The Sun. — 1857-03-11 (London, England)

ALLEGED MURDER..  Maria Isabella Becket, aged 66, was indicted for the wilful murder of Jane Bowden, on the 30th of  Mr. Wroth• was counsel for the prosmution ; Mr. Power awl Mr. Mills appeared for the prisoner.  The prißoner is a re;Pectable-lookin-g old lady, who at the time of the occurrence out of which th.s charge arose was lodging at Wing with her son-inlaw, Mr, Bowden. Near to their house lived Mrs. Bebket, the wife of the prisoner's son, and it appeared that on the 30th of Dec. the old lady.paid the latter a morning call. Mrs. Becket welcomed her relative warmly, saying, " Oh, moiler you have not been here since the alterations." To this the prisoner, whose eyes glared wildly, replied with a sad and solemn voice, "Yes, I am come, but not on a pleasant errand, for I am come to kill Son. 1 mut do it for I am mad," and muttered something about her having been sent by the devil, who had given her a razor ; the same time she produced a razor from her pocket, and seized Mrs. Becket's arm. A scream and struggle ensued, during whi It the old lady said, "Oh ! I must do it ;" but'a second scream summoned to the aid of Mrs. Becket, who was far advanced in pregnancy, a neighbour, and by his assistance the maniac was subdued and apparently pacified. After a while she said she was better, and went away, saying she could ko alone. Although Mrs. Becket Lad observed indications of a failing intellect in her mother-in-law since her husband's death two years •ago, neither she nor her friend' accompanied the prisoner. On her return home she found the de-, ceased, a child only 10 weeks old, sleeping in a cradle rocked by an elder sister five years old. Mrs: Bowden was upstairs, and immediately after the return of the prisoner she heard a shriek from the girl, and on rushing down discovered to her horror the old lady, with the babe on her lap, deliberately engaged in the act of cutting itsthroat with a knife. The injuries inflicted on the child caused death in a few minutes, as her distracted mother rushed out of the house with it in her arms. When taxed with the murder the old lady said, "I was forced to kill the baby in order that it might go to heaven." Both Mrs. Becket and Mr.?. Bowden agreed in attributing this dreadful act to the impulses of insanity, and described the conduct of the prisoner for some time past as that of one labouring under a delusion, struggling with invisible spirits as it were, and whose intellect was failing. The medical man who hid known her for several years spoke of her as hypochondriacal at times, and deposed that, in his opinion, the prisoner was of unsound mind at the time in qued'on. She answered all his questions rationally enough, and had always taken to the child more than to her other grandchildren. On one occasion the prisoner said to Mrs. Bowden, she wi-Ned some one would kill her if he would not be hanged for it, and regretted that it was a sin to kill °herself, and often expressed the feat; that she should die in a workhouse, though her circums.ances were amply sufficient for one of her class of life. Mr. Power Navin g addressed the jury, raging that his unfortunate client was entit'ed to an acqui'tal on the ground of insanity. The Chief Baron left it to them to say whether they were satisfied by the evidence that the prisoner at the time she took away the life of her grandchild was in a state of insanity, so as not to render h-r criminally responsible for that horrible act. The jury at once returned a verdict of Not Guilty en the ground of insanity.