Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-15 00:00:00

SENTENCE UPON " MADAME ANNIE."

About half-p.a3t one o'ciczk vestozda.:-, Johanna Rocen-
burg, known as "Madame Annie,"' WAS brought no for
sentence before his Worship the Reaorder, in the Borough
Sessions Court. The prisoner, ?awe-placed in tho dock,
was weeping bitterly.
The Recorder said : Johanna. Rasenburg, in :his case
there has been no trial, but you have pleaded guilty, so
that theefacts have been brought before me by the state-
ments of counsel and by affidavit, and I may say in the
outset, that many things have b*ou mentioned to me which
lam not at liberty to take into consideration. lam not
at liberty, for oae reason, because Sou havo not had art
opportunity of answering the-m, and because you have not
boon put upon trial for these offences. I say, therefore, I
am not at liberty to consider those things in the sentence
lam about to pronounce. What you leave confessed is„
that you have been guilty of keeping a disorderly house.
Now, it appears that you, not being an Englishwoman but.
a foreigner, have, for five or six years, or more, resided in
this town, and kept a brothel. It appears that the inmates
of that house for the most part were girls--young girls,
Erglish and forote—and, under your au)pica.s, under
your eyes, and in your house, many immoralities have
been, practised, and much harm, no doubt, has been done.
If, as it is alleged, young girls have boon induced by you.
to enter into a course of life attendoel by misery, and
ending in destruction, you hive,
_indeed, much to answer
for. Thee must be a heavy burden won your conscience,
if you rightly consider the thing. A just sense of such
conduct ought to fill you with apprehension more serious
than can attend the sentence of any earthly judge.
Rowover, I do not really know how these things are; and
I can only—especially consid. rieg, that you have surren-
dered yourself, :Ten your plea, to justice—deal with what
is certain against you. Considering how long you carried'
on that brothel in this town, and how much mischief must
have been done, the sentence now of the Court is, that
you be imprisoned, and kept to hard labour, for four
calendar montlo and,
in addition, to pay to the Queen
a fine of X 25, andto be farther imprisoned until that fine

is paid.
The prisoner was then removed from the dock.
The Recorder said : One thing I would add, that I hope
the landlord of the house, Mr. John Shallcross, whoever he
may be, will be more careful regarding the next tenant he.
gets into it.
The court was considerably crew* while the segt,g4
Wilt; being delivered.

LANCASHIRE WINTER ASSIZES.

MONDAY.

RErORIC MR. JUS !ICE WiCTITMAN.
His Lordship entered the court at ten o'clock vjesterday
morning, and proceeded to pass sentence upon follow-
ing prisoners.
David Furlong, who pleaded guilty c.,t lourglarr, at
Manchester. was sentenced to bur years' penal servitude.
Robert Hart, barglary, two years' implisonment with
hard labour.
William Fox, burglary, fifteen. talvader months' im-
prisonment hard labour.
Thomas Curley, cutting and wounding, four calendar
months' imprisonment with hard tabour.
John Haigh, horse stealing, six months' end hard labour.
John Henry Harwood, uttering a f.n.pd rJeeipt,
six months' wi7h hard labour.
William Love, robbery, twelve months' with ha. d
labour.

Denis Desmond, bureary, four years' penal servitude.
John Nei:sail, man laughter, by carelessly driving over
a person in the street, six weeks imprioonment without
hard labour.
Thomas Eerier, -convicted of dischargirg at his Rife
pistol which he believed to be loaded with hull, but from
which the ball had escaped previously by accident;
fourteen years' penal servitude.
Richard Haigh, forging a receipt for roods ; eighteen
months' imprisonment with haat labour. •
Caroline Dempsey, a girl sixteen years of ago, who
pleaded gulley of rob eery, was sentenced to be imprisoned
for one month, acid then sent to the Arno's Court Refor-
matory.
William Davis, robbery with violence. fear years' penal
servitude.
James Smith, wounding, four calendar months' imprison.
ment, with hard labour.
Joseph Hill, manslaughter, three months' imprisonment,
with hard labour.
James Egen, unlawfully wounding, three months, with
ird labour.
George Gerard, unlawfully wounding, four months, with
hard lahour-
Ellen Harding, uttering counterfeit coin, six months,
with hard labour.
Ralph Green'oaigh, robbery, twelve months, with hard
labour.
Thomas Brown, robbery, one week's imprisoningnt.
TIIE Boasts Menem —Aaron Miller, convicted and
sentenced to dea h for the murder at Bolton, was then
placed in the dock. His Lordship, addressing the prisoner,
said he had caused him to be sent for, that he might be
informed, that in consequence of a point of law, as to an
irregularity in the proceschngs during hi 3 trial, and which
was net discovered until a day or two after the trial, the
sentence upon him had been respited, until the opinion
of the Court of Criminal Appeal might be known.
His Lordship, however, urged upon the prisoner not
to postpone or suspend the preparations wh ch he
trusted he was making to meet the sentence, and cautioned
him nuttiest indulging in any hope founded on the delay.
against indulging in any hope founded on the delay.
Ills Lordship added that it was only because in a case
where the life of a man was concerned he was unwilling
to leave any doubt as to the perfect regularity of the pro-
ceedings unsettled, that he had respited the sentence.
GAROTTE ROBBERY.—John Oakes and Mary Jones were
charged with having, at Manchester, on the 'and of Decem-
ber, assaulted and rotbed Joseph Bury. The prosecutor
was a farm servant, living in Cheshire, and on the day in
question happened to b 3 in Manchester Between nine
and ten o'clock in the evening he met the female prisoner,
and went with her to a house in Seinningfields, and while
there ho saw the male prisoner. When he left the house
the prisoners accompanied him. They led him a wrong
way, through several streets, until at last h said that was
not the way. They then said they would go back, and
they took him a few yards down the street. when the man
knocked him down, and, with the assistance of the woman,
rifled his pockets. The jury found the prisoners Guilty.
A previous conviction was proved against Oakes of robbery
at Manchester. His Lorcl,hip sentenced Jdm Oakes to
be kept in penal servitude for six years, and Mary Jones
to be kept in penal servitude for four years.

