Baby

A newly born child was found at a farm in a pond.

The child’s mother was tried for its murder but acquitted.

The mother had been living at Woodlands Farm, Narberth South, Pembroke where she was employed.

On 30 June 1903 the farmer’s wife said she went to the pig fair in Narberth in the morning at 9.30am leaving the mother at the farm. When she returned at 12.30pm she found the mother in the kitchen and asked her if she was ill. She asked her what was wrong and the mother said that she was unwell and had had her monthly period. The farmer’s wife advised her to go to bed which she did.

The farmer’s wife then noticed some blood on the floor in the kitchen which had been partly wiped up. Later at 3pm she went into the yard where she noticed a bag floating in the pond. She took the bag out of the pond and found the dead body of a child. She said that the body was in the middle of the pond and she pulled it out because it was not usual to put things in the pond. She then left the body in the pond and went upstairs to see the mother and said, 'Oh what have you done?' and then the mother said 'Dont say anything, the child was born dead'.

The farmer’s wife said that she couldn't keep it a secret and then asked where she had had it and the mother said that she had given birth to the child out in the field whilst taking out the ashes.

The farmer’s wife then went to call the police and whilst she was gone the mother took the body and hid it in the pigcot. The farmer’s wife saw her there when she returned and the mother told her that she was going to bury the child.

When the police arrived they went to the field and found a hole on the manure heap. The police then went into the pigcot and searched the inner portion behind the door and found the child hidden in a square hole about 13 inches square.

The child’s head and shoulders where dirty and her hands clenched and thumbs indrawn. The policeman said that he had seen cases of drowning and said that the clenched fists were a symptom of drowning. The child was 20 inches long and 6.5 pounds in weight. The autopsy showed that the lungs floated in water and that there was air in the stomach as well as mucus and dirt. The autopsy determined that the child had breathed and was born alive. The autopsy stated that the dirt had got into the stomach by swallowing and concluded that the child died from drowning.

However, at the Carmarthen Assizes on 14 November 1903 the mother was found not guilty and discharged.