The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-17 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

A young female, of genteel appearance, and very
' elegantly dressed, named Frances Pearce, was
brought before Mr. ROE, the Sitting Magistrate, in
custody of Schofield, the officer, charged with the
following robbery :
Mrs. Banks, an elderly lady, stated, that in
October last, Miss Pearce came to her house in
Charlotte-street, Portland-place, and agreed for a
suite of furnished apartments, giving reference as to
her respectability to three different families, one of
which was that of Mr. Turnbull, No. 1, Grafton-
street, Fitzroy-square, where she (Mrs. Banks) made
inquiry, and was so completely satisfied with Mr.
Turnbull's recommendation, that she carried her in-
quiries no farther. Miss Pearce came accordingly
in a few days after to occupy the apartments, and
continued there until the middle of last month,
when she quitted the house without having given
any notice of her intention to do so, and carried
with her the key of the apartments, which she left
locked. Supposing that the absence of Miss Pearce
was only intended to be temporary, and that the
lady meant to return, she (Mrs. Banks) felt no un-
easiness on the subject, until, in the course of a few
days, a young girl, now present in the office, brought
her the keys of the room, together, to her great
astonishment, with several articles of furniture, which
the girl said Miss Pearce had given her to deliver,
consisting of sheets, wineglasses, towels, &c. She
(Mrs. Banks) immediately recognised these articles
as belonging to her apartments; and on entering the
latter, she also saw that several other articles of
valuable property were missing, amongst which was
a picture of a rare and curious kind that hung up in
one of the rooms, and on the discovery she employed
an officer to search after Miss Pearce; but it was
not until last week that the prisoner was found out
and apprehended. The articles now produced, con-
sisting of a dressing-glass, sheets, decanters, pillow-
cases, &c., and the valuable picture above alluded
to, Mrs. Banks said were her property, and had
been left in the apartments with Miss Pearce while
she occupied them.
A professional gentleman, who attended for Miss
Pearce, here stated to the Magistrate, that he un-
derstood the fact to be, that these articles were
taken away from the apartments, not by Miss
Pearce, who was quite above doing any act of the
kind, but by a Mrs. James, who had been a joint te-
nant in the_ apartments with Miss Pearce, and was
recognized as such by Mrs. Banks, and that, in
truth, Miss Pearce had nothing whatever to do
with the transaction.

Mrs. Banks replied, that there most certainly was
not any tenant recognized by her in the apartments
but Miss Pearce; that lady, and she alone, had en-
gaged for the apartments, and signed a written
agreement to that effect, and she (Mrs. Banks)
knew nothing of a Mrs. James, except that she un-
derstood there was a female of that name used to
visit Miss Pearce at the lodging, and sometimes
sleep there.
The solicitor for Miss Pearce understood posi-
tively that Mrs. Banks had recognized Mrs. James
as her principal tenant, and there was no doubt, he
believed, that it was Mrs. James who took away
the things, and sent them back again; but now, at
all events, the whole of the articles were safely
given back to Mrs. Banks, and to what end, there-
fore, go on with this proceeding
Mr. ROE asked Mrs. Banks if she was really de-
termined on prosecuting Miss Pearce?—Mrs.
Banks, laying her hand with much emphasis on
her stomach," I will, Sir, prosecute; for I consider
that I owe it to my conscience, my country, and my
God to do so."

Schofield, the officer, said, that since he had
taken Miss Pearce into custody, all the articles now
produced were sent to him, except the picture, and
that he found at a blacksmith's shop, where he had
traced it to have been sold.
The solicitor said that the girl who had taken the
things back to Mrs. Banks herself in the first in-
stance, and to the officer in this, was present, and,
he understood, could prove that she was employed
to do so, and that the property was given to her by
Mrs. James, and not by Miss Pearce.
Mr. ROE said he should wish to. hear the evi-
dence of the girl on this point.
llenrietta Matthews was then sworn, and, to the
surprise of every body, she distinctly stated, and no
doubt truly, that all the articles of property alluded
to were given to her to take back by Miss Pearce,
and that she knew nothing of Mrs. James in the
transaction ; and she moreover said, that all the
property had been pledged by Miss Pearce, and that
she had employed the witness to redeem them,
giving her the duplicates amid money for that purpose-
On hearing this evidence, the solicitor for Miss
Pearce seemed thunderstruck, and interfered no fur-
ther beyond watching the proceedings.
Mrs. Banks, in placing a value on the property
produced, as she was called upon to do in her evi-
dence, said that the picture alone was well worth
ten guineas, arid the other articles she valued at
about five more.

