Middlesex Sessions, Monda...
The Times, 1824-09-21T00:00:00

Caelkeri,,e and Ann rrvng, two females. who kept a sort of boatrd. ing-rchool, in Monmouth-strect, St. Giles's, were indicted for starving and( ill-treating several chlildren cominitted to their charge. The case of these women excited immense interest, when It first ca,me on at Alarlborough-street, a few weeks since; and the ficts were, at that time, a good deal exa "gerated. The prisoners were described as mother and daughter in the indictment. The first seemed to be about forty years of age 4 the latter not more than eighteen or nineteen. At the time of their apprehension they were found in a s,atc of great nakedness and miserY, but now appeared handsomely and rather shiowrily attired. AlIr. ADOrtopius told the jury, that the present proeectition was instituted by the parish officers of St. (files's, and that he should prove such a case in evidence, as, if he vere to oyen it, could har(dly meet withi credit. It was but just towards the elder prisoner. Catheririe Irving, to observe, that at an earlier period of her life, she had shown herself capable of behaving with propriety. For two or thiree years, at one time, she had been governess of a schiool, inftiuted for cbildren of the lower class by a lady of tie name o. Bathirst; and, in that capacity, hadi certainly acted with Ereat attention and humanity. Mrs. Bathurst'a school, however, being relinquished, Mrs. Irving and her daugiter contemplated the institution of an establishment, on their own account, for children of the samc description. Accordinglv, they did set up a school; took bearelers and were inifluienced, by a sort of lunacy, perhaps. (fu-r thieir conduct would bear zio reasonable construction), in their treatment of them. A variety of witnesses would be called to show the terr.ns uponi which these children had been received suffice it to say, for the present, that they had been de,at with in such a wav ag. at length, to excite theattention of the neighbourhood. On the 13;h of Auiguist, in consequence ofprivate infonnation, the assistant. overseer of SL ;iles's wozlshouse, accompanied by the parish apo. thecary, went to the residence of the prisoners, whpre a most extraor- dinavy and lamentabledisclosurepresented itself. Theytfoud 10r r 12 oiserable children, from one year ole to ten, lying nearl naked in a wretched garret, and absolutely famishing for want o te food * thev tere covereth with bruises and doresafrom the pereonal violence whic they had received, and infected with a neglected itch, O invetecrate as te amount alhost to leprosy. The two prisnders, the Court would observe, now came forwar(, dressed ftell and respectably bit at the time islen they were tacteiv e n, they had been in a state of the greaest filth and r.aggedness. It was, perhaps, a fittuas e thing for themn that their malpractice had been discovered as they were ; or they would have continued them, raronahy. until their lives became fohreir tO the justice er their codntry. If it had so happened that any of the chidren had dihd,oas maby ofthem wrere neartdoong,fom I the ill usage they received, those women wvould now have stood at the bar to answer for a capital oh'enrce, instead of a misdemeanor, Evidence was thuen gone intO at very cdnsideraible length, hut much of it had but little application to the qaestion il conSiderhti6n. John Hayward Scuts wras the first witness called, who had sent three children to the school-kept by the prisoners; two of whom were nowv named in the indictment. This person statedthat lie was a wiidower, and had sent three female children to the prisoners in last Auyust twelvemonth. The elder prisoner then went by the name of Wi1icks ; he dealt with her under that name S and was recommended. bv a cousin with whni slie had some acquiaintance. One of his children was five yeam oid, another seven, and the third nine * and he was to pay three shillings, a week a-piece for their board, lodgiug, washing, and education. It was part of the niceameft that he should send some bedding to the prisoners' house, and he did so: Airrs. Wicks said that the money received was too little, but a ladv of fortune made up the deficiency to her. These children remained itsh thc prisoners from August to about the 10th of December. Witness satv them twice a week; they seemed well fedi and to have nothing to complain of. About the 'ith of December he saw some breakingsout on one ofthemaiswhich he thopght arose ?rOYn the itch, and showed them to AfIs Jonoes.an takhlEir4i iD 1blTOEn who said the cotbplaint WaO the Itch. $n .coasequence. of this dis. coveoyo Wltnese took his children away ,nr ene sn 