The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-18 00:00:00

Ye_

last ho was loyal to Gaily duty—his heart in his work,
his hands and his presence at his work—one and the
same, and unchangeable, whilst surveying Dover Har-
bour,
as at Badajez and St. Sebastian; and in the last
decay of life and energy—

" Though
lie was not now that strength which, in old days,
Moved earth and heaven—that which he was, be was;
The equal temper of the heroic heart
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

JUVENILE PROFLIGACY IN THE
DELPiIi ARCHES.
Yesterday afternoon Mr. Langham, the deputy
coroner for Westminster, held an inquest at St.
Martin's Workhouse, on the body of Mary Ann
Palmer, a girl 15 years of age, who,
for some time
past, has been leading a life of profligacy in the dark
arches of the Adelphi, from the pestilential atmosphere
of which she had not emerged during the last five
months, until discovered by a policeman in the last
stage of destitution and disease. The father of the
unfortunate girl, a respectable man, carrying on the
business of a carpenter in Hampden-street, Harrow-
road, stated that deceased, who was his only child,
left her home last November, and from that time
he had never seen her alive, although he had
made the most anxious inquiries about her.
Three years ago she left her home in company
with a girl of her own age, and was eventually
found in King's College Hospital, labouring under a
foul disease. Sarah Cunningham, aged 18, residing
in Charles-street, Drury-lane, said she, first met de-
ceased at the Victoria Theatre, about five months
ago, and, finding her without a lodging, took her home
fur the night. Since that time they had both led a
life of prostitution in the dark arches of the Adelphi.
Witness went to the arches every morning at half-
past eight and left at nine o'clock at night, but de-
ceased bad never left the arches day or night for the
last five months. Many other girls, whose clothes
were too bad to allow them to walk the streets, bad
recourse to the arches for the same purposes as wit-
ness and deceased. They were in the habit of accosting
the passengers by the halfpenny boat. ' Joseph
Solly, policeman 127, said he found deveaced
on the sth instant in a state of utter lielplessness
in the arches. She was too weak to walk, and
he took her to St. Martin's Workhouse, where
she died on Wednesday last. The Adelphi arches were
harbours for the young and most wretched prostitutes
of the metropolis, and from their extent and compli-
cated character they completely baffled the exertions
of the police. Under the arches there were several
sets of stables, and the men in charge of them allowed
the girls to conceal themselves there when the police
pursued them. Mr. Joshua Atkins, who attended
deceased at the workhouse, said be found her suffer-
ing from a loathsome disease, her body was a mass of
ulcerations, and her chest was affected. Death re-
sulted from dropsy on the chest, occasioned by starva-
tion and neglect. The jury returned a verdict in ac-
cordance with this testimony, and the coroner de-
nounced in terms of great severity the proceedings
which were constantly carried on unchecked in the
witnessAdelph Adelphi arches.
Cunningham,
es.Atthe request of the coroner, the
master of St. Martin's workhouse took charge of the
from
mthitnhge which who said she would do
WdheigraTinould be the means of relieving her
g course of life she had been
pursuing.

