A new cause célèbre commenced on Wednesday. Sir F. R.
S. L. Gooch, of Benacre Hall, Suffolk, prosecutes his wife, Lady Gooch, and a nurse named Ann Walker, at the Bow Street Police-court, for conspiring to palm off on him a supposi-
titious child as his own. The theory of the prosecution is that Lady Gooch wished for a child, lest the estates, worth £25,000 a year, should pass to another branch of the family, and she should be left without adequate provision. As yet, the evidence, chiefly given by a lady companion, Miss Garrod, tends to show that Lady Gooch had acknowledged her design to her and others, and had been taxed with it by her husband, and that information of it was given by Miss Garrod to the police- court ; but no rebutting evidence has as yet been heard, and the accused are liberated on their own recognisances. The case excites much interest, from its rarity, and from the stake in- volved; but .it is to be hoped Mr. Newton will keep down the mass of irrelevant evidence usually imported into causes cjlebres. If not, the case may last like the Claimant's.
Previous page
