The Express.
London, England, 1855-11-02 00:00:00

GUILDHALL.

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William Story, a tailor, of 62. Fleet-street, wu nu-
atoned by Edward Joseph Bitty, for refusing to pay
31. 145., the sauna of a new shuch baildieg rate for the
parish of St. Dust's i• the West. Flut-stnet.
Mr. Story said hie ground of objutioa was that the
trustees after building the chores went on repairing and
daunting it, thus perpetaatieg their trust, after the require-
=eau of the set bad been oompliett with.
Alderman Cahill said that was a point for the Ecclesi-
astical Court.
Aldus'. Fiat& said it was dear that the rata was a
legal one on the face of it, sad he mast adjadge it to be
paid. If Kr. Story was not uti►flsd with that decision he
amid appeal against It.
LAMBETH.

Mr. Ferguson, the chief clerk at the Meddisity Safety,
attended before the Roe. G. C. Norton, to Inform hiss of
I the result of his inquiries reepeedag the bliad WOMIII2,
Booties, whose case lad been put forward la highly
coloured advertisements by the Distressed Needlemons's'.
dcaiety, or rather by Mr. Roper, and for whose benefit up•
wards of 200 i. had lama resolved by Mr. Roper's owa as
knowledgmeets.
me. germsea, la the lest hiatus*. begged to head M Ys
worship a letter addressed by Mr. Roper to the aserepagers,
is reply to the eissavatioss made by Ka, Mr.
respeadag this ease when be last appeared boftweirsaltrr:
ship. By that letter it would be fouled that , la Ms
usual maser. had deelaired the whole of the
meads by hlsa(Mr. Fergana) to be a tissue of dem
the beesalem to the end. 1 wee else Media Mist ell the
farts renamed with the blind enema sane be sub.
mandated, sad that he (Mr. Roper) Amid be happy
to wet, by appointee's; at to. cam of the society,
say rtispeetaMe persona, is order that 111.2 ...alislit be
eosvlscod of the faits. Whams soot two dims-
throes, as he knew there was de use giebeg." hiediY "ig IM
Mcsaliwostes'a Society, 76, Newassicarest. sad had
written deers ler them the Wowing di put to
Mr Roper: " let. The same rid sdkasess sf the patrons,
samisens*, sad IIIIIISitte• of Disereemed Needlewesies'e
Redeq ? Red. The asses mad Misuse of the !glad mesas ?
3d. The saisest required to parades the sassily 4th.
Row melt of the mosey subssellesd ter the blhadwoeses
was this is bud? add, 6.b. If them was say printed sub.
empties list or of the gaiety's proesedings t" The
mower t• obi Arm goaded was Ske plods' la the beads • f

trierthment by Mr. ROW a Twisted list of ap-
e! 600 et the aims of the priest* aobtity
sad gentry of the United Linden headed with
the royal arms and the suns of the Ginn, :Priam
A.bert, and all the adult members of the mai family.
la reply to the mead question they were told that the
" Blind woman wee at Portsmouth ;" *ad when salted why
he had not brought her to town, and taken her before Mr.
Norton, sad thereby removed the very serious shares both
Nolan the seenty and himself personally, Roper
them the fellow's' meesonadure, fa his owa haadwriting,
sad ea a smell pins of paper :
" Mrs. Bowen was not in good swoosh health to be
brought to London, but her brother staid is lowa six weeks
to answer any tawdry rennin, her. The moiety will be
happy to give may laformation to say friends who may
wish to benefit her."
As regarded the two lest question there were ao satin.
factory semen, and the manner of Roper aid his wife
was shuilhog at.d evasive. As regarded the printed
list of patrons, which be begged to head to his
wonbip, he was in a position to show, If necessary,
that the names taker Majesty, the Priaor, sod a number
of the nobility sad gentry were inserted without their sane.
tion and used without their authority. Re begged to call
him worship's particular attention to the fact, that while the
name of the poor distressed dressmaker was described to be
Bowhaa, Roper himself wrote it " Bowen," forgetting, as it
were, the nerve of the person he patronised. But the fact,
In his opinion, mss that one name was as geed as the other,
for In point of fact no such person was in existence. He
had looked back to the proceedings of Roper for some yours,
and he found that on many former occasions his pet object
was a " Blind needlewoman," • " Blind girl," or a " Blind
child, the daughter of • nemllewontan ;" Mcleod, in the
letter before his worship would be found the follow-
ing : "We have two more blind women on our
books. Are we to hand them over to the Men-
dilly Society to pick oakum 1 " This was a part
of Mr. Roper's dodgery, if he might use the term. The
Needlewomen's Society was established for the purpose of
assisting and procuring work for persons with good eyesight,
and not with a view of picking up two or three blind ones,
and obtain subscription' for them peculiar uses. In feet, the
peasant society's house might be more appropriately Galled,
the " Blind woman's" institution.
Mr. Norton asked if any is sissies had been made at
Portsmouth respecting this blind woman Bowhan or
Bowen ?

Mr. Ferguson replied that there bad ; he bad written to
• gentleman then, and rneind as answer by that morn-
isn't' post, that up to the present no sub person could be
traced. He begged to add, that though Roper had repre-
sented in his letter that he bad been for ten years • seem
tary to the society, this was not the fact, for in Jane or July
1861, he, knowing very well that he would be dismissed for
gross misconduct, misapplying the lands, sad destroying
the accounts, seat in • letter of assignation, and was di-
missed.
A pathways in the court here informed the magistrate
that Roper had called on a lady in Breton-street, Bond-
i street, for a subscription for the " blind dressmaker," but
the lady, in reply to the application, told him she did not
wish to give away money unless she knew something of the
party or the ease. Roper told her that if she felt any
doubts on the subject she might refer to Dr. Alezandor.
The lady, however, still expressed some doubts on the sub-
ject, and said she should make some inquiries. In • day or
two after she seat her brother to 75, Newman-street, and
the &amount received by that gentleman 'eviction the blind
woman was so evasive and unsatisfactory that the lady kept
her money, and thus avoided being made • victim.
Mr. Ferguson observed that Dr. Abrader had written a
letter to Roper on the subject of this blind woman, but did
not reedye an answer.
Mr. Norton said that the ease was one of importance. An
application should be made, in an ofdcial form, to this
person Roper, to give some satiafactery account of the
whereabou,s of this blind woman, and the application of
the large sums of money that had been received from
benevolent individuals.
Mr. Ferguson replied that he was that very day fortified
with the authority of a distinguished nobleman, who with
his family had subscribed a large sum to the blind woman,
to insist on his part on a full explanation, and this he cer-
tainly should enforce, and acquaint his worship with the
result.