4er thev came home) he hdCvvered thait thd youngest of them had gt s0n e| injtiry of the spine. She died in a few monihs-from what tout. plaint lie could riot say. All the three children baa theaitch eaery badTly. Tl1ey were otherwise well, and looked *~ell in hesh, t E iza ScutZ, an acute interesting litte girl not quite teuyears of age, was tlien caued, apd said that sile was tne eldest of'thinee whbo had been sent to school toMis. Wicks. The. younger prlsoaer wias called Miss IrYingK and passed for AMrs. WVicks's daughtef. She- used to beat the.childreri1 everely, rometimes with her fist, and 6sme- tines 'witha stick. Mss., Wicks alsobeatthen; but not s0urior so hardt Witneses'syoug utister (thatc died) was very-p.uchbeaten, veryoftenifor'nothi.r.n 'he-was once knockel down over ascrmperby,. Iiss Irving,two days before they were all taken away;and she tiever, walked Up`ight.aftervvards. UWhan this sistef wanted to get o.ut of bed at night; theylieat her forecJing. to do so. Witnes slept in. a eapboard with fbur opther chUildror, in 4 bed whicl was too short for them to lie on Other chitlden in, the $chsoo slept piveA4td ix in a bed; but thmeythidgenerallyiplerityto-eatand driso1. Cross.exanMiedshy.AT C. PHILL1Ps.-This little girl sidd that she herself-had epn-.nstan1y -iItrea &aitd beatenI Shc ad her sister3 did not-tell tsheari er.1seuthe'y wera psed, bbeaugq they wjtre threatened -witthworsoie blaftg i?they did- The bec1ElHl sldpt on Was too shorv5 hut athi4;heetbandilankets to it. 7 1-5ary Rodwell said that she *vas tbe'wlte of&jZ3uraeym%nfCbm binderi','aaJjd4 :sa4 tys, childien 1t'-Mxs Wicks?a sehp- bnot - fouYsadiusbp41 tvgandloh&- it' tinded IpMq- welj~~~~l until Jbuttir ,PZ., ,t-th- dreadful sate ofstarvatio't; covered withi tlcer', faion, tle i l tr,d ong of tlierliadllost.thiefirst joint ofits toe. About afoetnioui afteri witnecss, found tlhings in this situation, shie got her chtildren away I from Uie scesool. She c-.ulil not get theai away b -.For, for fuier ol'i hier husband,' wbo tbrcateng~d, anid refusedl to inidintitin hier. Ar Ist" shec a p lied to the parish whio took her hiusbanid up, awl nm.e himn iethe an allowance. Whben she got her childtren, shec tocik thcem. to the lparishi doctor, who attended themn, rtd w,as; attendirte-_ :-ne o; I them still. Airs. AWick-i, for the two chil,1mn bon tt,ldgn-i washing) receivedt i5s. GA. a weekc. Cross-examnine.d.'Thig witness showed evidently that %he I bore any thiing rasther than goode-wilt towards the prih ...... but njothiing eamie ouit whIich matcrially .altered thec hearing of the cAise. She admnitted that in the fo-tnight between hcr coming to towni, and applying to the naviish about her clhildiren, she had skeen themn at Air. W'icke's house every clav; but declared th it she had bee:i preventedl, by, the contrivantces of her liust,and, fro!- going to extremiLies m4ore immediately. Chiarles Otto, a boy only 8 eight years, of age, gav- hiis evidence withi great smnartness and intelligence. Hle had been to schatol for some time, he said, to AMrs.NlVicks, whon tevergatve him victuals enough, aid. continually- be-at bim. Ile was beat sometimes twice a week-never desqerved to be beatat aniy timne. Prisorers also beat a bov n Ime Hunt very much, aiid saidI that they would serve him worse iflhe; told his mnother. Cross-exitinitca.4-je breakiasated at eight, dined at one, anid hiat' tea at six. For brea-kfat ihe had bread and cheese, or breatd andbut-I ter ; at dlinner, hard pudding ; and at tea, bread sadie butter aganin.I Ile never liad as muchi as he could eat. Ilie was beat till hit back was black and blue,. Ile could not se his owvn back, butt anothier boY told him it was -so. Atr. James Burgess said-I am a medical isnain, and I Pattend the Voornfor the parishb of St. Gil"s. At the reauest of the overseers, wntoAr.Wicks's residence its August last, and foundL 10 or 12 bilcldrets lud,dl-d together in a rooc up two pair of stairs. Mus~t of the childre-n looked. ektretnsely ill and lithin. Tlte womten prisoners were bath there, very svretchied anid ragged, quite uinlike what tltey seem to be ndw. Ith the afternoon of Eliesatne day, or on the next morning, Charles Oft*.' and three children, namied, Hunt, Bray, and Hlutchins, were brouight to inc. 'i'lhe chiilti Hunt v/as twvo years old;whien I stripped it, it wati aovercd withi bruises. All the thur children were in a direadful state of dirt; they hiad tite itch, and vwera covered with vermin. Chafies (,to was v-ery thitii, very, il, and mtich bruisied. The appearance of thie citildren ev'idently dle- noted a want of proner aind sufficient food. Trwo dayvs after this. Airs. Rodwell broughit litem childreB tomEle. Thecy diti t;oi Seem to have been starved ; btitt one of thiemi had itis tne eatetn off by a sore. Cross-examined.