Wednesday, 4th September.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2567, 5 September 1867, Page 4

Wednesday, 4th September.

' The Court opened at ten o'clock. INFANTICIDE. : Maria Baker, 18 years of age, and Elizabeth Lockyer, a palsied old woman, aged 74, were placed in the dock charged with concealing the birth, and disposing of the body of a malo child. Mr 1 zard conducted the case for the Crown, Mr Allen appeared for the prisoner Lockyer, and the prisoner Baker was undefended. Constable Harris deposed to the discovery, on the 25th July of the partially decomposed body of a child in a water-closet situated in Mrs Lockyer's premises, which closet was common to several different families residing in the neighborhood. He took out the body and conveyed it to the Thistle Inn. Cross-examined by Mr Allen, witness said three families and five single men were in the habit of using the closet in which the body hud been found. The cottage was common to five cottages to Mrs Lockyer's knowledge. By tho Court : The only young women -who lived in the cottages were witness's two daughters, one of whom was twelve, the other sixteen yearß of ago. Dr Grace deposed to having on the 25th July examined the body of a male child, in the Thistle Inn. He considered the body to have been dead for about ten days, and was of opinion that the child had been born alive. A few days al'tor tho inquest he had been called upon to examine Maria Baker, who was then in custody, arid from the result of his inspection he considered it not improbable that she might have been delivered of a child, within — to give it the widest margin— either two or three months ; -i ij. r o.,,,^r,~ rir o~:«-r^ij- »flivin that she had, for it was an acknowledged fact that, after the expiration often days, it was utterly impossible for a medical man to say whether or not a woman had been recently delivered of a child. Maria Bakor : "It was a month when I gave birth to it, Sir." Cross-examined by Mr Allen : The child, for all that its appearance showed, might have died immediately after its birth, but it was certainly born alive. It is perfectly consistent from the appearance of the child that tho mother was delivered without assistance. Caroline Liardot, wife of Mr William Liardet, residing in Willis street, knew the prisoner Maria Baker, who had been in her service for six months. Sho entered it on the 27th January lust and left it on the 2Sfch June. On several occasions witness taxed her with being enciente, and prisoner denied that she was. Upon the 28th June, prisoner told witness she was very ill and unable to perform her usual work ; witness said to her " Maria, you ore in labor," and prisoner replied "No, lam not." Prisoner then requested that her sister might be sent for, and her sister came. Witness recommended that prisoner be taken to the Hospital, but the prisoner and her sister oxpressed themselves averse to going there, and both said '' Ho, we will go to Mrs Lockyer, an old woman we have known from childhood," Maria j adding, " I will be well cared for there." Witness asked for Mrs Lookyer's address, and tho sisters refused to give it. Witness then asked j prisoner if she had laid in any clothes for her baby, and prisoner replied " I have not got one, I am not in tho family way." The sisters then went away together in a cab, and in the course of \ the evening of the same day returned, tho prisoner looking very languid, weak, and ill. Witness was I angry with prisoner for returning and said " Have you been confined, Maria?" prisoner curtly re- ' plied " No." On the morrow witness desired ■ prisoner to leave her house, and counselled her to go to her father, but feeling compassion at seeing how ill she looked, and not wishing to send her away in the bad weathor allowed her to remain for a few days. Cross-examined by Mr Allen : Tho prisoner's sister, whose name is Mary Ann Baker, is a servant at Barry's Ship Hotel, and was in tho habit of frequenting witness' houae. Th« prisoner was always somewhat stout and dowdy in appoaranoo. Mary Ann Baker, younger sister of Maria Baker, recollected the day on which her sister left Mrs Liardet's house. Sho and her sister went in a cab that day to Mrs Lockyer's house. They saw Mrs Lockyer, and witness said* " Can you tell me what is the matter with my sister ?" Mra Lockyer replied, " I cannot." Witness then told her sister to remain at Mrs Lockyor's till she came back in the evening, and her sister romained. Witness returned about half-past seven o'ciock in the evening, and took her sister back to Mre Liardet's. On the way, her sister told witness that Bhe had given birth to a child, that it was dead, and that Mrs Lockyer had a .-reed to bary it. By the Court: Mrs Lockyer herself said nothing either then or at any other time about tho birth, the child, or tho disposal of tho body. Examination continued : Witr.ess never asked to see the body, nor made any enquiries as to what hud become of it. Cross- examined by Mr Allen : Maria Baker walked back to Mrs Liardet's from Mrs Lockyer's, and there was nothing peculiar in her gait. Elizabeth Keutloy, feintle searcher at the police station, had Bearched the prisoner Maria Baker, on her being taken into custody, and had been informed by her that she had been delivered of a child in a water closet. This concluded the case for the Crown. If r Allen argued that although beyond a doubt Maria Baker had admitted herself to Imvo been delivered of a child, Ihero waa no evidence against his client. His Honor agreed with tho learned counsel that as the ease stood there was no evidence on which to convict, and expressed his great dissatisfaction at the manner in which tho indictments had been drawn up, as on them neither prisoner could be convicted. The foreman of the jury in formed tho Court thuttho jury thought there was no ovidouce ajamst either prisoner, boyoiul Miri.i baker's own admission, and His Honor, after pointing out tho narrow oscupe the prisoners had had, ordered them to bo discharged from custody. SENTENCE. His Honor sentenced the prisoners Dolan and Driscoll, convicted on the previous dny of forging and uttering ft false cheque, euoh to nine months' imprisonment with hard iabor. KEEPING A HOUSE OF ILL-FAMK. Elizaboth Pepper, commonly known as " Old Mother Pepper," pleaded not guilty to keeping a house of ill-fame, at Baker's Hill, Karon road. Mr Izard conducted the ca9e for the Crown. Michael Monaghan, senior Sergeant of Police, said that the prisoner was a common prostituto, and that the house in which she dwelt, situate in the Kuroi'i road, bore a vory bad ohurieter, as it was the common resort of men of pleasure and women of tho tv\vn, who frequented it for an immoral purpose, and causrd great annoyance to \j\w persons residing in tho immediate) vicinity, and to travellers pnssing up and down the ivad. John Douglas Benge, a man in tho employ of W. i'urnbull, Esq , knew tli<* prisoner, who, up to tho time of her apprehension, had occupied a house adjoining his private residence on the Karori roatl. All manner of people frequented it. His Honor — What do you mean ? Do I understand you to say clergymen und gentlemen visit, it ? (Laughter.) Witness— No, jour Honor. Examination continued — Men of bad ohnractat*, sometimes those known as respaotable members j

