The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-02-24 00:00:00

CHARGE OF MATRICIDE.

Mrs. Amelia Eortbury, aged 37, residing In East-street,
Bethual-green, London, was brought up before the magis-
trate at Worship-street Police-court, on Saturday, charged
with causing the death of her mother, Mrs. Julia Aria.
Edward Bryan, a gardener in the service of the
deceased, deposed that on the afternoon of Thursday,
the let inst., Mrs. Portbury, the prisoner, was
quarrelling with her mother respecting come goods
which, belonging to the prisoner, were in the house of
the deceased. The prisoner wished to remove them,
and was violent She took up a decanter to her mother,
and attempted once or twice to strike her. Witness
was called away from the place to attend the kitahen,
and when he returned the deceased complained that
the prisoner had struck her with a poker. She coim
plained of injury to her aide, and was for some days in
bed. She also became insensible, and eventually died
on Friday morning last.
Ann Fraaer, an aged woman, stated to be a servant
in the prisoner's employment, deposed to witnessing
the quarreling on the morning in question, and to at-
tending the deceased until her death. She complained
to witness of having been ill-treated, but the prisoner
was not present at the time. In reply to the magic.
trate, the witness added, that the prisoner and the
deceased, who were mother and daughter, frequently
quarrelled, and at the time of the assault were living in
the same house.
Inspector Honey, who had charge of the case, said
that the doctor who had attended tile deceased was not
now present, and he could then not call other witnesses.
The Magistrate thought that the case in its present
state was not ripe for further inquiry, and accordingly
directed a remand.
Mr. Abbot (on behalf of the prisoner) applied for
bail, which the Magistrate said it was impossible to
grant in a ease of murder.
The Prisoner was then removed in custody. She is
stated to be near her confinement

In connection with the above, the following particulars
have been given
For some time past the history of the family of the
prisoner has been before the public in details, as given
at different times, which make up a romance of truth,
stranger than any fiction, and ending in the above
tragic event. The prisoner, whose age is given as 37,
is the widow of a doctor, named Muldola, who for
many years enjoyed an extensive practice in Bethnal-
green, and who, on his death at the commencement
of last year, left his widow an annuity of a year
conditionally cm her not re-marrying. Besides this she
had property in her own right to the amount of over
I:200 a year, and her mother, the unfortunate deceased,
was a wealthy lady residing at Park-house, Vic-
toria-park, with considerable private income of her
own. Shortly after the death of her husband the
prisoner, then Mrs. Mulflola, being in weak health,
engaged a lad named Pertbury, only 17 years I,f age,
,to act as her coachman and drive her about In the
, March following she married him. Proceedings in
Chancery were immediately taken on behalf of the
children of Dr. Muldola, who were removed from the
prisoner's possession and placed in the guardianship
of Mrs. Aria, the deceased, their grandmother. The
£5OO a year reverted from the prisoner to them,
and was held in Chancery for their benefit. Shortly
afterwards the prisoner and her husband quarrelled
and separated. Prisoner returned to her mother's
house, living apart from her husband, and recently in-
stituted proceedings against him for perjury in connec-
tion with the obtaining the certificate of marriage,
when he affirmed before the registrar that he was
twenty-one years of age, whereas he was only seven-
teen. He now stands committed for trial, by ad-
journment from the last sessions of the Central
Criminal Court, for this offence. Lately, however, be
being out on bail, the prisoner has, it is said, returned
to live with him. Her mother, who had never won-
tenanced the marriage, and who had prosecuted the
husband and his brother for an assault on her when
they tried to abduct the children from her care, ob-
jected to this. It therefore became necessary for the
prisoner to leave the house, and to this end she pro-
ceeded to remove her furniture. During this the
quarrelling mentioned by the witnesses took place, and
led to blows, which terminated with the death of Mrs.
Aria. It was said that on more than one occasion the
prisoner had struck the deceased, and it would appear
that at times she is not quite controllable.

On Monday morning the Coroner held an inquest,
when the jury retnrned a verdict of Mawlaughter
against Ann Portbury, and a warrant waa made out
for her committal to Plewgate to await her trial.

ATTEMPTED SCICIDE. - The journals of
Geneva mention • striking act of courage. A young
girl living with her parents on the Coors Vitton had
given signs of mental derangement, awl attempted a
few days back to commit suicide by throwing herself
from a window. A sister, who was alone with her,
seized her by the dregs, but was only just in time to
hold her suspended in the air, three storeys from the
ground. Several persons in the street rushed upstairs
to lend assistance but found the door closed, and at
the same time the girls gown gave way, Ind she was
precipitated into open space. As she fell, a man
below stepped forward deliberately and attempted to
catch her, to break her falL The shockwag fearful,
and they both rolled to the ground with excesdive
violence. The young woman Nehen taken up was in-
sensible, although she was found not to have suff,red
any serious injury. The man, whose name is Do-
mortier, and who was formerly head watchman at the
Cordeiiers Market, was &leo nearly deprived of con-
sciousness; his right arm and leg were as if paralysed,
and the next day those members were seriously bruised
and tumified. It is, however, hoped that he will not
uffer any permanent injury,

AN EXTRAORDINARY IMPOSITION.
At the lime-street Police-conrt, in j.ondon, Mr.
B. Osborn, one of the Fist Office solicitors, made
an application to the magistrate teneler, the following
extraordinary circumstance. He said tt.t. was in-
structed by the Post Office authorities to attertd the
court for the purpose of exposing a novel kind of fraud
nt.'w being practised upon the p sir childen of London.
A rumour P.ad 1.3C11 circulated that the Post Office had
guaranteed to pay 'AI. for every penny piece bearing
the date 1864, for the Firms, of buying them all in.
The consequence was that tho authors of this
rumour first went about offering tiroprore and
threepence to the newspaper boys and floWer
for pennies bearing the date 1864, and subsequently
selling them to those poor people at the rate
of sd. each penny. The children, believing this to be
an excellent mode of making money, eagerly bougLt a
penny for sel. whenever they could get it, and the
General Post Office, during the last few days, had been
completely inundated by them, and their grief, of
course, was very great upon being informed that they
had been imposed upon. Mr. Osborn concluded his
observations by saying two of the boys were in court
to corroborate the facts, and that the application was
made in the hope that the imposition would be exposed
by means of the public press.
In answer to the Magistrate, Mr. Osborn said he
could assign no reason why the date 1864 was selected.
The Magistrate, after briefly questioning the two
lads, who had been duped amongst others, said that
the application was a most proper one to make, and he
trusted the erpose given by means of the pms would
have the effect of putting an end to the swindle.

The swindle exposed in London by the solicitor to
the Yost-office has had its counterpart in Manchester.
It was alleged and currently believed that these
pennies were so scarce that eighteenpence each would
be realised for them at a certain extensive fishmonger's,
who had been much annoyed at being persecuted by
people in their simplicity offering these coins. The
story et out among the credulous that the fishmonger
had laid a heavy wager to be in the possession of many
thousands of these pennies, and was induced to give a
premium from the scarcity of them. Another in-
genious story wan that at the Mint, when these pennies
were made, a certain rroportion of gold got into the
metal by mistake, and hence the anxiety of Govern-
ment to recover them.