The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-01 00:00:00

POLICE IN7'ELLIgENCP.—Feb. 28

THAMES.—FAMILY JARS.—Mr. Samuel Dela-
fosse, a foreman in the service of the East London
Waterworks Company at Old Ford, Bow, appeared
before Mr. Selfe, to answer a summons taken out
by Mr. Fulcher, assistant rolievipg officer of the
Poplar Union, which charged him with deserting
his wife, and leaving her chargeable to the parish

of Bow, Middlesex.
Mr. Hubert Wood, solicitor, defended Mr. Dela.
fosse, and said he would at once state that his
answer to tie summons was that Mrs. Delafosse
had committed adultery, and that he was not bound
to support his wife. Mr. Delafosse held a very high
position, and wished for a full investigation ; and
he had no objection to maintain his children in
comfort and respectability.
It appeared from the evidence of Mrs. Delafosse,
a very garrulous woman, that she had been sub-
jected to great tyranny on the part of her husband
for some time past, and that he was in the practice
of swearing at her, and using the most blasphemous
and vituperative epithets and threats. On several
occasions he said he would have her life, and scatter
her brains against the wall. He took the bed off
one night, removed it to another room, and slept
with one of the boys. His threats and tyranny
became so intolerable that she was compelled to
take out a summons against him at the Worship-
street Police Court, and he was held to bail to keep
the peace towards her. After that his threats and
tyranny were renewed, and became intolerable and
insupportable. She was compelled to leave her
husband and children, and he had ever since re-
fused to maintain her. She had received parish
relief.
Mrs. Delafosse was cross examined at great
length by Mr. Hubert Wood, and she denied in the
most emphatic manner that she was a person of ir-
regular habits, in the practice of receiving visits
from a grocer named Clarke, or that she had com-
mitted adultery with him. She had dealt at the
shop of Messrs. Clarke for grocery, but had
no further communication with them. There
were three brothers named Clarke. She never
walked out with tither of them. She never
told her daughter Alice that she would knock
her brains in if she told her father that Mr.
Clarke, the grocer, called at the house in her father's
absence. She took a small roomful of goods away
out of a six-roomed house when she left her husband.
She had been living with a needlewoman for several
weeks. Her husband had taught her son to swear
at her, and offered him a basin of dripping to throw
at her.
Mrs. Ann Davis' of Library-place, Old Ford, said
Mr. and Mrs. Delafosse and family were lodging in
her house for some time. She never observed the
least impropriety in the conduct of Mrs. Delafosse.
She never saw either of the Clarkes in the house.
Mrs. Delafosse never said " Have you any objection
to one or two chaps coming to see me." If such a
proposition had been made she would have rejected
it with scorn and contempt.
Mr. Hubert Wood was instructed to deny most
strongly the accusation that the defendant had been--
acting with cruelty to his wife. He was also in-
structed that Mrs. Delafosse's infirmity of temper
and volubility, of which she had just now given a
sample, rendered it impossible for the defendant to
live with his wife with any degree of comfort ; but
he had not left her on that account, but owing to her
having committed adultery with Mr. Clarke, with
whom she had been seen walking out, and who had
visited her at her dwelling in her husband's absence.
The woman had repeatedly told her daughter that
she would kill her and dash her brains out against a
wall if she ever revealed it to her father that Mr.
Clarke had visited her mother.
Alice Delafosse, a very intelligent girl, aged 13
years, who imitated her mother in volubility, said
she recollected the elder Mr. Clarke, the grocer, in
the Mile-end-road, paying a visit to her mother.
He was a dark man, with large black whiskers. He
shook hands with her mother, and kissed her.
Her mother had previously said that Mr. Clarke
intended to call, and she was not to tell her
father, and that if she did so her father would
turn her out of doors, and she would have no
claim for support. Her mother and Mr. Clarke
retired into the back parlour, and the door was
locked. They remained in the back parlour a
long time. When they came out her mother said
to Mr. Clarke, " Now, dub up." He said, I
have brought the grocery." Her mother said, " I
won't have the grocery unless you give me 2s. or
half a crown," and he then gave her some money. She
never told Mrs. Davis she would make as much mis
chief as possible about Mr. Clarke's visit. Her
mother said, " If you ever tell your father about Mr.
Clarke, I will murder you with a large stone which
I will carry under my shawl." Her mother had
threatened her father, and beat his nose in with a
knife.
By Mr. Selfe—l told my aunt all about Air.
Clarke two days after my mother left home. My
father has spoken to me about Mr. Clarke. I heard
my mother say to Mrs. Davis, our landlady," Have
you any objection to a few chaps coming to see me,
if my husband don't maintain me 9"
Mrs. Davis was recalled, and sail the girl had
told falsehoods. No such proposition as that re-
lated had ever been made by Mrs. Delafosse. Wit-
ness was the mother of 12 children, tan of whom
were living, and would not encourage any impro-
priety in her dwelling.
The girl was recalled, and said that she Was