The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-18 00:00:00

POLICE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

EiTIAOIDtNAIT Catas—An Irishwoman. named 111
Shelton, wax some days ago charged by Arnhem Osborne, a p •
rate in the East India Company's service, with having stolen four-
teen sovereigns and some Aver out of his pocket, as he lay asleep
is the tap-room of the Hercules public-house, in headenhall-
stmt.
The prosecutor stated, that as lie was drinking in the public.
house, the prisoner entered with • basket of oranges, and asked
him to be a customer. Ile purchased a couple of oranges from her,
and asked her to take a glass of something, and sit down. She
consented, and drank a glass of gin and peppermint, and he paid
her for the oranges ; for the purpose of doing which he took out of
his pocket a piece of rag, in which be had seventeen sovereigns and
some silver. He returned the sovereigns to Iris pocket, and soon
afterwards fell asleep. When he awoke the prisoner was gone, and
upon searching his pocket, be ascertained that he had no more than
three sovereigns and a small quanti y of silver about him.
The owner of the house stated that when the prisoner entered
the tap-room. and sat down, he objected to her taking such a li-
berty, and ordered her to leave the room, as she had sold her
oranges. The prosecutor, however, told hint that the woman was
a friend of his, and that if she was not allow,al to sit down he
should quit the house himself. The witness offered no further ob.
jection, and the prisoner remaine t in the room for some time. The
witness was afterwards employed in putting an end to a distur.
bance in the front of his house, and the prisoner somehow or
other got involved in it the prosecutor being, he believed, fast
asleep in the tap-room. When the prosecutor awoke, and found
that he was short of his cash. he raised an outcry. The pri.
miner was taken off to the watch-hoir,e and smirched, and II sore.
reigns and sonic silver were found upon her person, tied up in
an odd rag.
The prosecutor said he had never seen the prisoner before the
day of' the robbery. and as she sat next to him, and there was no
other person near him, he was convinced the prisoner was the
thief.
The other evidence was confirmatory of the account given by
those two witnesses, and the Loon MAYOR called upon Mary
Shehan for her defence.
The prisoner, who looked quite unconscious of any offence, said,
in a broad Irish accent, that she never was a thief in all her
born days, and that she'd scorn to steal from any body while
she had strength to earn it. Hod knows," said she, " I don't
know any thing about the young man, for I never see him be.
lore with inv eyes. I'm sure I never wrong'd any poor creature
of a farthing."
The Loon MaYort.—Where did you get all these sovereigns?
Was it by selling oranges ?
The prisoner said, she gathered the bit of money together by
hard-working. God knows she did. She never thought of such a
thing as thieving, and she knew that what is pot to that way
never did any one any good.
Notwithstanding the artless manner in which the prisoner con-
ducted herself at the bar, the almost universal impression was that
she had stolen the money.
The LORD MAYOR asked her, at what kind of work it was that
she earned so much money ? She replied, that she sometimes
worked hard in the brickfields, and that she spent but little upon
herself, as she was resolved to put by as much am she could for •
rainy day. t' lam well known, your Lordship," said she, "to be
• poor, hard-working, young woman : and God knows I am not •
rogue."
The ',ono 111 Avon desired that the prisoner should be re-
manded, end that any more evidence that was to he had should be
brought forward upon the next examination. His Lordship ob-
served, that the case was a very strong one, but he felt a great re-
pugnance to commit, strong as it was, until his mind should be
more completely satisfied. The mischief arising from premature
committals was often dreadful, and he would not be guilty of the
cruelty of sending unfortunate persons to trial upon mere specula-
tive grounds.
The prisoner, who repeated her protestations of innocence, and
hoped she would not he deprived of her hard earnings, was then
taken from the bar, and lodged in the Compeer.
Upon being brought up a second time, more witnesses were pro.
duced against her, and the same circumstances that were mentioned
upon the first examination were again detailed.
The LORD 3IAYOR—Did the young woman attempt to escape ?
Did she betray any fear of detection when she was apprehende
The reply to these questions was in the negative. She had, how-
ever, made a desperate noise and outcry, it was said, upon being
accused of the robbery, and deprived of the sovereigns, which she
insisted were her own. _ . .

