A FOUL FEMALE.

NZ Truth, Issue 91, 16 March 1907, Page 5

A FOUL FEMALE.

MONSTER MRS. MITCHELL.

Horrors of Her Hideous Hell-Hole.

A Detestable Den of Dirt, Disease and Destruction m Perth.

Infernal Immolation of Infants.

The Bratal Blighting of Baby Booth.

The Manoeuvres ci Mercilessly Malignant "Matron" Mitchell.

The horrible exposures made during the hearing of a Coronial inquiry, at Pecth, Westralia, into the death of an infant at the house of a Mrs Alice Mitchell, a registered nurse, o ! f that city, ended one day this week, m the foul fiend of a female being committed for trial on a charge of wilful murder. The Coroner said that if the stories told by the various witnesses were true, they denoted a state of affairs which could only be, described as filthy, loathsome, ana immoral. The-- treatment of the chil-; dren was disgusting and abominaible. As m N>w Zealand, there is 'greater need than ever of keeping these registered and licensed homes under strict supervision, the facts, of some of the facts disclosed at the Coronial inquiry m Perth, which we have received from our Perth correspondent, will "be interesting reading, even if nauseating, as showing that New Zealand is not the only colony which can produce such horrors, and how urgent is the need of the sharp eye of the Law being directed on these registered homes. The evidence elicited is of a most sickening, revolting kind, disclosing the '„■.'■ MOST TERRIBLE SYSTEM of wholesale baby )f arming ever brought to light m Australia, ,or any where - else m the world. The evidence disclosed that the Ruv. John Craig was called to the house to baptise a dying child. . Craic deposed that the. woman Mitchell admitted that the place was. a baby farm, and that a servant girl named Susie Turvey, the mother of the baptised child, had had seven illegitimate children, all of whom died young of erysipelas, from Which Susie Turvey herself suffered. But the police called medical . evidence showing that the supposed erysipelas was most DEADLY SYPHILIS, with which the mother contaminated the unfortunate infants. Evidence was given by a local grocer that Mitchell sold him tins ol food and other things, which had been sent to her by various mothers of the children. Evidence was also riven that, so far as can at present be- ascertained, 32 out of 35 children that were taken m by Mitchell have, died ; and that Dr. Officer was prac\ tically the only medical mari to yisit the house and give certificates of death. Most, if .'not all of the children* ..'•.'■ |, //WERE ILLEGITIMATE, : -, ■ The! : ..most sensational evidence given !'w|is'' ? that of a: Swedel. named- Carl | Rousr: which -was --confh-med- by ■-••'fii's wife. They were lodgers m Mitchell's house, arid .he stated as follows : — He was^_a~; painter and dpcbratOr, , residing in^Perth, and was- acquainted with Mrs Mitchell. He had stayed as a lodger at her^house from the middle of January to the middle of July, 1906. He Jeft then, but re-i turned m . November of the same\ year, remaining until February 18, 1907., The first time he stayed at Mrs Mitchell's he boarded there, but oh the second occasion he, •; with his wife, hired one her front rooms, for which he paid 8s per week. Witness '■ '• REMEMBERED AN INFANT, ' named Booth -being brought to Mrs Mitchell's. ; It was then a fine healthy child, and Mrs Mitchell had said to him it was one of the best she had seen, and that she was proud of it. ■ At the start the child was kept m one of the back rooms, there being a good many children m the same room. He thought that at the time baby Booth was taken m there were 7 or 8 children m the one room, which WAS ALSO OCCUPIED by Mr and Mrs 1 Mitchell. At that time there were three beds, one double' bed, one single, and a baby's cot m that room, which had only one window that looked: out over the back yard. .There was no blind to the window until witness himself put one up, at the request of Mrs Mitchell, about a week before she was arrested. The infant Bootb did not , improve under Mrs Mitchell's charge. It first got sqre eyes, and then became sick. Witness did not see the baby much after it became sick. Inspector Sellenger : "What was the state of the woman ? Witness: Well, Mrs Mitchell was: always kind to me, but the tiruth can't be denied. , Language could not picture the MISERY OF THE ROOM. Continuing, the witness said that whenever he saw the room it was untidy. He did not think the beds were ever made, and the babies were lying anyway on the bed. The bedclothes were m a state of disorder, and the sun used to shine on the babies' faces, as they lay on the bed. Every time he went into the room their faces were covered with flies. He had mentioned the matter to Mrs Mitchell, but she said she could not keep the flies out. When he first went to Mrs Mitchell's there were no perambulators m the house, bu,f afterwards a -lady, who staved there for a few weeks got one for her own child ; though Mrs Mitchell never had one. He had never seen the children taken out, but the sick and healthy were kept m the same room, though occasionally, when one | GOT VERY BAD, • it was taken into another room. ! The Coroner : Where was it takes S to ? . | Witness : In one of the other rooms —the dining-room, or the next room. This was, however, only do-* occa- ; sionally. ; !. The Coroner : Where were the chil- ! dren taken when they were dying ? i Witness : Thsy were kept with the other ckiVi'res. .

