CHILD MURDERS IN EDINBURGH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1839, 10 January 1889, Page 4

CHILD MURDERS IN EDINBURGH.

Some painful discoveries of crimes of the most serious description have recently been made in the Stockbridge district of this city, and it would seem as if the whole truth were not yet known. The parties implicated are a woman named King, but better known as Mrs “ Macpherson,” 27 years of age; and a gardener named Thomas Pearson, aged 59, with whom she is said to have lived. Since June they had been living in Cheyne street. On October 26 some boys found a parcel on a vacant piece of ground at the end of that street, and made a football of it for a time. Curiosity then prompted them to open it, when they were horrified to find that it contained the body of a child. They at once told the police, and investigation showed that the child had been strangled. Further search brought to light the body of another child, which was found in a closet in the prisoner’s house. The marks upon it showed that it had also been strangled by a string or tape being tightly tied round its neck. This child was found to be that of a servant girl, who had advertised for some one to adopt it. King answered the advertisement, and took the child on receiving a payment of £ 2. The mother displayed unmistakeable grief on learning the news of the child’s death. It is stated that King has since made a full confession, taking all the guilt to herself, and stating that Pearson was quite innocent of both murders; but the police are still reticent on the matter, and it is believed that they are hopeful of having at last got a clue to other discoveries of the bodies of infants which have been made in Edinburgh at different times. The existence of baby farming in the city has long been suspected on various grounds. Pearson is a Married man with four grown-up children, but has been living apart from his wife for some time. King is said to have three brothers resident in Glasgow, all respectable trader men. A curious feature in the case is that the child whose body was first found was ascertained by a medical man to be a twin. The other twin has since been found in the keeping of another woman, and alive and well. The case will evoke much public interest when it comes on for trial.