Now! Then! Sarah Slater (19) insists that Alfred Waddington (21) had no moral right to threaten her and behead their toddler

21 December 1852: Sarah Slater (19) insists that Alfred Waddington (21) had no moral right to threaten her and behead their toddler

Huddersfield Chronicle. 1852/12/24. Child Murder at Sheffield. Huddersfield. Get it:

Excerpt

On the Monday before I missed my child I saw the prisoner, and again on the Wednesday. He said a policeman had been with a summons [for missing child support payments], and asked me why I had sent a policeman after him. I said, “Go about your business; they will tell you tomorrow.” The prisoner said, “Then I shall lose my work,” to which I replied, “I have nothing to do with that. You should have thought of that before.” He then said he would give me a sovereign on the following Saturday. He afterwards swore at me, and said he would give me nothing. I replied, “Then you’ll have to go to Wakefield [to prison, not necessarily in Wakefield].” He was quite sober. He has often threatened to kill me. He said he would blow my brains out, and that he would play Rush [James Rush, the Stanfield Hall murderer] upon me. I was examined by the coroner’s inquest on the 20th of August. I saw the body of my child, Elizabeth Slater.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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Comment

I hope someone will help me locate Eyre Lane, Helen’s wheel (presumably a factory), and the Lyceum previous to the 1879 and 1899 theatres. Waddington seems to have been executed in January 1853.

