Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

THE SEDUCER AND HIS TWO VICTIMS.

At the Mansion-house, London, on Wednesday, Wm.
Brodie, a well-dressed man, 31 years of ago, was brought
up, on remand, charged with stealing a great coat, the
property of Mr. J. M. Jones, warehouseraau, from the
Nows Rooms, in Cheapside.

At the first examination, the prosecutor deposed that
the prisoner was walking off with his coat on Saturday
afternoon, when he perceived him, and called him back,
and the prisoner, in a state of excitement, asserted that
he had taken it by mistake for his own, which could
nowhere be found, and which must therefore have been
previously stolen, as he had left it hanging near the spot
from which he had taken prosecutor's.

The Lord Mayor said such a tale was Very unlikely,
and remanded the prisoner for enquiry.
Mr. Hobler now appeared for the prisoner, and urged,
on his behalf, that he had really lost a coat at the time,
and his wife could prove that he had left home with it on
his arm.

The Lord Mayor said very little reliance could be placed
upon the evidence of a wife in such a case, and it would,
therefore, be useless to call her. What was the result of
the officer's inquiries ?
Sergeant White, 3 City Police, replied that he could
learn very little about the prisoner, as he had only been a
fortnight at the address which he had given as his lodgings.
Mr. Hobler said the prisoner was a very respectable
young man, and bore an excellent character, to speak to
which a gentleman had been requested to attend, and had
promised to do so; bat, unfortunately, he was not present.
Lord Mayor: Well, then, as his wife is here, let us
hear what she has to say. Where is she ?
A respectably-dressed, and very good-looking young
woman, here stepped into the witness box,•and, in reply
to the Lord Mayor, said she was the prisoner's wife
having been married to him in 1853, and lived in Salis-
bury•street, Strand. She did not, however, live with
her husband, as she had formerly held a situation in
one of the waiting-roams on the Great Western Railway,
while her husband worked wherever he could get employ
ment. About thirteen weeks ago she left her situation,
and came to London, to her present lodging, believing
tvr husband to be living at the Panklebanon Iron Works,
55, Baker-street. For some weeks she had been in the
habit of seeing him almost daily, and saw him on Satur-
day morning, when, to the best of her recollection, he
quitted her with his great coat hanging on his arm.
Lord Mayor : But the officer says he has been only a
fortnight in his present lodging. How comes he to be
lodging separate from you ?
Wife : I can't account for that, but I am afraid now
that he has lost his situation. He took a separate
lodging because he did not like to come to me, as he
knows that for some weeks I have been unable to maintain
myself. I have not bread to eat now.

Lord Mayor : I am afraid there is something more
than that after this robbery.
Wife : Oh, My lord ! it must be a mistake. lam sure
he would do nothing of that kind•

White, the officer, said the address given him by the
prisoner, was 2, Dulc,!-street, and he found there a woman
who said she was the prisoner's wife, and who was now
in court•

The Lord Mayor desired her to stand forward, and
immediately a rather girlish looking woman, the supposed
wife de facto, took her place by the side of the wife
de jure. _

Questioned by the Lord Mayor as to the relation in
which she stood to the prisoner, she said that she was
not his wife, but had been seduced by him under repeated
promises of marriage, which he had not fulfillel, although
she had been recently living with him as his wife.
Lord Mayor (to prisoner): Oh, this is the reason of
your taking a second lodging s I shall make some further
inquiry about you. (To the witness).: Did he promise
to marry you ?

Witness: Yes, several times, HI told me he was not
a married man ; that he had no wife living. (Here the
poor creature commenced crying bitterly.)
Lord Mayor (to prisoner) : Well, this only shows what
a pretty scoundrel you are. You have deceived your poor
wife, and seduced this other poor woman. You have
ruined her for life, and that is the greatest crime a man
can commit.

Wife (imploringly): Have you ruined her ?
Prisoner (sullenly): No, I have not.;
Witness (sobbing): Oh yes, you have, and you know it.
Lord Mayor : Yes, and now you have taken to thieving.
Wife: Oh no, I don't think he would,do that.
Lord Mayor : Not do that ? A man who has acted as
he has will do anything; and I shall send him to prison
and hard labour for three months.

Wife (crying) : Oh no, my lord, don't do that—for my
sake don't do that.

Lord Mayor : Yes ; lam befriending you in doing so ;
you are much better without such a man than witiih,i/n,
I pity you from my heart, and wish I could do something
for you.

