Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1889-08-03 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

ALLEGED CHILD POISONING.  Mr, Justice Hawkins has been engaged at the Derbyshire Assizes in hearing a case in which Mary Ann Whitfield, wife of an engine-driver living at Hasland, near Chesterfield. was charged with the wilful murder of her son Ernest, and also with attempting to commit suicide. Prisoner had four children, and in October, 1887, went with her husband to live at Hasland. The children were all perfectly healthy, and nothing unusual was noticed with regard to any illness until June, 1888. The prisoner, being the mother, was the only person who attended the children, and at this time one of her boys, Alfred, appeared a little out of sorts, but the doctor who saw him did not apprehend that anything of a serious nature was the matter with him. Subsequently symptoms were noticed which shewed the boy to be in a lethargic state. The neighbours also notihed that the boy twitched his limbs and that there was a brown discharge from his mouth. Ultimately he died, the doctor certifying that the cause of death was disease of the kidneys. A short time after the other boy, Ernest, commenced to sliew similar symptoms to those his brother had exhibited. In the afternoon one of the neighbours went in and the boy was then lying on a sofa. He was seeni.to scratch his head, and the neighbour asked the mother why she did not attend to him better. The child exclaimed, "Oh, mother, put some of that stuff on my head, some of that laudanum." The lad shewed just the same symptoms as his brother, and died within 17 days of the other boy. It was believed that the cause of death was congestion of the lungs, but upon the doctor afterwards remarking that there would probably be an inquest in the case, the accused swooned away. Some time afterwards the prisoner's husband,who was a healthy man, commenced to shew similar symptoms to the two boys, and experienced exactly the same kind of pains. Just before Christmas his wife made some statements which had a very important bearing on the illness of her husband. She went to borrow money from a neighbour, saying that her husband's clothes were in pawn and she wanted to get them out. When the neighbour refused to lend her any, she exclaimed, "Very well, then, he will have to be a prisoner tomorrow." On two occasions following, when the accused made similar statements, the husband was confined to his house through the illness described. On the Christmas Eve she said to a neighbour that she had only got threepence, but she would get her husband a pint of ale and give him a pill. In February, she was discovered upstairs in an attic, in an insensible condition and there were some bottles close to her. She had a discharge from her nose, and the neighbours who were called were all struck with the similarity between her appearance and the condition of the children who had died. The doctor at once, on seeing her, announced that she was suffering from narcotic poison. She was treated accordingly, and in time became better, but there were some letters found which indicated that she took poison for the purpose of destroying herself. Prisoner had effected insurances on the lives of her children, and £lO 6s. was paid to her at Alfred's death and £,6 at the death of Ernest. In the case of Ernest the money was only to be paid if he lived six months after the time of entrance and it was a peculiar circumstance that he died just after the six months had expired. These suspicious circumstances led to inquiry. The bodies of the two children were exhumed, and on the stomachs being analysed, traces of meconic acid were discovered, and other indications which made it absolutely certain that there must have been opium there. No traces were found as far as the other boy was concerned, but this was probably due to the length of time the boy had been buried. A large number of witnesses were called, and it was contended for the defence thattheprisoner hadbeenin the habit of rubbing the children's heads with laudanum' and it might have got into the blood. Even if the deceased took poison, there was no evidence that it was administered by the prisoner.— The jury, after retiring, returned a verdict of not guilty. The prisoner pleaded guilty to attempted suicide. Sentence was deferred.  This year's practice of the • Prussian Artillery Brigade of the Guards at Hammerstein, in Eastern Prussia, telegraphs the Daily News Berlin correspondent, derived considerable interest from the fact that the so-called smokeless powder was tried for the first time in Germany and stood the test most satisfactorily. The first regiment consisted of 11 batteries, the second of eight, and each spent at least a day in firing all sorts'of projectiles with the smokeless powder. At each shot all that was visible was a ball of black smoke about three feet in diameter, which quickly disappeared. The powder leaves so little refuse in the bore that it is not necessary to clean it out after every shot, but only to pass a rag dipped in oil through it now and then. In Italy similar experiments wore recently made with this powder, which also yielded satisfactory results.