of'*be.ie.ty, together with pv^til ureß,.;u:>ed to! go to tho house at nigtit, ftn^anjioy thentjighbtyhgod by.-, milking noises. ' . „,.-,. 'James Edwards, constable, lenew the prisoner. On the 2nd :.l ulyVJve- had occasion id go -to, her house. ; About- two o'clock- .in thd morning he went there,, and , found her in. bed yrilh two men, one dressed, the other undresßod. . All. the .occupants of the house were using the most blaa-_ phemousand' indecent language, and prisoner, throwing her arms vourid \f ii'neas, wished him to have carnal connection with her. . . His Honor-. Did you acceed to her wishes ? Witness, : I did not. George Timothy Bell, irqnfounder, knew the prisoner's house'to be disorderly, arf he had seen the moat disorderly characters, male and female, frequenting it, and had heard disturbances going on inside neurly every, day, but more particularly on Sundays. His Honor : Did tho prisoner ever annoy you i Witness : Her house did not particularly, but she' has accosted me in the street. This concluded the caBO for the Crown. The prisoner made no defence. His Honor summed, up and the jury returned an immediate verdict of guilty. His Honor considered that the landlord of tho prisoner's house wa9 worse than the prisoner, as it was a most disreputable thing for a man knowingly to let his house to a prostitute. . Mr Bonge informed tho Court that the prisoner had been a respectable, honest, hard working vroman, until she had been ruined by a bad huSband. His Honor sentenced the prisoner to imprisonment with hard labor for six months. STEALING FROM THE PERSON. Margaret Smith alias Quinty pleaded not guilty to robbing one John Chapman of a purso containing £1 Is Id. John Chapman, & mechanic, residing in Wellington, said that about 9 o'clock at night on tho 2nd July he was going home, when the prisoner aci!O3ted him and asked for tho price of somo liquor. Ho took out his purae and was about to give her something small when she "grabbed the purae." Witness called out " Holloa you've got my purse,"«and prisoner went off. [Purse produced and identified.] In reply to prisoner, witness denied that he had ever made, indecent overtures to her, denied that he had made a pecuniary agreement with her he had failed to keep, and denied that he had visited her in tho cells, for the purpose of wishing her not to mention his name. Sergeant Doran deposed to having arrested the prisoner with tho last witness' purso under her arm -pit. Tbi3 concluded the case for the Crown. Tho jurj returned an immediate verdict of guilty. The Warden of the gaol said that the prisoner had been tried once for burglary, twice for stealing from- the person, and upwards of twenty timaß for drunkenness and vagrancy. His Honor indicted a sentence of two years' imprisonment with hard labor. This concluded the cases for trial, and the Court rose shortly after throe o'clock.