SCOTCH BABY-FARMING. SHOCKING MURDERS IN

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 333, 12 January 1889, Page 6

SCOTCH BABY -FARMING. SHOCKING MURDERS IN

Tine story of the mur-der, iii Stbekb'ridgc^ Edinburgh, of Lhe two infant; childvon whoso bodies have recently been discovered, will (.says the "Edinburgh Despatch"), when lully unravelled at the coming trial, form one of the most 'shocking pages in the annals of crime in Edinburgh. 'V'vo persons are at prescnb in custody in connoction wibh the murders. They are Jessie Kiug, an unmarried woman, aged twenty - sevon yoars, and her companion, Thomaß Pearson, a jobbing- gavdenor, Ufty-nine years of age.

Till: IMtEMICJM. Jessie King, like her paramour Pcaifon, has scon belter times. They have lived together some seven years now, (luring which they have gi actually sunk, by continued dissipation, into thq lowest simlo ol the ma&ses. Both aie'givon to'hald drinking, when money for the purj)ose is iii hand. It I appears from bho woman's story that about April last, when living in Choyne utrucb, v under the name of " Mrs Macpher&on,'' r-hc conceived tlio idea of % * farming '' a baby, with a view to getting a little money fioin the pa i en ts. A customer was &oon ioi Lhcomin«> in a borvant) f^iri of the nuino of (jlunn, who was induced bo bring 1 to the woman ivin^, and to' deliver to'her, for the purpose 01 " adoption," her illegitimate) child, a buy ol a few monthb old, which she found heisclf unablo t.o kcop by her without abandoning' service' altogether. ' A })iomium of £2 or j;;> wars p*ud over bo " Mis Macphoi'hon. '

A month oj two parsed, during which the inLinb gavfi it.s foster patents no end of trouble. It \vn.-j of a Itctful disposition, and this was mci eased by tho neglect of tho female piiboncr, who wasottcn too chunk to attend to its wunts. Pearson, though oomovvhat food of the child, frequently repeated hi^ complaints regarding- the responsibility bhc had put upon him in taking it in. One night, on his return fiom work, he was pleased to learn that a home had been tound for the child, Miss Stirling haviug, according to the woman King's story, consented to admit it. King went out shortly alter, with the child in her arms, ostensibly with the object of taking tho bairn fco its new home. Peaison sauntered out to his usual evening haunt, the public-house. On his return the baby was gone. In reality the child hadbeon foully murdered, and its hfolo&s corpse was at that very moment concealed in a small cellar or mess in tho lobby of their lodging in Cheynehtreet, adjoining the door oi fchoir singlo room there. The story of the murder, by the woman's confession, is a horrible one. The baby was laid on its back on tho bed. King then applied her hands to the mouth and nose, pressing them firmly so as to stop the breath. At lir&t the child struggled violently, but its weakening btrength was of no avail- A purple livid hue quickly sprond over its features), telling of suffocation. So the deed was done, Tho dark press in the lobby ne.\t the room door, which was rented by Pearson along with the room, ollored a ready hidmg-placo for the corpse. There the child's body was beotowed among some boxes on a shelf, and the door was locked, the guilty woman keeping the key in her own possession.

HOW IT WAS DISCOVJSIIED. . In a few weeks tho stench from the body became offensive, and, fearing that suspicion might be aroused, King resolved to make away with the proof of her guilt. One night she carefully tied it up in a piece of oilskin, and furtively removed it from the hou^e. With that want of foresight and caution so commonly evinced by persons in .such a piedicament, she convoyed the body no tuvther than the end of Cheync-stroefc, where she concealed it in a piece oi vacant fouling ground. Hero it lay until pome boys came upon it, and finding it not unsuited for Che game ot football us>ed it treely as a substitute for "the leath." At last f-omeonc undid the string, and the revela- [ tion followed which subsequently led to the aucbt of tho tuo piisoncrs by the police.

am: sfcclnd iurunu;. Meamvhde, houevci, Ulic guilty woman had boon . lulled into a ot security nothing; havintr lianspircd Handing hei crime. The want of money and tho desire foi diink diovo hoi' on Lo a new deed ot the .same character. The ail\ <?i liMiifj columns of soino paper supy'lied her with ■what phc wanted, and an'obhci' servant girl, under c\aebly similar ciieuniblancet., committed to tl>c \vom<in's charge a baby of about tin eo weeks old. the premium being again about i"3. No time wh"& lost in despatching the second child. It A\a& no wonei brought homo fco Cheyne-strcet than its footermother—if the title cat) be applied to a wretch of the chavaefcor of Kino. — decided to get- rid ol it a^ once. She was under the influence of liquor at the time. Requiring (aecoiding to her own .story) to go out on an errand, she poured down tho child's throat, some raw whisky, which almost stifled ifc, turning 1 it nearly black in the iaco. Hoeing the child was half choked, she piomptly icsolvcd to give it its quittuy. She first tried to suflbcato it by the same means as Bho had used ''in tho first ease, pressing her hands over its mouth and nostrils. But meantime tho little thing had recovered its breath, and began to struggle violently, and succeeded in raising a cry. iUaimed at this, King 1 seized a long strip of 'cloth, and bourd it tightly across *he mouth and nose, cro&sing it at the back of fclio neck, and -bringing the end round again to the throat, where she knottrd it aa tightly as possible In this way the child's breathing was elfectually stopped, and it shortly expired. The body -was as before conveyed by stealth to the dark pvess, whdio the previously-murdered baby had been hidden, and there concealed. On the pi ess being searched, the corpse of tho murdeied child was iound. King and Pearson wero 'thereupon arrested, and they aro now in custody.

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