AN ACCOUNT of the Seizing, OR Apprehending, Behaviour, Confession, and Commitment to Newgate. OF MARY St. DUNSTAN, (Born near Temple-bar) The Bloody Midwife's Servant, Committed by Warrant from the Right Honourable, Sir John Fleet, Knight, Lord Major. With an Account of Reasons for the Midwife's Poisoning of herself in Newgate.  
Licenced According to Order. 13. Sept. 1693.  
SInce the taking and commitment to Newgate of Mary Compton the Bloody Midwife of Poplar, all the care and industry imaginable has been used by the Masters of the Parish of Poplar, the Beadles of St. Dunstan's and other Parishes for the Apprehending of Mrs. Mary, the Servant of the said Midwife; She laying all her Crimes on the said Maid. By the Industry of the Searchers some small Intelligence was got of our Mrs. Mary some days since by which She was so traced, that yesterday being Monday Sept. 11th. She was apprehended by Thames street near London-Bridge, and by Constables carried before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, and before his Lordship, She was Examined, where She continued very obstinate and impudent, her Mistress having taught and tutored her in all her Paces; His Lordship ask her, her Name, all that She would confess, as to that particular, was, that her Name is Marry, and by no means She could be brought to any other, saying, She knew no other Name She had, or ever was called by; which is not improbable, considering that this Creature has lived with the Midwife from a Child, and the Neighbours where the Midwife formerly lived, looked upon this Maid to be some By-blow or Bastard; and as 'tis supposed preserved and brought up by her Mistress on purpose to be an Instrument and Confederate with her in her horrid Practices: During her being before the Lord Mayor, several Affidavits were taken by his Lordship, on the Account of her being Confederate with her Mistress the Midwife, in murdering divers young Children (as the following Narrative treats off) upon which She was committed to Newgate by Warrant or Mittimus, under his Lordship's Hand and Seal.  
In Newgate She is kept apart from her Mistress, than not being suffered to converse with each other.  
Postscript. Since her being in Newgate her right Name is known, being Mary St. Dunstan, by which Name She was Christened, being a foundling of St. Dunstan's Parish in the West, by whom She was put out to the Midwife, about Sixteen years since; She is about Eighteen years of Age.  
We shall now proceed to our Narrative of the Midwife, Marry Crompton, who many years since having the Acquaintance of an Eminent Midwife, was by her Instructed, and has Practised the same for a long time; and for many Years She has also used to take Children, always making her Bargain to have so much Money in hand for the bringing them up; what Nurse She proved to them, the following Account Relates: Her real Practice as to laying of Women with Child has ●een very Inconsiderable, She lived for a considerable time at Wolwich by Greenwich, where She kept an Alehouse and Chandlers-shop, and there She made pretensions to Midwifery the better to manage her damnable Designs on Children. She came to live at Poplar, which is near Stepney, about Two Years since, taking a large House, where none but Persons of considerable Rank had li-ved before, bringing with her at first only a Maid Servant, going for a Midwife of great note to Persons of Quality; here she had not continued long, before she was observed to have several Children of divers Ages; but all the time of her living in this Place has been very private, not in the least associating herself with any of the Neighbourhood, or coming to Church, etc. but her Maid Servant would often be in Discourse with some of the adjacent Neighbours Maids, being always very inquisitive with them, but she would never communicate any thing of her Mistresses Domestic Affairs. The Midwife herself was scarce ever seen in the Neighbourhood, not so much as to stand at the Door, but steping into the Coach early in the morning, and coming home in a Coach in the Night, and seldom or never were any Visitants seen to come thither, but only some Gentlemen and others often in the Evening or Night, except it were some of the Parish for the King's Taxes, the Ministers, Poor or other Duties, which generally, if she happen to be at home she readily paid them at the Door, or sent the Maid to them with the money and many complesant Words; she was observed to be often from home for several days together, yet so much was her maid servant her Confederate & Creature, that the Affairs of the House was kept so private and obscure from the Neighbours, that they could not tell how many Children she had in the House, or how often changed, or otherwise disposed of: Mrs. Crompton is between Fifty and Threescore Years of Age, and her maid has often declared upon several Occasions, That her mistress has been a Midwife above Thirty Years; and 'tis generally said that she she has followed this barbarous Infant murmurdering Trade so long, the truth of which is best known to the Omnipresent God, the searcher of Hearts, who can bring the most hiden Things of Darkness to light, and from whom no Secret is hid, who for Reasons best known to his Providence, permits some Persons Sins to go before to Judgement, that is to be punished in this Life, and others to come after, that is, reserved to the Tribunal of the great Day.  
