A case of alleged cruelty to a servant girl, which excited as general and as great indignation as the celebrated case of Mrs. Brownrigg came before the sitting alderman at Guildhall, and was resumed at repeated examinations.
Mr. George Sloane, an eminent special-pleader, residing with his wife at chambers in Pump Court, Temple, was charged with starving and cruelly beating Jane Wilbred, a girl in his service as maid of all work.
Underneath Mr. Sloane's chambers are those of Mr. Phillimore and Mr. Fry. The laundress and clerk of Mr. Phillimore had for some months noticed that the girl Wilbred was becoming miserably emaciated, and that she bore the marks of violence on her person; they had questioned her, and she had unwillingly confessed that she was nearly dead from starvation and ill usage. On their information, Mr. Phillimore and Mr. Fry sought an interview with Mr. Sloane, and insisted on obtaining the custody of the girl; and after some demur he yielded her up (Tuesday). She ate some food ravenously, and was made ill by it; she was then taken home by the laundress, and a doctor was called in, and on his report of her dangerous condition she was sent to the Royal Free Hospital. It was not until the following Saturday that she had so far rallied that she could be safely removed to the Guildhall for examination.
Mrs. Bell stated that she remembered the appearance of Jane Wilbred to have been healthy and plump eighteen months since; she was a comely girl, with some colour.
Mr. Marsden, surgeon of the Royal Free Hospital, described her appearance on Monday week. The pulse was scarcely perceptible, the extremities very cold and livid, the respiration feeble, and she was almost unable to speak. There was no disease; the appearances resulted entirely from want of food, and this must have been the case for many months. There were marks of violence about her neck and shoulders; but they had not been inflicted by anything hard, such as a stick, for if that had been used the bones must have been broken, as there was nothing to interpose between the skin and bone. He was quite satisfied that but for the interference of Mr. Fry and Mr. Phillimore she must have died: she could not have existed in that state many days longer. "I have been," he said, "in the constant habit, during the last twenty years, of seeing cases of extreme distress, in many of which the persons have died in a few hours after their admission into the hospital; but I never saw a case at all approaching the appearance presented by that girl. I could not have believed a person could be so reduced and live. She was certainly the most perfect living skeleton I had ever seen in the course of my life." Under treatment, she was slowly rallying.
The girl was now carried into the court in an easy chair. Her appearance excited a horror that found vent in groans and involuntary exclamations. As far as it was possible to judge, in her wasted and famished condition, she was a mild and good-looking girl. She was placed on an easy chair, and supported by pillows; but it was almost impossible to perceive that she was living, save by the motion of her eyes and lips. Placed beside the Alderman, her voice was inaudible to any person but himself: he questioned her aloud, held his ear close to her mouth, and catching her replies repeated them aloud. She said :- "I am going on for eighteen. I recollect being in the West London Union. On the 19th of July, going on for two years ago, I left it to go to Mr. Sloane's. I never received any wages. I did all the work. I had none of the cooking to do. I had to clean the offices, make the beds, run of errands, and also to wash the clothes belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, and those of a young lady living with Mr. Sloane, as well as my own. I had only one bed to make, for the young lady used to take a sofa into one of the sitting-rooms, and sleep there. I had my bedroom. It was a little room between the young lady's and that of Mr. Sloane. I had to sleep on a mattress placed on a bedstead. There were clothes upon it. At first they treated me pretty well, but after three months they took away the pillow, and I had to use my own clothes instead. At first I had a blanket, counterpane, and sheet; but they took away the blanket, and I had only the sheet and counterpane. It was Mrs. Sloane did this. I used to get bread and dripping and coffee for breakfast, and meat and potatoes for dinner, and also tea and bread and butter in the evening. That was only at first. A few months afterwards they gave me only a little bit of bread and mustard for breakfast, with coffee and caraway seeds. It was often 11, 12, and sometimes 1 o'clock in the day before I got even that. I had for my dinner only a little bread and broth, with a quantity of mustard in it. When there was not mustard, they gave pepper in such quantities that it used to burn my mouth. The last time I had meat was about a month before Mr. Phillimore saw me. It was generally 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening before ever I got any dinner. I used then to have for tea a little bread and pepper or mustard, but they would not allow me anything to drink with it. I was not even allowed to take any water. I could not get at it without Mrs. Sloane seeing me, and she would beat me if I attempted it. Mrs. Sloane used often to beat me. I was beaten besides that, because, when Mrs. Sloane had gone out and boiled some meat for her cat, when the meat was boiled and the cat had the meat, the water it was boiled in was put in a basin, and she accused me of drinking a little of the water. I said I had not, but she beat me very much for it. Mr. Sloane was often present when I was beaten. My mistress (Mrs. Sloane) said once to me that I must eat some of my own dirt (excrement). I said I would not, and was determined not to do so. She called Mr. Sloane, and he came and held me while she forced some of the dirt down my throat. (The whole of the persons assembled in court here burst into a loud and long-continued yell of indignation against the defendant.)
