hus discovered her secret doings, which led to her
trial at the next sessions at Darby.
Wagner relates the history of a case of great medicolegal interest. An
unmarried servant, who was pregnant, persisted in denying it, and took
every pains to conceal it. She slept in a room with two other maids,
and, on examination, she stated that on the night in question she got
up toward morning, thinking to relieve her bowels. For this purpose she
secured a wooden tub in the room, and as she was sitting down the child
passed rapidly into the empty vessel. It was only then that she became
aware of the nature of her pains. She did not examine the child
closely, but was certain it neither moved nor cried. The funis was no
doubt torn, and she made an attempt to tie it. Regarding the event as a
miscarriage, she took up the tub with its contents and carried it to a
sand pit about 30 paces distant, and threw the child in a hole in the
sand that she found already made. She covered it up with sand and
packed it firmly so that the dogs could not get it. She returned to her
bedroom, first calling up the man-servant at the stable. She awakened
her fellow-servants, and feeling tired sat down on a stool. Seeing the
blood on the floor, they asked her if she had made way with the child.
She said: "Do you take me for an old sow?" But, having their suspicions
aroused, they traced the blood spots to the sand pit. Fetching a
spade, they dug up the child, which was about one foot below the
surface. On the access of air, following the removal of the sand and
turf, the child began to cry, and was immediately taken up and carried
to its mother, who washed it and laid it on her bed and soon gave it
the breast. The child was healthy with the exception of a club-foot,
and must have been under ground at least fifteen minutes and no air
could have reached it. It seems likely that the child was born
asphyxiated and was buried in this state, and only began to assume
independent vitality when for the second time exposed to the air. This
curious case was verified to English correspondents by Dr. Wagner, and
is of unquestionable authority; it became the subject of a thorough
criminal investigation in Germany.
During the funeral procession of Marshal MacMahon in Paris an enormous
crowd was assembled to see the cortege pass, and in this crowd was a
woman almost at the time of delivery; the jostling which she received
in her endeavors to obtain a place of vantage
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