-Worms seill give children an ema ciated ap- pearance, but these children got well avs soon as tlhey were fed. WVhen the Itch takes one child in a school, it is certa-inly almost iMPoSsible to keep it from the rest. AIr. Bigg. assistant-overseer of St. Griles's parisht, corroborated Mfr. Burgess's accottuzt of the state its whichi the chiildlren had been found,. le hadi seeni many deplorable places in the course of' Iti dti- ties3, but seldlom any thitig so bail as the roomps inhiabi'ted by, the prisoners. Cross.examined.-A1 this wasi visible enough ; thecre was no con- cealment in it. Aay of the children's friends whio went to call oni themn,rmight hatve seen well enough what con:dition they vwere in. Mlr. C. PitsLeIPS then addressed the jitry o- the part of" the dec- fendants; and declared that a case so) opened and so proved, he had never miet with its the course of his p actice. With What fact: a-ny persona coiuld comee forwardl and chnarge thc e k malts at the bar With having starv,d and neglectedI their children, whilethey themselves had free access, to those ctlidren., and were in the habit of seeinig them alm-ost daily, hc(Mr. Phillips;) was at a. loss to itlsagine. The inidictnsent was really a curiosit.y. Ai)r. Seatz's cliildreni were chargecl in it to have been starred and beateni. Now, wvh.t was tile evidence ?Milr. Scutaz ltiinself swore that tkis c1hildren all appeared to be perf'ectly well fed; and that, visiting them twice a week dluring the three monthis they were at Mirs. Irvitng's school, it, wag only during the lest fivc dlays that lie hid dliscove'red any thing to complain of'. Air. Rodwell's children-they, too, wvere 'among the starvedI and beatets. What wvas ttte evidetice uipon that point ?- r. Burgess, the parish a1poithecary before whetai th= chi!dren were carried for idt',vie, desciribud thiemi, dis- tinctIv, as suifficienitly fecd, anil suffering only t'rom diiease. Why' Charles Otto said that he wvee famishedI h-and it apteared, fromhits ownwiords, that he had hiad thiree tmals a tlv given him,i of puAding, bread and clheese, oir breatd and buitter. Time mnother ot; the chiild, Hlunt, spokcti of by Mlr. Buirgess, wes in CXiur but shte itad thc grace to be askamedl to be callemi and, f:or tlie other child that was mnentooned, hlray,bhe was not nam-ed urian tilt record. Now, for the ecrrection, dlue or' iindtte, whicli thecse child, en hadl received, ulpan thatt point the evidence was very locse an(I slight anti for the disease, it was admitted oni all hands that, whent the itchi otice got ino chool, it was most difficult to sto t rgis rt e rid of it. He meant not to justify nor to palliate eithier cruelty or undute severity ; litut he wyas bounil to say that tieo nilschievous severity, nor any ttiiag approachiing to it., ha'd been proved. Tite twvo grandl arguments upo;: which lie foutided Itiniseltl were supplied to hiim by the prosecution ; thecy arose out of" the cont(luet of' tile verY witnes5s-sthe parents of the.Re chiildreni themselves. 'Il'tee People pjreswied to talk of starvation !in the namre ofIlea% en, v.hat did they expect for tuec pittatlee toi whichi their cl;ildrni tverre restricted' ?e Here tflte jury lhad thiree shtillitigs, a week paid, per htead, at the .'t- iiiost-in one caseonl ttalf-a-crown-fhr board, lodging. ahitr wvaiting on, and schoolinrg of children, miany of themn'tot four ycareF, and some not even twelve inonths in nice. Why, toe the mere food, if' thecY had three meals a day, as the Iboy Ot'to statvd, the m3-ey did not give three half-penice for ecaci separate itatlsi The chilld Hunt, whose tiotlier was ashamned to appear, hadi been sent at six months' old (whlen it oughit to htave been at thie breast), to be nursedt, and tfed, and provided for, at apayment of three shtl- Ihugs a week. Theni t ue. itchi caerne and it was negleceted ; and this was a cruisie. IVhy, was ttietdical attendatnce to be included in. tile thiree sltillings ? At what point shouild thte blessings s op lamr witiCh that libteral allowance was tu pay ? He (MIr. Phillfips) mighit creere, anid didI regret, thec part whicht- the defendants in this ease hiad take!,. Ile wag sorry that eveti in extreme dlistress, tliteythad sought to gaini an existence'by tataing children at these wretchedI stipends, Ilie was still more sorryv that, as soon as disease appeared, they hiad not at once inade application to the parishi, and giveni up thieir mniserable establishsment altogether, altlsoitglt, they themnselves had come uptan the