The witness continued :- Mr. Sloane beat me the first thing in the morning. I did not complain, because I thought I could not get any more from them than what they gave me. The young lady used to cook for Mr. and Mrs. Sloane. They used to have sometimes roast, and at other times boiled beef. I used to wait at table, though they did not give me anything to eat then.
Mr. Clarkson, who appeared for Mr. Sloane, put a question by way of cross-examination, but the poor girl was so utterly exhausted that she appeared to fall asleep, and become perfectly unconscious; and Dr. Marsden rose and said, "The cross-examination must be instantly discontinued, as in the present condition of the girl she cannot possibly sustain it any longer." Mr. Clarkson, therefore, forebore; and Mr. Sloane was bound over to appear.
In consequence of these revelations a warrant was issued for the apprehension of Mrs. Sloane, who, however, evaded capture by flight, her friends asserting that it was merely to avoid confinement, and that she would reappear to take her trial.
On the re-examination, on the 20th instant, Jane Wilbred was again brought forward. She had now overpassed the danger of her extreme weakness, and had gained 7lbs. in weight. Her evidence gave further details of the cruel and disgusting treatment she had received. She said - Mr. Sloane often beat me; sometimes in the morning early and sometimes in the daytime. Mrs. Sloane used to beat me because I wore my shift sleeves over my arms and shoulders in the morning; and when I cried, Mr. Sloane used to beat me for crying. My mistress would not let me wear my shift on my shoulders and neck in the morning, and because I wore it to keep me warm, she used to beat me on my back with a shoe. She would not let me wear anything on my neck, or any part of my body above the waist; so that, from the waist upwards, I was obliged to go about the house exposed, in the presence of Mr. Sloane and the young lady. Her name is Louisa Devaux. My mistress wanted me to do the work of a morning in that naked state, but I could not bear the cold, as it was in the winter time. I never went to church on Sundays, nor any place of worship. My master and mistress, and Miss Devaux, never went to church. There was always meat cooked on Sundays for Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, but I had none of it. It was several months after I first went in July that I was treated badly. At first I was allowed to wear all my clothes; but, as the winter came on, my mistress compelled me to go about the house with only my shift and gown tied round my waist by a petticoat. Mr. Sloane often beat me on the hands, arms, and back with a shoe, sometimes while I was having breakfast and some times after. At that time I had not as much as I could eat. I had meat sometimes three times a week. When my mistress could not make me eat my own dirt, my master beat me until he made me do it. (Great sensation, and long- continued hisses were levelled at the defendant, who sat immoveable in his chair, as if he was not at all concerned.) There was no water closet of any kind in the chambers belonging to Mr. Sloane. There was only one chamber utensil for the use of Mrs. Sloane, Miss Devaux, and myself, which was kept in a pan under the kitchen table. I was only allowed to use it once a day. I sometimes used it at night, and when she found it out in the morning she told me she would make me eat the contents. I was generally locked in my bedroom all night, so that I should not use the chamber utensil. When she told me she would make me eat the contents she used to try and do so. (The witness here added a statement so disgusting, that it is proper to omit it.) He beat me on that occasion with a shoe, because I refused to do as my mistress wanted, and he beat me again after it. This only happened once in Mr. Sloane's presence, and that was about a fortnight before I was taken from his house. Miss Devaux was present when they made me eat my own dirt.
