A CHARGE OF CONCEALMENT.

NZ Truth, Issue 127, 23 November 1907, Page 6

A CHARGE OF CONCEALMENT.

A Skunk that Deserves Scorching.

What kind of a blasted skunk, is the man who seduced Lillian Fanny Jane Hobbs, and who was the lather of the child she. save birth to m the lavatory of G. R. Fail's restaurant, where she was employed ? -The girl made piteous appeals through the post,. to this callous rapscallion, who doesn't deserve the name of • man, for assistance; but he resolutely declined to. comply. A nice sort' of a bestial brute he is to be sure.- Lilly Hobbs ha,d been acting as kitchenmaid at Fail's for about seven months, and on the morning of the 7th October she" gave birth to a male child. There were four girls sleeping itf the same room, [ including . Ghertrude Beams, pantry miid, who had noticed the; girl's condition for the previous three months. ■ The v other girls must have noticed it also, biit not one. of them offered her help or suggestions as to what she should do. When the child was born downstairs, she walked upstairs and' entered the room, as; the girl Beams woke up. Noticing that- she was ill, she •questipned her, 'and the -reply •was that she had "been, up all night suffering from cholera. ' The >irl laid down for a' time, and then got up and went -through her day's work. Bloodstains wer> noticed •m the lavatory, the matter was reported, and, later on, the dead body was found wrapped m a skirt m Hobb's box, with Holpthes top of it. When the police arrived the girl confessed everything. She -said ■ that she didn't know whether the infant was bora alive or not ; she didn't hear it cry ; she severed the naval cord Jar pulling it. She put the body m her box . . ' .

BECAUSE IT WAS DEAD. At the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the girl was charged with concealment of birth, was represented by Lawyer, Alpers, "and < pleaded- not guilty. The case was outlined by Stringer, K.C. The facts were riot disputed, but counsel for the defence made a strong. a.ppeal for acquittal on humane grounds. He said "Mat intention was the essence of the matter. Did the girl intend. to cpriceal the fact of' the deliy;ery ? He contended that during the travail, the anguish, mental tortures, and physical pain that she suffered .so dazed her that she was unable to form any deliberate' intention' at a]]. Alpers alluded to the prisoner's poltroom lover. He stoad no : risk and wasn't subject to public, ignominy. .There wasn't a spark of humanity m him. Probably he was at present debauching another girl, and' when her time came he would desert her as he had this girl. It was loathsome to think of such a person, but God made him a man, arid they must leave it at that.' Judge Cliawman having summed up, the jury, after a short delay, found the accused; not guilty, and she was discharged.,