Sheerness Guardian 18 June 1859.

INQUEST ON THE BODY OF A CHILD FOUND UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES IN BLUE TOWN, SHEERNESS.

An inquest was held, on Monday June 6th, at the "Ship Inn," by T Hills, Esq., coroner, to enquire into the circumstances touching the death of a new born female child, which had been found in a water closet the "Prince Albert" beer House, on Saturday morning the 4th inst.

The jury consisted of Messrs. Edgrombe, Tyler, Lockyer, Kitt, Keeler, Wilkinson, Skinner, Waghorn, Bassett, Cole, Baker, Havard, and French, all of Blue Town. After viewing the body the following witnesses were examined:—

George Pollard, a nightman, stated that he found a small coffin in the well of the "Prince Albert" privy, on Saturday morning the 4th inst. It was nailed up and he handed it to Sergeant Ovenden without opening it.

Sergeant David Ovenden, of the Kent Constabulary, said that the coffin brought to him by Pollard was 20 1/2 inches long. He opened it in the presence of Mr. Stride, surgeon, and found it to contain the body oi a fine female child. It was dressed in a child's shirt, bed gown and cap, had a roller found its body and a napkin on. He undressed the body and Mr. Stride examined it.

John French, a joiner, deposed that he had seen the coffin and recognised it as one he had been employed to make for a woman named Senior, in April last and for which he received eighteen-pence.

Elizabeth Senior admitted that Mr. French made the coffin for her and that she had been employed to obtain it by Mrs. Hannah Alderton, of Blue Town. She took the coffin to Mrs. Alderton and fetched it away again with a child in it. She took it to the Cemetery, but the man refused to bury it without a medical certificate. This was about 10 o’clock and a few days after the coffin was made. On returning from the Cemetery, she stated that she was assaulted by some soldiers, who robbed her of some money from her pocket and also stole the coffin. She did not tell the police of the occurrence. The child was dressed in a long bed gown and cap.

Edward Stride, Surgeon, stated that on the afternoon of the 4th, he saw Serjeant Ovenden break open a box which contained the body of a female child, dressed in the usual way for a new born child. The body had been dead some time and general decomposition had set in. He examined it, but did not discover any marks of violence. It was a full grown child; he examined the lungs and placed them in water. They were very buoyant, floating on the water and had what he termed ‘Crepatus." This was a sign that the child had lived; but after decomposition, the gases which form in the body might produce this appearance in the lungs. He could not therefore undertake to say that the child was born alive, as decomposition deprived the test of its value. Any further experiments would be useless in the present state of the body.

After the bearing of the evidence, the jury expressed a wish to adjourn for the appearance of a witness who was absent from Sheerness.

THE ADJOURENED INQUEST.

Was held on Monday last, the 13th Inst.

Mrs. Elizabeth Pankhurst, stated I know Mrs. Alderton, and lived next door to her. On the first of April last, Mrs. Alderton sent for me; I went to her and found her in bed; she told me she was very ill and said she had been confined. I asked her if any one was with her, and she said no; I got her some refreshment; this was about 11 o'clock in the morning; I asked her what time she was confined, and she replied about 5 in the morning. I asked where the child was, and she said at the foot of the bed. I then saw it; it was a fine child; it was quite cold, and must have been dead some time. The umbilical cord had not been severed, and it was not dressed. I then dressed the child and laid it in a box. Mrs Alderton wished me not to send for a Doctor. She told me the child had not breathed, and said she fared nothing but Mrs. Levy's wicked tongue.

I asked Mrs. Alderton what she intended to do with the child, and she said Mrs. Senior would be in shortly, and she would attend to that. I have never told any person that I heard a child cry in Mrs. Alderton’s house, on the 1st of April.

Mr Alderton was sent for, "but not sworn." The Coroner read the depositions over, and asked her whether she had anything she wished to say to the Jury — and cautioned her, that she need not say anything to criminate herself. She replied — Mrs Senior took the child away, I paid her to get it buried, and she afterwards said the child was buried.

The coroner then summed up and the Jury shortly returned the following verdict:— "That the child was found dead, but there is not satisfactory evidence before the Jury to show the cause of death."