The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-10 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—June 9.

MARYLEBONE.-ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A WIFE.

—Patrick Noonan, an I, ish labourer, aged 3G, residing at
6, Southampton-terrace, Gospel Oak-fields, Hampstead,
was charged before Mr. Mansfield with the following at-
tempt to murder his wife, Elizabeth Noonan, and also with
assaulting John Way, police. constable 410 S, William
Larter, 325 S, and William Woodbridge, 306 S, whilst in
the execution of their duty to apprehend him,
Anne Morris stated—l live in the same house as the prl-
soner and his wife. About half-past four on the previous
afternoon I heard them go upstairs to their own room, where
they talked very loud as if quarrelling, and shortly after-
wards I heard a very heavy fall upon the floor. Almost
immediately after the fall the prisoner's girl ran downstairs
screaming murder, and saying that her father was chopping
her mother's head open. I ran upstairs into the room, and
saw the wife in a sitting position on the floor. Her head
was cut and smashed about,and she was smothered in blood,
which was pouring from her wounds. Her arms, which
were very much cut, were encircling a child, which was
also covered with blood. Prisoner was sitting on a chair
opposite her, and by his side was a chopper in some blood.
Prisoner was quite sober. I left the room to call assistance,
when prisoner followed me down, and I said, " What have
you been doing ?" He replied, " What am I to do when
she comes in drunk ?" After saying this he ran off. He
had no sooner gone than his wife came downstairs, the
blood coming from her wounds, down her clothes, and on
to the stairs. Two doctors were called in, who advised her
instant removal to the hospital.
Mr. Mansfield—Was the woman drunk?
Witness—l cannot say, for I did not see her till after this
shocking affair.
Mr. Mansfield—Was she sensible ?
Witness—Yes, sir.
Mr. Mansfield—ls the wife given to drink ?
Witness—Well, sir, she has a drop now and then.
Prisoner—She (witness) knows very well that my wife
has been drunk every day for a fortnight, and she is great
with other men.

Mr, Mansfield—lt is bad for a woman to give way to
drink, but still the law does not justify you in chopping
your wife's head off.
Medical certificates were put in showing that it was im-
possible for the wife to be brought to the court, as the re-
moval might cause death.
The chopper, like a butcher's, was produced, and on it
were both blood and hair. The bonnet which the poor
woman had on at the time was produced, saturated in
blood, and car, through and through by the chopper.
Prisoner, who behaved in a mostsullen manner through-
out, was rowanded, and the charge of assaulting the police
was deferred to the next occasion.
The attempt at murder took place at half-past four, and
prisoner was not taken till eleven o'clock, by Way, 410 S,
in th,i Maldon-road, Kentish-town, when a desperate en-
counter ensued.

LAMBETH.—CAUTION TO DOG-STEALERS.— C harles
Jones, a middle-aged man, of sinister appearance, and a
notorious dog stealer, was brought up on remand, and
finally examined before Mr. Elliott, on a charge of stealing
a liver-coloured retriever dog, valud at ten guineas, the
property of Captain Frederick Henry Rich, of the Royal
Artillery. From the evidence it appeared that, on the 21st
of last April, the prisoner had been observed by several re-
spectable inhabitants in the vicinity of the residence of
Captain Rich, the prosecutor, in New Park-road, Brixton,
followed by the missing dog, the animal having on, at the
time, a deep brass collar, with the name and profession of
its master conspicuously engraven on it. Bills were printed
and circulated, offering a reward for the dog, but nothing
was heard or seen of the animal or the prisoner until Mon.
day week, when he was apprehended in the same neigh-
bourhood, while endeavouring to steal a gentleman's
coach-dog ; and en his way to the station• house he en-
deavoured to get rid of some liver he had in his pocket, and
which he used for enticing dogs away.
Mr. Elliott observed that there coull not be the slightest
doubt he stole the dog of Captain Rich, and that he was
a practised deg.-stealer, and sentenced him to six months'
hard labour at Wandsworth House of Correction.
THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE FROM NEW WEST-
MINSTER-BRlDGE.—William Bailley, a young man of
gentlemanly appearance, and whose friends were said to be
of high respectability, was charged with attempting to
commit suicide by jumping from the parapet of the West-
minster-bridge into the river Thames.
From the testimony of the mate of one of the penny
steamboats, it appeared that on Sunday at noon, while the
the Palace clock was striking 12, the prisoner was seen to
jump from the top of the second arch on the Surrey side of
Westminster-bridge into the water. The tide was flowing
rapidly at the time, and the prisoner not knowing how to
swim must have been drowned if assistance had not been
promptly rendered him. The prisoner had also run a second
risk, for had he fallen but two feet nearer the shore, he must
from the state of the tide have come in contact with a pro-
jecting part of the foundation of the bridge, and been
smashed to pieces.
He was remanded for the attendance of his friends.

