The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-04-18 00:00:00

A LADY MILLINER IN TROUBLE.

The latest arrival at "our grand hotel" a. dies
Powell designated the county jail is a lady not
to be too particular--somewhat past the bloom of
youth, and possessed of the not uncommon name of ,
Smith -Theresa Jane. Miss Smith has come from
Sherhorne, in which ancient and rather solemn town
she held the pordtion of head milliner to a well-known
firm of drapers, Messrs. Woodward and I holing In that
establishment we believe she received Val a year, and
board and lodging. Not content with this tolerably
liberal remuneration it would seem she had rather ex-
tensive ideas as to " perquisites," so much so that her
employers' suspicions were aroused. At the time of
her detection the erring woman was under notice to
leave, and the unaccountable absence of a
quantity of feather trimming led to it. On
the 7th of the month, Messrs. Woodward and
Dorling entertained the opinion they were being
robbed, and questioned the prisoner relative to this
feather trimming. She denied all knowledge of it.
Declining to take a lady's word the partners insisted
she had, and the result wan that she went and got a
small piece of it. A further request that her boxes
might be searched was indignantly refused, and then
the Isdioe were sent for. Supt. Hare, arrived on the
acne. and in the presence of no extended a reprtsen ta.
tiveof " the powersthat be," it in only natural that the
woman ultimately, like Mrs. Bluebeard, with fear, and
trembling, handed over the keys. It is hardly necessary
to detail the whole of the articles found in her box, but
they were most artfully concealed, as an instance of
which we may mention that a piece of cromlech dress
had been wrapped round an umbrella and the lot then
Inserted in the cane. At the police-station the super-
intendent demanded what stolen Property she might
hate about her, but she denied that she had any. A
female searcher was then called in, and upon her were
found concealed nearly sufficient articles to enable her
to start in burinsin on her own account. We almost
blush to mention it, but the lady's legs were enveloped
in • quantity of braiding, which had been most
artistically entwined around them. Altogether
Mr. Dorling valued the articles !stolen at front £lO to
. _

She 11,118 brought before the county magistratse on
Thursday, when the cam appeared to excite much
Interest. At first for some reason or another difficult
to understand there was • disposition evinced to its
being heard with closed dorTs. The new magistrates
clerk—Mr. Trevor Davies, however, very propezly
drew attention to this and the public were &Imam&
They literally swarmed in and then the prisoner
reared to feel her position acutely. Evidence was
yen by Mr. Dorling and Supt. Hare, and she was
n asked the usual question as to what she had to
say. In almost a whisper she admitted her guilt, but
pleaded she had worked very hard for her employers
while she had been in their service, adding
she Lad stayed up the whole of the previous Sun-
day, Sunday night and the next day to finish a
ball dre.s -for Mrs. ltorling. Subesquently Mr.
Ltorling " emphatically" assured the Bench that
if she did so it was from her own choice. Major
Falwaaser, the Chairman of the Bench, told the
months' hard labour.
prisonueL her to l sheha, ,tl he maximumonewisely in pleading guilty, and
sentenced
of
punishment,
ea„,
sit

She is a native of St. Ives, and the firm with whom
she lived about four months had • very fair character
with her. Supt. Hare was unable to discover any
previous charges against her. To judge from a por
trait of the prisoner and her appearance before the
Bench, the position in which she had placed herself
had evidently told terribly upon her.

THE B.V.A.
We have great pleasure in calling attention to the fact
that 3 testimonial is about to be Presented to John Press
the huntsman of that famous pack, the Blackmoor
Vale Hounds, who, after 12 years service. is. from 11.1
health, obliged to give up the post of huntsman. A
meeting has been bald in this town, when it was resolved
—" that a sum of money should be raised by voluntary
subscriptions for the benefit of John Posse, as a testimo-
nial to bias for the very efficient way in which he has
hunted the Blackmoor Vale Hounds for the last 12 years,"
and "That trustees be appointed to take charge of the
fund so raised, and apply It to the benefit of John Press
and his children by hi, second marriage. —Sir Richard
Glyn, the master of the hounds, said he felt sure this
latter condition WU in accordance with the wishes of his
huntsman, whose anxiety was much more that his children
should he cared for than that he himself should live in
comfort. Press had three children by his second marriage
the eldest only seven years old. It must be many yftes
bdoui these could be able to support themselves, and that
they should he well eared for and well educated was be
knew, a great desire of their father's, and this, he hoped,
the fund now proposed to be raised would be able to fulfil
and so relieve Press from all anxiety, on that some as
least. The following subscriptions were promised in the
roo —the Marchioness of Westminster O; the lady
Theodore Grosvenor, : Su R. G. otraCkyll; Lady
Glyn. ; G. B. W. Diikr, req.. Al 6 ; Geese

&Q., 1115 ; Marwoed Yeatman, Esq.. 410:
Ran., £10: Mfl ahr .zle. V.1'..L10: 11. Tree?. it,iir..._.
Esq.. £l5; J. Bradney. 1.1,41., £10: Rev. A. DendY. H.q.. t 5; 4 '"Plain M.llP'ett R.s:'
Kyrie Chapman. E. 1., EDI: T. WlMaws R. 41., . 1.::, ji. If. Wallace, E,0...R.11.A.. N. 5 ;
It. ,F;LS;
Captain H. Ilmices, LI 1,. ; Littlebak. 4:
.L .5 ; lion. Mrs. Berti .C. e. 5. .
.-e