The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-23 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

THE FOLLY OF TREATING STRANGERS.-A WELL-
KNOWN THIEF.-Emily Sinclair and Charlotte Johnson,
the former a well-known thief, were charged before Mr.
Knox, with stealing a watch of the value of £5, from the
person of a young man named Girling, porter at 12, Cork-
street, Burlington-gardens.
From the evidence of the prosecutor, it appeared that
about one o'clock this morning he went into the Duke of
York public house, Union-street, Oxford-street, and there
saw the prisoners. They asked him to treat them, and he
did so, and on doing so he felt a tug at his watch, and on
looking at his chain found that his watch was gone, the
swivel of the chain having been broken. He accused Sin-
clair, who was the nearest to him of having taken it, and
thinking she might have passed it to the other pri-
soner, gave them both into custody. While on the way to
the station Sinclair dropped the watch from under her
clothes.
Police-constable Win. Claricoats, 72 C, said on taking
the prisoners into custody, he observed Sinclair put her
hand under clothes, and while going along Oxford street
she dropped the prosecutor's watch.
Mr. Knox asked if anything was known of the prisoners,
and Sergeant Fornett said that Sinclair had several times
been in custody for felony, and had once suffered 18
months' imprisonment.
Mr, Knox said he should discharge Johnson, and re-
mand Sinclair that the convictions against her might be
proved,

THAMES.

WIFE BEATING.—WiIIiam Perry, aged 28, a labourer,
was brought before Mr, Partridge, charged with assaulting
his wife Elizabeth, who carried a baby in her arms. Her
face was swollen and her left eye blackened. Upon enter-
ing the witness box she said the prisoner was her husband
and the father of her children, and she did not wish him to
be sent to prison. Mr. Partridge said there were marks
of considerable violence on the woman's face, and he would
not allow the charge to be withdrawn. She was then sworn
and stated that she was living at No. 4, Windsor-terrace,
Canal-road, Stepney. Her husband came home intoxicated
last night. He was like a madman. He called her
by the most filthy names, and said he had come
home for the purpose of breaking everything
in the place, and said, that she must provide
another home for herself and five children. He then beat
her about the head, face, and body with his fists most fear-
fully. He had very often beaten her when he was under
the influence of liquor, but he was very well when he was
sober. He was in the practice of stopping away from his
home all night.
Lydia Smith, a poor seamstress, who looked half f. mished,
said she lived in the same house as Mr. and Mrs. Perry.
The wife was an industrious and very clean woman. The
prisoner came home last night and beat his wife in a most
frightful manner. He commenced by kicking over a tub
of water with which his wife was cleaning the passage, and
said "out you go."
The prisoner, in reply to the charge, said his wife com-
mitted adultery with a beer shop-keeper named Adams, who
carried on business in Limehouse, and they were seen
coming out of a house of bad repute a fortnight after she
was confined with her child. She commenced using very
foul language when he came home last night. The prisoner
then gave utterance to a volley of blasphemy and obscenity
as an illustration of what his wife said. He was frequently
checked by the magistrate. The wife was recalled, and
denied emphatically that she had given her husband any
cause for complaint, and the witness Mrs. Smith said the
complainant was a well conducted woman.
After a long discussion, Mr. Partridge said the prisoner
was not bound to maintain his wife if she was false to him,
but she denied on oath what her husband alleged against
her. The prison©r was an ill-conditioned, badly disposed
man, and he had wounded his wife very severely on a former
occasion by flinging a basin at her. He believed the wife
was very desirous of speaking the truth, and that she had
a good feeling towards the prisoner, whom she wished to
screen from punishment when she entered the witness-box.
The prisoner was a savage fellow, and his boisterous and
improper conduct in court did not say much in his favour.
He sentenced him to be imprisoned for one month and kept
to hard labour.