The Magistrate asked the blacksmith, in whose
possession the picture was found, how he came by
it, and what he gave for it ?—The blacksmith said,
that about three weeks ago a woman, named Mor-
gan, who was known to him a little, but who is at
present in Cornwall, came to his shop with the pic-
ture, and said that she was desired by a lady, named
Pearce, to sell it for what she could get, and think-
ing that if he could get an anvil and sledge-hammer
painted into it, the figure on it looked so like a
blacksmith, it would make a very good sign for his
shop, so he bought it for 4s.
" Good God, Sir !" exclaimed Mrs. Banks, " to
compare that figure to a blacksmith. You don't
know what you say ! I have it on th 3 authority of
some of the best judges of paintings in this country,
that thisis a most exquisite piece of art, and quite a
bargain at ten guineas.
Mr. 808 asked to look at this highly-lauded
painting, and when it was held up to view, it pre-
sented an oblong piece of panel, on which was

daubed the bulky bust of what seemed designed by
the artist to represent a man, the whole admirably
calculated for a pendant sign over a road-side public-
house bearing the name of the " Jolly Butcher."
" You don't mean seriously to tell me," said
Mr. ROE to Mrs. Banks, " that this picture is
worth ten guineas ?"—" Most certainly I do, Sir,"
said Mrs. Banks, " and cheap as dirt at the money.
Do you know who it is," impressively added Mrs.
Banks, " that this picture represents 2"
" Upon my word I do not," replied Mr. ROE.
" That, Sir, then," said Mrs. Banks, " I can in-
form you, is one of the twelve Caasars. I suppose
you have heard of them. They were, Sir, twelve
Emperors of ancient Rome (I ought, perhaps, to
except Julius, for he was not properly speaking an
Emperor), who raised that nation to the exalted
pitch of grandeur and glory that it attained."
" Well, I don't know," said the Magistrate, " it
may certainly have been intended to represent an
Emperor, but it does not strike me as having any
thing very imperial or dignified in its composition,
and, on the whole, I should have said that the black-
smith gave a fair price for it." . _ _

Mr. ROE now Observed, that the evidence of the
girl who was employed to bring back the property
to Mrs. Banks, brought the possession of it, and
the conversion to her own use, so completely home
to the prisoner, that he had no alternative but to
commit the latter for trial, and she was accordingly
committed to Newgate, and the witnesses bound
over to prosecute.

Miss Pearce, who is a very fine-looking young
woman, on an extremely large scale for her age, as
she is said to be only in her 17th year, appeared to
treat the whole matter with the utmost indifference,
and evinced not the slightest degree of fear, or any
other emotion, during the proceedings; but not so
her mother, a lady of very respectable appearance,
who accompanied her, and wept and sobbed bitterly
the whole time.

There seems to be a great deal of mystery en-
twined round this young lady. It is understood
that there is not the slightest suspicion of any im-
propriety attaching to her charactOr in the ordinary
sense of that term as regards young females, and
yet, while her mother has a house, and resides at
Pimlico, Miss Pearce has been in the very unusual
situation for respectable young females of living in
hired lodgings by herself, and in the end subjecting
herself to this serious charge. And what makes
the matter seem still more singular is, that it is un-
derstood there need not have been any want of
money on the part of Miss Pearce, as it is said that
the professional gentleman who attended for her is
the channel through which abundant supplies were
always furnished for giving her an excellent and ac-
complished education, and to meet all her other
wants; the source being, as is said, some person in
a high station understood to be related to her in
some degree.
She was removed to prison in custody of the
gaoler, apparently with the regret, under all circum-
stances, of every one present except Mrs. Banks,
who maintained the most stoical resolution through-
out, and the unfortunate young girl herself.

William Jones, alias Grant, alias Graham, a
fashionable looking fellow, in custody, on the charge
of stealing a set of silver spoons, &c. from the side-
board in the parlour of Lady Streng's house, in
Grafton-street, Bond-street, where he called under
the pretence of wishing to see Lady Strong, was
brought up for final examination on Saturday, and
after taking the evidence of the butler and footman
of Mr. Holmes, M.P., the prisoner was fully com-
mitted for trial.