====== Dupont, Mary ====== 
(//fl.// 1890s), mother in infanticide case. Mary Dupont (also called Mary Guilbout or Guilbault?), of Alexandria, an unmarried woman, was arrested for the murder of her new-born child. She was said to have cut the child’s throat and to have hidden the body. She was reported soon after the discovery of the crime to be herself dangerously ill. Mary Dupont’s trial for the murder of her illegitimate child came on at the fall assizes 1896, but was adjourned. It was again adjourned at the spring assizes of 1897. The case was tried at the fall assizes of 1897 but the jury could not agree on a verdict. The case came on again for trial at the spring assizes 1898, but it was again adjourned. About this time, an official commented, “The case for the Crown seems strong & clear but public sympathy for the girl is strong.” On 7 July 1899, I. Hartwright, writing from Toronto to Counties’ attorney James Dingwall, stated that the attorney general, on the recommendation of Chief Justice Armour, who had conducted the recent Cornwall assizes, favoured entering a //nolle prosequi //in the case. Therefore, it followed that no more witnesses need be subpoenaed. And “Meanwhile,” Hartwright continued, “it is thought that the prisoner might be released on her own recognizance and as an order for bail in her case can only be obtained from a Superior Court Judge I will obtain such order and forward it to you.” On 18 Aug. 1899 the Cornwall //Freeholder// reported that Mary Dupont, who had been a prisoner in the Counties’ jail since a date the //Freeholder// gave as 6 Jan. 1897, charged with killing her new born child, had been released, having “been bound in her own recognizances for $500 to appear for trial at the fall assizes.” The //Freeholder// gave a summary of the delays in the case, and concluded, “It is hardly likely that the case will ever come to trial.” And in fact, in Oct. 1899, the murder case of Mary Dupont ended in a nolle prosequi as recommended. At this point, she passes out of GC history, after attracting intense public attention.

<tab>It was noted in the //Glengarry News//, 15 Jan. 1897, as evidence of the law-abiding character of SDG, that for three months before the imprisonment of Mary Dupont there had not been any inmate in the jail at Cornwall.


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<fs small>Report on the murder and inquest, //Glengarrian// 4 Dec. 1896, //Cornwall Freeholder// 4 & 11 Dec. 1896, //Vankleek Hill Review// 4 Dec. 1896 * Archives of Ontario, Criminal Indictment Files, SDG, 1881-1898 (adjournments, QF)
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