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SENTENCE OF TEN YEARS PENAL1…

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SENTENCE OF TEN YEARS PENAL 1 SERVITUDE* Mrs. Hunier iried at the Cardiff Assizes. Judge on the Heartlessness of Her Crime* At G1a.morgan AS6 at Cardiff on Friday —heiore Mr. Justice Lawrence—Henrietta Hunier IÓ¡, dflOW ao a. Housekeeper, moisted tyr aueaiptuig to euttocate all 1Il tant three months old, named tkuia Lillian Thomas, with inteat to luii it, and also with abandoning the ctmd September 1st near Maetsygwe; nen, Mo. iston. Mr. Ivor BowctO (ukitruci-wj by Mr Lawrence tCchajxt* waJl- prosecuted £ or the Treasury, anri ilr Vaughan Williams and Mr. Stanley Griffittob Jones Unstructed by Messrs. Harold Lloyd ajid Cross) detenoeu. Before opening the case, Mr Ivor Bowen to the comments thtI appeared in the iocaj newspapers concerning the mat thfc Jury to dismiss from their minds anything they tmpht, bave read or beard He was afrai" reT that wa.s sufficient evidence forthcoming that would warrant the "I ry III conquer uig must aenously the ofienCo and the person charged Mr Bowen then proceeded to deal with the ts' said rhe prisoner on May 9th be came housekeeper £ Mr. Collis. fruiterer, Mysydd-street, Swansea, and sh* stayed there some tlme August she obtained leave to go to ycotJaad to bury her father at Edinburgh While she was away an adver tisemem appeared in the -Western Daily Fress> Bristol (on August 15th) as follows: -"Married couple without children, resid UlS tn Gloucestershire, would iike to take kaby as own No afwr claun. Small pre minia required.—Mrs. David Hunter, °* Mrs Lockie, 139. St. Georges-road, near Charing Cross, Glasgow." This advertise ttent was answered by a Mrs Bursnall (ot Winscorobe, Somerset) and subsequently the prisoner met Mrs Bursnall on the Cardiff Railway Station (this was on Sept 1st) and received a baby and parcel of clothing. That the prisoner was at the Cardiff Station there could be no possible doubt. A telegram was sent to a Mrs Murray, the daughter of a Airs. Bromfield ot Swansea, which read — "Landore, 3.50.—Hunter. The accused left Cardiff by the tast train, leaving at 2.2-3 It, would be shown, continued counsel, that on August 30th Mrs Hunter saw Mrs. Brom- neld, a neighbour of Mr Collis, and asked her if she would nurse a baby for 5 or 6 weeks at 5s. a week, the baby being repre- sented as belonging to a relative. Mrs. Bromfield suggested prisoner should adver- tise in the "South Wales Daily Post," and an advertisement was inserted, signed "Bea I trioe." Mrs. Hunter told Mrs. Bromfieid she was going to Cardiff to get the baby mto her possession. She arranged with Mrs- Murray to take the child at £1 a month for 5 or 6 weeks, and it was arranged that Mrs. Murray should go to Landore to meet the down train The prisoner was seen at Lan- dore Railway Station, where she told a wit- ness she was waiting for a lady to come from Cardiff to take the baby she was then carrying Mrs Hupter did not see Mrs Murray at Landore—he understood she was on the wrong side of the platform. Later, continued counsel, Mrs. Hunter was seen going up Ynisforgan road leading to Maesv gwernen Hall, carrying a baby, aM after proceeding up there she was again seen run J1.d" ack without the baby. Mr Bowen detailed how a baby was found in a I 550 yards from hygweYnen Ixxlge. • s •' tts head was tied a. bonnet, the being tied so tightly that they had to u cut. "It couid not have slipped. -ouneei. "they were so tight, and the prov ition contended that that was done '•rirlj ie intention of hastening the death ot the Id As it was, the infant was taken Ut t-h" Swansea Workhouse, where the little one One witness could not be present, but hI" thought there was abundant evidence to before the jury. The accused's own statements showed she was in Morriston on the r -ht in question, and it was clear that -he v d been carrying a baby, and that the bvound was the one she had been seen ng. On Sept. 2nd Mrs. Bromfield askei'i Mrs. Hunter where she had been to ft- obvious nisrbt-, and what had become r,i r..