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Constance Kent and the Road Murder

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Constance Kent and the Road Murder THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE AND MENTAL PATHOLOGY. Y Akt. I.?CONSTANCE KENT AND THE ROAD MURDER. BY JOHN PAGET, Barrister-AT-LAW. The public interest in the questions connected with the Road Murder, and the confession of Constance Kent, has been revived by the remarks of Dr. Bueknill in his Lumleian Lectures, and by the observations of Dr. Winn in the pages of this Journal. Questions which arise out of the consideration of confessions of'guilt are equally interesting to the jurist as to the psycholo- gist, and forty years' experience at the Bar, fifteen of which have been spent in discharging the duties of a Police Magistrate, may, I trust, protect me from the charge of presumption, when I say that it appears to me that important considerations have escaped the notice of both these very learned and distinguished gentlemen. So many years have elapsed since the occurrence of the Road Murder, that it is necessary to recall the material facts of the case, so far as they relate to Constance Kent, before considering what may have been her share in the transaction, or what weight ought to be attached to her confession. I may as well say in the outset that I have no intention to suggest criminality in any one, that I have no pet theory to maintain, and that unless the confession of Constance Kent can be relied upon to solve the mystery, I believe the Case to be still involved in the deepest obscurity. How far that confession is to be relied on is the which I to question propose consider, and for this pur- pose a recapitulation of the facts of the case is absolutely necessary. of June a In the month 1860, gentleman of the name of Kent resided at Road House, near Frome. He was a sub- inspector of factories in the district. His family consisted, in PART I. VOL. V. NEW SERIES. B Cvi 2 CONSTANCE KENT AND THE ROAD MURDER. addition to himself and his wife, of one son, a boy of about 15 years of age, and three daughters, Mary Ann, aged 29, Eliza- beth 27, and Constance 16: these were children of a former marriage. By his second wife he had three children?a little girl about 5 years old, Saville, a boy 3 years and 8 months old, and another girl still younger. A nurse of the name of Elizabeth Grough, a cook, and a housemaid, completed the esta- blishment, and on the night of Friday, the 29th of June 1860, all the inmates were at home. On that night Mr. Kent left the drawing-room window and shatters closed and fastened when he went to bed about eleven o'clock, and on leaving the room he locked and bolted the door. The nurse Grough slept in a room on the first floor. On the opposite side of the same room Saville Kent slept in a crib, and in another crib, adjoining the bed of the nurse, the little girl, his younger sister, slept. The elder girl was in her mother's room on the opposite side of the passage. About five o'clock the nurse woke. She stated that looking across to the little boy's crib she saw that he was not there, but did not feel any alarm, as she supposed that his mother had fetched him during the night. It was not until some hours afterwards, that on going to her mistress's room she found that he was not there. It should be mentioned here that on the housemaid going down stairs to open the windows, she found the shutters of the draw- ing-room window unfastened and the window partly raised. On the child being missed a search took place, and on examining the closet in the garden a pool of blood was found on the floor, and the body of the child was discovered in the vault amongst the soil. The condition of the body was minutely described by Mr. Parsons, a surgeon, the usual medical attendant of the family. His evidence given on the first examination is as follows:? " On my arrival I saw the body of Francis Saville Kent in the laundry. He had his nightdress on. He was enveloped in a blanket. The blanket and the nightclothes were stained with blood. I observed nothing more than the stains of blood and soil on the clothes. There ivas a mark of an incision on the nightdress and flannel on the left side, cutting through the cartilage of the two ribs. The mouth of the child had a blackened appearance, with the tongue protruded between the teeth. My impression was that the blackened appearance had been produced by forcible pressure on it during life. I examined the interior of the mouth, lips, and cheeks, and found no abrasion such as would lead me to suppose that anything had been forcibly pushed into it. I then saw a large incision of the throat, extending from one ear to the other, and divid- ing the ivhole of the structures down to the sjpine. I made a post-mortem examination of the body. I found all the internal CONSTANCE KENT AND THE ROAD MURDER. 5 organs of the body completely drained of blood. The stomach was in a healthy state, and I saw no reason to suspect the administration of a narcotic or poisonous drug. I found that the stab in the chest had not penetrated the heart, but had pushed it out of its place, and had penetrated the diaphragm and slightly wounded the outer coat of the stomach on the right of it. There were also two very slight incisions on the right hand, which appeared to have been made after death. The child appeared to have been dead at least five hours. I think the incision of the throat, and not the stab, was the im- mediate cause of death._ A long pointed knife, in my opinion, would be the instrument to have caused such wounds. The deceased was a very heavy child for his age. In my judgment the incision in the chest was made by a pointed knife, but not with the point coming obliquely, but a dagger-shaped knife like a carving knife. I came to that conclusion from the way the clothes are cut. It would have required very great force to inflict such a blow through the nightdress, and to the depth to which it had penetrated. The ribs of a child are very flexible, and the great amount of force necessary for such a blow would depress the ribs and cause the heart to diverge from its position, and if the clothes had not been cut the heart must have been penetrated."* An inquest was held on Monday the 2nd July. The in- mates of the house, including Constance Kent, were examined, and a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown was returned."}" The inquiry still proceeded, conducted by the magistrates with closed doors.J Constance Kent was again examined, and a suspicion being entertained against the nurse, Elizabeth (rough, she was apprehended on Tuesday the 10th July and brought before the magistrates. An application was now made to the Home Secretary for assistance, and Inspector Whicher, of the metropolitan detec- tive police, was despatched to aid in the inquiry, and arrived at Trowbridge on Sunday the 15th July.? Eewards amounting to ?200 were offered, and a promise of pardon to any one but the actual perpetrator of the crime. In the meantime the house had been minutely re-examined, and every inmate, except the little of five in girl years old who slept her mother's room, had been called on to state what they knew in reference to the matter. The inquiry was then adjourned until Friday the 20th July, when Inspector Whicher appeared before the magistrates * Annual Begister, June I860, p. 95. f Examiner, July 7; Times, July 11. t Times, July 12 and 14 ; Examiner, July 14. ? Examiner, July 21; Times, July 16 and 21. 4 CONSTANCE KENT AND THE ROAD MURDER. having Constance Kent in custody. Elizabeth Grough, having been discharged from custody, was Called and examined as a witness, but stated nothing in any way implicating the pri- soner. Inspector Whicher was then examined ; he stated that on showing the prisoner a list of her linen, which she admitted to be in her handwriting, and in which three nightdresses were mentioned, he had asked her where they were, and she replied, " I have two; the other was lost at the wash the week after the murder." The prisoner was remanded until Friday the 27th, Whicher " " n. stating that he should be able to prove tha\i an animus against the child had existed in the mind of the prisoner. As the proceedings on that day contain all that can by any possi- bility be held to connect Constance Kent with the commission of this crime, apart from her own confession, and are therefore of the utmost importance in testing the value of that con- fession, they deserve a careful examination. The report will be found at length in the Times of the 28th July, and more concisely in the Examiner of the 4tli August. Elizabeth Grough being recalled, her examination was continued. The only circumstance stated by her, and which was obtained from her on cross-examination, was, that Constance Kent had uniformly treated the little boy with kindness, and was playing with him on the very day preceding the night of the murder.
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