[ Case of Rachel Harmer / Proceedings of the Old Bailey ]
The Old Bailey (properly known as The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales) was the principal criminal court in London in the 18th and 19th centuries (and remains in use to this day). The records of trials held at the Old Bailey have been digitized and made freely available online (oldbaileyonline.org).
This particular case (reference number t17880910-84) was heard on 10 September 1788; it involved a charge of murder against one Rachel Harmer, who was accused of strangling her newborn child. In the colorful legal language of the time, the charge reads as follows:
"... she, not having the fear of God before her eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the 22d of June last, with force and arms, in and upon a certain male child, then lately before born of the body of her the said Rachel, in the peace of God and our lord the king, then and there, being, feloniously, wilfully, and of her malice aforethought, did make an assault, and with both her hands, about his neck, did fix and fasten, and him the said male child, then, and there, feloniously, wilfully, and of her malice aforethought, did choak and strangle, of which said choaking and strangling, the said male child, then and there instantly died.
A Newfoundland dog was involved in this matter as revealed in the testimony of Edmund Goddard, the man who first found the child's corpse in a pond:
"I only found the child in a pond, on Monday the 23d of June; the pond is in Bethnal-green parish; I had a large Newfoundland dog with me, and he brought it to me out of the pond; he brought me a large cloth, I believe it was a gardener's market-cloth; the cloth opened, and there I saw the child; I just looked at it, and retired from the pond for a few minutes, and two women came by; I told, them, and they went and looked at it; I do not know their names, the people of the parish knew them."
Mrs Harmer was found not guilty due to the testimony of several witnesses who reported seeing no marks of violence upon the child's body.