SUSPECTED INFANTICIDE
Yesterday various rumors were current with reference to the remains of a child found at the North Town Belt, but as the police for very sufficient reasons declined to given any information, we deemed it prudent to do no more than chronicle the fact the body bad been discovered. We are now freed from the necessity to refrain, in the interests of justice, from entering into particulars, and we may say at once that the case looks very like of a child-murder. It seems that suspicions were entertained as to the cause of the disappearance of the infant child of a woman named Sorgeson, and on a search being made at the house where the woman had lived, the mutilated remains of a child were found buried on the premises. Full particulars of the finding and condition of that the body are given in our report of the coroner's inquiry held to-day, and it need only be added that the woman Sorgeson, the supposed mother of the child, is a married woman, whose husband is out of the colony. She came to Oamaru from the neighborhood of Blueskin, and after the disappearance of the child, whose birth was not registered, she gave a variety of explanations as to what had become of the infant. She left Oamaru, it is believed for the South, a fortnight ago last Saturday.
INQUEST. An inquest was held this morning at the Town Belt Hotel, before Mr H. W. Robinson, District Coroner, and a jury of six, of whom Mr A. J. S. Headland was chosen foreman.
Mrs Abbott, wife of Henry Abbott, laborer, Trent-street, said that she knew a charwoman named Agnes Sorgeson, and had known her three or four months. Sorgeson had one baby boy when witness first knew her, and about the 18th of August last she gave birth to a female child. Witness attended her, and was present at the birth. About a month after the confinement Sorgeson left Nen street, where she had resided, and went to live is a cottage near Mr Toms. The baby was at witness' house all day on a Tuesday about a week after Sorgeson removed. It had been delicate, but had at that time recovered. Sorgeson had been working for witness cleaning a house next door, and the took the child home with her about half-past five that night Witness saw her again when she came to work without the baby. Witness asked where the child was, and Sorgeson replied that it had gone. Witness asked where it had gone, and Sorgeson replied "Oh, the woman's fetched it." Witness then asked if the woman was going to take the baby away, and Sorgeson replied that the woman was going to South Oamaru to see some friends, and was then going by the midday train. Sorgeson had asked witness to lend her some baby's clothes, which she said would not be required long because she was going to get a Mrs Scott at East Taieri to take the child when it was old enough. A letter was written at witness' house to this Mrs Scott asking her to come to take the child and telling her to enquire of the neighbors where to find her. Sorgeson called noon witness a fortnight last Saturday to bid her good-bye. Witness told her that the neighbors were not satisfied about the disappearance of the baby and asked if she had done her duty by it. Sorgeson replied that she had done her duty by it and that Mrs Brown had told her that the thing had been talked about. Sorgeson said she was going to Dunedin to some person, and if she did not get employment there she had two others to go to. The child, had it lived, would have been eight weeks old to-day.
Dr Garland stated that he made a post mortem examination of part of a body of an infant yesterday. The remains were those of a fairly nourished infant in an advanced state of decomposition. On the right tide of the head there was a large incised wound, separating the ear and the scalp and extending to the mouth, another incised wound on the left frontal bone, about three inches long, another about two inches long, extending from the left eyebrow and passing through the palpable aperture of the eye to half an inch above the month, another on the chin about an inch long, another on the chest, about an inch long. The left leg had been removed at the hip joint, and the right leg just above the knee. The lower part of the anterior wall of the abdomen, with the sexual organ and pelvic vise, had been removed. The lungs appeared healthy, but pale; and the heart healthy, but empty. The stomach contained undigested food. The brain had softened, apparently by decomposition. The intestines were in a state of decomposition. From all this it was impossible to say what had caused death, because no one could positively say if the body tad been mutilated before or after death, nor could he, from the remains, determine the sex of the child. All the sexual organs were removed. He could not say what weapon was used; it might have been a sharp spade or a tomahawk. A spade and a tomahawk were shown to Dr Garland, and he said the wounds might have been inflicted with either, but he thought with the spade.
The Foreman asked if the missing portions could have been burnt.