At the conclusion of the examination Mr. Sloane was liberated on increased bail. When he left the court he was recognised. It was soon passed from one to another until a mob collected round him so dense that he was quite unable to escape. Mud was heaped upon him from all sides, and his ears were greeted with indignant yells. One of the mob knocked his hat over his eyes, and it was not until he was dragged and pulled about in a very rough manner that he was able to get away from them, when he ran towards the Post Office, with the mob in full chase after him, yelling and hooting at his heels at every step, until he met a policeman, who took him under his protection, and put him into a cab; but at the Temple he found a mob awaiting his arrival, and he did not get clear of his pursuers, who continued howling and yelling, until the cab had passed over Waterloo Bridge.
Mr. Sloane was again brought up for re-examination on the 27th instant. The indignation of the mob had now been raised to the highest pitch. A dense crowd awaited his approach, around the doors of the police-court, and saluted with yells every vehicle which approached - the cab which contained Jane Wil bred herself was thus greeted by the indiscriminating populace, but when it was discovered who was within she was greeted with "loud cheers." The learned counsel for Mr. Sloane was so roughly received that he was glad to escape to the magistrate's private room. When the accused entered the court he was loudly hissed; he took his seat with his back to the people, and hung his head, maintaining throughout a sullen demeanour, and appeared for the first time to feel the position in which he was placed.
The evidence was chiefly confirmatory of the emaciated and dirty condition in which the poor girl was found to be when removed to the hospital. She was weighed on the 12th (i.e. after nine days of careful attention and diet), and then weighed no more than 59 1/2 lbs.; on the 19th her weight had increased 7 1/4 lbs., and on the 26th 6 3/4 lbs. more. Her face had lost the sickly and cadaverous hue, which gave her the appearance of a woman of 30 years, bordering on death, and she seemed a nice- looking girl of fifteen. She related further instances of ill treatment.
Mr. Sloane was now committed to the Compter; but his conveyance thither was attended with no small difficulty and danger. A cab was drawn up close to the door, but as he rushed to enter it the cordon of police officers was broken through, and the offender was well nigh torn to pieces by the exasperated mob. On the road the windows of the cab were smashed in, and mud, spittle, and all kinds of filth were showered upon him through both windows. The gaoler, who sat inside, and the police officers, who rode on the box and steps, by way of screen, received more than a share of these favours; the cab, also, was much injured by the weightier missiles.
Mr. Sloane was finally committed for trial on the 30th; and admitted to bail in two sureties of 250l. each, and his own recognizance of 500l.
Mrs. Sloane, who had taken refuge at Boulogne under a feigned name, was driven thence by the French police for that infringement of the police law, and was arrested on her landing at Folkestone.
The accused were put on their trial at the Central Criminal Court, on the 5th February, 1851. The indictment consisted of a great number of counts, of which the two first were founded on the common law, which imposes on the masters of servants of tender years the duty of providing them with proper sustenance and nourishment; and charged that the prisoners, in breach of that duty, had omitted and refused to provide Jane Wilbred, being their servant and of tender years, with such proper sustenance and nourishment, and also that they had prevented her from obtaining such food and nourishment: the six following counts charged several assaults committed on Jane Wilbred; the ninth, tenth and eleventh counts were framed to meet the possible case that Mrs. Sloane was not in fact the wife of the male prisoner. As to these last, there was no doubt that the parties were married, and they were withdrawn. As to the counts charging assaults, the prisoners pleaded guilty; as to the two first, not guilty.
It was objected, on behalf of the prisoners, that these counts were not legally sustainable, and after argument, it was held by Mr. Justice Coleridge that the objection was well-founded - that a female of 16 years of age could not be held to be of tender years in the sense that she was unable to protect herself, in respect of obtaining protection and relief, from the treatment which was complained of at the hands of the defendants. The arguments of the counsel for the Crown would apply equally to a person of 30 years of age.
The jury therefore gave a verdict of "Not Guilty" as to these counts.
The prisoners were then brought up for judgment, and the learned Judge, commenting in severe terms on the heinousness of the offence, aggravated by the position in life of the offenders, sentenced them to be severally imprisoned for two years.
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