The Sun. — 1851-12-22 (London, England)

PLATT.) CHILD mußD,R.—Sarali Ann Hill, aged 25, was indicted for the wilful murder of her infant male child on the `-)Oh of October last, at Wakefield. appeared for the prosecution,l‘rl.°vereanndd 2,nldr. Plilcrierliinagrddyefended the prisoner. It appeared from the statement of Vac various witnesses, and from the opening of the Learned Counsel for the prosecwiens that the prisoner was a servant child,g irl and, o andf thathaadabb child.oe abut four fsoer broughtyears ago she had been delivered herself was an illegitimate up and taken care of from infancy by old Mrs. Gill, the landlady of the . Blue Bell public house, Kirkgatr, Wakefield, whom she was accustomed to cull " mother ;" and Mrs. Gill's son, who now kept the public-house, she was in the habit of callicg " brother." Wh,,,n out of iss Ant, of Dewsbury, and on y service she usually went to old Mrs. Gill's until she could find another situation. The prisoner had formerly lived with a M s service some time ago she leaving Miss Anty 's into the service of a Mr. Smith, a porter merchant at Wakefield, where she remained till the 4th of October. On leaving that situation, being out of service, she went to old Mrs. Gill's her, asked her, from to stay, and remained there till the 20th of the same month, when she again entered the service of Miss Anty. Miss Anty, on engaging her appearance,i if she wasn the family way, when the prisoner replied, " rtn as much in the family way now as when I left you., It appeared that in June the prisoner had consulted a surgeon, who told her she was pregnant, and that he was sure the child had quickened. Another servant maid at Mr. Smith's, where she was then living, had also perceived her condition, and told her she was pregnant, which the prisoner then admitted, and sai 1 she was about to be married to the father of the child. On the night of Sunday, the 19th of October last, old Mrs. Gill's son and his wife and family retired to rest between ten and eleven o'clock, and about five o'clock on the following morning the prisoner rapped at Gill's door and said she was going to Dewsbury. She had told them the night before that. she was going by the half-past five Government train in the morning. They had advised her not to go by that train, but she said if she did not she would have to pay more. She then went, saying " Good bye to you ; will you be good enough to send my boxes after me to Dewsbury ? ' She had been observed about one o'clock that same morning by a neighbour of the Gills—a Mrs. Fell— going across the yard to the privy ; and a sou of Mrs. Gill, who worked in a factory, and who had to go to his work between Live and six o'clock in the morning, on going downstairs found the prisoner in the kitchen, apparently lightieg the fire, and she asked him if he would help her. She was then wearing a victorine and a light straw bonnet, and was dressed as if in ,readiness for going out. lie then went out to go to his work, and he heard the prisoner come out after him, and saw her going towards the railway station. He saw her carrying a bundle and a basket. On the Saturday night before this (the 18th of October) the prisoner bad a blue band-box in her room at Mrs. Gill's, and on the Monday morning, the 20th of October, the day she left, the hat-box was gone. That morning there was a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Government train going from the Wakefield stationrailway to porter,D ew Dewsbury named t Jackson,half-pastwas at o'clock, and a at'tcloheck' station at five o'clock. On opening the doors there was nothing in the passage to attract attention, and he saw the train off and several passengers in it for Dewsbury. After the train had been gone some three or four minutes, a woman came to the window where the tickets were delivered and asked for a ticket for Dewsbury, and she was told the train WI:: gone. She then asked what time the next train a ant, ana wis toll at 11.30 o'clock. Some one was with her to whom she was heard to speak, and, from the answer given, that person was supposed