A Particular and Exact Account of the Trial of Mary Compton, the Bloody and most Cruel Midwife of Poplar. As also of her Maid, Mary Compton the Younger, who were both Arraigned in one Indictment for Felony and Murder, in Destroying, Starving to Death, and Famishing several Poor Infant Babies: As also Ann Davis as Accessary.

Bookseller Notes

A salacious account of this notorious trial in which midwife Mary Compton was accused of the murder of four children, including one of her own. The narrative revels in macabre detail, from the reported speech of a 7-year-old boy in Compton's charge, '"Why," says the Boy. "There is one Child, a Brother of mine, lies dead in the cellar,"' to the unfortunate description of unwrapping an infant corpse, '..the clothes dragged the Ears along with it,' the jury are not spared and much is made of maggots and vermin. The maid was acquitted, Ann Davis found guilty and 'burnt in the Hand', and Compton herself also found guilty and executed at Tyburn, her final interview recorded in Samuel Smith's A True Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Last Dying Speeches of the Criminals that were Executed at Tyburn, On Monday the 23rd of October, 1693. Compton's crimes were commemorated in at least 3 contemporary ballads, two by J. Bissel and T. Moore's 'The Bloudy Midwife'.WorldCat and ESTC cite only 3 copies (Newberry, Newberry Library, Library of Congress); no copies traced in UK.