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Original

TUESDAY.
(Before Mr. Justice Talfourd.)
CHILD MURDER AT SHEFFIELD.
Alfred Waddington, 20, was indicted for the wilful murder of Elizabeth Slater, at Sheffield, on the 18th August last.
The prisoner is a good looking man, and on hearing the charge against him pleaded with a firm voice, “Not Guilty.”
Mr. Boothby and Mr. West conducted the prosecution; and the prisoner was defended by Mr. Overend and Mr. Hardy.
Mr. Boothby, in opening the case, detailed how the prisoner took the child, which was his own illegitimate offspring, and murdered it in cold blood.
The following witnesses were called to prove the above facts:-
Martha Barlow examined by Mr. West.-I live at Sylvester-lane, Sheffield, which is near Mrs Slater’s house. I was in Mrs. Slater’s house on the 18th August. There was a child there which I took a walking between half-past seven and eight o’clock. The child’s name was Elizabeth Slater. The mother of the child was sat on the steps reading. I went down the lane to a brick kiln, and there met Alf Waddington. I have known him for a long time, and have seen him at Sarah Slater’s sister’s. He said to me, “I will take Elizabeth a tata [goodbye].” I said “No, I will take it home to bed.” He told me then to fetch the mother of the baby. When I was going to do so he took the baby and ran away with it. I ran after him but could not overtake him. I then went to Mrs. Slater’s and told her. She put on her bonnet and ran down Sylvester-lane to seek for Alfred. He ran up Strawberry Hill-lane with the child. We could not find him.
By the Judge. He took the child in his arms. It was then about dusk. I think he was not in liquor.
Sarah Slater said, on the 18th August last I was at my mother’s. I saw the last witness there. I saw her leave my mother’s house. It was about half-past seven. Alf. Waddington was the father of it. It would now have been two years old. I was in the habit of attending the Mechanics’ Institute class. Sarah Dobson, my companion, was at my mother’s when Martha Barlow took away the child. Sarah Dobson and I went to the class on that evening. After I had been there awhile Alf Waddington made an inquiry for me. He put his head inside the door and said “Sarah Slater, you are wanted.” I said “Who want’s me.” I looked round and saw Waddington. I went to him and we walked down the street. He then said to me “where has’t thee left the child?” I said “I know.” The prisoner then said, “It has fallen off a wall and broken it’s neck; if thou wants to see it alive thou must come with me directly.” I said “surely not.” He then took a shoemaker’s knife from his pocket with blood on it, and said “This is thy child’s blood; I have murdered it.” He showed me then some blood on his hands. I said “Surely to the Lord, Alf, thou has not hurt the child?” He replied, “I have.” I ran down to the Music-hall, and he ran after me. He overtook me near the Music- hall door, and said, “come with me and I will take thee to thy child.” I crossed the road with him and went down Eyre-lane. I said to him, “Oh Alf., have you hurt the child?” He fell on his knees and said, “I declare to God I have not.” He got up and said, “wilt thou follow thy child?” I made answer, “Yes, I’ll go any road for that child.” He then said, “I have placed it where nobody can get it but myself.” Before that he said, “Before I will let it be a slave to any one I will murder it.” He then said to me, “If you don’t follow me I will murder the child.” He said he had left the child at Caroline Wainwright’s, in Brammal-lane,” aud I replied, “Then she will take it home.” He looked in my face and said, “Ay, but it’s not there.” He told me again that unless I followed him by myself alone, he would go and kill the child. We left Eyre-lane, and went into Jessop-street; I there said I would go no further, but go and seek my mother. The prisoner said, “Well, thou can either save thy child’s life or kill it.” I ran towards Helen’s wheel. At Sylvester’s gardens Waddington overtook me and got hold of me by the waist. He drew the knife out of his pocket and tried to stick me in the left side. I got loose from him and ran away, and prisoner following me. He caught me again by the dress and tried to cut my throat. I held down my head, and he then tried to cut the back of my neck. I cried out loudly, and in putting up my hands to save my neck he cut them both; the left hand very badly. A little boy named Henry Lee came. He cried out “murder” and told the prisoner to let me alone. Lee threw something at the prisoner: I think it was a penny. Waddington let me go then, and I ran home. My child was not there. I saw no more of the prisoner that night. It would be about half-past eight when I parted with the prisoner last. We searched for the child.
-After the birth of your child did you affiliate it?
-Yes, on Alf. Waddington. Before that the prisoner had talked about marrying me, but he never made any preparations. I consented to marry him on his promising to be steady and to provide a house to take us to. About eight or nine months ago I laid a complaint against the prisoner for an assault.
Mr. Overend: Was it in writing?
– No, I took out a summons.
Mr. Boothby Did you hear anything said to the prisoner by the magistrates?
Yes; they told him he was charged with an assault.
After that did you hear the bench say anything to the prisoner?
Yes; they told him he must be bound over to keep the peace.
Mr. Overend objected, but Mr. Justice Talfourd thought the prosecution had carried this point far enough, but not too far yet.
Mr. Overend.-After the affiliation did the prisoner pay you any weekly sum?
