Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-214) and index.
Contents:
Chapter I. The last words and confession of Jennet Mitchel -- Chapter II. Southland, relatively speaking -- Chapter III. Southland daily news, 12 August 1895 -- Chapter IV. Myths and monsters -- Chapter V.A brief account of the last words and confession of Minnie Dean -- Chapter VI. Victorian Greenock -- Chapter VII. A Greenock childhood -- Chapter VIII. The Parish minister -- Chapter IX. Terra Australis / Terra incognito -- Chapter X. New Zealand, the early years -- Chapter XI. Private tradegy and public scandal -- Chapter XII. A new start at Winton -- Chapter XIII. Running downhill and gathering steam -- Chapter XIV. Off the rails -- Chapter XV. Loading the scales of Justice -- Chapter XVI. The trial -- Chapter XVII. Soutland times, 24 June 1895 -- Chapter XVIII. The end of the line -- Author's note -- Notes and references -- Bibliography -- Index.
Summary:
" ... In 1895 Minnie Dean became the only woman hanged by law in New Zealand. Her crime was child murder. According to folklore she killed babies with hat pins and threw their bodies into streams. It is said that nothing will grow on her grave. Minnie Dean was New Zealand's most famous child care worker. Her business of caring for illegitimate babies was an unwelcome reminder to righteous Victorians that their campaign for the suppression of fornication was a dismal failure. Some "bastards" were killed or abandoned at birth, others were cared for by women like Minnie Dean ... Was Minnie Dean guilty as charged, or did the weight of public condemnation press heavily enough on the police, the judge and the juries involved to unbalance the scales of justice? Was the Winton baby farmer a mercenary, cold-blooded killer? Or a scapegoat sacrificed at the altar of Victorian hypocrisy?"--Inside front cover.
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