The conviction on Wednesday of Alice Clay, of Cromford, by
a Derbyshire jury, of horrible cruelty against her own daughter so far back as August, 1884, by burning her with a hot poker to which bits of the child's flesh adhered in several places, and so permanently and organically injuring the child, is, we believe, due to the exertions of the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children," which is doing, as we have reason to know, a good and great work in a sober and cautious spirit. The case, though the chief evidence against the criminal would have been produced three years ago, if it had then been attain- able, was a very frightful one, and the presiding Magis- trate did not use language at all too strong in saying that the woman had been guilty of a "horrible and atrocious crime," for which she would have received a year's instead of only six months' imprisonment with hard labour, but for the recommendation to mercy which the jury gave. This recom- mendation to mercy was founded on the lapse of time since the chief cruelty was committed, and also on consideration for the prisoner's family. The lapse of time, however, was due to the difficulty of obtaining evidence,—the chief difficulty in cases of this kind,—the main witness being a servant in the family, whose tongue was not liberated till she had left the service. It ought to be known how wisely the Society is conducted, how carefully it avoids prosecutions in all cases of merely impetuous violence, and how much good it does which is not done by the agency either of the police or of Courts of Justice. No one who has not looked into the matter is aware how hardened are a few very exceptional criminals in cruelty, or how much can be done to prevent cruelty that is not deliberate and malignant, without involving any kind of prosecution.
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