Mrs. Crompton going out of Town the beginning of the last Week, on Friday, pretty early in the Morning, the Maid-Servant (no doubt by the Order and Appointment of the Mistress) left the House likewise, leaving at home a Boyabout Seven Years of Age, and a Girl about Six Years Old, with a little Infant in the Cradle, leaving with them for Food only a piece of Cheese and Water, not any Beer or Bread, but bid the Boy, in case the young Child cried, to give it some Water, and she would return in a little time; all which the Boy has since related: The Children continuing in the House alone most part of the Day, and no Maid returning, grew very impatient, and particularly for want of Sustenance, etc. and the Boy bringing of it into an outward Room next the Street, a Neighbour's Son passing by, and hearing the Child cry, called to the Boy to know what was the matter; to whom he declared, after some time, the Reasons: That they were left all day alone in the House, without Victuals, and that the young Child was almost starved; after which, Neighbours being called, the Constable and Masters of the Parish were sent for, some of whom coming and entering the House, examined the two Chilgren, who declared as before mentioned; and farther, besides the Infant in the Cradle, the Boy declared there were two more that lay Dead in a Hand-basket upon a Shelf in the Cellar; another lay Buried in the Garden, and a Fourth in the Cellar: Upon present search, they found the Two Children in the Hand-basket as the Boy had said, they being most lamentable Objects of Humane Misery, looking at first sight, were liker the Carcases of Cats or Dogs than Humane Creatures, all their skin being off, as likewise their Eyes and part of their Flesh eat with Vermin, stinking in a lamentable manner.  
On Monday being 21st. Instant, the Coroners Inquest were Impanell'd, and coming to the House where the Dead Bodies lay in the Basket, after viewing of them, they ordered some Labourers (according to the Words of the Boy) to Dig in several soft places of the Cellar where they perceived the ground had been broken, where, after some time, they Dug up six several Skeletons of Children of several Ages; upon which Night coming on, the Coroner Adjourned the Jury-till the next Day, resolving to have the ground in the Garden likewise to be broken up before they brought in their Verdict, many of the Spectators took several of the Bones and carried them away, some of which are now to be seen at the Ben-Johnson's Head, near St. Bride's Church by Fleetstreet.  
Who were the Parents of these Children, or upon what account this Midwife had the keeping of them, is not certainly known, though it's generally conjectured, and that not without a great deal of Reason, that these were those commonly called Bybl …; or Bastards, which she undertook, for a certain Sum of Money agreed on, to ease the Parents of, by keeping them as long as they lived. P. S.  
On Tuesday, August 22. This Day the Coroner's Inquest met again, but were adjourned till Monday, on the Account that they had not done digging in the Garden, and other ports for Children, and for other Reasons. This Day likewise about One in the Afternoon, our Madam Compton, alias Norman, was Apprehended near Covent-Garden, and with the Assistance of the Constables and Beadles, being led between two Men, attended with a numerous Crowd of People; she was carried to the Petty Sessions of Bloomsbury, where she was Examined before their Majesty's Justices of the Peace there sitting; who likewise took several Affidavits, by which she is vehemently suspected (if not positively charged) to have Murdered several Children that were put to her to Nurse; upon which she was from thence Committed to Newgate, by the Warrant or Mittimus signed by the Worshipful Justices of the Peace then on the Bench.  
When our Doughty Midwife was first seized, all the way she went to the Justices, and when she came before their Worships, she was observed to carry herself with a great deal of Confidence, not seeming in the least concerned, or much denying the Fact.  
At her first being in Newgate, She behaved herself very very impudently, which grew afterwards into a fullenness; and just before the Sessions that She expected to be Tried, She fell ill: She was brought to the Old-Bayly tied in a Chair, and carried on a Man's back, but the Court finding her very ill, the Trial was put off till next Sessions: She continues still in a very languishing Condition, and several Physicians and other Ingenious Men that have been to visit Her, give it as their Opinion, that they verily believe She has given herself a Dose of lingering Poison, as a French Midwife of Paris, did, on the like occasion some years since.   

Printed for John Wallis near the Green Dragon Tavern in Fleetstreet.