«> baby Mrs. Hunter said the babv was right, and that when it was wrapmxl isp u. a whit«-<#<*awl the mother began to cry On Sept- 4, when charged by t. prisoner said she gave the child to a M-c Nilson. of Neath at the tram terminus, ,,j,.crt{)n. She also told the detective she nao een to Cardiff The presumption was conclusive, she received the baby at Cardiff, took it to Land ore. There was r.o I oerson as Mrs Wilson, counsel alleged, quently prisoner was charged by Sergt ■ ;n. and she told that officer she went to Cat\) ff. met her cousin, Jane Jenkins, and rec«i -ed a rhud, together with £ 25, to give ♦x, j M rs. Wilson, whom she would meet at -raco terminus, Morriston. Mrs. Hun- stated sh had been given a photo to fy Mrs- Wilson, whom she met and • the babv and money. It was diffi- o prove what the prisoner's intention It could only be implied from her for which she was responsible, and tfc prosecution sa™ the child was r:* A wilfully in th<> ditch and tied in such a warmer for th^P^W o'getting rid of the !'r« >Hj and respon^hiltty of the child, •n two ways prisoner was criminally liable })V h^r acts. Even if Phe had not tied th« np. cawthe child aside under cir- 10 which the infant could not tW cha^ of rtself, then if it had died, 4, ^/onld have been charged with murder. fv-sdence WM then caned. Counsel's <¡.p.en- ir.r seech lasted forty minutes, the accused the dock listening atten- iirC''V both to the opening and the evidenoe. iiJt R j- fruiterer, &wansea, was Arst caned. He said accused had been in hi.. service as housekeeper. She left him to Scotland, w she told him. A letter fT;r-*inced) was identified by Mr, Collis as -eceivd by him. It was sent on Septem- h 1905. was objected to, and Mr. Jo wen Mrs Toward, a wardress at Swansea J>r;t.n (from where the letter been sent) tc it., This the witneee did. V: Pevington, a Swaa«»ea telegraph clerk, wcu; he-D called forward to prove a telegram (jBr* On stepping into the box he addressed toe Tudse, and said that he had been in- jstrnctec to say that in a. previous case it had l" ru ed that lt was not necescarv to pro- a subpoenaed telegram. Thei-e was Wtl r' Whilst th« i^ge looked « "til!. Jj tnswer to Mr cwen, said he had been instruct,-d bv the ^rT1 °Llhe G P 0- iri WTitincr The fc, i»dge tto h. had do'^he"^ vnr- in calling the attention of the V, tie matter, but he (the judge) did n2 n,r. the section applied to this s. Toward was now recall^ and mic. • d at some length as to the J the prison Mr. Williams (for tL^D ) asked if there was any different fn ormation of letters m that letter an!i rw>ther. She said there was, bi tl 5hes in the letter "S." The the that the liters be given them tos^f veTe handed over, whereupon theX^ <«ed: "You had better C rC'' on Ihe subject, gentleme^? Z°5% lot mnr» to consider." Collis was now aned, a.nd sa.id h o relation to prisoner. "Lulu" who ^"ted to in one letter was simply « t 0f ^e prisoner s. p y a T^ch. Afbridge, Somerset, was caPed If thnt he knew Mrs. Florence BuS it, had s6en T 0 days ago and lkn a bad state. She U i as In a leÍ1 lung. ° in „ Is she unable to attend to Bowen- less: Bowen v> |jve three months. less s She W ^^rates' clerk offioeQ, Lake, 0i the gS) admitted to Mr. T' «7M,next VVot the depositions were ^Wl"mmsihaD^« was .b»»t l, ^vhen the p however, were • before tb £ tt was neveT th« read th-LJ"stKfPf0re the prisoner. Williams 7 b that y°n read fV,„ 0 y°! /fW prisoners? are .«,■ ? fdSSS .r-• *reW' vvas requisitioned- ean_ She called m the f rJ Bnwen t'le evlden<> _th \l lanter. to her conversation qMioa Positions, Mr. WillialI16 now quoted from I Statute 1848 and he contended the wit nesses' evidenoe should be read over to the ¡ Prisoner. The latter might have some cor rection or addition to make. Mr. Bowen said the only requirement was that the depositions should be taken in the presence of the prisoner. His Lordship said he did not think the Section quoted had any bearing on the mat- ter. Mr. Williams asked that a noto of the objection should be taken. Further evidence was then called, the evidence of Mrs. Florence Bursnall, as taken 1M the police court, being read over. Mrs. Bursnall alleged she banded the baby to the prisoner, and gave her 3s. and some cloth ing- Mre. Ilnnter told Mrs Bursnall that her husband was a captain, that