Norwich bulletin., 1911-03-11
he Confession
 0f Mrs. MeIbef
POLICE CHIEF TELLS HOW SHE
 MURDERED HER CHILD.
GAVE HIM cARBoLIC ACID
Woman's Husband Was Dead and in.
 stitution Had Refused to Receive
 Him-crush of Women at the Trial

Albany. x. Y. March 10.-While 3 crowded courtroom listened with breathless attention, Mrs. Edith Mel Der sat apparently unmoyed today when Chief of Police Quigley of Ro- chester testified how the accused wo- man confessed to killing her 5-year- old child by pouring carbolic acid down his throat.
 Counsel Made Claim of Police Co
 ercion.'
 K Her counsel endeavored to prevent the admission of the account of the confession. contending that the police obtained It by coercion. but Justice
 Howard told the chief to proceed Quigley testified as follows:
 sOn the Friday previous to the day of her arrest she took the child, boarded a car and went from Schen- ectady to Albany. Leaving the car she went to an institution on Lake street.. It was then about five o'clock
 Institution Would Not Take Child.
 She asked the young woman if they would receive the child there and was told that she needed authority from the main office. The young woman telephoned and told Mrs. Melber that she was not able to get the main office and that she could not take the child. Then she left the institution and walked toward the center of the city LII Lu0 Wdy Sue entered a Qrug store and purchased ten cents worth ofscar- bo1ic acid. The child was in the store with her. Then she went to the place where the body was found How she got there she said she did not know Gave Child Acid to Drink.
 The child asked for a drink of wster and she gave him the acid. She laid the child down, kissed him, turned away, and went back to Schenectady cf coi Ta1t, 1,~1 told him that her mother died when she was young, leaving her an or phan. She was reared partly In an institution and partly by relatives. and was left to shift for herself when only thirteen years old She married I.ands unable to work most of the time. Husband Died in Hospital. i Before the birth of her child she l was taken 1ill and was sent t6-~the fscounty hospital with her husband He Edied and the child was sent to q, chill ldren's home. A few days before las | Chri stmas tle child was returned fo I her she must care for it. Mrs. MelbeF ltook the boy to the home of Mrs. Margaret Smith, his great-aunt, to spend the holidays.
 '4On Thursday afternoon" continued the chief, -.she visited the Smiths and Y WdS LOlu u IdfAo Alc poy away. tot'; took him to the orphan asylum, but admission was refused. The next day l she took the child to Albany, where l the murder occurred
 Her Father Drunkard. | The day's proceedings were full of | interest. The prosecution called the matrOn and assistant matron of the home where the boy was confined, county charity officers, relatives of the dead child. the. Rochester officers who arrested the woman, and others. to place positive proof of the boy s death before the jury.
 The Line of Defense. The defense in the cross examina : ] tion of each witness endeavored to l show that Mrs. Melber led a life which 1 made it practically impossible for her ! reason to remain intact; that her rel atives left her alone in times of trou- l ble; that she tried repeatedly to have l her boy taken care of in some institu- l ton and that she was not fairly treat F ed.
 Women's Clothes Torn in Crush.
 So great was the crowd and so in l tense the eagerness to get inside the ! convened today, that women were i crushed. clothes were torn and pande- monium prevailed for nearly fifteen I minutes When order had been restored l by policemen and the courtroom had been filled, there were still many hun dred persons waiting outside for an opportunity to hear the testimony. Court adjourned tonight until Mon day