On Monday 4 November 1878 information reached Inspector Parker of the Rotherham Police that a newly born child’s body had been found in a water tub in Twiggs Yard at Masborough. It was around 4.30 pm when he arrived at the yard and spoke to the woman who had found the body. Her name was Rebecca Walsh and she told him that about half an hour earlier, she had gone to the water tub which was placed at the rear of hers and the next door neighbours house. When the inspector asked her who lived there she told him it was rented by a family called Hargate. There was the father Thomas and his wife Zilpah, a twenty five year old son William and their nineteen year old daughter Ruth, who suffered with epilepsy.
So Inspector Parker went next door where the man and his wife invited him inside. Thomas told him that they knew nothing about the finding of the body as that day they had visited the Statute Fair which was being held in Rotherham. He said that he and his wife, his son and daughter Ruth had all spent that afternoon at the fair. They only heard about the child being found on their return. Then Thomas made an admittance to the Inspector. He told him that he suspected that his daughter might have given birth to the child. Zilpah said that she had watched her daughter carefully as she had put on a lot of weight, but when she asked her about it, Ruth had always denied that she was pregnant.
Inspector Parker, who had dealt with such cases before, advised then both to carefully watch over their daughter in order to ensure that she did not harm herself. Thomas assured the officer that he would do so, but not withstanding his promise, Ruth later tried to cut her throat and had to be removed to the Rotherham Infirmary for treatment. On her arrival it was found by house surgeon, Mr Brett that she had succeeded in cutting through the front section of her windpipe. When Inspector Parker spoke to the surgeon, he said that Ruth was still in grave danger due to her throat injury, her recent confinement, as well as from epilepsy and general shock.
Her fragile condition was such that Ruth remained in the Infirmary until 11 December 1878 when she was finally allowed to go home. Meanwhile, the inspector had notified the coroner of the death of the child. Subsequently an inquest was arranged for Wednesday 6 November 1878 and Dr Pearce was asked to undertake a post mortem on the remains. The neighbour Rebecca Walsh was the first to give evidence and she told the court that she had noticed the body of the child at the bottom of a water tub situated at the rear of the two houses. The child’s body had been in about two or three feet of water.
When she took the child out of the tub and showed it to Thomas and Zilpah Hargate, the neighbour said their reaction was if they had been struck dumb. Neither of them spoke. Then finally Thomas took the child and wrapped it up in a cloth and stated that he would hand it over to the police. The witness claimed that she had not known that Ruth had been was pregnant and confirmed that the girl had been subject to epileptic fits from the age of about 14 years. William Henry Pearce surgeon of Wharncliffe Street, Rotherham was the next witness. He told the coroner that he had undertaken the post mortem that morning and found that the child’s lungs were not inflated.
When the coroner asked the surgeon what this meant, Dr Pearce replied that it proved to him that the child had not breathed after birth. He said there were signs that the child had clearly not been professionally attended to. The witness gave his opinion that the child had died at the moment of birth, but that if the mother had been professionally attended to by a doctor or a trained midwife, the baby’s life might have been saved. In return from a question from a member of the jury, the surgeon said that it was quite possible that the child had died inside the mother some hours before she gave birth.
The house surgeon Mr John Brett stated that Ruth Hargate had been admitted to the Rotherham Infirmary around 10 am on Tuesday 5 November. He said that the patient had been insensible and had a deeply incised wound across her neck, which was about three inches long. When she regained consciousness, he examined and found signs that she had recently been confined. After hearing from all the witnesses, the coroner summed up for the jury and told them that it was their duty to enquire into the death of a person. However as far as he could make out, in a legal sense the child had never led a separate existence from its mother.
Therefore it could only be considered to be a non-person, so the responsibility was taken out of the hands of the jury. He said therefore as matter stood at that time, there could be no charge of manslaughter or murder against any one. The only charge that could be brought against the mother was that of concealment of birth. Therefore he concluded the enquiry. After hearing the coroners summing up, Inspector Parker was instructed to arrest Ruth Hargate went on the charge of concealment, but Ruth was still recovering at the Infirmary. Subsequently it was not until she was discharged was he able to arrest Ruth on 12 December 1878. The girl made no reply to the charge and was taken into custody. However she was allowed bail.
On Thursday 26 December 1878 the case was heard in front of the Rotherham magistrates Mr H Jubb and ex Mayor Alderman Morgan. The first witness once again was the neighbour Rebecca Walsh. She told the court that she was a widow and had lived next door to the Hargate’s for the past two years. The witness described how at some time around 4 pm she had gone to the water tub and to her horror had found the body of the newly born child at the bottom of the tub. She said that she showed it to Thomas Hargate before he took it into his own house. The next witness was Ruth’s mother Zilpah who told the bench that she knew nothing of the child until the body was shown to her.
Prior to that, she stated that she had several times asked Ruth if she was pregnant, but she had consistently denied it. The witness said that she did not question her daughter too hard on the subject, due to her being subject to fits. Zilpah did not want her questioning to bring one of them on. When asked a question by one of the magistrates, she told them that her daughter had not bought any clothes or prepared for the birth as far as she was aware. After hearing all the evidence, Ruth was sentenced to take her trial at the next Yorkshire Assizes to be held at the Leeds Town Hall.
Accordingly Ruth was brought before judge Mr Justice Lopes on Saturday 1 February 1879 where she pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘unlawfully endeavouring to conceal the birth of her child at Rotherham on 4 November 1878.’ After listening to all the witnesses evidence, the grand jury found Ruth Hargate to be guilty of the charge and the judge sentenced her to six months imprisonment.