she was staying wil. her brother, who was ill at Swansea. Mrs. Buvsnall's evidence further stated that she received £33 with the child, and she wanted it to have a good home, as her health was unsatisfactory That was the only child she had had any transactions in- She swore in hsr depositions that the deceased was the baby she handed to Mrs. Hunter at Cardiff Actused did not say she was to meet her sister Mrs. Bursnall had one child of her own, and she also stated she had a little left of the £33 she received with the child. Accused wrote to Mrs. Bursnall stating she wanted to see her, so that the witness could see that she was not the party who took the child. It was stated in the letter that her twin sister bad a baby on Sept 1st, and she was thinking wheVle it wa.s the same child." She also asked \11" Bursnall whether she gave her sister a cheque fo- £3.3. and whether her sister had written since she had the baby Mrs. Hun tfT further wrote that she had taken her sifiter's letters in her (prisoner's) own name, as her sister had no fixed abode. Mrs Alice Maud Murray said she had never seen the prisoner s alleged twin-sister Mrs. Harries, who at one time lived at Landore, said she recognised the prisoner having been at Landore In the day in 1ues tron, when prisoner was alleged-to have re ceived the baby That was at 2.30 d m. She saw the won.an Hunter in the waiting it-cm at this time and also later at 5.30. John Whyndam Da vies, annealer, Mor- Üm, said he was standing near the Mor riston tram terminus cri the evening of Sept. lISt. when a woman dressed all in Llack, passed, carrying a baby. He identi fied the woman as the prisoner. Oross-examiiuxi, he had not seen the r?- icrts in the papers as he could not read. John Thomas Penrhiwforgan, vaid he saw a woman carrying a baby in a sfnw; 011 the evening of Sept. 1st at Penrhlwor. gan. Mrs. Williams, wife of William Williams, Pontlasse, said she saw a woman wearing a three-quarter coat twice the same night (,n the second occasion she was commg towards witness and her daughter from the direction of Pontlasse. She wss singing. Miss Will urns, daughter the last wit ness, said when returning the woman was singing She had fJ. brown paper paroo1, and was running. Witness identified the accused s tiv woman m question, and bpoke to hearing a faint cry r David Lewis, draper's assist*11 • rts^ir5^nw o,t c„Sg i'f b«.T .t WW » "Shtly fas- "wiiw'owle no"reply in cross^xamins- tion to the suggestion that the piece of rib- bon might nave got to the back of the head through being rubbed by the shawl, out he did admit the baby might have rolled from the edge of a grassy mound into the ditch The baby wad crying when found. At this stage the Court adjourned tor 'uncheon. Ed. Williams, gardener, Maesygwernen Lodge, corroborated. Mrs. Gwenllian Lewis, Cwmrhydyceirw, spoke to seeing someone running down the road, and proceeded to the tspot with Cole and Williams. When found, they could not see the baby's head. She described the position of the bonnet, and said when it was cut away the infant was crying. Previous to this it seemed unable t cry freolv, and appeared to he smothering. She did not think the ribbon on the bonnet could have slipped into tho position round the head. Dr. Hughes, medical officer at Swansea Workhouse, said the child was admitted on September 2nd and died on October 2nd from malnutrition. Th position of the Lonnet would tend to suffocation. He thought the child would have suffocated in about an hour's time if not found as it was. Cross-examined There were no marks on the child's skin when admitted. Dr. Lloyd Edwards corroborated. Evidence as to arrest of prisoner was given by Detective-inspector Lewis and Sergt. But- ton. This was the case for the prosecution, which closed at 3 p.m., eighteen witness hav- ing been called. Mr. Ivor Bowen then addressed the jury, and said he was unable to refer to Mrs. Bursnall's evidence, but would do so shortly. There were two points for too defence: ftrsft, as to identity j second, as to whether it was simply a case, whether it was one of simple abandonment. Mr. Bowen contended that the woman was obliged to abandon the child as she had only received 3s. from