parslil in cotssequencc of' doing it. At tlte same time, it oLught to ho! remembtered, sthat tisey lhad used ioO deceit withi any olts. Their poor appearance wltett they were apprelscr,dea hiad b~ent spokett of; but poverty was not a fault. Poor they were, anti pioor enough; midic it was-only the charity oftliteir friends that sutpplied tteti tneans~ for the dlefence, siuchi as it w-as, whiceltlie (thie learned coittissi) was Itheiinmaking. Thie fact was, thiat they had carried on a wrettm:he) tradle, but neither a guiilty nor deceptive one. They had endleavoured, by painf'ul mieans, to makec out at painfuil livelihoo_d; l0tit thiS was all the:r criine. Tuie complainantst bath alt had titeir own eyes upoti their chilren ho hapend i tht te eilscharged wvere niot diicovered ini ther pogrss?If itrs as ll hisdiesse-this starvation-s-n long, goin on ho cane t tat oni ofthechildreni's parents denied thec fact andthatnot ne 0 tltm, fom ay to cnlay, hiail perceived it ' The tuth as, hat herecoull benoch ieefr ithese people-the witniesses-but that either the no xgeaed in their statments most grossly, or lthat tlteir owtegctadbn the itnosl infamous in the world, Gentlemen minh pra,beof o%inion thatL the de- fendants had acted tin wisely pehaais c hy Ittlbeen negligent of theirdutyt; perisaps lessl hm eancutos than ilsev should hiave been; bLlt.surely they would not, on suchi eviderceas hadl becit giveti. ftind tttemn guilty upon an indicttment whtichi would! at toes compromise their liberty at presetst, and thjeir characters antd inecans of existence ther ever. In the coilititence thiat the wealtness of the prosecutor's, case miust sitrike dte wYhole Court in the saIne lighit in whith it ap- peared to hlim, hie (Air. Plhillips), without tailing witntesses, though liis brief was crowdet withi thein, woiild leav-e the cause of his clien'ts, as it stood to the jury. The CilAtIAstAs, itn sumnming up this evitletice, observed that the case proi-ed fell a good deatl short of that which hail beets opened. The neglect (if there hail been atty) o f time parents wouldt not justify thedefendants if they, had ilt-uted the childiren ; huit it wouald be tot thec jury to saylsow far tlierebhad been that conduct which, under tile teruiss ofan intlictment, cottild be called ill-treatmient. For tile fact of the chil. tIren's ir--ying thle itch and its; beinig neglectedl, thiat, fhor insttunee,tas a. vircutmetarnce to dleserve severe reprobation ; hut still it teas not a fact whichi, under the prcesent prosecution, would juistify tlie Jury it) findinig a verdict of gitiity. The evidence nsost w'orthy, of' thrcir at- teltiton was the evidence of hr. Burgess, the apothecary, whto spoke of course impartially, andi had the advantage of uztderstant(ling whiat he said. Thle feet of die violetice used stoodI principally uipon the statements of thle chiildren theniselves ; and, ats we-ll as wibh respect to the disease, it mnust be rememibered that their pretrets, all thie wehile this went ots, had perfect access to -hem.l Alt. Burgess spolke strongly to the fact off tIme child~ren seem'- tag not to have had suffcient groper food ; anti titemii that again let in the con-sideration a.s to wlsat ood mightbhe etcmred aptllient and prioper. It teaes fairly.said that, at 3s. a-week cacti, the etjiidren coutd nttt be providedI with ttiat wliich -.cas excellent; at thersanie time, if thec defendoanits clhose to take them at that price, they made themnselves anstverable that no serious ill consequzences re- sulted from their proceedling. TEitat tley band coisductecl themnselves ill in this affir titers was no doabt t .he only question for the jury, was-whether their iniscotisduct hail been such as left thtero open to the operation of thie lawv, or. nierely such as shiould properly preclude themn from regeivitig confidence in thieir calling faur the future. The Jury, aftler a fete moments' consideration, found bothi the pri- sonrs udup, nd he wee oderd t cins op for judgm-ent to- ) Whtevr ma hae ben te miconuctof these womnen,it is imi- posibl no tofee tat hevy imae f blame-in fhet far the hea- vies-atachs totheparnts f te elhdreti who have been sttff'erers. Thos cicumsancs mst idee beurgent which coulci justify a mnother in intrusting her infaint of six momiths old to a strantger w'ho wast to receive only half-a-crown a week for titce care and tuninten- anceeOf it, and for the sake of hi-s conscience we would also trust that an artisanl's earniigip musEt hiave been vary trifling, whien he coutld contemplate getting three femtale children off his hands by iL weekly allowance paid of nine shillings.j .IJlDDl.ESX' SES.'71O0V.S, MONDAY, SEPr. 20.