It was distinctly stated by some witnesses, that the prosecutor had
a number of sovereigns in his possession when he entered the house,
and that the prisoner was sitting next to him when he fell asleep.
In fact, upon this examination, the impression against the prisoner
teemed to have acquired additional strength.
The LORD filar ort, however, still thought that there was such
evidence of integrity in the prisoner's conduct before him, that he
could not overcome his rehictance to commit her. Iles any one,
said his Lordship, any" thing to allege against the general conduct
of the prisoner ? any of the officers know her to be a bad or a
auspicious character ?
The officers looked at her, and said, they had frequently seen her
about the streets; but they had never heard any charge against her.
The Landlord said she had been In the habit of attending his
house with oranges; but he had never heard her complained of
before.
The Loan M Alma—Let her he remanded till Monday.
Yesterday the prisoner wit. a third time brought up. The com-
mitment to Newitive was regularly made out, and the orders to each
of the witnesses to give evidence were already written ; the pro-
szeutor, who appeared anxious to get back his property, was in-
formed by the clerk that he would certainly receive it upon the con-
vic ion of the woman ; when
. _ .

The LORD MAYOR asked whether there was any, further evi-
dence, remarking, at the same Cote, that he had been led to delay
the committal of the prisoner from some circumstances which struck
him as remarkable in the MC.. . . _

Mr. Parker, a respectable broker in the neighbourhood of So-
merstown, bagged to be allowed to say a few words. He had heard
wi,h surprise that Mary Shehan had been taken up for robbery.
and he was eon vim ell that she 1/11,4 as innocent of the crime as any
one in the Justice Room. He could not, as he was not present at
the public-house, say any thing about what had occurred there, but
he had heard the evidence, and his opinion of the young woman's
integrity remained unshaken.
'l he Loan Msvon, who had just made up his mind to send the
cue to a Jury, listened with sonic degree of suspicion, as he after-
wards acknowledged, to the statement.
Mr. Parker said he had been far some time in the habit of
dealing with the prisoner. She came to his house about a fortnight
before the transaction of which she was accused took place, and
had then in her possession ten or twelve sovereigns in a rag. He
purchased oranges from her, and upon one occasion she borrowed a
shilling from !dimes she had no change, and did not Wish to change
a sovereign, and she was most punctual in calling next day to pay
die debt. He always knew her to be a most honest, kind hearted,
and industrious your.g woman.
A nigher Gentleman, who had seen her at Mr. Parker's house and
elsewhere, also stated that she was possessed of money, and that'
he had seen a number of sovereigns in her possession. He never
heard a breath against her honesty, and he believed she would not
wrong a human being of a farthing.
lilt.. Gray, a baker, in Gray's Inn-lane, deposed that he knew
the prisoner for some time, and that she was one of the most ex.
traordinary young women he ever saw in his life. She would live
upon little or nothing, and used to put up every halfpenny she
made. His wife employed her occasionally to do work about the
house, had the highest opinion of her integrity, and used to give
her broken bread and meat. The young woman upon such oeca.
Mona never spent a farthing, and hod acquired such a character for
making money, that the people used to say it was a shame to em.
ploy her. Much snore evidence to the same effect was given, and
1 The Loan MAYOR immediately desired thut the money sliorAd
be given back to the prisoner, and that she should be dischar .
He never, he said, felt more pleasure thin in finding shed first
pression of the poor girl's innocence so fully eatabl. The
conclusion of the cue, which was listened to with breathless advs-
. don throughout, gave the greatest satisfaction to every one in the
Justice Room, net excepting the soldier, who went away, con.
vinced that the mosey, which Its hoe expected to receive, had
sever been hip own.