Cardiff, and could not go back to Mr. Collis's with it. If she had wished to abandon the child she could easily have done so. but she went along the road and carefully placed it not near a house but in a lonely ditch. The bonnet must have been deliberately put as described. It was asserted the child had roiled into the ditch, but evidence -imwed it would have rolled back into the road. Then if it had been placed on top of the ditch, and had rolkd down, it would have gone on to its face. Mr. Vaughan Williams then addressed the jury for the prisoner. He said the jury were only trying the prisoner for the more serious charge. Were they convinces that the wo- man had malice aforethought, and had done something on the road in question? The I jury might have no doubt that the child was taken by prisoner from Cardiff, and was seen at Landore, but was she the woman who had placed the child where it was found? It was not of much importance to the charge whether she left the child there or not. The evidence pointed that her intend was not murderous, on account of her previous conduct. There was no concealment. The fact that the ad vertisement in the Swansea "Daily Post" l was not in her name was not strange, as many used numbers, and he submitted there was no criminal intention. She had stated she expected the child and had told people she was going to fn: h it. The number of witnesses on the road disposed of the theory that it was a lonely spot. At any rate, he suggested it was a fairly public place. Would anyone in their senses attempt to do murder at such a spot as that where the child was found? There J were many other places where it could have been far more successfully hidden. The prisoner was not charged by the police with the more serious offence until October 11th. If the police really thought she at- tempted to murder the child they should have charged her at once, and he rubmitted that if there was anything in the suggestion of th-o more serious charge, they would have charged her at once- The police thought, to his rpind, it was a case of abandonment, and nothing else entered into their minds. A lttle piece of loose trimming on the bonnet 1 had to be cut, but counsel pointed out t. CJu Waf 110 'iDot in the trimming, and, ar er, he submitted it had slipped, and n°Uv! position. Surely there was bro h^f a fltmsy ca.se of strangulation He the jury to ex bon t*L oan^. and the "flimsy little rib- case of Ruff mfc'ical gentleman, too. in a find bliwvnrfw^03 ij1, would have expected to the witno^ttra' C<? e £ r5' and flabbmess Had after stated tW^tT* the chlJd immwiiate,y suffocation' \\| evidence of brought about tk suffocation was being early svmptorm have expected which the prison^ bein8 weak> for sible. If tl..ere Wa« Wae- 171 no way respon- not the person h m'tent to kill, would have thrown the K^V6 more likely to His Lordship sa'd^ OVrftr a hedg€? he did not think t regards sirangu'ition to <™*ider th! Tas any evidence, suffocation. His f .c'barge of attempted summing up.. ^"lp, continuing in his would put out uf 4L. \Vas quite sure the jury previously read or hlT m.!nds ,;at they had desirable and irnnror^ was very t30" and comments upon o T publish reports they came to be trie(fcas.es of this sort before calculated to affect doing so was the jatom. minds ought to be free from all pre 109 ^d preconceived ideas of the su | had sworn to give then" vc ?rtimg to the evidence, and he asked t e o put ajside everything they had heard ,ore" His Lordship then reviewed the evi h had been, he said, suggested faintly that the accused was not the woman, n was difficult to see how that suggestion could be insisted upon, because there was ample evidence she was the woman who yade all the arrangements. She was seen at Lan- dore, and a woman answering her description was seen by others, and she no doubt was tiie person who drooped the baby. o es evidence was to theefreet that tiv child must have been carefully and deliberately placed where found. Counsel for the defence had conducted his case skilfully, but he had not suggested prisoner was not the woman. Personally, he would M' assume the jury could come to the conclusion the pnsoMT was not the woman Then