The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-18 00:00:00

THAMES.

EXTRAORDINARY STATEMENT.—A few days since a wo-
man, carrying an infant in her arms, came to this court,
and said she had lost her little girl, aged five years, from her
side, while passing through Whitechapel on her way from
Sevenoaks, in Sent, to Bishop Stortford, in Kent, to meet
her husband there. She also said that she was destitute,
and was indebted to the police of the H division for her
maintenance for two days. She was relieved from the
poor -box. Her case excited much commiseration, and the
police were directed to assist her in looking for her lost
child. The child was found, and she was sent away to
Bishop Stortford with her children by rail at the expense
of the poor-box fund. Mr. Partridge afterwards received.
several sums of money for her relief, but he refused to
apply them as requested, because the woman had been already
relieved, and there were no special circumstances in the
case to call for the sympathy of the benevolent. This
morning Mr. Partridge received a letter of which the
following is a copy, and it conveys the astounding intelli-
gence that four men were convicted by country justices in
their absence for committing an assault. Such a thing was
never heard of before, and the invariable custom which has
been always adopted by the stipendiary justices of the
police-courts of the metropolis was to grant a warrant for
the arrest of the persons charged on their neglect to attend
a summons, and not to hear the case until an arrest was
effected :
" A Alden, near Saffron Walden, May 17, 1865.
" Sir,—Having read an account in the newspapers of a
woman losing her child in Whitechapel, I beg to submit
the following for your worship's information respecting
the woman who appeared before you on that occasion,
and who gave the name of Priscilla Curzon, and who
also left Ashdon under the following circumstances :—For
almost two years past she has cohabited with a man whose
name is Robert Curzon (which name she also assumes), a
railway labourer, at Linton, Cambridgeshire, and Ashdon,
Essex. On the 24th ult., at Ashdon, Curzon, with several
other railway labourers, committed a violent assault upon
Mr. Paul Artis, agent to the contractor who is making the
railway from Saffron Walden to Bartlow, for which offence
Mr. Artis summoned Curson, with three others, to appear
before tho magistrates at the natty sessions, held at Saffron
Walden, on the 29th ult. They neither of them appeared to
the summons, but were convicted in their absence, and
committed for six weeks hard labour without the option
of paying a fine, and we now hold warrants of commit-
ment against Curson and the other three. The woman
mentioned above took a very prominent part in that assault
and breach of the peace, which I was called upon to quell,
together with the assistance of the three parish constables;
consequently Curzon and the woman with the two children
left Ashdon on the morning of the 29th ult., a few hours
before the magistrates assembled in Petty Sessions at
Saffron Walden. I beg that your worship will excuse me
for taking this liberty, but knowing the woman's conduct
whilst at Linton and Ashdon as being of a disreputable
character, and finding that her statement as stated
in the paper was truthful throughout, I have thought
it my duty to submit the above remarks for your worship's
further information.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,
"Erman RAISON, Police-constable,
96, Essex County Constabulary.

"P.S.—I have written this with the belief that the
woman who appeared before your worship is one and the
same person that I have referred to. She is a tall, pale-
faced woman, about 35 years of age, wearing a plaid
shawl. E. It."

Mr. Partridge said there was no doubt the woman calling
herself Priscilla Curzon, who lost her child, was the per-
son who absconded from Ashdon on the 29th of last month.
There was no doubt she lost her child, and was glad she
had since found it. She had committed no imposition on
him as regarded the loss of her little girl.