Yes, 2s. He has not paid it regularly. On the Monday before I missed my child I saw the prisoner, and again on the Wednesday. He said a policeman had been with a summons and asked me why I had sent a policeman after him? I said, “Go about your business; they will tell you to-morrow.” The prisoner said, “Then I shall lose my work, to which I replied I have nothing to do with that; you should have thought of that before.” He then said he would give me a sovereign on the following Saturday. He afterwards swore at me, and said he would give me nothing. I replied, “Then you’ll have to go to Wakefield.” He was quite sober. He has often threatened to kill me.” He (prisoner) said he would blow my brains out, and that he would play Rush upon me. I was examined by the coroner’s inquest on the 20th of August. I saw the body of my child Elizabeth Slater.
Cross-examined.-I was nineteen last September. He will see 21 next March. I have known him from childhood. The Lyceum is surrounded by houses. Eyre-lane is in the middle of the town. He tried to stab me near Helen’s wheel. He was not many minutes over the attempt. The little boy told him to let me alone. There were people in the street as we walked along. I did not refuse to marry him. I said he was not steady and would not marry so long as he continued so. I never kept company with any man in my life besides the prisoner. I never told him that I would rather be a gentleman’s mistress than a poor man’s wife. The prisoner had not the slightest ground for supposing that I was going to live with another man. Sarah Dobson is a friend of mine; we work together at Messrs. Butcher’s, and we go to school together. I had declined seeing Waddington prior to the murder. He was allowed to see the child whenever he liked. There were both male and female scholars in the school.
Re-examined. He did not come into the school.
Henry Lee, a boy ten years old, said-I live in Silvester-gardens, Sheffield. I was in this street on the 18th of August. I saw Waddington there. I knew him well; I saw him courting Sarah Slater. When I saw him this night, he was trying to cut Sarah’s throat with a shoemaker’s knife. She was holding up her hands and crying “Oh, dear.” I told him to let her alone, and screamed out murder. He didn’t give over, so I tossed a penny at him. He ran away. There was a gas light on the other side of the road.
Sarah Dobson said-I live in Duke-lane, Sheffield. Sarah Slater and I were companions, and went to school together. On the 18th of August I was at Sarah Slater’s mother’s house. I saw Martha Barlow take the child out before we left for school. Just after we got to school, Waddington came and called out “Sarah.” Sarah went out, and immediately after she had gone, a little girl came and told me something which induced me to leave the school. I went down to Mrs. Wainwright’s, and on my return to school I passed the theatre. When near Howard-street chapel I saw Alfred Waddington going along Eyre-lane. I asked him what he had done with Sarah Slater, and he said he had murdered her. He showed me his hands. I asked him if he had really murdered her, and he said he had. As soon as he had said that he struck me down the face with a knife. Nothing was mentioned at this time about the child. It would be about a quarter-past eight when Alf called Sarah Slater out of the school. He might have had a little liquor, but he was so as he could walk right and steady.
By Mr. Overend. The blow cut my face in several places. When he showed me his hands, he said, “This is her blood.” It was dark, so that I cannot tell whether it was blood or not.
Henry Soar, a watchman, William Jackson, keeper of the night police, Sergeant Rogers, Mr. Thomas Rayner, and Mr. Robert Roper, surgeon, were also examined for the prosecution, after which Mr. Overend addressed the jury for the prisoner, and attempted to show by inference that he was not in a sound state of mind.
Mr. Justice Talfourd summed up at great length.
The jury retired at ten minutes past one, and returned at five minutes to two. The foreman pronounced the verdict of Guilty.
Mr. Justice Talfourd having assumed the black cap, proceeded to sentence the prisoner. His lordship was greatly affected on passing sentence, which he did in the following words:-“Alfred Waddington, it is unnecessary for me to say a word with regard to the nature of the crime for which you are now to receive the last judgment of the law; because I perceive that almost as soon as that crime was committed-as soon as that guilty passion of jealousy and revenge, which urged you to take away the life of your innocent unoffending child, had subsided (which it did almost immediately after the consummation of that crime)-that you, immediately awakening to a sense of the dreadful guilt you had incurred, sought to relieve yourself by making a confession of what you had done, and by giving yourself up to justice. I hope, therefore, that you are prepared to use for everlasting advantage those few remaining days which remain to you in this transitory life. I trust that you will so employ those few days, that you may obtain a portion of that pardon which is held out to us through that great salvation which inestimable love has prepared for all those who seek it, and which may yet be extended even unto you. As you will have, during the few remaining days of your life, the assistance of a minister of religion, who will with the greatest kindness endeavour to afford you the consolation which your sid condition requires, I trust you will wisely seek to promote your everlasting welfare, and I can only pray that the Divine blessing may follow those endeavours.- [Here the prisoner clasped his hands, and raised them to his face, as though invoking aid from above, and then he covered his face and wept audibly.]-For me, nothing remains but to pass upon you the sentence of the law, which is-That you be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to some convenient place of execution, that you be there hanged by the neck till you are dead, and that your body be buried within the precincts of this prison. May God Almighty have mercy-have mercy on your soul.”-The learned judge covered his head with his hands, and, throwing himself upon the bench, sobbed like a child.
The whole court seemed deeply impressed with, the awful ceremony. The prisoner, who had wept during the whole of the time occupied in the delivery of the sentence, was then taken by the gaolers and removed to the condemned cell.