An act of ignorance

An inquest was held at the Globe Tavern, London Street, Tottenham Court Road, on the body of Ann Pullen, aged 14 years, alleged to have been murdered by her mother, Jane Pullen, a widow, with whom she resided, at No. 3, Princes Street, Fitzroy Square. Jane Pullen, the accused, was brought into court, and, in answer to the coroner, said - “My name is Jane Pullen. I live in the second floor back-room of No. 3, Princes Street, and am a widow. My husband was a sailor. The deceased was my daughter. I saw her last alive about half-past 11 on Friday morning. I left her in the room, and locked her in. I did not return home till half-past 10 the same night. I had fastened her with a cord to the bed-post in the morning. When I returned home I found the door still locked. On opening it, all was dark and quiet. I called to my daughter, but she made no answer. I then went to where I had fastened her. I found her dead, and I cut her down.”

Coroner(interrupting). - “Don't say anything further about it. It now becomes my duty to inform you that you are to consider yourself in custody. You can make any statement you please after the evidence, but it will be taken down against you.”

Mr. Joseph Layman examined. - “I am landlord of the house, No. 3, Princes Street, Fitzroy Square. The accused and her daughter occupied the second floor back room, and they had had for about three weeks a young woman, a servant out of place, staying with them. She went out on Thursday morning, and did not return till Saturday night. About 11 o'clock, on Friday night last, I had retired to rest, when the accused knocked at my room door and said, “Get up," and on my doing so she said, “Ann is dead, what shall I do -  what shall I do?" - She had then a light, and having put on my clothes, I went upstairs with her to her room. I saw the deceased lying on the floor quite dead, and a rope lying on the bed. I said, “We had better send for a doctor:' to which she replied, “What is the use of a doctor, as she is dead?' I then felt for the pulse, but it had ceased to beat, and the body was cold. I, however, thought it right to go for a surgeon.”

The Coroner. - “Now state to the jury all that transpired between you and the woman Pullen."

Witness.  "I said to her,’ ‘This is a very serious case, and there must be an inquest.' She replied, “Something must be done, for I did it.' She then said, “I left her in the morning with directions to mend some of her things, and she had been kept at home that day for the purpose from her work. I went out early in the morning, and when I returned at 11 o'clock she had done nothing. I told her she should have nothing but dry bread, and, in order to prevent her sitting down, I put the rope round her neck, and made it fast to the bedpost to prevent her sitting down,”

The Coroner. - “Now be particular, and state if she told you how she tied deceased.”

Witness. - “She said she tied her neck, and then passed the rope round the headpost of the bedstead (a French one), and then passed the ends of it round the foot, in order to prevent her untying it, so that the end of the rope was out of her reach. She said she put the rope round and round the deceased's neck, and then coiled it under the knob of the bedpost. The accused then went on to say to witness, that when she found deceased she was leaning forward in a bending position, close to the bed, but a little on one side. She said she tied the rope slack, but not slack enough for the deceased to get the rope over her chin. On the following day, I said to her that I could not understand how she had tied the rope, and she again said she had made both ends fast at the foot of the bedpost."

The rope, which is such as is used for a thick clothes-line, was here produced, and the witness expressed his belief that it was the same he saw on the bed, and which had been used.

The jury returned a verdict of “Manslaughter" against the mother.

The prisoner was tried for manslaughter on the 20th of December, and found guilty; the learned judge commented in suitable terms on the barbarity of her conduct; but thinking it more an act of ignorance than of wilful cruelty, sentenced her to imprisonment and hard labour for a year.