We have been thus minute in our endeavour to establish rules for discriminating between the male and female skeleton, because it has been a question of judicial inquiry. The supposed difficulty of ascertaining the sex of a skeleton constituted a principal feature in the celebrated defence of _Eugene Aram_ for the murder of _Daniel Clarke_, and which, on account of its extreme ingenuity, has been introduced at length in our _Appendix_, p. 311.
In examining detached and isolated portions of the skeleton, we must take care not to mistake natural fissures and _foramina_ for the effects of violence; we have already observed that the _sagittal suture_ has been pronounced to be a fracture. But the most extraordinary illustration of such an error that can be adduced, is that presented to us in the history of a case that occurred at Exeter, and which the author of this work is enabled to present in an authentic form through the kind assistance of his friend, _Wm. Tucker, Esq. of Coryton, Devonshire_, a gentleman, who has been too long known, and too universally respected, as an active and upright magistrate, to render any panegyric necessary on the present occasion.
DEVONSHIRE.——_At the Devon Assizes in March, 1800, a Bill was preferred before the Grand Jury against_ Thomas Bowerman, _for the Murder of_ Mary Gollop, _a Bastard Child of_ Sarah _his Wife, by another man, previous to her marriage, at the parish of Uffculme, in the said County_.
_Mary Gollop_ lived with her mother, the wife of _Thomas Bowerman_, in _Bowerman’s_ house, at Uffculme, and had been often noticed on account of the ill treatment she was known to experience from _Thomas Bowerman_. About Michaelmas, 1797, being then about fourteen years of age, she was reported to have died suddenly in her father’s house, and she was accordingly buried on the first day of October, 1797, in the church-yard of Uffculme.
In January, 1800, _Thomas Bowerman_ was committed to the Devon Bridewell, at the suit of the overseers of the poor of Uffculme, on a conviction for having ran away and left his children chargeable to the parish of Uffculme. His wife was at that time dead, and _Elizabeth_, one of his children, about twelve years old, had been removed to the parish workhouse, and was there maintained at the expense of the parish. _Elizabeth Stark_, the mistress of the workhouse, in a conversation with _Elizabeth Bowerman_, mentioned to her, that on her father’s return from Bridewell, after the expiration of his sentence, she would be sent to her father’s house to be by him maintained and clothed. _Elizabeth Bowerman_ burst into tears, saying she could never again live with her father if he did return, as she was afraid he would murder her as he did her sister. She then stated that her father killed her sister, _Mary Gollop_, by pushing an awl into her head. She saw him do it, and he made her mother and herself wipe up the blood, and said he would serve her the same if ever she told of it.