SOUTHWARK.—THE ROBBERY or A THOUSAND
POUNDS WORTH OF JEWELLERY.—Louisa Gifford, alias
Orme, alias James, was brought before Mr. Combe for final
examination, charged with being concerned with a man not
in custody in stealing a leather bag containing watches and
jewellery worth £l,OOO, the property of Solo won Rcuben,
from the North Kent Railway Terminus, London-bridge.
Mr. Please prosecuted, and the prisoner was undefended.

it appeared, from the evidence given on a former occa-
sion, that the prosecutor was a traveller, and on the 4th of
May last he left his house at Islington with considerable
property, for the purpose of going on a journey in Kent and
Sussex. On his arrival at the North Kent Railway Ter-
minus he put town a leather bag containing gold and silver
watches, gold chains, earrings, &c., worth about £l,OOO,
while he entered the booking-office to get his ticket. On his
return from the latter place, after a minute's absence, he
missed the bag, and although every inquiry was made about
it nothing has since been heard of it. On the 7th May the
prisoner and a man, whom she stated to be her husband,
were apprehended by Hills, City police-constable 150, in
Aldersgate-street, for having in their possession four sets of
earrings which they had attempted to dispose ef. They
were twice examined before Aldermen Humphery, and dis-
charged, the property being detained by the constable. Two
days after that the City police received information of Mr.
Rueben's loss, and having communicated with him he iden-
tified those earrings as a portion of his lost jewellery. Fur-
ther inquiries were then made, and on Monday morning the
25th ult,, the City officer discovered three boxes at a house in
Lambeth .square, Lower-marsh, and shortly after that the
prisoner was apprehended by Hardringham, 163 L, as she
was about to enter that house. She was questioned about
those bores, and eventually said they belonged to her and
her husband, Joseph Gifford, who had lodged in that house.
The boxes were opened at the station-house, and in one of
them two gold chains and two sets of ear-rings were found,
which the prosecutor identified. It was also discovered
the prisoner and the man Joseph Gifford had lodged together
as man and wife with Mrs. Hutchins, of Ponsonby-place,

Vauxhall•bridge-road, from the 27th of April to the 23d
of May, and that they had given the landlady there
another set of similar earrings. N o knowledge as to the
whereabouts of Gifford, her husband, could be ascertained,
although the police made diligent inquiries all over the
country for him.
The defence set up was that the prisoner was the lawful
wife of Joseph Gifford, the man who was in custody with
her in the City, and a certificate of their marriage was pro-
duced. After the removal of the boxes to Lambeth-square,
he absconded, and the prisoner could not be held respon-
sible for his acts,

On the part of the police it was urged that the prisoner
had a previous husband still living at Bristol, and that she
had left him some time ago to live with Gifford, who had
twice served four years' penal servitude, and was one of the
cleverest thieves in the kingdom. They (the police) be-
lieved the prisoner helped him in the preent robbery, and
they considered that she was amenable to the law.
Mr. Combe said his opinion was that the prisoner was not,
under the evidence adduced before him, therefore he should
order her to be discharged. _

Hills, 150 City police, asked what he was to do with the
property found in the box?
Mr. Combe asked the prisoner if she claimed the
jewellery.
She replied that she did not. It was placed there by her
husband.
Mr. Reuben having sworn to that property, his worship
directed it to be handed to him.
Mr. Piesse, the prosecutor's solicitor, informed his wor-
ship that two savings bank books were found in the boxes,
one showing that £3O had been deposited in the name of
Joseph Gifford, and the other £lO in the name of Louisa
Gifford, on the 7th of May, three days after the present
robbery. He asked that those books might be given up to
his client.

Mr. Combe told him he could make no order on the sub-
ject. The police, no doubt, would use their own discretion
with regard to those books as well as the rest of the pro-
perty in their possession.
The prisoner was then ordered to be discharged, but she
was immediately taken into custody again by the City
officer and convesed to Guildhall to answer other charges
of a similar nature.

THE ALLEGED MURDER IN KENSINGTON.—
DISMISSING A JURY.—Yesterday afternoon, at two
o'clock, Mr. J, Bird, the coroner, and the jury who bad
been empannelled to inquire into the cause of the death of
a newly-born infant, alleged to have been murdered by its
mother, assembled for the fourth time in the board-room of
Kensington Workhouse. It will be remembered that on
the last occasion the jury were unable to agree to a ver-
dict, after having been locked up for several hours. Four
of them were for a verdict of wilful murder. and nine for an
open verdict of found dead. Yesterday the jury informed
the coroner that they had not agreed to their verdict, and
there appearing no probability of their doing so, the coro-
ner dismissed them, leaving the case in the hands of the
police. The mother, a young woman named Jenner, is
still confined in the workhouse, she being too ill to be re-
moved,