THE ALLEGED CHILD MURDER AT OAMARU.

Otago Witness, Issue 1825, 12 November 1886, Page 15

THE ALLEGED CHILD MURDER AT OAMARU.

O AMARU, November 5. Agnes Sargeson was charged at the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day with having murdered her female infant on or about the 20th September last, the body of which was found much mutilated in a hole in the garden of the house accused lived in. Accused was defended, and pleaded not guilty. The evidence taken showed that the accused was delivered of a female child on the 18th August last, and that the chid was healthy when it was born, but for two or three weeks after it looked very ill, and a neighbour told accused she should obtain medical advice. The accused did so, and thereafter the child appeared to improve. The accused told one of the witnesses that she did not intend to register the birth of the child, she would leave that to the person that adopted it. One witness said the child had been neglected; that it was dirty and wet all over. Previous to the disappearance of the child the accused had asked a person to write a letter to a Mrs Scott, care of Mrs Smith, Meadow Bush, East. Taieri. When asked by the neighbours where thechild had gone to, accused said the person written to had called and taken it away the previous night, and that it would be better looked after where it had gone to than she could do for it. Accused told one of the witnesses that she was a widow, that her husband had been a sailor, but had died in London lately. Sometime after the baby was born accused removed to a two-roomed cottage on the outskirts of the town, and it was from this place the accused said the child was taken away. The landlord of the house said the accused had borrowed a spade and tomahawk from him, and they were put through his fence next morning. The next day accused told her landlord she was going to Dunedin that afternoon. The body of the child was subsequently found in a hole in the garden along with a quantity of nightsoil. It presented a shocking appearance, the legs being cut off and the head and chesb much hacked. Tho evidence given by Detective O'Brien was to the effect that he saw the accused in Dunedin after she left Oamaru and spoke to her. He afterwards made inquiries as to the woman who was said by the accused to have taken the child away from Oamaru, but could find no one of that name at the address given, and on returning found that accused had disappeared. He came back to Oamaru and searched in the garden of the cottage where accused lived, and found buried in a hole along with nightsoil the body of a child much mutilated. On the same day he left in search of accused, and next saw her in charge of the police at Clinton. At tho Dunedin railway station a Mrs Home spoke to accused, and he heard accused say " Yns, it is Tripps," and also " I am ready to die." The case was adjourned until to-morrow. Oamaru, November G. The charge against Agnes Sargeson of the murder of her child was resumed to-day. The evidence of the arresting constable was to the effect that accused had given the name of Mary Johnston when arrested at Clinton ; that she had never been in Oamaru, and that ehe had only been iv the colony three months. Another witness said she had met the accused at the Dunedin station while being conveyed to Oamaru, and there she had stated in reference to what had appeared in the papers connected with the charge, that she had done it— although this witness, in cross-examination, said she would not be positive that accused meant what the witness supposed she meant. The matron of the gaol said the accused had asked her if she pleaded guilty would they hang her or imprison her for life. She said she had not murdered the child, but if she said so they would not believe her. She expressed surprise at the body beingchopped, and said it must have been with the spade when burying it. The case was adjourned till Monday.