Nelson Chronicle, Colne Observer, and Clitheroe Division News. — 1890-03-07 (Nelson, Lancashire, England)

MONSTER OF A WOMAN" AT SUTTON MILL. SHOCKING CHVILTY TO A CHILD.  At the Skipton Petty Sessions on Saturday, before llis Honour Judge Ingham and other magistrates, Ellen Heath, married woman, Sutton Mill, was chan,Td under the new Aet for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, with cruelly ill-treating her child. . . . .  _ ..... Supt. Crawshaw said that on the 13th ult, the defendant stripped the child, which was between four and five years of age, put her into a tub of cold water, kept her there for about half-an-hour, and then took her out and beat her most unmercifully with a leather strap. At the time the child's body was discoloured in a shocking manner, and although it was a fortnight ago there were still marks on her body. If he proved these facts, he submitted that it was • cape in which their Worships would be justitiwd in imposiug a severe punishment. Mary Elizabeth Durkin, sister of the defendant, said the used with the defendant, and was in her house on the 13th of last month. She saw her sister put the child into a tub of cold water, and then flog her with a leather strap. The child was naked, and was kept in the cold water for about half-an-hour. She saw her flog her till she could bear it-no longer, and she began to cry. This was not the first time she had beaten the child. dodge Ingham: Why did she du it Witness: Because the child had dirtied the bed, and she had done it several times before. The child until recently had been living with her grandmother in I Mrham, but she had never known her to be guilty of the habit there. Defendant: Did you not say she deserved all she got? Witness No. Judge Ingham (to defendant): Deserve it! How could she deserve such a punishment': Can you show us that you did not do One? Defendant: I am guilty of thrashing her. I put her into the cold water, but for nothing like half-an. hour. _ _ . . .  Judge Ingham: I suppoee you put the child in water as a punishment Defendant: Yes, so that she would not do this dirty work again. Judge Ingham: If you go on in this way you will find yourself in the dock for murder. Defendant : I hope not, sir. Judge Ingham The child. may have an infirmity of this sort ; and, if so, your offence is all the worse. In any case it is a most abominable piece of cruelty. I never beard of such a case in my life. Police-serge.ant Boddy said he asked to see the child at half-past nine on the 13th ult., the day of the assault, and he examined her, lie found her back was covered with a blue-black and scarlet colour down to the loins. The father was there at the time. _  . Inspector Tayler, of the Bradford branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, stated that in company with P.C. Parrott, he examined the child on the 17th • ult., four days after the assault, and found her body was discoloured in a shocking manner. Her back was black, blue, and scarlet, and her arms were scratched all over. James Heath, the father, was alto put into the box, and said his wife was of sound mind, but when she got her temper up she could not govern it. Judge Ingham, addressing the defendant, said that it might seem somewhat strange, but until last year she would not have been liable to any punish. ment for the offence with which she was charged. Now a law had been passed whereby she could be punished, and they had power to inflict a fine of £25 and send her to goal for three months. Ile described the defendant as a monster of a woman, and thought anyone who had heard the evidence would consider, as the Bench did, that she was nut entitled to the slightest leniency or mercy. The child might have died from the length of time she was in the water. She would be committed to gaol for three calendar months. The Bench then considered what to do with the child, the Chairman remarking that they had the additional power of taking the child from the custody of the mother. After some discussion the matter wax left over.  Jr is stated that the execution of the three men lying in the county prison at Worcester under sentence of death for the murder of a g.amekeeper on the estate of the Doc d'Aumale, at Eveshatn, has been fixed for the 11th inst. . _  Two North Devon fishermen, named Cann, agep 62, and Taylor, aged 40, of Appledore, were drowned in the River Taw on Monday by the sinking of their boat, which was overloaded with seaweed. THE Grimsby trawl smack Hider!, Welcome arrived in port on Monday, and reported the loss of two lives. Since the middle of last month twelve Grimsby fishermen hair been drowned at sea. . . .  -THE man who robbed a bank at Valley Falls, Kansas, was discovered at an hotel in Meriden. He was summoned to surrender, and, on making a show of resistance, was shot dead. THIS wife of Agustus Growth, of Stillwater, Minnesota, made a confession of infidelity to her husband. After both had kissed their children the man murdered his wife and then committed subide.  GREAT sensation has been caused in Vienna by the attempted suicide of a girl of 15, because it has led to the discovery that she had been drugged and seduced by an officer. The police have learned that this girl is not the only victim, the parents of eight or nine girls having communicated with thorn. MR. Abraham Lincoln, son of the American Minister, died in London on Wednesday morning. Land and Wake is this week very interesting. Notes on bunting, football, fishing, &e. are given, and as a supplement an e,cellent photograph of the Tickham hounds.  foists% AnuouncententS.  TRY  THE p YEAST IS THE BEST, and rcakes the N:Ceet Bread.  AG: your Grocer Lr it, or go to