The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-11 00:00:00

POLICE lINTELLIGENCE.—Jan. 10.

WESTMINSTER.—TIIE MYSTERIOUS SKELE-
TONS.—Agnes Renton, 28 years of ago, was finally
examined, charged with concealing the birth of two
children.

The prisoner lodged in the house of Mrs. Eades,
No. 2, Oakley-crescent, Chelsea, and left there
about a month ago. The landlady detained a box
and some other things for a month's rent, and
opening the box, which merely had a rope
round it, shortly afterwards, Mrs. Eades found the
skeletons of two infants, which were dried up and
resembled mummies. When the prisoner was taken
into custody she said that she was not aware of the
contents of the box, which had been left with her
by a woman for a debt. The bodies were examined
by a medical gentleman who, in consequence of
their condition, was unable to say whether they
had been kept one year or three. It was proved
that the prisoner had had an illegitimate child nine
years ago, but that that had been buried by the
parish. Evidence was given by the landlady where
she had lived three years and a half up to last
Whitsuntide, and it was clear that she had not had
any children during that time, but the landlady
(not Mrs. Eades) identified the box as one she had
sold the accused at the time of her leaving her
house; it was, however, a very common box, of
which thousands are made, and there was no par-
ticular mark about it by which it could be distin-
guished.
Mr. Dickie, barrister, instructed by Mr. Venn,
again appeared for the accused.
On the prisoner being placed in the dock,
Mr. Arnold inquired of Inspector Tarlton, of the
V division, who had charge of the case, whether, in
the course of further inquiries since the last exami-
nation, he had ascertained that she had had any
children herself, or had been acquainted with any
other woman who had. _ _

Inspector Tarlton replied that he had made the
most diligent inquiries, and had traced her from
lodging to lodging, without being able to gain any
such information.

Mr. Arnold said that, under those circumstances,
it would be useless at present to proceed any fur-
ther with the case. There was nothing to sustain
the charge against the prisoner for concealing the
birth of the children. How she got possession of
the children was a complete mystery. She was now
discharged, but if any further evidence were ob-
tained, she could be again apprehended.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF VALUABLES.—Yester-
day (Friday) a well-dressed young man alighted at Read-
ing from the Great Western train from Weymouth, which
arrives here beeween 10 and 11 o'clock, having a ticket
from Weymouth to London. He stated that he had asked
for a ticket from Weymouth to Reading, but a mistake was
made by the clerk, aLd he wished to be allowed to have re-
turned to him the value of the fare between Reading and
Paddington, which was complied with, and he left. Directly
after his departure a telegraphic message was received,
stating that a person had left Weymouth by the early train,
with the produce of a robbery, and the number of the ticket
issued was given. The ticket taken from the young man
was examined, and the numbers were found to correspond.
He was traced to the station of the South-Eastern Railway
Company, and the police were immediately communicated
with, upon which Mr. Rice, one of the inspectors, went to
the station, and in a carriage of the 12 o'clock train, which
was within two minutes of starting, ne found the young
man, whom he took into custody. lie then gave to the in.
specter a handsome antique gold watch, set with diamonds,
value about £lOO, and a number of other articles of jewel-
lery, which he took from his pockets, admitting that he had
stolen them from Sir .1. Dundas's, at Weymouth, in whose
service he had been as footman. He had with him a carpet
bag, which contained a quantity of plate, &c., to the value
of about £2OO. The prisoner, named Charles Edwd. Hart,
alias Hamilton, was brought before the Reading magis-
trates soon after.his capture, and remanded for the purpose
of communication being made with the Weymouth police.

- „
THE ALPS AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT.--Th© Alps
aro a very singular range, for though the highest moun-
tains in Europe, they are almost the youngest, and as com-
pared with Snowdon or Cader Idris, are perfect infants in
everything but size. And yet the Alps were formed all at
once, but reveal on their broad flanks'a series of formations
of the Has, ()elite, chalk, and tertiary eras, which in many
places graduate insensibly into metamorphic rocks, pre-
senting all the appearances of extreme geological antiquity.
We find 10,000 feet above the sea, fossils of the same
rccert ago as the freshwater shells of the Isle
of Wight, though they would have a wonderfully
different tale to tell about their respective situations. The
sable character of organic life flourished in both places, and
the strata in which their remains were embedded were pro-
bably deposited under very much the same circumstances;
but how different the subsequent events I While the Isle of
Wight was only raised a few hundred feet above the sea, and
raised so gently that the beds lie one upon the other with
the greatest regularity, the Alps were subjected to violent
upheavals and convulsions, by which not only were the
tertiary beds raised many thousand feet, but were also over
turned and bent on each other in the most startling man-
ner. It is evident, therefore, that this great volcanic
disturbance occurred after the disposition of the tertiary
beds, because the sea in which these shells lived never
could have covered what is now the Alps before their up-
heaval.—Once e Week,