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<p>311. (M)
<persName id="t17611021-27-defend309" type="defendantName"> Esther Rowden
<interp inst="t17611021-27-defend309" type="surname" value="Rowden"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-defend309" type="given" value="Esther"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-defend309" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> ,
<rs id="t17611021-27-deflabel139" type="occupation">single woman</rs>
<join result="persNameOccupation" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-defend309 t17611021-27-deflabel139"/>, was indicted for the
<rs id="t17611021-27-off140" type="offenceDescription">
<interp inst="t17611021-27-off140" type="offenceCategory" value="kill"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-off140" type="offenceSubcategory" value="infanticide"/> wilful murder of her female bastard-child </rs>. She likewise stood charged on the coroner's inquest for the said murder,
<rs id="t17611021-27-cd141" type="crimeDate">Sept. 21</rs>
<join result="offenceCrimeDate" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-off140 t17611021-27-cd141"/>. +</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person310"> Mary Evans
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person310" type="surname" value="Evans"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person310" type="given" value="Mary"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person310" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I have known the prisoner better than six years. I had a mistrust she was with child, but she denied it to me.</p>
<p>
<xptr type="pageFacsimile" doc="176110210041"/>Q. How long before she was brought to bed?</p>
<p>M. Evans. Better than two months before.</p>
<p>Q. How came you to tax her with it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I thought she grew bigger.</p>
<p>Q. Did she live near you?</p>
<p>M. Evans. She was my
<rs id="t17611021-27-deflabel142" type="occupation">servant</rs>
<join result="persNameOccupation" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-defend309 t17611021-27-deflabel142"/>.</p>
<p>Q. Where do you live?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I live in
<placeName id="t17611021-27-crimeloc143">St. Martin's-lane, at the Star and Garter</placeName>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-crimeloc143" type="placeName" value="St. Martin's-lane, at the Star and Garter"/>
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<join result="offencePlace" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-off140 t17611021-27-crimeloc143"/>; she was brought to-bed at my house.</p>
<p>Q. How do you know that?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I found the child in the copper-hole on Tuesday morning, the 22d of September. I perceived her grown thinner, and suspected she had been delivered, and I looked all over the house.</p>
<p>Q. Did she say any thing about it after you found the child?</p>
<p>M. Evans. She was talked to, but not by me, I was not by at the time.</p>
<p>Q. Was there any thing to cover the child when it was found?</p>
<p>M. Evans. There was a black petticoat of the prisoner's about it, and there was a red garter tied about it.</p>
<p>Q. Whose garter was it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. That I can't tell.</p>
<p>Q. Whereabouts was it ty'd round it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. It was ty'd round on the top of the petticoat, round the neck of the child.</p>
<p>Q. Was it ty'd tight?</p>
<p>M. Evans. Not very tight.</p>
<p>Q. Was it ty'd with a hard knot?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I cannot be positive whether it was a hard knot or no.</p>
<p>Q. Was the child male or female?</p>
<p>M. Evans. It was a girl.</p>
<p>Q. What did the prisoner say about it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I never heard her say any thing, one way or the other.</p>
<p>Q. Is the petticoat here?</p>
<p>M. Evans. It is not.</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person311"> Susanna Woan
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person311" type="surname" value="Woan"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person311" type="given" value="Susanna"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person311" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I am a midwife; I have known the prisoner some years, I always took her to be a very sober person, I never had an ill opinion of her before this.</p>
<p>Q. Did you see the child?</p>
<p>S. Woan. I did.</p>
<p>Q. Had it come to its full-time?</p>
<p>S. Woan. It had.</p>
<p>Q. Was you by when it was found?</p>
<p>S. Woan. No, I was not.</p>
<p>Q. Where did you see it first?</p>
<p>S. Woan. When the jury sent for me.</p>
<p>Q. Was any thing ty'd about it when you saw it?</p>
