The Express. — 1867-10-30 (London, England)

WILFUL MORDES.  Row ilalilwws, 21, a good-looking girl, was charged with the wilful murder of her illegitimate child by cutting its throat.  Mr. Montagu Williams prosecuted. The prisoner was defended by Mr. Ribton and Mr. Streight. This cue stood over from the last session, and although the charge was of this serious character the facts lay in a very narrow compass. The prisoner was in the service of • lady named Schofield as domestic servant, and for a short time prior to the 14th of August a suspicion bad been entertained that she was in the family way, but the prisoner seemed to have denied that this was the we. On the night of the 14th of August, however, the prisoner appeared to have got up and gone downstairs, and her mistress, in consequence of the suspicions she entertained, got up shortly afterwards and followed her, and put some question to her. The answers that she pre and other circumstances induced Mrs. Schofield to send for • doctor, and Mr. Woolley, a surgeon residing in the neighbourhood, very shortly afterwards went to the house and sow the prisoner. She appeared to be very ill, and Mr. Woolley ordered her to be put to bed and he speedily discovered that she had been recently delivered of • child, and upon his expressing this opinion to the prisoner, she at once admitted that it was • fact. Mr. Woolley then inquired where the child was and she said in the cellar. He proceeded there and after a short search he discovered the body of a child, nearly covered with coal dust, and quite dead. After tho body had been washed it was discovered that there was • fearful wound at the back of the neck ; and upon the prisoner being asked how that wound had been caused, she said that she had done it with a knife, and in the kitchen a knife was found covered with blood. The medical evidence went to show that the child was a full-grown child, and Mr. Woolley expressed an opinion that it was born alive, or that at all events it had breathed, and, in addition to this, the lungs appeared to be fully inflated. The police-constable who was sent for to take charge of the prisoner, said that be found her in bed, and when she saw him she inquired whether he was going to stop with her, and be told her that he was. He then told her that it was a bad job, and she replied, " Yes, I did not know what to do with it."  In answer to a question put by Mr. Ribton in crossexamination, Mr. Woolley expressed his opinion that the prisoner was a girl of weak intellect ; but he at the same time stated that he had never seen her until the morning in question. Mr. Ribton made a most feeling appeal to the jury on behalf of the unhappy misoner, and he urged in the first place that the fact had not been sufficiently clearly established in a legal point of view that the child was born alive, and that they would be justified under those circumstances in convicting her of endeavouring to conceal the dead body of the child. lie then referred to the evidence of the surgeon relative to the mental condition of the prisoner, and said that the jury might reasonably come to the conclusion that she did not know what she was doing at the time the act was committed. Mr. Gibson, the surgeon of the gaol of Newgate, was examined by Mr. Ribton on behalf of the prisoner, and he said that he was of opinion that the deceased was of very weak intellect, although he would not undertake to say that she was not able to distinguish between right and wrong. In answer to a question put by the learned judge, Mr. Gibson stated that he was unable to form any opinion as to the condition of mind of the prisoner at the time the act was committed.  The jury found the prisoner Pot Guilty of murder, but Guilty of concealing the birth. Sentence was deferred. (Before Mr. Justice Beating.)