Wife : Oh, I wish you could, my lord. If you could
only give me a few shillings to get food for my poor little
child, for we have nothing to eat. Or, if
you could get
me a situation, I should indeed- be grateful, and I have
good testimonials in my pocket.
The other poor woman, who had been sobbing vehe.
mently ever since sentence was pronounced upon her
seducer, here burst into a fit of hysteric weeping, and by
direction of the Lord Mayor was led into a private room,
where smote time elapsed before she became in any way
composed.
Meanwhile the Lord Mayor, having inspected the testi-
monials handed up to him by the prisoner's wife,
expressed his full confidence in her respectability, and
told her to rest herself while he considered what he could
do for her—again endeavouring to impress upon her mind
the fact that she was better without, such a husband than
with him.

She replied meekly that it might be so, but said she hid
loved him well, and would not have believed such a thing
of him, even though an angel had told her.
Ultimately the Lord Mayor gave her a few shillings
from the noor box, and Mr. Hobler returned to her his
retaining fee, which she had, no doubt, found -great diffi-
culty in raising.

Simnel Lover, author of " Rory O'More," &c., has a
new work in the press upon the Lyrics at Ireland. His
time of late years has been almost exclusively devoted to
its compilation and annotation.
• THE ;.'OIII3IERCIAL CRISIS AND THE BANKS, AND TRADE
OF LEED F.—The Leeds Times says :—We may fairly point
will some pride to the position which Leeds has thus far
maintained. The good old town bears the brunt well.
Oar local banks are regarded with a confidence: the most
implicit, and which is fully justified by the caution and
judgment with which their affairs have beea pu:onagecl for
many years past. Of coerce we feel, and mast continue to
feel for same time, the effects of the,: crisis in the contrac-
tion of trade and employment ; but it is at all events satis-
factory to know, that those etT,cts have not ben aggravated
by recklessness or improvidence on the part of our own
commercial classes. We see more clearly than ever, even
in this time of depressions, how firm and broad is the basis
on which the general prosperity of this town rests.
HOARDING.—A countryman who drew from one of the
banks, during the foolish run for gold, 500 sovereigns,
placed them in an iron skillet to avoid ob:ervation, and for
fear of theft. Going home he felt himself getting the
" worse of liquor," and whilst lie had his senses ho thought
it best to conceal his skillet, and return for it next day, for
fear of being entire'y drunk by the time he got home. At
no great distance from Athlunkard Bridge he got off his
car, and proceeded into a field at the roadside, where he
concealed his skillet containing the 500 sovereigns. When
he returned next day to look for his treasure he failed to
recollect where he had deposited it, and to this day he
remains without his money. What a lesson I—Liinerick
Chronicle.

At St. Gilles, France, a young woman, who had coha-
bited with a young man, and become enceinte, married
him. the afterwards gave birth to a child during her
husband's absence at church. On his return she presented
the little creature to hies. He took the girl in his arms,
and said, " What shall we do with her ?" " First of all
baptise her ! ' answered the woman. On which he sprinkled
the child's face with water, and made on it the sign of the
cross. "And now," he asked again, "what shall we do
with her ? ' "Kill her—in a moment she will be dead !"
was the mother's answer. They then seized the child, and
twisted her neck until she was dead. Some time later they
buried the body beneath a heats of leaves in a field.
TRADE IN THE POTTERIES.—The commercial state of the
pottery district is, we are happy to find, no worse than
three or four weeks ago, but if anything a shade better.
At the manufactories chiefly or altogether employed in the
American trade, there is, of course, the greatest dulness,
but at all of them there is something doing; and taking
an average of the district it may be fairly zeckoned that
the operatives at such works have three day's employment-
in the week. At those manufactories engaged in the home
and continental trade there is a degree of briskness, and
at some few—chiefly at Stoke and Longton—there is at
present full work. Much improvement is not looked for
till after Christmas, when it is hoped and expected there
will be a gradual return to the same fair share of pros-
perity that was experienced prior to the monetary con-
vulsion in America. The coal trade in North Staffordshire,
as a matter of course, is depressed when the demand for
pottery ware is slack ; and the iron trade is suffering in
common with south Staffordshire ; whilst the quantity of
" mine" taken from the district to the former is to a much
less extent than heretofore. At some collieries and works
the men have been put on short time, and it is expected
this example will be followed at ethers. A. reduction of
wages is spoken of likewise as inevrable, if the proprie-
tors are to carry on their concerns to any profit. and in
some instances notices have been given to that effect.
This unpleasant alternative was, at a meeting of the Coal
and Ironmasters' Association lately held, fully recognised, ;
as was also giving shorter credit on sales of ironstone ;
and resolutions in accordance with these views wae,
unanimously passed.—Wolverhampton Chronicle.

BOYS' CLOTHING MADE WITH GREAT TASTE AT LEWIS and
COMPANY'S, Ranelaah*-atzeet