The Sun. — 1861-03-23 (London, England)

OXFORD CIRCUIT. SHREWSBURY, MARCH 22. Elizabeth Griffin, 36, single woman, was charged with the wilful murder of her illegitimate child, William Griffin, aged nine months, on the 3d of March, 1861, at Shrewsbury. Mr. Best conducted the prosecution ; Mr. H. Matthews, at the request of the learned judge, defended the prisoner. Mr. Best, having stated the outline of this painful case to the jury, called several witnesses, who proved the following facts. It appeared that, in the month of June last, the prisoner was residing in the house of some poor people named Peel, in the town of Shrewsbury, and was there delivered of a male child on the Bth of June. She called the child William, and remained there till the month of November, when she took the child to the house of a Mrs. Grist, also at Shrewsbury. While at Mrs. Peel's the prisoner nursed her child and treated it with kindness. 'The child was healthy, but it once had an attack of inflammation of the lungs. The prisoner had no father and no mother living. Mrs. Gthe i spt .rbitsaotneedr'tbh.raotugahbtouhtertheoheinldd toof Nheorvehmoubseer, loaosdt placed it with her to nurse, and agreed to pay her 3s. a week. The prisoner after Rards herself went to lodge "with Mrs. Grist, and stayed there for about a fortnight when she took the child away, one Sunday evening, the 3d of March. She went away with the child about six o'clock in the evening. The child had not been well at the time Mrs. Grist bad the child. The prisoner returned at between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, without the child. The next day, Monday, the 4th of March, the prisoner said she was going to see the child before she went' to her place, and the next day, Tuesday, the sth of March, in answer to a question, she told Mrs. Grist that she had seen the baby, and it was better, and that it was in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury. The witness identified a shirt, flannel, and socks found upon the body of the child; also a plaid frock, &c., afterwards found in the prisoner's box, and she also spoke to the identity of the body of a child which had been shown her. The child was teething while with Mrs. Grist, and suffered from convulsions, and it was to leave in consequence. A man named Robert Ellis, on Sunday, the 10th of March, saw the body of a child on the banks of the Severn, at Monkmoor, about two miles from Shrewsbury. It had en the shirt, flannel, and socks identified by Mrs. Grist, and the body was also identified by her and other witnesses. -john-Davis, a sergeant of the Shrewsbury police, stated that, on the morning of Wednesday, the 13th of March, he went to the house of the Rev. Mr. Gifford, the master of the grammar school at Birmingham, where the prisoner was in service, and took the prisoner into custody, upon the charge of murdering her child. The prisoner said nothing, but began to cry. The policeman took possession of the prisoner's boxes, of which the prisoner had the key, and brought them tc Shrewsbury. The prisoner was searched, and a key taken from her, with which her box was unlocked in her presence, and in that box were found a hood, a plaid frock, and a pinafore. The first two articles were identified by Mrs. Grist as a part of the clothing which the child had on when the prisoner took it away. The witness stated that the prisoner cried when he took her into custody, and when before the magistrates she cried a good deal, and appeared much distressed. Mr. J. D. Davis, a surgeon of Shrewsbury, who had made a post mortem examination of the body on the day after it was found, said there were no external marks of violence upon it, but there were al rbsions on the face, caused, as he supposed, by its floating in the water. The membrane of the brain was slightly congested. The lungs were congested, and contained frothy mucus. The windpipe also contained frothy mucus and sand, which was also found in the air passages. The right side of the heart contained fluid blond, and the left side was empty. The stomach contained about four ounces of undigested food, a portion consisting of lumps of potato and meat, either pork or mutton. The surgeon gave it as his opinion that the c!;ild died of suffocation by drowning; but, on cross examination, he that children while teething often suffered 'from convulsions, which would be aggravated by improper food, and that some of the appearances of death by convulsions corresponded with those of death by drowning.