Beverley and East Riding Telegraph. — 1896-05-30 (Beverley, Humberside, England)

CIO. The second child was handed to the prisoner at l'addin.d.on Station by people of the name of Sargent, of Ealing, who also paid a pre. mmm. A ,lay or EIO later the prisoner was see • in the neighbourhood of the river with a carpet bag, and in that carpet bag, when subsequently discovered, the two (head belies IA these children were found. They had been strangled. Thu tom u,l was brought to the notice of the police, who, as the result of investigation., they made, arrested the prisoner. The prisoner's daughter was also at first charged as an accessory in the crimes. After the prisoner had been before the magistrates she wrote a letter confessing her guilt, and in the letter she exculpated her daegkter from all blame in the transaction. The facts were not disputed, but it was suggested that the woman at the time of the commissiiin of the murders was insane.  The first witness was Miss Edith Marmon, a barmaid from Cheltenham. She produced the agreement liy which the prisoner, calling herself Mrs. Harding, to.,k her child from her at Cheltenham, and also the set of letters which she received from ! prisoner. Witness, in answer to Mr. Avory, said in her opinion Mrs. Dyer's conduct was quite rational.  Mrs. Bcatty, who carried the carpet-bag for prisoner from the Kilburn omnibus to the door of No. 76, Mayo-road, on the night of March 30, gave evidence.  Mrs. Mary Ann Palmer, prisoner's daughter, was then called. Her appearance in the witness. box seemed to affect Mrs. Dyer, whose cheeks flushed, and who seemed inclined to break down. The rail of the witness-box was hung with the garments of the infants connected with the ease. Mrs. Palmer re-told the story that she related at Reading. His lordship asked witness what account her mother gave of the pelisse and other articles she gave her. Witness said she told her that she made them herself for little Harold, witness's 'own nurse-child. Witness, in reply to further questions, said that she had no children of her own, but received £l2 when she adopted little Harold. Did she calculate how long that sum would keep him? "No," she said. Then did she merely want the i-ady money? " No," she said. Did she really want to adopt a child? "Yes." Then why not take it without any money? There was no answer to the last question. Witness was very reluctant to remember whst it was prisoner said to her with regard to Harry Simmons, the child which she brought from Paddington. At last she said her mother called it a "little devil," shook it because it aas cross, and said she "shouldn't keep it.? The hearing was adjourned. On the second day Mrs. Palmer, the prisoner's daughter, gave an account of the circumstances under which her mother received the two children, the subject of the indictment, whose bodies were found subsequently in a carpet bag in the Thames near Cavrtshain. The, witness admitted that her mother had thrice been in the Gloucester County Asylum, that she had attempted to commit suicide on different occasions, and that at times she appeared most strange in her manner. Mrs. Amelia' Sargent proved handing the child Sinitnons to tilt prisoner at Paddington Station. When asked if she was used to bringing up children, the prisoner said, "I have only brought up two children in my life." She paid I:10 to the prisoner ;or adopting the child. She afterwards identified the dead body in the mortuary.—Charlotte Culham, of Mayo-road, Harlesden, where Mrs. Palmer (the prisoner's daughter) lived, spoke to seeing in the room occupied by Mrs. Dyer, when she visited her daughter, certain packages.—The husband of last witness, was called to prove that several bricks, similar to those found in the bag with the dead bodies, were kept in the back garden.—John Tollor, an engineer at Reading Prison, spoke to meeting the prisoner on t he night of April 3 near the spot where the bodies were fourid.—Henry Smethwight, labourer, Reading, spoke to dragging the river and finding the carpet bag containing the dattcl bodies of the two children Marmon and Simmons.— Sergeant James, of Reading, gave corroborative evidence.—Dr. Lawrence, who examined the bodies, expressed an opinion that death in both cases was due to strangulation, caused by tape being tied tightly round the neck of the children. —The matron of Reoling Prison produced the confession which the prisoner made while in custody at the gaol.—This closed the case for the Crown. Mr. ICanidia then opened the defence, which, he said, would be one of insanity.—Dr. Logan, in practice at Reading, who attended the prisoner in the latter end of 1894, said that at that period she was suffering from delusions, and was very violent. He came to the conclusion that she was insane. She was sent to an asylum.—Dr. J. L Frith, of the Bristol General Hospital, said that he attended the prisoner in 1894, at the institution, when ehe attempted to commit suicide. She was very lowspirited and melanchalv.—Dr. Eden gave similar evidence with reference to a eertiticate of insanity that he signed in 1894.—Dr. Forbes Winslow, expert in mental diseases, who examined the prisoner in Holloway Prison, expressed an opinion that the prisoner was of unsound mind. She suffered from delusions and halluciations. He did not think that the prisoner was feigning insanity. Rebutting evidence having been called counsel addressed the jury, and Mr. Justice Hawkins summed up. .  The Par; retired to consider their verdict at half. past 8 o'clock. In five minutes they returned with a verdict of "Guilty." The prisoner made no reply when asked if she had anything to say before sentence of death was passed. Mr. Justice Hawkins said that the jury had convicted the prisoner on overwhelming evidence. The prisoner had been guilty of base and wicked treachery to the mother of the child she so cruelly murdered for the sake of a few pounds. He was satisfied that she carried on this wicked trade for a very long time. He could only beg of her to prepare for death in the few remaining days allotted to her. Sentence of death was then passed on the prisoner, who was removed without making any remark.