The History of an Unnatural Act: Infanticide and Adam Bede

On march 30, 1859, according to a Times court report, a young woman named Mary Jones was tried for the crime of willful murder of her illegitimate child: for infanticide. She had concealed her pregnancy and the labor, and a suspicious neighbor found the child's corpse with its throat cut and the bloody knife lying next to it. Jones pled guilty to the charge. The court reporter writes that she “sobbed out a few incoherent words” to the effect that she was in too much agony after the birth to know what she was doing. Jones could only be found guilty if the baby was proved to be born alive, and to this end a surgeon testified that it was and that the cut throat was the cause of death. The jury accordingly found her guilty but recommended mercy. The judge, Mr. Baron Martin, is quoted as saying, “he hoped that her unfortunate example would be a warning to other young women.” He sentenced her to death, apparently thinking the jury's verdict required him to do so. Afterwards, however, as the Times reported on April 8, Jones's execution was respited, through the intervention of the Home Secretary which was invited by the judge.