Inspector Thompson said the police were not yet able to say; the time had been too short.
Dr Garland said thee were some very suspicious-looking ashes there. The witness went on to say that the lungs and heart were empty, and had the child been suffocated, one side of the heart would have been full and the other empty. His opinion was that death was caused by hemorrhage. He thought the mutilation of the several organs was done to prevent identification. Death would have resulted from any or all of the injuries.
Phoebe Abbott, daugher of the first witness, knew the woman Sorgeson had given birth to a female child. Witness wrote a letter, at Sorgeson's dictation, to a woman named Scott, care Mrs Smith, Meadowbank, East Taieri. The letter stated that Sorgeson had a little girl, born on the 18th August, and that she thought it would be as good tempered as the little boy, and asked Mrs Scott to come for it. Witness sealed the letter and gave it to Sorgeson but could not say if it were posted or not.
Mrs Cairns, wife of Robert Cairns, laborer, Nen-street, stated that Sorgeson lived next door to her for three months prior to three weeks ago. Witness had frequently spoken to Sorgeson who said her husband was a sailor, that he went Home, and when he had been there about three days her mother wrote and told her that he was dead. Sorgeson had told witness that before coming to Oamaru she had kept house for a man and had two sons somewhere near Blueskin. Sorgeson appeared very poor. Witness remembered the confinement. The child was very healthy when it was born, but it afterwards had a cold and recovered about a week before Sorgeson removed. The Tuesday before Sorgeson went away, on the Saturday, witness saw the baby at Mrs Abbott's, and on the next day, Wednesday, Sorgeson came to Mrs Abbott's, and said the woman had taken the baby away. Witness' suspicion was aroused and she asked where the woman was, and Sorgeson replied that she had stayed with her the night and went away in a cab to some friends, and was going by the south train that day.
Arthur Toms stated that on the 16th September he met two women, whom he did not know, in North-street, and one stopped him and asked him if he had a cottage to let, and he replied that he had and that the rent was 3s per week. The woman asked if she could have it, and witness replied that he did not know and asked where her husband was. The woman replied that he was dead and that she got her living by washing, etc., and that, if witness was afraid of not getting the rent, she would pay in advance. He said he only wanted the rent when due, and he let her the house, and the woman got the key in the next day, but he did not know if she went into the house on that or the next day, the 18th. On the Tuesday following the woman, whose name was Sorgeson, borrowed a tomahawk to chop some wood, and afterwards borrowed a spade. In answer to witness she said she wanted the spade to bury some nightsoil. Either on the morning she borrowed the tomahawk, or the morning before, when witness went out between 5 and 6 o'clock, he saw Sorgeson coming from some outhouses, and, when she saw him, she appeared startled, and when he returned he mentioned the circumstance to Mrs Casey. On Saturday, 25th September, Sorgeson spoke to witness, at about 8 o'clock in the morning. She handed him three shillings for a week's rent, and told him she was going to Dunedin in the steamer, as she could not get a living in Oamaru. She said she was going to live with a brother, whose wife was sick. Yesterday Detective O'Brien called upon witness, about 8 o'clock in the morning, and witness showed him where two holes bad been made in the garden recently occupied by Sorgeson. He had previously spoken to Detective O'Brien about the matter and Detective O'Brien had come to search. Detective O'Brien went on with the search and witness went to finish his breakfast. A few minutes afterwards Detective O'Brien called witness, and, upon witness going, he saw the remains of a child lying on the soil which had been dug out. Some eight days previous to this witness told Detective O'Brien that there were were some very peculiar looking ashes in the fire place in the cottage and Detective O'Brien told him to see that they were not disturbed, and the ashes remained undisturbed until O'Brien saw them yesterday. He only saw one child and that was crying from morning till night.