the question was, had the cace for the prosecution been made out? The jury considered their verdict at 4.10, and a few minutes later an intimation was given they wished to retire. After half an hour's consultation in pri- vate, the jury found a verdict of guilty on the more serious charge they had been try- ing. Mr. Ivor Bowen said they had information of the prisoner's dealings with children. It was decided not to proceed with the lesser charge. Detective-inspector WaJI, of Bristol, said he knew the prisoner as Dora or Hannah Johnstone, and had known her since 1331. He said he had to make cnnniries with reference to a cheque being obtained by false pretences, and he traced the offence to the prisoner, who was convicted before the magistrates and sentenced to six weeks' hard labour, He then lost sight of her until 1904, when he ascertained >he ay as living in one of the best suburbs of Bristol. She ob- tained a large quantity of furniture on the hire system, and sold some furniture to a young man about to be married on the pre- tence it was her Other's for £ 100. A war- rant was issued for her arrest for stealing a piano, and witness made enquiries from various parts of the country, and found pri- soner had been carrying on an extensive traffic in babies. She would cau,-e adver- tisements to be inserted in various part.s- 6ometirnes describing herself as the wife of a, ShIP s engineer or an army man. E¡he would get hold of illegitimate children, ise fa1.p names and let4or oxchange.. and would generally make appointments at railway sta- t-ions. She used to hand these chi- ren over to poor women. Personally, witness had seen seven children, and thev had many more Only the previous mpht witness saw a person whom prisoner left a ch-Id with over two vears ago, and she bad rot received a farthing more than £ 1 paio down when the child was given. That was a specimen. During the time prisoner was living at Bris- to] there were two young babies tound aban- doned in the town. The JVdge Do you connect her d,initely? Witness No, my lord. Mr. Vaughan Williams: None of these previous convictit-rbs are charged The Judge: Previous convictions would not affect this matter. TIny are of an en- tirely different character. Air. Wi;liaiii,s These are not charged, and I am instructed there 6 a mistake. Witness, in answer to further questions, said the woman had been identified aft re- ceiving the children. Mr. Williams submitted the. witness' evi- dence was merely heresay, but Witness said the mothers and women who received tl.,lll identifi d the prisoner, and he saw hftr himseii. lie traced the corres- pondence and saw the babies. Mr. Wiiliams: I am instructed this is quite untrue there is some mistake. The woman was in Philadelphia, at the time. She never lived in Bristol at all, and at the time of the Bristol charges she was in Phila- delphia. The Judge: Yon swear you saw her in Bristol'! Witness Yes. I saw her in custody twice. I have a photograph in my pocket taken the first time she wan in custody with her birth- mark on the cheek. Mr. Bowen Do you know anything about fingers p r,P-ts ? Witness I believe that was done by the Metropolitan police. Sergt. Button, Clydach, &aid he had made enquiries regarding the prisoner during the fortnight she was away in August. She re- ceived two young children in Glasgow, one on the 18th August and the other on August 14th last. Mr Williarns: Is this of your own ex- 'I penenoo The Judge: It is rather from enquiries from the police there- Mr. Bowen: To whom did you make en- quiries? Wit-new The chief constable of Scotland —(laughter)—Glasgow. Mr Bowen Have you names of the per- sons? Witness: She received children from Mrs. Wilson (Leift-h) 'and Miss Campbell, and handed over a child to Mrs. Rennick, of Glasgow on August 21. She did not pay Mrs. Rennick anything. That child was now dead. Did you find she received a baby boy from a woman named Mrs. McGoffan, of Glas- gow, with £ 2?—Yes. Did she hand the child to Mrs. Gardner, of Bridgeton, in Glasgow?—Yes. And promised to pay 10s. a month, and never paid any more ?--She never paid any- 1 Do you know of cases in the Swansea die- tnd ?