SELLERS, Rosa -accused of killing child
Source: Greencastle Star 7 Feb 1880 p 3
On Tuesday night, this city was thrown into considerable excitement by the report that a colored girl names Rosa Sellers had given birth to a child and then killed it. The girl was employed at the boarding house of Mrs. Noe on South Jackson street and the child was found secreted under a stairway in the cellar of the house. The coroner being immediately called found the child hid away under the stairway. The left side of its face was bruised and the bones of the head crushed. There were spots of blood in the cellar and prints on the wall where someone had rubbed their bloody hands. Mr. Frazier, the coroner, then took the body of the child to Dr. Preston’s Office where an inquest was held. The next day the examination was held before Coroner Frazier, where the following facts were gleamed from the witnesses.
Mrs. Noe testified that Rosa Sellers have lived at her house since the 10th of September. “On Tuesday morning she came to my house and seemed very sick; she laid for a long time upon the kitchen floor. After awhile she got up and went down in the cellar. While she was in the cellar her folks came for her in a buggy. I met her as she came out of the cellar, and pinned a shawl around her head. That night, Tuesday, feeling suspicious I went into the cellar and found the child. I then informed the officers. No one went into the cellar before the officers arrived.
Rosa Sellers, being duly sworn said: “I am about 17 or 18 years old; born in North Carolina. Lived in Greencastle three years. I have been living at Mrs. Noe’s five months. I was at Mrs. Noe’s on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Was sick and had to lie down; while I was lying down on the floor Mrs. Noe went upstairs. I then went down in the cellar where the baby was born. I left it in the cellar and intended to go and get mother and show it to her. On returning to the cellar the second time, I must have tramped on it as it was dark in the cellar. When I tramped on it, I took and put it under the stairs. David Barber is the father of it. He promised to marry me; came to see me once or twice a week. He told me to hide it. I never touched the baby after it was born. I went out; did not think it was alive – it made no noise.
Dr. HR Pitchlyn: I know the girl who came to my office. Suppose it was Rosie Sellers. On Tuesday morning at 7 o’clock she came to my office. I suspected that she was pregnant; told her to go home. Think she had promonitory symptoms then. I gave her ½ grain of morphine to 2 ounces of water to act as antidote.
Dr. GW Bence: Examined the body of the dead child. I think it came to its death through violence; the bones were probably crushed on smooth surface. The fact that the lungs floated on water is evidence that the child once breathed.
David Barber, father of the child testified as follows: I live in Greencastle have been here about three years; have known Rose Sellers about two years; have visited her during that time; I knew she was pregnant; had no conversation with her upon the subject; I have had improper intercourse with her; I never told her to conceal or hide it.”
Barber was acquitted on the charge of an accessory to the crime. The coroner, after having heard the evidence, brought in the following verdict.
“After having heard the evidence and examined the body, I do find that the deceased came to its death by wound-inflicted on its body by the hands of its mother, one Rose Sellers, said wound-being inflicted upon the head and face and having caused instant and immediate death.”
The girl is confined to her bed at present, being scarcely able to move. Her trial will come off before the next term of the Putnam Circuit Court.
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