The foreman asked how the police had allowed the delay, and Inspector Thompson explained that there was a doubt as to how many children Sorgeson took away with her, and the police found the woman in Dunedin and questioned her, and she said one was at the Taieri. The police had made enquiry at the Taieri, and found that the child was not there, and then they commenced to search. The question of adjournment was then brought up by the Coroner, and Inspector Thompson said there was a difficulty in the matter of fixing the time. The ashes would have to be analysed by Professor Black, and he was engaged in a long trial at Christchurch. He would ask for an adjournment for a fortnight. The Coroner then adjourned the inquiry until Wednesday, the 27th inst., to the Court-house. -Oamaru Mail, 13/10/1886.
ARREST FOR CHILD MURDER.
Dunedin, Saturday. The police arrested at Clinton last night the woman Georgeson, who occupied the house at Oamaru where the child was found buried, and whose child disappeared. -NZ Herald, 18/10/1886.
The woman Sergenson, wanted at Oamaru on a charge of child-murder, was apprehended at Kaihiku on Saturday night. It will be remembered she was stated to have left Oamaru for Dunedin about the date of the alleged murder. The police were unable to find her whereabouts in Dunedin. They, however, found that a woman answering her description had walked by the road to Mosgiel. She was traced to Tokomairiro, and was seen passing through Balclutha on foot on the Sunday. She then had gone on to Kaihiku, where she called at a settler's house, and found temporary accommodation and kind treatment till she could obtain a situation. Her whereabouts was heard of, and she was apprehended by the Clinton constable on Saturday night. A Oamaru detective who had been in Dunedin, and who knew the woman, came out and identified her the following day. She was conveyed to Oamaru, where she was brought. up at the R. M. Court on Tuesday, and remanded for a week. -Clutha Leader, 22/10/1886.
The Oamaru Child Mystery
[Per UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Oamaru, November 1.
The inquest on the remains of the child found buried in a garden about a fortnight ago was resumed to-day; Dr Ogston, of Dunedin, had made a post mortem examination of the child owing to the advanced stage of decomposition he could not tell from the wounds whether death had occurred before or after their infliction. The jury returned the following: "That the child was a female child born of Agnes Sorgeson, and had been murdered by the said Agnes Sorgeson between the 21st and 25th of September last." -Fielding Star, 2/11/1886.
The charge against Agnes Sorgeson for the murder of her child was resumed at Oamaru on Saturday, The evidence of the arresting constable was to the effect that accused had given the name of Mary Johnston when arrested at Clinton. She stated that she had never been in Oamaru, and that she had only been in the colony three months. Another witness said she had met the accused at the Dunedin station while being conveyed to Oamaru, and there she had stated, in reference to what had appeared in the papers connected with the charge, that she had done it; although this witness, in cross-examination, said she would not be positive that accused meant what the witness supposed she meant. The matron of the gaol said the accused had asked her if she pleaded guilty would they hang her or imprison her for life. She said she had not murdered the child, but if she said so they would not believe her. She expressed surprise at the body being chopped up, and said it must have been done with the spade when burying it, The case was adjourned till to-day. -South Canterbury Times, 8/11/1886.
THE OAMARU INFANTICIDE CASE.
(united press association). Oamaru, March 17. The charge against Agnes Sargeson for the murder of her infant child was concluded to-day. The circumstances are that the remains of a child were found buried in the yard behind the house that prisoner had lived in. The prisoner had removed from the house, telling the neighbors that Mrs Scott, of the Taieri, had called and taken the child away. The evidence showed that no such person lived at the place mentioned. The remains of the child found were much mutilated, but owing to their advanced state of decomposition very little evidence could be gleaned from the post mortem. The doctors could not agree as to the cause of death, but the doctor who attended the child four or five days before its disappearance, in evidence said it could not live, as it was dying when he saw it. The plea set up was that the child died a natural death, and that the mother had buried it in the yard, the mutilation being caused by the spade in burial. A verdict of not guilty was returned. -NZ Mail, 25/3/1887.
With the not guilty verdict, the unfortunate Agnes Sorenson, alias Farquhar alias Johnson, alias all the different ways her name was miss-spelled by the newspapers of the time, disappears from the record. In the 1880s it was still relatively easy to change towns and identities and start a new life in New Zealand.
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