UNKNOWN

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 154, 28 May 1884, Page 2

UNKNOWN

A iiai# lUtiuGf, JEHiily ehftrtotW MoKentiiei m the suhtii-bs of Lcindoli, Ims been detected m her atrocious crimes and held for trial for the wilful murder of two infants. She had deliberately starved them to death, and three other babies found m her den were rescued m the nick of time from a similar death. It is the worst case of its kind on record since 1870, when one Margaret Waters was hanged on conviction of the imivder of five babies. Her trial lasted three days, and m the course of the evidence it was stated that this hardened wretch, who was a widow but 35 years old, had lived m succession at Peckham, Battersea, and Brixton. In each of these localtie3 the bodies of young children had been found rluriog her residence there, deposited m owtof-the-way places, and there is no doubt, from the condition of the remains, she caused their death by neglect and starvation. Babies were often handed over to her tender mercies at railway stations or m the streets, by their unnatural parents or their agents, and m many of these cases a sum of money was given to the woman without any certainty that she would ever again hear from the parent. Under such circumstances it is impossible to tell how many murders this woman may have committed.