The Sun. — 1859-03-30 (London, England)

HOME CIRCUIT.-KINGSTON, MARCH 29.  CROWN SIDE. (Before Mr. Baron Martin.) Mary Jones, 19, a good-looking young girl, was charged with the wilful murder of her female illegitmate child by cutting its throat. No counsel was engaged either for the prosecution or the defence. The prisoner was in an almost fainting state during the trial, and appeared to be hardly conscious of what was going on. The evidence against her lay in a very narrow compass. It appeared that she was an unmarried woman, and that she lived in the house of a person named Ede at Hambledon, near Godalming. She had been seduced, and was in the familyway, and about the month of August last the people about her suspected that she was in that condition, but the prisoner always denied the fact. On the 27th of August she was taken very ill, and a neighbour named Gell made some mint tea for her, and upon going into her bedroom she at once suspected that she had been delivered of a child. Blood was seen to be issuing from a box that stood near the prisoner's bedside, and a knife covered with blood was lying on the floor. Upon the box being opened, the dead body of a full-grown female child was discovered, with the throat cut, and everpthing in the box was completely saturated with blood. Mr. Chandler, a surgeon who was called in, upon examining the body, ascertained that the wound in the throat had been inflicted from the right to the left hand, and it was of such a severe character that death must, in his opinion, have been instantaneous, and he expressed himself confidently that the infant was born alive, and that death was the consequence of the wound. The prisoner subsequently admitted that the child was hers, and said that she had used a knife to divide the umbilical cord, and that she put the child into the box because she did not know what else to do with it.  The prisoner, in her defence, sobbed out a few unconnected words to the effect that she was in such agony at the time that she did not know what she was about.  The learned judge having summed up, the jury, after a short deliberation, found the prisoner guilty of wilful murder, but at the same time strongly recommended her to mercy. Mr. Baron Martin, having put on the black cap, addressed the prisoner, and said that the jury had felt themselves compelled to find her guilty of an offence for which her life was forfeited, and, although it was no doubt very painful to them to be compelled to do so, still, upon the evidence before them, he really did not see how they could have given any other verdict. The jury had strongly recommended her to mercy, and he would take care that that recommendation should be forwarded to the proper quarter, but at present the duty he had to perform, and a most painful duty it was, was to pass on her the sentence which the law affixed to her crime. Offences of this character were unhappily very prevalent, and he hoped that her unfortunate example would be a warning to other young women, and that if they sinned in the manner she had done they would learn that the proper course for them was to communicate with their friends and inform them of their condition, and not endeavour to conceal their shame by an act of this dreadful character. The learned judge then passed the sentence of death in the usual form, and the prisoner, who fainted when he had concluded, was carried out of court insensible. Mary Ann Adams, 29, was charged with unlawfully endeavouring to conceal the birth of her illegitimate child.  I'tr. Lilley was counsel for the prisoner. It appeared that the prisoner was in the service of a gentleman at Dulwich, and that she was delivered of the child in question inFebruary last. It seemed that a man had been employed to empty a cesspool upon the premises, and in doing so he discovered the foot of a child in the soil. This led to further search, when the body of an infant, cut into no less than 27 pieces, was found concealed about the place. The prisoner admitted that the child was hers, and that she had disposed of it in the manner stated, in order that it might not be discovered that she was in the familyway. The jury returned a verdict of guilty. Mr. Baron Martin said that this was really a