The Medea Complex (25 page)

THE EVENING POST

SATURDAY, MAY 23RD, 1896.

THE BABY FARMER

Many women, have, under the pressure of a hard fate,
taken the life of one child; and others have passively let their lives ebb out
through neglect and want of food. But to go on year by year murdering innocent
babies in cold blood as a business, is too horrible to think about. Yet that is
the record of Mrs. Dyer the fiend who was righteously sentenced to death
yesterday at the Old Bailey. Nothing in the records of crime surpasses the
story of her career. It is more ghastly even than the deed of the Chicago
murderer, HOLMES, who had a scientifically constructed death trap into which he
lured victims for the mere lust of killing. Since her incarceration, Mrs. Dyer
has endeavoured to persuade the authorities that she was led on by the same
kind of homicidal mania. She heard voices telling her to “Do it!”. We know that
there are people affected with this form of mental hallucination, but the
history of Mrs. dyer upsets any theory of insanity in that direction. She
commenced as a baby-farmer years ago, she lived in many towns, and she secured
victims by acts the most seductive. She did all this, there is no doubt, simply
and solely because of the fees which parents paid her to dispose of their
offspring. There are, unfortunately, many people in this Christian country who
find it necessary to get rid of the fruits of their shame. We do not say that
any of Mrs. Dyer's clients were inhuman enough to expect her to murder the
children sent. But we do think that in many cases they were only too ready to
accept her statement that for a substantial sum she would act the part of
mother to them for the future. That seems to have been the game played by this
woman. She did not want a monthly payment, for it was no part of her purpose to
keep a baby-farm, and parents who were paying periodically would make enquires
or occasional visits to assure themselves of their children’s safety. Mrs. Dyer
set herself deliberately to cater for that class of customer which would make
the least noise. She took their babies for a set fee, and they never saw them again.
The woman sometimes strangled them before she got home. That carpet-bag played
a dramatic part in her journeys, and hundreds of people must have seen her with
it without suspecting the dreadful nature of its contents. Occasionally. Of
course, there were too pertinent inquiries after Mrs. Dyer, and then she would
change her place of abode, or even go into a lunatic asylum to evade pursuit –
a clever method which obviates all idea of insanity. There is no clear record
of how many helpless babes this fiend strangled, but during the trial “a vision
was conjured up of perpetual successions of infants, perpetual wanderings from
town to town, and perpetual disappearances of the infants by the way”. It only
needs to be added that the convict cloaked her infamous traffic in
“hypocritical phrases of affection and religion”. Everything shows that the
theory of irresponsibility cannot be maintained in her case. She is a low type
of the human brute, with intelligence to commit evil, and a heart hard enough
to withstand the assaults of her conscience. There surely can be no person
foolish enough to petition against carrying out the extreme penalty of the law.

Connect
With The Author

Thank you for reading The Medea Complex!

I'd love to hear your thought's on it, so why
not connect? My next novel is currently in its planning stage, and will be
released early 2014. What characters would you like to see more of? Contact me
with any thoughts and ideas, I'd love to construct the sequel with input from
my fans. I will also be holding a contest for character names....would you like
to see YOUR name in print? Would you like to be a character in the next novel?
Then contact me!

Why not join my blog and contribute? Or just
ask for some free stuff! (I like to give stuff away, really!)

To find out more or just for a chat, visit:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/themedeacomplex

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TheMedeaComplex

Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18485508-the-medea-complex

Google+:
https://plus.google.com/107888340907550296944/posts

Remember that if you have purchased this copy
legally, your name has automatically been entered into a draw. Ten lucky people
will win a free, signed copy of The Medea Complex, limited edition in hardback
just in time for Christmas, 2013!

I'd love to hear from you!

Have a lovely day!