The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-06 00:00:00

NEW COURT-YErruDAY.

Basuat Us. Rimini Gram, Q.C.
Charles Smith, 49, labourer, was indicted for obtaining
money by false pretences from William Appe.
The prosecutor, a simple looking young man, living at
Binned, said that he came to London by the South
Eastern Railway, on the 16th of December, and at the
station met the prisoner, who forced his company upon him,
and asked him the way he was going. Proeccetor told, him
to Hackney. The prisoner said he also was going that way,
and would put him in the right road. They walked on as
far as King William street, when the prisoner stooped down
and picked up a silk bag, which he opened and found to
contain a ring and a bill for 12s. 6d. The risotter said it
was a stunning good find, and they ought to halve the value
which was on the bill. The prisoner added that if he had
the money he should give the prosecutor half, and keep the
ring ; but not having any money then about him, the
prosecutor must give him the difference, which he did.
Mr. Payne—And as soon as he got the money he recol-
lected that he was no longer going your way ?
Prosecutor—No. sir, he left me directly. (Laughter.) I
took the ring to &jeweller, and found that it was not worth
two-pence. I sp.,ke to the police, and the next day we
went to the railway station, and there they saw the prisoner,
evidently on the look-out for another victim.
The constable who took the prisoner into custody, said
that upon searching him, he found two more brass rings
put into bags, and bills put up with them.
The jury found him Chatty.
His lordship said it was evident that the prisoner was
pursuing a regular system of entrapping the unwary, whom
he might find at railway stations.
The prisoner was sentenced to six months' imprisonment
and hard labour.

THIRD COURT-YESTERDAY.
_ parozz ma Comm( Swipe!.

Mary Ann oid);;,7, 49, widow, was indicted for unlaw-
fully assaulting and ill-treating John Gaywood, an infant-
The prisoner pleaded guilty.
Mr. Payne, who appeared on behalf of the parochial
authorities, stated to the court the circumstances giving
rise to this prosecution, and from the learned counsel's
statement it appeared that prisoner was head nurse at the
Greenwich Union, and the child, who is about sir years of
age, was one of the paupers there. On Saturday evening,
about three weeks ago, the child was in the nursery, play-
ing with the fire-guard. The prisoner was there, poking
the fire. A red-hot piece of cinder fell out of the fire,
which prisoner took up with a piece of rag which she
fetched on purpose, and placed into the child's band, and,
doubling his fingers over it, held them tightly round it for
about five minutes. The child did not cry until she re-
leased him, and the cinder fell out, and then he screamed
dreadfully, Its hand being burnt into a large white blister.
A woman who was in the place at the time said, " Oh!"
and prisoner said, " You can say .oh, dear,' if you like."
When the mistress of the school came in, the prisoner said,
" I have done a cruel thing, but it's the first I ever com-
mitted." She said the child was playing with the cinders,
and she put a hot one in his hand; that she did not care
about it, for she had saved his life; he was always playing
with the fire. The child's hand was not seen by a surgeon
until the 27th of December.
The Common Serjeant asked how it was that the primmer
was not at once given in custody.
Mr. Payne said the guardians were only made acquainted
with it a week ago. He thought this was a case calling for
severe punishment, the more especially as the surgeon was
of opinion that the child would never again have the proper
use of his hand, a matter pressing most heavily upon a
wipes child. The case came within the meaning of Lord