The preliminary inquiry in the Gooch case has ended in
the committal of the accused, Lady Gooch and her nurse, Mrs. Walker, for trial. Lady Gooch, through her lawyers, virtually pleaded guilty, throwing up all defence, and agreeing to record an affidavit that the child was not hers, and Sir Francis Gooch requested that she might be dismissed. The magistrate, Mr. Newton, however, decided, after some days' deliberation, that the case must go on, and the prisoners were committed for trial, though liberated on their own recognisances. Incidentally, the case has been most injurious to the Refuge for Deserted Mothers and their Infants,
obtained. We are assured, on unimpeachable authority, that this institution is in no sense a foundling hospital, but a refuge, in which children are never admitted without their mothers, who, moreover, are called on to maintain them, and do, as a matter of fact, contribute 84 per cent. of their cost. The single object of the institution is to give erring women another chance, by obtain- ing for them situations, the new employers being informed of all the facts.
Previous page
