The trial of Joseph Hodges for carnally abusing one Maranata Freestone, a girl under ten years of age, and sentenced to twenty years penal servitude / by Jonathan Wybrants.

  • Wybrants, Jonathan, 1818-1883.
Date:
1861
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The trial of Joseph Hodges for carnally abusing one Maranata Freestone, a girl under ten years of age, and sentenced to twenty years penal servitude / by Jonathan Wybrants. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    we know are no proofs of carnal knowledge. She says, she was much hurt, and cried out, but no one heard her, and she made no complaint to her aunt. 4.—So that, of direct evidence, personal and medical, there is none that is worth a penny-weight for conviction, to any one familiar with the subject. But, on the other hand, a most important piece of colla- teral information is afforded by Dr. Wybrants, when he mentions that he had several similar cases, about the same time, as I understand him. The disease, then, must have been epidemic, and, surely, in the absence of reliable evidence and medical proof, the most just and reasonable conclusion would have been to attribute the child’s condition to the prevailing epidemic. In conclusion, it may be impossible to say whether the man did make any attempt at all upon the child ; but I have no hesitation in saying that the evidence I have seen is utterly insufficient to convince me, and, indeed, is utterly worthless.” From JOSEPH SWAYNE, Esqr., M.D., 12, York Place, Clifton ; Mem- ber of the Royal College of Surgeons, England ; Licentiate of the Apothe- caries’ Hall, London ; Physician Accoucheur, Bristol General Hospital ; Lecturer on Midwifery, Bristol Medical School; Consulting Accoucheur, Lying-in Institution, attached to the Medical School; and also to the Bristol Lying-in Institution ; Author of “ Obstetric Aphorisms for Students ” ;— “ I have carefully read the papers which you forwarded to me, and, on con- sidering the medical facts which they contain, it appears to me that the only evidence against the prisoner is the testimony of the little girl, of the cred- ibility of which others are better capable of judging than I am. There is no proof, whatever, of a rape having been committed, as the external genitals are apparently uninjured. There is also no proof that either the child or the prisoner are suffering from gonorrhoea. The disease which the child has been suffering from appears to have been inflammation of the vulva, giving rise to superficial ulceration and purulent discharge ; a disease of common occur- rence in children, and arising from a variety of ordinary causes, quite inde- pendent of sexual intercourse. I have repeatedly seen such cases myself, and they have been fully described by others. As I said before, the medical testimony amounts to nothing, as a proof of the prisoner’s gnilt, which ap- pears to me to rest solely upon the confession which was extorted from the child.” From WILLIAM MITCHELL CLARKE, Esq., 1, Hanover Place, Clifton; Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England; Licentiate of the Apothecaries Hall, London ; Lecturer on Forensic Medicine and Demonstrator of Anatomy, Bristol Medical School; and Surgeon to the Bristol General Hospital:— “ I cannot find anything in the evidence to prove that a rape had been effected. So far as the evidence states, the child might only have been suf- fering from vaginitis or vulvitis. But Mr. Hudson may have had other