Emma Knowles, Serial Baby-Killer – England, 1901

 

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]

 

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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]

 

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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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