The Sun. — 1856-10-28 (London, England)

MURDER OF A CHILD BY ITS MOTHER AT DOVER.  On Sunday morning about seven o'clock information was given to the police that a dreadful murder had been committed by a young woman named Frances Wallace, the victim being her own illegitimate child, a little girl five years of age. The accused is described as an honest and industrious woman, who obtained her living as a laundress, and the father of the child was the husband of the accused's sister. It is believed that the latter was not aware of the intimacy which had subsisted between filer husband and her sister, and that the fear of the fact beihg divulged to her has operated in no small degree upon the mind of the unfortunate creature. It is rumoured that she has -within the last few months formed an acquaintance with a young man named Nigh, a carpenter, with whom she was on very intimate terms. So fully did she confide in him, that she entrusted to him the secret of her dishonour, and at the same time disclosed to him the name of her &Aid's father—a revelation which she declared bad never before passed her lips. From some cause or other it appears that she has recently Leen itn• pressed with the idea that Thigh intended to reveal the secret to her sister, who, with her husband, resides ,in London, and the dread of this exposure, it is supposed, has so weighed upon her spirits as to induce her to coMmit the appalling crime of which she stands accused. She had had some conversation with Bligh on the Saturday night, as they were seen together ; the nature of it, however, is not known, although from her exclamations immediately after she had committed the mur der it would seem that something in connection with the dreaded disclosure must have passed, and she was labouring under the impression that Bligh had gone to London yesterday by the Sunday excursion train for the purpose of telling the sister. Nothing further i 4 known as to the motive and very little as to the dreadful fact, beyond the discovery of the child's body, upon the mother herself raising an alarm, with the head nearly severed from the trunk. The woman was seen the same morning at five o'clock by a lodger, into whose room she entered for the purpose of making some friend,y inquiry ; and nothing of an extraordinary nature was then noticed in her manner or app.,arance. From that time until shortly after seven she WFS not seen by any oite ; but at the latter hour the neighbourhood was alarmed by her screams. She had ran out of the house, and upon some of the neighbours coming towards her they aim' covered that her hands were covered with blood. Upon being asked what was the matter she cried out that she had murdered her child, and that it was lying in the house upon the )or. The neighbours, on tthtering the front room of the house occupied by Wallace, found the child in a pool of blood with its throat so dreadfully cut as literally to leave its head only just hanging to the boiy. A case-'tnife covered with blood was lying close by, and the body was still warm. The nearest surgeon, Mr. J. G. Ottaway, was quickly in attendance, but of course he was unable to render any assistance, as a wound not a quarter so extensive would have been sufficient to deprive the poor little thing of life. Tne child was in her night clothes only, and appeared as though she had le t her bed but a short time.  The unhappy woman, as soon as she was in the bands of the police, admitted htrguilt; but assigned no reason for the crime. From the first moment of her being taken into custody, however, she bas appeared to be in the greatest mental distress, and her ejaculations have been expressive of affection for the Murdered child and abhorrence of her own guilt. But she has made no statement as to her intimacy with Thigh, or to what has ever passed between them with reference to the child. It is said that, previous to this dreadful occurrence, she always manifested the liveliest regard for her ittle one. It has been assumed that she contemplated committing suicide after destroying the child, and that when she had executed the first portion of her plan ber nerve failed her ; but nothing has transpired to justify such a supposition. The prisoner belongs to Dover, where she is well known. Yesterday she was examined before the magistrates, and fully committed for trial.