The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-02-15 00:00:00

CURIOUS ASSAULT.

Thoma 4 Rolituen, a journeyman printer, was tried
upon two indiElments, which charged him with xi-
walking two handsome young ladies, in a most ex-
traordinary manner, by brutolly biting th.:ir cheeks.
Elizabeth Bell gave in evidence, that about two
months since, passing through Fieet.etreet, the pri-
soner came behind her, and catching her head in
his arms, without any words, violently bit her cheek.
The other lady gave a similar account of his, biting
her face in the same voracious manner. Both shew-
ed the marks of his teeth, and said they had him
taken before the Alderman at Guildhall. who was
shocked at the recital, and ordered im:i6kments to
be preferred against him at the expence of the City
of London. The Jury found him guilty, and he
was sentenced t.) One rear's Impritonment in Nezrz;aa..
—The prisoner. was a genteel-looking young man,
and very well dressed.

CRUELTY.
Ann Brown was indicted for assaulting and cruelly
ill-treating Ann Harris, her apprentice.
Mr. KKOWLES opened the case, with his usual
abilities. He stated that this indictment was brought
forward by the Churchwardens .and Overseers of
Bishopsgate parish; and that a more diabJlical
charge had never been exhibited against any indivi-
duaL He observed, that the child, who had been
the victim of the prisoner's cruelty, had died n few
days after. the had been taken from her, and that;
fortunately fur the prisoner, the Coroner's Jury had
brought in their verdict, Died ly the visi:oreion of Gad,
o'r she would certainly have been ind.cted for mur-
der. William Brown, the husband of the prisoi24
had been included in thel indictment ; but as he had
subsequently died hi prison, Mr. KNOWLLi ad-
mitted no part of the evidence which related tb him
should be suffered to operate to the disadvantage of
the prisoner.
Mr. GueNtv, who followed Mr. K now Ltis for
the prosecution, then called Rose Bedford ; she said,
that on the Ist ofJuly last, she went to live in -Skin-
ner-street, in the same house with the prisoner, and
worked at the same business, Whic.h was that of a
pinhead maker : that she knew the deceased Anne
Harris, who was a little girl of eleven years old ;
that she had often heard the cries of the child, and
witnessed the cruelties of the prNoner, and had
sometimes interfered, and enquired the cause of her
chastisement, when she was informed by the mis-
tress, that the deceased had not earned fourteen-
pence per day —a task which the witness said was
imposible for a child of her age to perform, espe-
cially with such bad implements as she was obliged
to use. She said that four-pence or six-pence was as
much as she could have been expected to have
earned. Among other acts of cruelty which she
had seen, the witness declared, that the prisoner had
beaten the child's head against a !arge lead weight
used in the machine.

Hannah Blewitt, a girl of ten years old, deposed,
that she, Ann Grace, and the deceased Ann Harris,
were all apprenticed to the pt ismer on Shrove-
Tuesday last, from the parish of St. Giles. That
they were with the prisoner a few weeks before the
premium given by the parish was paid ; soon after
which she beean to use the deceased very cruelly ;
imposing tasks.which it was utterly impossible tor
her to perform, and for not performing which, she
inflicted the greateet cruelties upon her ; sueh as
beating her on the head with an iron file, till the
blood streamed from the wound, aed sticking pins
into various parts of her flesh ; that at orie time the
prisoner compelled the deceased to stand on one leg,
on the lic,b of dee fire-place, with her head up the
chimney, ',wilding a brick in her hand, extended at
arm's-length, with a log of wood suspended to her
other leg by a rope, for the space of two hour
Ann Grace confirmed the evidence of the last
witness, and said, that since the prisoner had been in
custody, she and her fellow-apprentice had been
under the care of the parish-officers.
Catherine Mffsaacs said, that she lodged and
worked with the Prisoner, in Oaolier last ; that ci"'
had frequently witnessed-her cruel treatment of the
deceased ; that the had seen the Prisoner beat her
on the head with a hammer, and scratch her face
with pins, until the blood strentned ; and that to her
knowledge, the deceiled had been deprived of food
fur the space of thine' hours. This Witness further
stated, that upon her tennensttnting with the Pei.
sour upon her enormous cruelties, she uttered the
most horrid threats against the Children, and made
use of the most shocking language. Witness
length gave notice of these transaßions to Mr.
Barnield, who went And took the child away.
Mr. Barufield said: that having information et
this cruelty, he went, with one of the gentlemen
now in office, to the prisoner's house, where they
were shucked at the appearance of the children;
the deceased, Ann Harris, seemed in a dying state,
and they ordered one of their beadles to take hey-
to their work-house, where she died in a few days.
Being carried, before her death, in a woman's arms,
before the Lord Mayor, she charged the prisoner
with cruelty. A school-master, from St. Giles's,
said, the deceased was a fine, healthy child when
bound apprentice.
The prisoner, in her defence, pleaded her TO-