THE CHARGE OF LIBEL UPJN MR. ROBERTSON
G LADS TONE.

The next case called on was the prosecution at the suit
of Mr. Robertson (il4datone, against Mr. Thomas John
Ouseley, propriet3r of the Liverpool Herald for libel. The
court was very much crowded during the hearing of this
case.

Mr. Brett and Mr. Lushington appeared for the prose-
cution ; Mr. &eviler and Mr. Wheeler appeared for the
ilefendant.
The following jury were sworn : —Thomas Armstrong,
Ardwick, agent ; Joseph Buxton, Ardwick grocer ; Daniel
Boyle, Manchester, manufacturer ; Isaac Cleworth, Great
Bolton. tea dealer; Robert Glover, Great Bolton. deeper ;
Jahn Holden, Hulme, stationer ; Richard Lalor, Manches-
ter, hosier ; Thomas Lamb, Warrington, shoemaker ;
Henry Mather, Warrington, glasa maker; Henry Poole,
Great Bolton, cotton spinner ; George Stead, Ashton-
under-Lyne, corn merchant; Joseph Henry Thorne, West
Derby, wine merchant.
Mr. Lushington opened the pleadings. The indictment
set out that, at tho time of the publishing of the alleged
libel the prosecutor was ono of the justices of the peace
for the borough of Liverpool, and a town councillor for the
said borough ; arid that at a time a mutiny had broken out
in India, and divers atrocities had been committed by
certain &poys against liege subjects of her Majesty there,
and that the defendant, well knowing this, did, neverthe-
less, maliciously publish of and concerning the said
prosecutor a defamatory libel. The defendant had pleaded
the general issue.
Mr. Brett said : My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury,—
I have th honour of appeering, with my friend Mr. Lash-
in:ton, in this case, on the pat of the prosecution.
Gentlemen, the prosecutor in this case, I should think,
must be known, by character, at least, to all of
you. You must be aware that Mr. Robertson
Gladstone is a gentleman of high station and
fortune in this town, that he has bean for many years a
magistrato of this borough, and that he has been also for
many years a member of the Town Connell of the borough.
Gentlemen, I think you cannot but be aware, also, that Mr
Robertson Gladstone is a gentleman who has taken a very
earnest part in :he public business of this town, and I should
have thought that any body who was acquainted with the
town of Liverpool, knowifg the earnestness and sincerity
with which Mr. Gladstone 'hes for many years taken upon
himself an interest in all persons liviar, in this large town,
would have believed him also to be the last person whom
any ono living in the town of Liverpool would have !bought
of libelling and insulting, Gentlemen, you cannot but be
aware tha iu the course of the present year there happened
in India as unprovoked and bloody a rebellion as ever took
place in the world ; you cannot but recollect the atrocities
which made the blood of every person, I venture to say, in
the civilized world, run cold, which were committed by the
mutineers, and I am sure there is not one of you who, if
he had been charged for a moment with being in any
way resembling one of the atrocious miscreants who
have committed those crimes to which I have
referred, would not have considered himself as
insulted in the most deadly manner. Now,
gentlemen, you Eve called upon to say whether what
has been written in this newspaper, which was printed by
the defendant in this town, was not iu your judgment
calculated to bring Mr. Robertson Gladstone into the
hatred and odium of everybody in the community. Gentle-
men, you are, perhaps, aware, that in the curse of the
present year it was thought advisable by those who advise
the Queen in ecclesiastical matters, that a fast-day should
he appointed and observed by all persons in this kingdom,
e account of the state of affairs in India. Gentlemen,
r anybody to attempt to fix this upon the Queen herself,
and to say that because another person may have a
particular opinion as to the propriety or not of the fast
on the day appointed, he must therefore be a person
disloyal to the Queen, would show the mo,t contemptible
ignorance of the constitution and the polity of this
country. There are ministers appointed to advise the
Queen in ecclesiastical matters as well as in civil, and
as you must be well aware, it is the privilege of every
person in this country not only to have, but to express
their opinions, as to the conduct of those who advise the
Queen either in civil or in other matters. Now,
gentlemen, you will recollect, and in fact you will
find it stated in this report on which the libel is
founded, that the Queen had been so advised that a fast-
day should be observed in the country. Now, Mr. Robert-
son Gladstone appears to have had certain opinions upon
the propriety of that advice, and, as he had a perfect
right to do, he expressed those opinions in the Town
Council. I am confident that when you hear the manner in
which Mr. Gladstone expressed his opinions iu the Town
Council, you will say that ho expressed them in a manner
with which nobody could find fault, and without disrespect
to anybody, He may have expressed a strong opinion,
but it was such an opinion as every man had a right to
hold. Now, gentlemen, if that opinion was contrary to
the opinion of auy other person, that other would have a
perfect right to express his dissent from Mr. Gladetone's
views. And if the article in this newspaper is in your
opinion nothing more than a fair comment upon what Mr.
Gladstone said in his public capacity in Vie Town Council,
then it will be your duty to say that it is no I,bel, and I
shall at -nee admit that it cannot be pretended to be a
libel. But if that which was said in the newspaper by
this person goes far beyond any fair comment, or even
violent comment, upon the opinion which Mr Robertson
Gladstone expressed in the Town Council, if it descends to
rersonal abuse, and abuse, I will venture to say, of as
insulting a kind as ever was put forward in a newapaler