The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-25 00:00:00

INFAMOUS CASE.

At the Eton Petty Sessions, on Wednesday, Mr.
Voules, solicitor, applied to the Bench for a summons
against a woman, named Ba-nett, the wife of a labourer,
reading at Arbour-hill, near Slough, calling upon her
to show cause why she shbuld not be: bound over as
" a person of ill fame," to be of good behaviour, under
the 34th of Edward 111., cap. 31, which empowers the
Magistrates to take of all of them that be not cf good
fame, when they shill be found, sufficient surety and
mainprise of their good behaviour towards the King and
his people." Mr. Voules stated that he made the ap-
plication on .the part of one of the Board of Guardians
of the Eton Union, whose only object was to protect
the neighbourhood from the evil consequences likely to
follow from a connection which he could prove existed
between one of the most notorious female proprietors
of brothels in London, known as " Mrs. Harris," and
the person against whom he applied for the summons—
the latter of whom had been placed by the woman .al-
luded to at her own expense, in the house at Arbour-
hill, in the parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey. In support
of the application,

William Howard Gilman, superintendent of the new
Windsor Police was called, and deposed as follows :
From information I have received I believe that Sarah
Harris is the keeper of a brothel i❑ London. Her
sister, Mrs. Barnett, is the wife of, a labourer named
Richard Barnett. I have seen the cottage at the
bottom of Arbour-hill where Mrs. Barnett resides,
which is furnished in a style far exceeding that
which could be expected from a person in the station
of a labourer. Her husband ha: recently been hay-
making. Mrs. Barnett wanted a young woman, who
was a neighbour, to go with her to London, under the
pretence of finding a situation for her with " Mrs.
Harris." Mrs. Barnett is in the habit of going to Mrs.
Harris's house in London, and the visit to the former is
often returned by the latter.
A long consultation then took place between the
Magistrates, who ultimately decided upon granting a
summons against Mrs. Barnett, "for being a person
greatly defamed by resortiag to houses susp.'cted to
maintain adultery and incontincncy," which will come
on for hearing at Eton on Wednesday, the 31st ult.

ESCAPE OF FOUR CONVICTS
FROM READING GAOL.

The escape of four convicts from Reading gaol on
Friday morning has caused some sensation in that town.
Their names were " Baker Bill," Burgess, Vickers, and
Embling—all under sentence of transportation for life.
The four prisoners slept together in the condemned
cell, that being esteemed the most secure part of the
gaol. They were locked up as usual on Thursday
night, and the two outside bolts firmly secured. Oat-
side the cell is a square court-yard, walled in, roofed
over with iron bars, which form squares of about six
inches. Their first proceeding was to split off a
wooden rail, six feet in length, from their bedstead ; one
of them them then put his hand through the iron bars
over the cellar door, and drew back the outside top
bolt, and passing the wooden rail through, could easily,
by placing it perpendicularly, force back the lower bolt
which the arm could not reach from within. The lock
was wrenched off from the inside by, it is supposed, a
broken iron holdfast found lying near. The four pri-
soners were thus out of the cell, and had to make their
exit from the court-yard. To do this they dragged the
mattresses and piled them against the wall. One of
them stood on the pile, and attempted to force out the
iron bars, which, like a large net, cover the yard,
His old shoe was used as a lever, but the iron was
too stubborn, and the shoe was disabled. In this
dilemma they resorted to the inside of the cell, over the
door of which was a short beam let into the wall by
some considerate carpenter, and whitewashed over. To
hoist it out could not have taken long, and with its help
a cross-bar of iron six inches in length was soon made
to relent. Through the narrow aperture of the iron
work, 111 inches by 8, did Baker Bill and his three
partners squeeze their respective bodies, each attired
in a shirt, and carrying with him her Majesty's blan-
kets cut into strips. They arrived on the walls, clam-
bered over sundry other roofs, and making the com-
plete circuit of the prison, came to the front near to the
clock. On a chimney which rises there they fastened
one end of the blankets, strongly tied the strips toge-
ther, and descending twenty-five feet by this extempore
ladder, reached terra firma in the front garden. This
they crossed, scaled the front wall at the north-west
corner, and came into the road near the Roman Catho-
lic chapel.

It is rather curious that one of the prisoneri, who
saw a convict pass on the high wall opposite his cell,
was so dreadfully alarmed, thinkingc, it a ghost, and
knowing, as he informed us, he had been " very
wicked," that, to use his own words, the perspiration
" poured from him." Other prisoners heard a cry or
scream, proceeding doubtless from the runaways, who
might he hurt in their perilous passage. The escape
was effected between one and two o'clock, the stormy
night preventing their noise being heard. It is sup-
posed a female accomplice met them, and gave them
clothing near, but no trace has yet been discovered of,
their whereabouts.