Dorchester, Friday, Aug. ...
The Times, 1824-08-16T00:00:00

wiury i a/ccr, agev w3, a respectablelo00konv woman, was put to the bar, charged with the murderof her illegitimate child. Another count of the indictment charged het *Ivth woncealIPg the hirth., Alr. BE LLASV. stated the case for the proAedritidn. The prsonet was a young woman whzo livrid ds se-vajjt to AMr. Webb, a gentleman in the neighborrhood. She hid lived there but a few months. That an infant was bbin, and that It was found dead, and that the prison- er at the bar was the miothier, were fAct3 which would be plac-ed be- yond all doubt. The only question whIchi he had any dirffculp. in establishing was, as to whether thechild was born alive. As Ygrae the evidence could settle the time, It was caIeurited that the birth took place at one o'clock on the taornibr of the 26th of May. The servants of the house were ata distance from tire part of the house where the womani was at the time of. the biuth. About sii or seven o'clock the same evening a medical etntlemnan was sent for. He examineo her. She stiove to baffle him, but he Was confident as to the nqtrire of her illness, and insisted on searching het tntnk. He asked for ihe key of bet bok. She madeno objection to the search, but refused to gIie up the key. The trunk, however, was opened, and in it was found, wranped up in a cloak and flannel petticoat, the body of a full-gtown child. The medical gentleman who sdperintended he searchi opened theheed and cavity of the chet, and found their rezpective content. in a State of perfect healthi. Tie appearance in the body were such as led to the tonclrsion that the child was born alive.. The Jury woald hear from this gentlemsan the re4sons thait sAtifled hm aa to the fAct of the child having been bortt alive. They would find that the lungs were in an inflated state, that a portiop of the left lobe of thelunps was cut orfand foun(l tocontain air; T'he left divislon dr lobe of tue. lungs waa the last to receive the air III tnatidn; and thereforb if they found that portlon had beed distended with air, tt was natura to conclude that the rest of the lungs had received it before, The portion whilh was thus removed had been found to emit sonme air. It haa been also subjected to the common experiment which was employed as a test on such occasion-namely, floating in water, Mr. Baron OARtow. -Mr. 1}elamy, I am extreniel tinwIlling to interrupt you, but I feel it necessary to rerhind yoti that the ex' periment which yos descrille as a test lias bog been exploded, It has been demongtrated td be A *ilg.r i;or by One of the greatest ornaments ofsciedice, and one who rated the Vdfy hlghest In his prOfessidi?. I spetk with some confidence of the opinions of this preata thority,as 1 havee myself Ira th IPhToqF o viing amongst ls PuPils in the early part of my life. Alr.BELLlaysaid, that in this c-ase there were other circum.. stances on whiceh he depended for the proof of the existence of tile child. The lungs were In the first Place, fouild Inflated. They, were dissected, atnd blosr was fotind to follow tho4enife, a proof that circulatio'n had already taKen place. 1Every orgart was found tG be in perfection. The brain and -viscerat were in a moat healthy attatA, itand there'was every indication about the child of-its hav. mng been born alive and in perfect health. The jury would. con- clude, therefore, that the child did not carry within itself the serls of its owa destruction, and it was f4r them to sek onat a cause fors its Ptensatixro anid singuilar death. WVhen tie child WAS found by the miedical gentlemnan, there were the umakg of three wounds `45A-Wx', necit: but neither of these wvag Buflcerent to have oecuiaibroetj itg do4h. A ttnomoar wNas disrcveretl on the iside of the, Jjdad, PI:oduced apparently by a blow. On dlissection -there appeaieid a coR401de;Ab1e quantitY of eXtr0rasatCd blood about this tnmounr; 'What was the inference, then, but that this child, which appeared to hav-e been'born in a perfectly sound state, to ltive had all its organs irt ahbeAlthy, matutre condition, was dleprived of life by violence ? 1,low wag it possible that much appearancescorsld hlave been thie result of accident ? L-t thle jury, 'then, -carefully weigh the case. Threr was snoretbing to truly palfrful in sat&tWi.. -these lciultestnce, that,be would have most wili1n,Aly abstained htans the task, didi not htis duty render it imperative. I. he fifd of tha Prisoner was at stlake4 let thAt cirowmstanee haxve the efrctt upon theM Of inducing thein to ea~ercizc de, ttlnet Jealorii and delitberiste; attentjnn to the evidcnce. - Mr. Robinson Wms then-called, wvho st~ted rurat lie*asa asrsrwen, resdin atBripor. O th evnin o.