<p>S. Woan. No, there was not. Mrs. Evans sent for me, I went; she told me Betty was in the yard in labour. I went to her, and said, How do you do? She said, Very well. I said, You seem to be in labour. She said she was no more in labour than I was. I said, Come, go in, you are not the first that has done a fault. She would not go in; her master sent for her in; she went up stairs; after some time I found there were consequences which plainly proved there had been a child born; she was quite clear, and the other part she had made away. There was a great deal of milk in her breasts; I believed she had been delivered of a child within twelve hours.</p>
<p>Q. Do you think the child was born dead or alive?</p>
<p>S. Woan. I cannot tell that, because the child had lain in the copper-hole from the Monday morning till the Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>Q. Were there any marks of violence upon it?</p>
<p>S. Woan. No, there were not.</p>
<p>Q. Is it your opinion that the child was born dead or alive?</p>
<p>S. Woan. I am not able to say which; had I seen it the same day it was born, I might have known. She denied to
<persName id="t17611021-27-person312"> Rebecca Graham
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person312" type="surname" value="Graham"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person312" type="given" value="Rebecca"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person312" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> and me, she ever had a child.</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person313"> Rebecca Grayham
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person313" type="surname" value="Grayham"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person313" type="given" value="Rebecca"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person313" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I saw the child.</p>
<p>Q. Are you a married woman?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. I am, and a midwife.</p>
<p>Q. When did you see it?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. On the Thursday after it was taken out of the copper-hole.</p>
<p>Q. Did it seem to be a child that had come to its full time?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. It did.</p>
<p>Q. Did you see the prisoner at the bar?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. I did; I was sent for on the Monday, the same day she was delivered. I taxed her with being delivered of a child, within 24 hours. She denied it, and said, she had had no child. I never saw her after that, till before the coroner; I took my oath, she had had a child.</p>
<p>Q. Had she milk in her breasts?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. She had.</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person314"> Ann Jeffs
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person314" type="surname" value="Jeffs"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person314" type="given" value="Ann"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person314" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I belong to St. Martin's-workhouse; on the 21st of last month, the prisoner was brought up into our lying-in room, I asked her several questions. First I said, young woman, I wont to know whether you are in labour. - No, said she; I said you have had a child, she
<xptr type="pageFacsimile" doc="176110210042"/> said not I. Then why do they send you in the lying in room. Then I went to my own room; I had no sooner been there, but I was ordered to go up and examine her again. I said, come young woman, you must unlace yourself, and go to bed. I examined her, and found she had borne a child, this was on Monday night. On the Tuesday morning, I went up to her again, she was up, sitting drinking tea. I said, A good morrow to you young woman, how do you find yourself. She said, Thank God, very well. I called her into a private place, and said, I shall be put to my oath, and I know you have had a child, let me know where it is. Said she, then I will tell the truth. I have had a child. - Was it born alive? - yes, it was. - Well, and what then did you do with it? - Madam; I strangled it. - You shock me so, that I have not power to say any thing to you. What did you strangle it with? - with a string. - You are ruined for ever. Pray who is the father? - a young man at a wholesale tobacconist's at Aldgate. - What did you do with it? - I put it into the copper-hole. I went to to her mistress, Mrs. Evans; she said, I know what you are come about, the child is found they had found it.</p>
<p>Prisoner's Defence.</p>
<p>I never said no such thing to her; she asked me whether the child was born dead or alive. I said, it was born dead.</p>
<p>
<rs id="t17611021-27-verdict144" type="verdictDescription">
<interp inst="t17611021-27-verdict144" type="verdictCategory" value="guilty"/> Guilty </rs>
<rs id="t17611021-27-punish145" type="punishmentDescription">
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<interp inst="t17611021-27-punish145" type="punishmentSubcategory" value="deathAndDissection"/>
<join result="defendantPunishment" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-defend309 t17611021-27-punish145"/> Death </rs>.</p>
<p>This being Friday, she immediately received sentence to be executed on the Monday following, and her body to be dissected and anatomized.</p> </div1></div0>
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<div0 id="17611021" type="sessionsPaper" fragment="yes">
