SAD OCCURRENCE AT CAMBRIDGE.
About 11 o'clock on Tuesday morning last the police at Cambridge received information to the effect that a girl named Sarah Johnson, a servant at the Masonic Hotel, Cambridge, had been confined during the night and had made away with her child. Constable Brennan at once proceeded to the hotel, where the unfortunate girl was lying, and made enquiries into the matter. The girl, on being questioned as to what she had done with the child, denied ever having, one ; but Dv Cushny, who was in 'attendance, gave the constable to understand that it was a case of concealment of birth, and that the child had been made away with. A search for the body was instituted, and after some few minutes the body of a male child was discovered buried behind the pigstye, in a hole about eighteen inches deep, and was at once removed to await the inquest. For some time past the girl has been suspected of being pregnant, but on being questioned by her employers and friends always denied the fact. Having worked up to the night preceding her confinement, no occurrence of the kind was expected, and the circumstance when made known created general surprise.
The Inquest. An inquest was held on the body of the male child of Sarah Johnson in the Masonic Hotel, on Tuesday evening, before Mr W. N. Searancke, coroner. Mr Master was chosen foreman of the jury. Mr R. W. Dyer watched the proceedings on behalf of the girl Johnson. The evidence of Lizzie Crawford, a servant at the hotel, went to show that the mother of the child slept in the same room with two other girls on the night she was confined, and that she rose and went downstairs about (3 o'clock in the morning. Witness followed her downstairs about ten minutes after, and asked her what was the matter, when she replied that there was nothing wrong. Accused had nothing in her hand when leaving the room that she noticed, nor did witness hear any noise of a suspicious oharacter previously. Accused had been keeping company with a man named Tom Cleaver, a tailor. When she left the room in the morning to go into the garden she had nothing on but an ulster, her feet and head being bare, and she was suffering from measles. —Rose Winter corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. —Constable Brennan deposed to finding the body. He went to accused in her bedroom and told her he had found the child, when she replied, " I know now it was wrong to make away with it, but did not think so at the time." Accused had hitherto borne a very good character. — The evidence of Dr Cushny went to show he had made a po»t mortem examination of the body and submitted one of the lungs to the usual test. It was doubtful whether the child was living at the time of its birth. It might have breathed once or twice, but owing to bodily imperfections it could not possibly have lived for any length of time. — The jury, after some consideration, brought in a verdict of "Died from natural causes."
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18820727.2.10
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1570, 27 July 1882, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
533SAD OCCURRENCE AT CAMBRIDGE. Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1570, 27 July 1882, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.