The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1844-04-02 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MURDER OF A CHILD BY ITS MOTHER AND ATTEMPTED  SUICIDE OF THE PARENT.  Ann Rothwell, a decently-attired female, of the age of 24, was given in charge for the wilful murder of her son, Edwin Turner, otherwise called Edwin Turner Rothwell, at Prestwich-cum-Oldham, on the 29th of December last. Mr. Brandt, with whom was Mr. Pickering, conducted the case for the prosecution; and, at the instance of Mr. Gibbs, the Governor of Kirkdale prison, who represented that the impoverished circumstances of the prisoner rendered her unable to employ counsel, Mr. Wilkins kindly and promptly undertook the defence. Mr. BRANDT briefly stated the case. He said, the grievous offence with which the prisoner was charged was that of having administered a poison, called laudanum, to her own child, a boy upwards of two yeaas of age, who was called Edwin Rothwell, that being the name of the prisoner's husband, who was still living, though, for the last two or three years, she had been living at Oldham with a man named Turner. Towards the latter end of the last year Turner left Oldham, taking with him the furniture of the house ; and, after he had gone, she fell into a state of extreme depression of spirits, thinking that she had been abandoned by the world, and it was while she was in this state of desperation that she administered to herself and her child the dose of laudanum, whish she had previously purchased at two or three druggists' shops in the town. The circumstance that she administered the poison depended, in a great degree, on her own acts of admission, accompanied with the fact of her having purchased the poison, and of her having written the following letter to her sister, at Manchester, shortly before the occurrence :  " Oldham.  " DEAR SISTER,—I write to let you know that Charles has dons his utmost. He has belied me, and now left me destitute. I can't beg, nor yet see my child starve. If you will come to-day you will find me and Edwin a corpse. You must get a wire to lift the latch. See you have tickets. Farewell! "To Mrs. M`Lean, Manchester." The only difficulty in the case would turn upon the point as to whether the jury should be satisfied that the child bad died of the effects of laudanum •, and this difficulty would be occasioned by no traces of the poison having been discovered in the frame. Congestion of the brain had been discovered ; but, as that might have been produced by apoplexy as well as laudanum, the case would require careful sifting, in order to enable the jury to arrive at a correct conclusion. Mary Leech was examined by Mr. PICKERING, as follows :—I am the wife of Josiah Leech, a hatter, at Oldham. The prisoner was lately living at Oldham, in the company of a person named Turner. On Thursday, the 28th of December, about two o'clock in the afternoon, the prisoner came to our house with her child. Her child was about two years and a fortnight old. His name was Edwin. She went by the name of Ann. The child at that time appeared in good health. After having remained about an hour, she sold me the child's chair for sixpence, twopence of which I handed her. She then went away. On the following day, about half-past two, she called again, but did not bring the child with her. I asked her where the child was, and she said he was asleep. She appeared very cheerful at the time •, so cheerful that I thought she must have heard something of Turner, the man with whom she had been living. I asked her if she had heard of him, and she said not. I then paid her the remaining fourpence for the chair, and said, " Ann, I heard you sent your sister a letter : is that true ? " She replied, " Yes • and when she gets it, if she has any love for me, she will come through fire and water after me.'! Turner removed his goods from the house where the prisoner lived on St. Stephen's day. Mary Crompton, examined by Mr.