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<p>311. (M)
<persName id="t17611021-27-defend309" type="defendantName"> Esther Rowden
<interp inst="t17611021-27-defend309" type="surname" value="Rowden"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-defend309" type="given" value="Esther"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-defend309" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> ,
<rs id="t17611021-27-deflabel139" type="occupation">single woman</rs>
<join result="persNameOccupation" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-defend309 t17611021-27-deflabel139"/>, was indicted for the
<rs id="t17611021-27-off140" type="offenceDescription">
<interp inst="t17611021-27-off140" type="offenceCategory" value="kill"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-off140" type="offenceSubcategory" value="infanticide"/> wilful murder of her female bastard-child </rs>. She likewise stood charged on the coroner's inquest for the said murder,
<rs id="t17611021-27-cd141" type="crimeDate">Sept. 21</rs>
<join result="offenceCrimeDate" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-off140 t17611021-27-cd141"/>. +</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person310"> Mary Evans
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person310" type="surname" value="Evans"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person310" type="given" value="Mary"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person310" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I have known the prisoner better than six years. I had a mistrust she was with child, but she denied it to me.</p>
<p>
<xptr type="pageFacsimile" doc="176110210041"/>Q. How long before she was brought to bed?</p>
<p>M. Evans. Better than two months before.</p>
<p>Q. How came you to tax her with it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I thought she grew bigger.</p>
<p>Q. Did she live near you?</p>
<p>M. Evans. She was my
<rs id="t17611021-27-deflabel142" type="occupation">servant</rs>
<join result="persNameOccupation" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-defend309 t17611021-27-deflabel142"/>.</p>
<p>Q. Where do you live?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I live in
<placeName id="t17611021-27-crimeloc143">St. Martin's-lane, at the Star and Garter</placeName>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-crimeloc143" type="placeName" value="St. Martin's-lane, at the Star and Garter"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-crimeloc143" type="type" value="crimeLocation"/>
<join result="offencePlace" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-off140 t17611021-27-crimeloc143"/>; she was brought to-bed at my house.</p>
<p>Q. How do you know that?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I found the child in the copper-hole on Tuesday morning, the 22d of September. I perceived her grown thinner, and suspected she had been delivered, and I looked all over the house.</p>
<p>Q. Did she say any thing about it after you found the child?</p>
<p>M. Evans. She was talked to, but not by me, I was not by at the time.</p>
<p>Q. Was there any thing to cover the child when it was found?</p>
<p>M. Evans. There was a black petticoat of the prisoner's about it, and there was a red garter tied about it.</p>
<p>Q. Whose garter was it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. That I can't tell.</p>
<p>Q. Whereabouts was it ty'd round it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. It was ty'd round on the top of the petticoat, round the neck of the child.</p>
<p>Q. Was it ty'd tight?</p>
<p>M. Evans. Not very tight.</p>
<p>Q. Was it ty'd with a hard knot?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I cannot be positive whether it was a hard knot or no.</p>
<p>Q. Was the child male or female?</p>
<p>M. Evans. It was a girl.</p>
<p>Q. What did the prisoner say about it?</p>
<p>M. Evans. I never heard her say any thing, one way or the other.</p>
<p>Q. Is the petticoat here?</p>
<p>M. Evans. It is not.</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person311"> Susanna Woan
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person311" type="surname" value="Woan"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person311" type="given" value="Susanna"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person311" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I am a midwife; I have known the prisoner some years, I always took her to be a very sober person, I never had an ill opinion of her before this.</p>
<p>Q. Did you see the child?</p>
<p>S. Woan. I did.</p>
<p>Q. Had it come to its full-time?</p>
<p>S. Woan. It had.</p>
<p>Q. Was you by when it was found?</p>
<p>S. Woan. No, I was not.</p>
<p>Q. Where did you see it first?</p>
<p>S. Woan. When the jury sent for me.</p>
<p>Q. Was any thing ty'd about it when you saw it?</p>
