Edward Street Baby Farm

Early in 1907, Alice Mitchell was arrested for the murder of five-month-old Ethel Booth. During the inquest and subsequent trial, Perth's citizens were horrified to learn that at least thirty-seven infants had died in Mitchell's care in the previous six years. It became clear that she had been running a 'baby farm', making a profit out of caring for the children of single mothers and other 'unfortunate women'. But there was more to the story than the court case or the newspapers revealed. This true crime book looks at events leading up to the trial, and follows the lives of the key players in the tragedy: Alice Mitchell, health inspector Harriet Lenihan and children's specialist Dr Edward Officer.