~ lh'e 2f;l.h-of 1Wty~.i *as edlid t seetheprisner iefotn , ecsalr4fnation, rathezi thai; she ws isrgnan or hd bess&ce rAv.eri?etd, -she, firmly, 4dp niedsciincrcomsan~ itnes ser~chedher fir~ anit' fou'nd rhr ulgoncid w4eu,I t*& *,~~ I Ieartby it: I?h'ebe- ?vcre three wounds in titeneck, which. vsere ,,t5l~Clttinfgict,exdt k1fnstrument. Thev were not inortaL 4ifdhd?,timnper oil thu dcfthS head covereA wvith estraveasted AddAj.s*lih va, Sin bfs g,in8dli pteidd by',a blow. -The. blow tTat rofduceW sdch a tdnoui` iwl s afltient tor stse cau-e death. lied'te1t 6f averyr aute examination Gf this wlesvss bir the Iicd 111dke- sdtowe6dtat it WAS possible that the marks,of vio. 1ence dn tie lna6m t dght have been occasioned by the probawbl positions oftihe rrldthEriat tie time of the birth, and the involuntary e,Xe tisOri, Rh-a"s obligrtd w frei the throes of parturition. )ll BaroV An&wi then addressed tbe Juty. 'l'Te isriie oi this def was t uly stated by site legrned counsel to be of the utmost pmortana It"Ws lrt(ipriunt to the tShapy prisover, who. by their verdiet, rngiUl'e edtisigned in a few leeti-ig hours to death. It was iifportant agaiti id the publlc, that adequate punishmert s oeild foloIW tbe perpetratiun C uderirme like thi, lIn roportion to the mantntituo charadter of the ea.e, should be watchfulness of the jury, to ,uard against error. 13ut the wers error of all woald be, to sltrink from the performsnce of their dtty through mistakent feeiings of humanity. The first qunstion proposed for their conslderitlon, by the case for the prosecution, had been, whetber the child was born altve. He did not thinikitneeeesaryto enter upon thatsubject, asd although there were a great ruany observations to be maide upon the evidenee connecte ewith that cIrcumstance, he should abstain from alluding to them, and be content for the moment with assuaing that thd child was barni alive. Who vras there that did riot knowv that the panga of childabirth vere the severest that it pleaged Pro,ldetlce to call ofi human infirmity to endure ? Was it too mnueh 0D kipprote, thkt Ft yount orrwonan, to whom coneealment was sin ohject, and who, in the wfrtor of e first pregnancy, Taight easily misealculate the period when the crisis of her labours was to arrve, should confound the incipient pains of birth writh those unea. sineases of the stomach from whicih reliefis sought by fert ordinary means. This supposition wotild e%plain a variety of circumstances in the case of the prisoner. The fact df the child's clo hes being found iu an unfintished state iR a drawer belonging to this female; L*he fact of her being delivered, as she certainly was, in a place (the laundrv) which was least calculated for her at siuch a cime, vtere stronzg grrounds for justifying the belief that she was taken unexpectedly, snd that unprepared ia she was, and in the embarrassment in wlhich she was involvetd the wounds and marks found on the child might have been linited, not only without the intention, bat withoat the present knowledge af the mother. Seeing, then, tbat they could as. cOunt by natural, if not prohab:e caus,es for the deatit of the infant ought they to turn their backs upori sueh an x,lsAnation, and fly to another cause, which was at v'aripnce, not only with the feelinas of human nature, but of the whole creation 7 For, according to the instinct implanted by the providence of Goit thrntrghout animattd nature, the mothier, universally.even amongst thc mnost tiinid of the tribes that breathe-the mother was ready to sacnifire her life against her more powerful enemy, in the pretection of her brood. nd amnongst the superior orders .-amorgst rmankind, where good Irn trinets had the advantage of being strengthened by the exerci of their farultiesthe love of ofFspring wasof still more powerful force. Was it probable, then. (he would not say it was impossible, he should disgrace his office if he did , to suppcse that a mother would voluntarily destroy her chitld? Nothing but proof the most irresistible would iustify them in supposing an act so contradictory to all probal;ility. If the jury should be of opinion that the prisoner was not guilty of the murter, they had next to censider whether or not she was guilty of the Icster offence of con- ealing the birth. This was an offenee created by the 48th of the late King, of blessed memory; for, strange to say, up to that time, from the period of Janies I., the fact of concealing the circumstance of.the birth of an Uilegitimate chilld was received as evidence of its being destroyed by the mother ; as if it was to be expected that a young woman, in a state which of all others she would wish to con- ceal, should go up to the market-place and proclaim her shame. The jury would take into consideration the circumstances, and pronounce their opinion. The Jury without hesitation acquitted the prisonier of the murder, but foand ergityof the concealment. The Judge sentenced her to 12 months' imprisonment in the House of Correction. The poor creature, vwho, with a countenance ghastly pale, watched the proceedings most attentively, on hearing the sentence, dropped upon her knees and thanked the Judge. I _ _ DORCHESTER, FRIDAY, AUG. 13.