previous occasions, but somehow she
not only managed to escape punish
ment but succeeded in maintaining her
reputation for piety. But, in court,
the woman's nerve entirely deserted
her. She had detected, terrified look
,and apparently was in despair and saw
the gallows ahead. The baby farmer
was gaunt, yet fairly looking
woman of about so years of age and
she seems to have derived quitea good
income from her crimes. Three chill
dren were found at Mrs. Dyer's resi-
dence, when she was arrested. They
were & boy, seven year Of age. girl
of eigat years and a 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 lat
ter not been arrested.
Some idea of the extent Of the busi.
ness done by Mrs. Dyer may be gath
cred from the statement that baby
clothes weighing nearly 800 pounds
were found at her house when the po-
lice made the first search. A box con-
talnlpg the decomposed body of an in
fant was also discovered in the wo-
:nan's dwelling, evidently having
been placed there while she awaited
an opportunity to tarow it into the
Thames. Late in April Mrs. Dyer
made written confession, admitting
the murders Of which she was accused.
1t was proposed to introduce the plea
of insanity in her defense. She was
examined later by a physician en-
ployed by the Home Office and was
declared to besane. On May 81, Mrs.
Dyer was indicted Cor murder and on
the following day sac was sentenced
to death.
In prison Mrs. Dyer made several
attempts to commit suicide. A. Read.
ing she $ried 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 a
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 a
handkerchief around her throat and
almost succeeded in strangling herself.
A Wall Street Tip.