-Yet; Do von know of the case of the child on March 5th this ye^-Yes a baby boy was handed to Mrs. Daly, wife of a labourer living on the Swansea Strand, and she paid 2,3 12s. The child subsequently died, and the body was buried at Swansea Cemetery. And the Craigcefnparc case in 1903? She is not connected with that. The Pontarduiai ea.s.e ?-On ffune 7th, 1906, Mrs. John Williams received a baby boy from prisoner at Landore Railway Sta- tion, and prisoner promised to 1 ay 10s. a month. Only one instalment was paid. And the Wind-street, Swansea, care?— Prisoner handed a baby boy to Mr Pengeliyr of Swansea, on July 3, 1905, and promised to pay her 16s. a month. Mrs. Pengelly re- ceived no money, and did not know where prisoner resided, and did not know of hor again till she saw her in the dock ait Swan- sea Police Court There was another case in Llanelly. Mr. Bowen: That is enough. Mr. Williams: Whv were these previous convictions not charged in the usual way? Mr. Bowell They wei not previous con- victions. They were to the Clerk of Arraigns*, and I think he said in this class of cases they are not mentioned. Mr. Williams: With regard to the Scot- land enquiries, whom did you enquire for? Have you the letter. Witness No, Sir.. Whom did you inquire for?—We made enquiries for the prisoner whiJst she was in Scotland. In what name: When I searched pn- soner's box, I found letters addressed to Mrs. Jupp ——• In what name did you enquire of the Scotch constable?—Mre Hunter. Prisoner had nothing to say, and His Lordship said "You have been found guilty of attempting to suffocate this infant child with intent to kill and murder it The evidence before me leaves no doubt you cad <-a> intend. Your conduct \r.ls extremely astute and clever, and also as heartless as it could possibly be. You have been trancing in this soTt of thing. The sentence of the court is that you be sent to penal servitude for ten years. The prisoner, with downcast eyeø, was tapped on the shoulder and went down the steps. Mrs. Hunter's story of her life, as told to a Cardiff pressman, states that she is 38, and born at Glasgow. Her maiden name was Brown. She had a brother and two sisters. She lived at Carlisle and Newcastle it first. Mrs. Hunter continued do a lot of oil-painting, and also plav the piano and banjo. I' have given singing lessons, and ako speak French. When I was 22 years of age I was married to a Mr. John Thomas Jo!.nstone, of Newcastle, a builder and cor tractor. My parents were against the marriage, thinking I was marrying someone beieath me, and refused to allow me aT heme. For the first eight months of our mariied life we lived at Newcastle, and then went to America. We lived in Hamilton, Canada, for about three years, my husband Canada, for about three years, my husband being manager of a -ooon factory there. We then returned to England to Newcastle, aryl lived there about four years and alter- wards went to London, where we liv'd till 1900 "My husband then joined the City of Lon- dot Imperial Yeomanry, and went to the South African war. h uen the campaign er-Gled he joined Baden Powell's Mounted Pc lice, and I have not heard from my hus- band since. When my husband went to Africa I. took to giving music lessons and teaching painting in London. I did this for about a year, and th-.m went to Calcutta a travelling compan-on with a lady, and stayed with her there at out a year, when I got an appointment as sewing maid to the Maharajah of Coutch- oeake, an Indian prince, and I staved there about fifteen months. I then returned to England and got a situation es companion housekeeper in Man- er. I stayed with this lady until about eight months ago, and travelled all over turope with her. Eight inonths ago I went as housekeeper o >- r. Collis at Mysydd-street, Swansea, and was with h:111 up to the time of my a.r- rest. J adopted the name of Hunter about twelve months after my husband went to t lc,a; and T did this because I have not beard from him. "J have a twin sister who is very like me, and whose name is Dora Johnson. She 's the wife of a sea captain, and has not lived with her husband for years. She has of late lived a.t Newport, Mon. and Swan- sea.

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