The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-24 00:00:00

STRANGE STORY.

At the Birmingham Police court, on Tuesday,
Mary Ann Jones, who was charged at the court on
Monday with threatening to commit suicide, was
again brought up and placed in the dock. On
Monday she had made to the court a strange state-
ment, to the effect that she had been enticed away
from her home at Burslem by a young man named
Wm. Dean, drugged on the way to Wolverhampton,
and afterwards seduced and robbed. This she after-
wards altered, and her amended statement stood
thus :—Dean, who had worked with her at a pot-
tery at Burslem, had been courting her for some
time, and by him she was enciente. On Saturday
morning he advised her to start with aim for Wol-
verhampton. On the way, and when within a very
short distance of the town, he pulled from his pocket
a powder, and urged her to take it. She did so, and
afterwards became unconscious. Oa coming to her-
self she found that Dean had left her, and also
that, while in a stupefied state, a small sum of
money, which she drew from her employers before
leaving Burslem, had been taken from her. Upon
this evidence, involving, as it did, charges of
offences of serious magnitude against Dean, the
bench ordered a warrant to issue for his immediate
apprehension. The young woman gave his descrip-
tion and address to the police. In the course of the
day an officer, armed with the authority of the law,
was sent down to the Potteries in search of Dean.
On arriving there he found out that the girl had
made a statement having not the slightest founda-
tion in truth, and that she had imposed on the
credulity of the bench with lies trumped up for the
occasion. No such a person as William Dean was
known in the locality, but the girl was known to the
police as being a notorious impostor, and addicted to
vagabondish habits. riaving made these disco-
veries the officer quietly returned to Wolver-
hampton, bringing with him a witness who was
well acquainted with the girl's antecedents.—Police-
sergeant Steel, of Burslem, said that about two
years ago the prisoner was found lying in the road,
at Trentham, by Mr. Adderley, M.P., of Barlaston-
hall, to whom she stated that some person had
robbed her of a purse containing 4s. 60., and also
committed a rape upon her. Mr. Adderley, in con-
sequence, took her in his carriage to Stone Work-
house. A man was arrested oa the charges, but
her statement proved to be untrue, and she was
severely reprimanded by the magistrates who heard
the case. She admitted that she had made a false
charge. She was afterwards taken to the work-
house at Chell, whence she absconded, taking with
her some clothing belonging to the union. On this
charge she was sentenced to a month's imprison-
ment. Shortly after her release from gaol she was
found sitting in the road at Trentham, at night,
and told a policeman who found her that she
could tell who the men were who had been con-
cerned in the recent poaching affray on the Duke of
Sutherland's estate. She named a lodging-house
where they could be found, and the house was
searched,but this story turned out to be untrue. She
was brought before magistrates at Longton, and
sentenced, he believed, to a month's imprisonment.
The prisoner—Nothing of the kind, sir. Witness
—A short time afterwards she was in custody of
a police-officer, Blurton, charged with disorderly
conduct. For this offence she was sentenced, he
believed, to two months' imprisonment Soon after
her liberation from gaol she was found at Eccles-
hall, in an apparently dying state. Police-sergeant
Robinson took her to his house, and she informed
him that two men had taken her into a toll-house
near Salop, and committed a rape upon her, and
afterwards gave her poison. Two magistrates were
fetched from church to take her declaration, as it
was thought she would die. The declaration was
signed by her, and she stated her belief that she
should not recover. Upon inquiries being made as to
her character, she admitted her statement to be false,
and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment.
After her release from gaol she was again found at
Longton, but she was then in company with a man,
and she was brought before the magistrates, and
sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment. Her term
expired last Saturday. One of the bench asked if
she was a prostitute. Witness—She is a notorious
prostitute, and one of the greatest liars in the
world. Superintendent Povey had received com-
munications from almost every town in England
where she had practised the same kind of dodges.
The prisoner—You have told an untruth; I have
only been to Stafford three times; the first for seven,
the second for fourteen, and the last for twenty-
one days. Witness—On applying to the gaol more
than half a dozen convictions can be produced of
her. Prisoner—As to my going to Chell Work-
house, I never did, for my mother took me home.
The Mayor (to the prisoner)—He says you came
from Stafford on Saturday. Prisoner—lt was not
on Saturday I came. I was at home on the 19th
of September, and my mother knows it too. In
answer to the bench, the witness added that there
was no such person ss William Dean living at
Burslem. The Mayor (to the prisoner)—Do
The
adhere to the statement you made to Dean ?
prisoner said she did, and it was true she was three
months advanced in the family way. The Mayor
said she would be examined by a surgeon, and re-
manded far a week, and in the meantime further
inquiries would be made respecting ker. He added
that this case showed the necessity of there being a
public prosecutor. It must be placed in the hands
of an attorney, so that a proper inquiry might be
made, and the case presented to the bench next
Tuesday in a connected form, for if the statement of
the nollee-bergeant were correct the prisoner ought
not to be at large.—Binnznyllarn Gazette.

GAS LAMPS just placed in the Champs Elphs
reeemble in shape an antique vase. The light springs from
an imitation candle, and at the .top ie a white porcelain re-
flector. They give a much more brilliant light than those
on the old system.