FULL TEXT: The Birmingham police paid a night visit at the
end of May to premises in Newtown-row occupied by a widow named Mrs. Emma
Knowles. In a cellar they came upon seventeen soap boxes containing bodies of
twenty-nine newly born children. Some of them had evidently been in the cellar
for several months. Mrs. Knowles, whose husband was at one time the proprietor
of a large undertaker's business, had occupied the premises for nine or ten
months. It is a custom in Birmingham among a section of the working-classes to
pay an undertaker 2s or 2s 6d to dispose of the bodies of still-born or
prematurely-born children, and it is stated that Mrs. Knowles received the
bodies in this way and neglected to have them buried. Quite a number of such
cases have come to light in recent years. The small fees, it is contended, do
net warrant a special are kept till they can be taken with another funeral
later on. The matter had not been fully enquired into when the last mail to
hand had left.
[“A Gruesome Discovery At Busy Birmingham.” West Gippland
Gazette (Warragul, Australia), Jul. 30, 1901, p. 5]
***
FULL TEXT (Caption to illustration) (translated from German)
- The angel maker definitely belongs in the most hideous types of the female
criminal world. They are peeled off by murder, the slow, merciless sacrifice of
innocent little whites who have committed nothing other than their existence as
a nuisance to their dehumanized parents. For them the mega-hero is a welcome
helper who knows enough means to make angels out of young beings, that is, to
convey them out of earthly existence and into heaven. One reads about such
crimes every year. The last such case was discovered in Birmingham, England.
The bodies of 29 children were found in a basement room that was giving birth
to my widow. They were packed in boxes and had been in the basement for six
days. xxx The woman was arrested immediately. She explained to the police
commissioner that the bodies of children born out of wedlock and that had been
given to her for burial. However, the woman was only able to produce
testimonials from four children confirming her statements and is now accused of
murdering the remaining 25 children or of having participated in the murder.
Today's picture, which was made after an illustration in an English magazine,
shows the discovery of the boxes with their terrifying contents.
[“Die Engelmacherin von Birmingham,” Illustrirtes Wiener
Extrablatt (Vienna, Austria), Jun. 9, 1901, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Caption to illustration) – In den scheußlichsten
Typen der weiblichen Verbrecherwelt gehört entschieden die Engelmacherin. Ihr
Geschältist der Mord, das langsame, erbarmungslose Hinopfern unschuldiger
kleiner Weien, die nichts Anderes begangen haben, als daß sie durch ihre
Eristenz ihren entmenschten Eltern lästig fallen. Denen ist die Megäre eine
willkommene Helfersbelserin, die genug Mittel kennt, um aus den jungen Wesen
Engel zu machen, das heißt, sie aus dem irdischen Dasein hinaus und in den
Himmel zu befördern. Alljährlich liest man von solchen Verbrechen. Der letzte
derartige Fall isti n Birmingham in England entdeckt worden. In eine meiner
Witwe gebärenden Kellerraum wurden die Leichen von 39 Kindern gefunden, die in
Kisten verpackt waren und seit sechs Tagen sich im Keller befunden hatten. xxx
Die Frau wurde sofort verhaftet. Sie erklärte dem Polizei commissär, es handle
sich um Leichen von unehelich geborenen Kindern, die ihr zur Bestattung
übergeben worden waren. Die Frau konnte jedoch nur von vier Kindern Zeugnisse
beibringen, die ihre Angaben bestätigten, und wird nun beschuldigt, die übrigen
25 Kinder ermordet oder sich an der Ermordung betheiligt zu haben. Unser
heutiges Bild, das nach einer Illustration einer Illustration einer englischen
Zeitschrift angesertigt wurde, zeigt die Auisindung der Kisten mit ihrem
grauenerregenden Inhaht.
[“Die Engelmacherin von Birmingham,” Illustrirtes Wiener
Extrablatt (Vienna, Austria), Jun. 9, 1901, p. 1]
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For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.
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For more cases of “Baby Farmers,” professional child care providers who murdered children see The Forgotten Serial Killers.
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