<p>S. Woan. No, there was not. Mrs. Evans sent for me, I went; she told me Betty was in the yard in labour. I went to her, and said, How do you do? She said, Very well. I said, You seem to be in labour. She said she was no more in labour than I was. I said, Come, go in, you are not the first that has done a fault. She would not go in; her master sent for her in; she went up stairs; after some time I found there were consequences which plainly proved there had been a child born; she was quite clear, and the other part she had made away. There was a great deal of milk in her breasts; I believed she had been delivered of a child within twelve hours.</p>
<p>Q. Do you think the child was born dead or alive?</p>
<p>S. Woan. I cannot tell that, because the child had lain in the copper-hole from the Monday morning till the Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>Q. Were there any marks of violence upon it?</p>
<p>S. Woan. No, there were not.</p>
<p>Q. Is it your opinion that the child was born dead or alive?</p>
<p>S. Woan. I am not able to say which; had I seen it the same day it was born, I might have known. She denied to
<persName id="t17611021-27-person312"> Rebecca Graham
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person312" type="surname" value="Graham"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person312" type="given" value="Rebecca"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person312" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> and me, she ever had a child.</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person313"> Rebecca Grayham
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person313" type="surname" value="Grayham"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person313" type="given" value="Rebecca"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person313" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I saw the child.</p>
<p>Q. Are you a married woman?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. I am, and a midwife.</p>
<p>Q. When did you see it?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. On the Thursday after it was taken out of the copper-hole.</p>
<p>Q. Did it seem to be a child that had come to its full time?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. It did.</p>
<p>Q. Did you see the prisoner at the bar?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. I did; I was sent for on the Monday, the same day she was delivered. I taxed her with being delivered of a child, within 24 hours. She denied it, and said, she had had no child. I never saw her after that, till before the coroner; I took my oath, she had had a child.</p>
<p>Q. Had she milk in her breasts?</p>
<p>R. Grayham. She had.</p>
<p>
<persName id="t17611021-27-person314"> Ann Jeffs
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person314" type="surname" value="Jeffs"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person314" type="given" value="Ann"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-person314" type="gender" value="female"/> </persName> . I belong to St. Martin's-workhouse; on the 21st of last month, the prisoner was brought up into our lying-in room, I asked her several questions. First I said, young woman, I wont to know whether you are in labour. - No, said she; I said you have had a child, she
<xptr type="pageFacsimile" doc="176110210042"/> said not I. Then why do they send you in the lying in room. Then I went to my own room; I had no sooner been there, but I was ordered to go up and examine her again. I said, come young woman, you must unlace yourself, and go to bed. I examined her, and found she had borne a child, this was on Monday night. On the Tuesday morning, I went up to her again, she was up, sitting drinking tea. I said, A good morrow to you young woman, how do you find yourself. She said, Thank God, very well. I called her into a private place, and said, I shall be put to my oath, and I know you have had a child, let me know where it is. Said she, then I will tell the truth. I have had a child. - Was it born alive? - yes, it was. - Well, and what then did you do with it? - Madam; I strangled it. - You shock me so, that I have not power to say any thing to you. What did you strangle it with? - with a string. - You are ruined for ever. Pray who is the father? - a young man at a wholesale tobacconist's at Aldgate. - What did you do with it? - I put it into the copper-hole. I went to to her mistress, Mrs. Evans; she said, I know what you are come about, the child is found they had found it.</p>
<p>Prisoner's Defence.</p>
<p>I never said no such thing to her; she asked me whether the child was born dead or alive. I said, it was born dead.</p>
<p>
<rs id="t17611021-27-verdict144" type="verdictDescription">
<interp inst="t17611021-27-verdict144" type="verdictCategory" value="guilty"/> Guilty </rs>
<rs id="t17611021-27-punish145" type="punishmentDescription">
<interp inst="t17611021-27-punish145" type="punishmentCategory" value="death"/>
<interp inst="t17611021-27-punish145" type="punishmentSubcategory" value="deathAndDissection"/>
<join result="defendantPunishment" targOrder="Y" targets="t17611021-27-defend309 t17611021-27-punish145"/> Death </rs>.</p>
<p>This being Friday, she immediately received sentence to be executed on the Monday following, and her body to be dissected and anatomized.</p> </div1></div0>
</body>
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