Continuing, Roux said he remembered that, m addition to the infant Booth, a child named Jack was taken from the bedroom. Those were the only cases he could remember. 'He had seen THE BABIES' NAPKINS lying m a corner of . the room m heaps. Mrs Mitchell had asked witness for a" cardboard box, and this she afterwards used to put them m. It was a common thing to see them lying m the room. Witness remembered the infant Brown being .brought to Mitchell's. It was then a fine, healthy child, with rosy cheeks. Mrs Mitchell told him that it was a fine, healthy child, but . that it was cutting its teeth. ' The child Brown was kept m the same room with the infant Booth, and the other children. He • had seen the infant Brown taken on the verandah two or three times. It used to lie on a pillow, and was just' able to< move its -head. This was m the evenings. .. . ■ The Goroner : Were those children ever taken out for airings— wheeled out or carried out? ' Witness . I never saw them. Continuing, Roux said that he had hjeard Mitchell tell his wife on several occasions that the place was looking LIKE A PIG-STY. Mr Mitchell used to turn . to on Sunday, and clean the house and the backyard m which the fowls used to run about during the week. The yard was very dirty, the slops and rubbish all being emptied into it, there being no drain. The child Booth was taken to the hospital by its mother, and the child Brown by the police. Witness knew a girl, named Susie, who used to be at Mitchell's; Susie was very dirty, . and the witness heard that she had > given birth to six children, and that they had all died. Susie had a sore on her lips. He asked Mrs Mitchell what it was, and she said it was syphilis. Susie used to nurse .the babies. Witness told Mrs* Mitchell to be careful, "and not to let Susie " ■' ' ' TOUCH THE BABIES [while she was m. that state. Mrs Mitchell ; said she wanted to ges Susie to the; hospital, bu;b tha^ Susie .would hot go* j ; '.'■ Later on witness heard , f rom Mrs Mitchell that a medical man was attending Susie for the complaint. Witness asked. Mrs Mifcheil.; why she did not get someone, else, and she replied that Susie would not go. Another time she said ,that> Susie was very useful, and. was working for no;t%in«. Witness's'; wife> drew his attention'?to the fact that Susie was A FULL OF VERMIN, and on looking he saw that was so. He then told ! Mrs. Mitchell that if she did not get Eid of Susie he would ' go, as he saw theßvermin crawling about Susie's neck. , ; The Coroner :' Did Susie cook the meals ? „o Witness: She cooked everything, and made the children's food, but she did not ( cook my meals. *My wife used to do -that. , # Continuing, he said that Mrs Mitchell saw she could not , get Susie to go, and witness was on the point of putting Susie out of doors, when his wife came and interfered. Susie threatened to bring the police on one occasion. Mrs Mitchell cut the girl's hair quite close and saturated her head with kerosene. ■■ , The Coroner : That's the way" they treat a dog "!-. „ Witness, .continuing, said that af jfcer the girl's hair was cut his wife found some vermin m her own hheard r That's what made him wild, ■ Mrs Mitchell's married daughter, her husband, and two children were staying m the house, and they also' got ver-. mm on them. He had seen the girl Susie scratch herself and ttyen PUT HER FINGER ; IN THE FOOD she was preparing for the children. All the babies got sore eyes about a week afjer they came into the house. Their faces all became drawn and thin. i The Coroner : Did all the children die? ■■■..••■ Witness : I know while I was there nine of the children died m the house, and two m the hospital— one after it was taken away by its mother. Inspector Sellenger here informed the Coroner that, as far as he could ascertain, 32 out of 35 children had died, . • ■ i Roux, continuing, said that while he was at Mrs Mitchell's, out of the children who were brought there, one had syphilis and the other whooping cough. Mrs Gent', with her husband and two children, occupied the second front room, while another, daughter of Mrs Mitchell occupied the middle room. Susie used to sleep m a partly enclosed place on the back verandah, and she had a stretcher, but no mattress— just 4>he wires, a blanket, and a pillow. On one occasion when SUSIE WAS CONFINED she was removed to the dining-room. Afterwards the child used to sleep on the back verandah. Susie was not married. The fowls that Mrs Mitchell kept used to run abouit the. house, and when witness's door was left open they came into his room. Witness had told Mrs Mitchell that if she got a wire door he would put it up to keep the fowls out, and she promised to get it, but never did. The fowls used to get into the children's room also. Two little children named Phyllis and Mick, who i were each about two years old, used to crawl about the house and back, yard, and would become m a filthy ; condition, sometimes. He had noticed | them weavine;, instead of an ordin- ! arv nankin, something that looked lilrp Vasrsinir. Several limes lie had owinp; to liis having seen the i uildren picking (up and eating I

