The thirteenth of September 1898, two years and three months after the execution of Amelia Dyer, was one of the hottest days recorded over the past half-century. Fred Dennis, carriage and wagon examiner for the GWR, was enjoying the relative cool of the early morning as he began his shift at Newton Abbot railway station. At about 7.15, as he passed by a carriage which had been shunted into a siding the night before, he heard a child’s cry. He searched under the carriage before realizing that the sound came from within the locked ladies’ compartment. Calling to his foreman, Thomas Wills, to bring the carriage key, the two men unlocked the door and entered the compartment.
Under the seat was a brown paper parcel tied up with string, a second bundle containing infant clothing and a bottle of milk. Thomas Wills untied the string from the parcel and pulled aside the brown paper. Inside was a baby girl, about three weeks old; she was cold and her clothing was soaked through, but she was very much alive.
GWR inspector James Tucker had been on duty the evening before when the 9.13 train from Plymouth had arrived at Newton Abbot. As the train was terminating, he walked the length of the platform shouting “All Change!” in the usual way. As he reached the last compartment a female passenger put her head out of the window and asked if she needed to change for Bath. Inspector Tucker informed her that she did and he opened the door of the carriage to help her out, locking it behind her. The woman was in her early twenties and was dressed in a fawn-coloured skirt, a lace-trimmed blue blouse and a white sailor hat. Over her arm she had been carrying a dark blue cloak. The carriage she had been in was shunted into the sidings.
From information given them by the two GWR employees the police were able to trace the woman to Bath and then on to Brize Norton where, on 14 September, she was arrested along with her husband. Letters found at the couple’s home revealed they had advertised for a baby to adopt and that the wife, “Mrs Stewart”, had travelled to Plymouth to collect the newborn child of a widow lady called Jane Hill.
Dear madam,
Your letter just to hand. I beg to say I should be pleased to take the little one referred to. I will do so for £12 instead of £15 if the mother will pay my railway expenses. The little one with us would have a good home, would be brought up well and have a parents love and care. My husband is a farmer here and it is a very healthy place. If we took the child and the mother wished to see it, we should be pleased for her to do so at any time. Hoping to hear from you by return
Believe me to remain
Yours very truly
Mrs A Stewart
The couple in question were identified as Polly Palmer and her husband, Arthur Ernest Palmer.