ATTEMPT of TWO
el:elos/tDE
ES
extraordinaryl andl
COMMIT SUICIDE by
A circumstance of a
Painful character, and which but forthe and
humane exertions of the parties concerned in bringing
LdD
prompt
it to ligir, would no doubt have ended fatally,has
taken place in the parish of Mary lebone.
About a month since, two ladies, of highly respect-
able appearance, and with manners of a very superior
order, whose names have been se,certailied to be
Harriet and Julia Sharpley, called at the house of
Mrs. Turner, 41, Adam-street West, Edgvviere-road,
and engaged her back attic, which was at the time to
be let furnished. They paid their rent regularly, and
went out together every day for the first fortnight,
and their general appearance, although melancholy,
plainly betokened that they had seen better da3s. A
fortnight since last Wednesday they ceased to go
out, and a week having elapsed since they had been
seen or known to leave their room, fears were en-
tertained by Mrs. Turner, the landlady, that
something was wrong as the door was kept
locked. The woman in the adjoining apartment
expressed her conviction that they had no food,
as she never heard the sound of a plate or
a knife and fork. On the afternoon of Wed-
nesday, the Bth inst., Mrs. Turner, with a view to
ascertain the cause of their non-appearance, keocked
at the door and told them she wanted the room for
her son. One of the ladies replied, very well, and
told her they would open the door in the evening.
She went up, and on their opening the door she found
them together, but they would not admit they wanted
food, although they appeared in a very desponding
and emaciated condition. She went down and made
them some tea, and brought up some bread and but-
ter; but, although they thanked her for her kindness,
they declined, saying they could not take it. She,
however, insisted on leaving it and came down stairs,
supposing her presence might hurt their feelings.
They again locked the door, and feeling her position
was a delicate one, the landlady did not like to dis-
turb them until Wednesday last, when, having re-
ceived intimation from the lodger in the next room
that she heard moans proceeding from the back attic,
she felt it to be her duty to go to Mr. Mackenzie, the
beadle and summoning officer of St. Mary's district,
who advised Mrs. Turner to have the door forced
open, and if what she feared was true, to make im-
mediate application to the workhouse. Mrs. Turner
acted under the advice, and laid the case before the
workhouse authorities. Mr. Collett, one of the in-
spectors of out-door poor, immediately proceeded to
the ,house, 41, Adam-street, to visit the case, and
on entering the apartment, he found the sisters
lying on the bed, dressed, and locked in each
other's arms. They were both perfectly sen-
sible, but were so weak from want of nourish-
ment, that they were unable to stand, and one
actually fainted in Mr. Collett's trips as he attempted
to raise her. The inspector saw that unless some
prompt measures were resorted to a few hours would
terminate their existence, as they already appeared in
o dying condition. He at once, in the most humane
and praiseworthy manner, sent for brandy and wine,
and administered it, mixed with a little water, him-
self, which appeared to revive the unfortunate ladies.
Mr. Grant, one of the medical officers, shortly after
attended, and ordered stimulants and nourishment,
the
which had to be administered by force, as
pa-
tients were either unwillling
or too weak to take
them. They rallied a little,
and on Thursday it was
deemed advisable, in order to insure them that con-
stant medical attendance
and nourishment the case
to the workhouse. Mr.
Collett went to the house
required, to remove
thernwitb a cab for that purpose,
laid when the sisters were informed where they were
to be taken, they
expressed the greatest horror and
repugnance at gongs • as they said, to " the union:'
affected one that it was feared both
The removal
dB after her arrival at the infir ary of
on her
way
e`,workhouse, that she would have died
l‘larylehone
r The ultiaced in bed, nd
,
ndyatt weree ' bv
Gant ed by Mr. 'nt mately
and Mr. Squires, the
then
head surgeon of the
infirmary, and by the kind atten-
tion of Mrs. Bailey, the nurse of No. 36 ward, they
are t are by no means out of da.neer,
improving, u
are , is
with great difficulty the nurse compels
either of
I them to takethe food
broken at their position. . _
.. .

The further inquiries of Mr. Collett have led to the
following disclosures :—The unfortunate ladies, the
eldest of whom is forty-one years of age, and the
youngest thirty-nine, have an aged father and mother
reduced from affluence to live with some relative in
a small cottage at Sinefield, hear Slough. Their
father formerly kept a large school in the vicinity of
Windsor. his unfortunate daughters were educated
ns governesses, but bang unable to obtain employ-
ment and their parents being unable to support them,
they came to London to seek needlework, by which
means they hoped to maintain themselves. They
were unsuccessful, and their slender means becoming
exhausted, they resolved, rather than be a burden to
their parents, or to bring
disgrace on their family by
applying for relief, to starve together. They still re-
main in the Marylebone Infirmary, and object to take
food. The condition of their apartment was perfectly
cleanly, and it has been ascertained that the only
drink they had for more than a fortnight was the
drippings from the pipe from the roof of the house.

face --
I:IWEe
the substrucgttu°rne-,
rr,
Hin ENLARGEMENT OF SOMERSET HOUSE...-:The
works for the erection of a new wing to Somerset House, to
carried up to the level of the roadway, and an immense
s twr ehei
et
hS oi us t
oh; a
ther e
gp
rr
eoagtreessts i
sn
ugh vd ekryy,
hasrapidly;
been
amount of the most substantial scaffolding has been raised
;or the purpose of constructing the upper part of the build-
ing, which will have a handsome stone front, to be in
keeping with the rest of the noble pile. Several of the
different departments of Somerset House have been re-
cently transferred to Somerset-place. Amongst the im-
provements it is intended to build over a waste piece of ground
at the west end of Somerset-place, and erect a gateway to
correspond with that on the east side of the building leading
from
Shsisrre
William
ovedß
officialthe residence from 5, Somerset-place, to Wimpole-street,
removed
his
Somersetih si leliaonuraen to
arKaii
pro tem.
STEPNEY COLLEGE.-- SHERIDAN KNOWLES A
BAPTIST.—On Wednesday aft.rnoon, the annual meeting of
the friends and supporters of this institution was held in the
College Chapel. Considerable interest was excited by the
communication of a fact on which several of the speakers
touched with evident feelings of gratification—viz, tie ac-
cession to their ranks of Sheridan Knowles, the well-known
dramatic author, who, it appears, was baptized by immer-
sion some time back by the Rev. Dr. Innes, of Edinburgh,
and who has since connected himself with the Baptist
Church in Bloomsburv, of which the Rev. William Brock
is pastor. It appeared also that Mr. Knowles had just com-
pleted the delivery of a course of lectures cn rhetoric,
chiefly with a view to secure an easy and elegant style of
delivery on the part of the students now training in this
• institution.

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