stuff, including fowl droppings, taken the children into the nouse. He told Mrs Mitchell of this, but she only smiled. He had heard Mrs Gent complain to, her mother about the way she . was looking after the children. Mrs Gent said to Mrs Mitchell that she was too damn lazy to look after them. There was once a rowin the n house, and on witness going put he saw Mrs Mitchell with a.carvins; knife m her hand, and they were all shouting. Witxress had s«en the lady inspector, Miss . 'Lyneham, visit the house two or three times, but she seemed to be always m a hurry; and he had only seen her go through ithe premises once. He had seen her there half a dozen times altogether, and the longest time she stayed there, so far as the witness knew, was five minutes. Witness had seen Mrs Mitchell bathing the children. .He had seen her bathe one child and USE THE SAME WATER for» the second child. She used to heat the watjr on a Primus atove. Sometimes she was witho it. wood for weeks at a time. Witness dook a farcy tp the baby named .Jack, and as he did not care to see the child go into the same room where there were so many children, his wife took it into their room to nurse. Mrs Mi/tchell would not let them have him to look after, though, for long at a "time, as she said he would get spoiled. On his advice the mother of Jack took him away, and she had to call In a doctor to. see him the same day. Jack, when taken away, was setting pale, but was not m so bad a state as some of the other children. However. POOR LITTLE JACK afterwards died. Witness saw Mrs Mu-.^ell the night she was released on bail. He saw her at her daughter's place first, and she afterwards came" to his room. On that occasion Mrs Mitchell said that if she fell, Dr. Officer wquld have to fall too. She also spoke to him about giving evidence, and witness said he was going to tell the truth. Dr. Officer was the medical man who attended the babies, but he had seen Dr. Johnson at the house about fourteen months ago. He noticed that, after the police had been there, .they started to clean up the house. Inspector Sellenger : Now, Mr Roux, from what you have seen when you were at the house, do you con^ sider those infants were looked after properly. • , Witness : No. I do not. Continuing, Roux said he had known Mrs Mitchell .to be away from home for a day, and at such- times. Susie would look after the children. On ofne occasion Mrs Mitchell went to the house of The Good .Shepherd to get a baby to nurse, and left Susie in 'charge. At this time both baby Booth and baby Brown were m the house, and m the room which faced the T-ard. Witness was m the yard and could see ' and hear what took place m the room. He heard one of the babies crying out o loudly for a good while, and he told Susie twice that the baby would brealf its heart crying so, and that she had better go and see about; it. Susie at last went into the room, and witness saw her pick up the child, either baby Booth or baby .Booth, shake it, and throw it dbwo m the cot again. When baby Booth was taken to the hospital by its mother he heard Mrs Mitchell blaming Mrs Gent for having given the show away. As n rule, when the mothers of the cltilc'rcn used to call to see them. Mrs ell would refuse to allow them "to do so, andjtell"tliefii ' tliey ~vf et? c. 51c0 .. . This case is commencing to excilo public' attention,, but this is m spils of attempts -..-at suppresskm by ilvj press and a certain section of flash society and notorious medical men, of whom the woman Mitchell is •k&vi to know- a lot,^and to have threatened with exposure. When .: Mitchell was first srrsstel and charged with causing the death of Tjaby Booth, the Perth newspapers tried to pooh-pooh the - whole afw \x aad make a martyr of Mitchell. They described her as a kind, clean, motherly matron, and said her house was a picture \ of order and cleanliness, full of sweetness and lieht ; no fleas, no vermin, 'no syphilis, no Susie, no slaughterer of innocents. Mitchell was being interviewed by the column as though she w«?re. a Florence Nightingale, or an FJi"*beth Fry, or a sort of female St. Francis D'AssM (natron saint of little children), \ whose motto was, '•■Suffer little children to come unto me, for with me they won't suffer long." This is one of the most scandalous of the attempts of a putrid press to hush the matter up for the salce of a- notorious section of society and its aiders and abettors m the medical profession. The conduct r*" Dr. Officer,! so far as disclosed m the matter, is the subject of much animadversion. ■>'■