The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-11 00:00:00

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.14 EWSPAPP.Ft '
The Young Lady and her ' nl GrOO.
(Front the Solicitors' Journa
The strange case of alleged abcluc 'on heard on 454,
Wedaesday before Mr. Ingham, even if it hokild. lead
to the conviction of a man more sinned agaitgt thi4
sinning, will probably have one good result : that of
clearing up the rather hazy ideas of that worthy
magistrate on the subject of carrying off young
women. It is difficult to make out from the news-
paper report what the precise charge was which was
intended to be brought against the Rev. Mr. Crosse's
late gr.oom, but it is quite clear that the only indict-
ment which could be sustained would be under the
latter part of the 53d section of 24 and 25 Viet., c.
100. The first part of that section is designated
for the protection of women of any age who have
any sort of property in possession or expectancy to
lose, and stamps with felony any one who, from
motives of lucre, takes away or detains any such
woman against her will, with intent to marry, or,
&c. The provision must be dismissed at once, since
the young lady herself stated that she went at her
own suggestion, and stayed of her own accord. The
section, however, goes on to declare that whosoever
shall fraudulently allure, take away, or detain such
woman, being under the age of 21 years, out of the
possession and against the will of her father or
mother, or of any other person having the lawful care
or charge of her, with intent to marry or carnally
know her, or to cause her to be married or carnally
known by any other person, shall be guilty of felony
and liable to penal servitude not exceeding 14 years.
This enactment, we may observe, is new, and there
is at present but one decision on its interpretation,
which, however, does not throw much light on the
real meaning of the statute (" Reg. v. 131=4,, 12
W. R. 149). The essential ingredients of the
offence are that the woman should have such an in-
terest in real or persOnal property as is defined
in the earlier part of the section, that she should
be under twenty-one years, and that the person in-
dicted should allure, take away, or detain her out of
the possession, and against the will of her guardians,
with the intent, &c. ; and lastly, that the alluring,
taking away, and detention, should be fraudulent.
From the evidence given in the present case, it is
indisputable that Miss Crosse, being over twenty and
under twenty-one, was such a woman as is contem-
plated by the section, that she was allured, taken
away, and detained, out of the possession of her
father, and against that gentleman's will. Butit is
equally clear that the person who so allured, took
away, and detained her was herself, and that if any
fraud at all was practised, it was in all probability
contrived and executed by her alone. She " arranged
the row" by which the groom was dismissed, she told
him to come to her bedroom ; she prepared the burnt
offering, which served as a beacon to summon and to
light him to his love; she suggested the elopement,
and would have eloped had there been no " George"
at all. She did not even require his assistance in
scrambling out of the window. " I think I was slip-
ping down, and he held me." That appears to have
fairly represented the relationship between them.
She was always slipping, and he occasionally held _
her up.

Mr. Ingham appears to consider that the passive,
not to say lamb-like, part which the groom, a boy-of
eighteen, played in this performance, was a taking
away within the meaning of the statute. It was
suggested that the abduction must be fraudulent,
while here there was no fraud. It will probably
puzzle a higher tribunal than Mr. Ingham's to put a
satisfactory interpretation on this word. It is not

" feloniously," nor is it "by false pretences ;" but
though the word " fraudulent" does not at first sight
seem to imply so grave a moral offence as either of
the other expressions, yet we strongly suspect that
it will be much more difficult to define, and there-
' fore a conviction under it will be more doubtful.
Indeed the case Of " Rex v. Burrell (übi. sup.)
proves how difficult-it will be to fix a definite mead-
ing on the word " fraud."
Mr. Ingham, indeed, seems to consider that an
important question in the case was whether a woman
under 21 could " consent." With all respect to him,
that mist which so often hangs over our police courts
must have obscured his mental sight. There cannot
be the slightest doubt that a woman under 21 can
consent ; but the awkward part of the case is, that
it is utterly immaterial whether she consents or not ;
since, if the offence is complete without her consent,
it is equally complete with it. The part of the sec-
tion which we are now considering does not make
the dissent of the woman an element in the crime,
so that however clear the merits may be on the side of

the groom and against the young lady, he really
stands in some peril should the minds of the
Court of Criminal Appeal be as Mr. Ingham's
mind ; of this, however, there is, perhaps, not
much cause for apprehension. As to the payment
for the railway tickets, that was provided out of their
common fund, of which she did not contribute the
larger portion. Is this, too, " a fraudulent taking
away ?"
It only remains for us to ask why on earth was
this prosecution instituted ? There are causes and
reason for all things, we are taught, if we only look
deep enough or high enough for them. Why does
the father of a young lady, whose name has been
tarnished, and her own reputation jeopardised by a
boy whose chief fault is that he is not a " Joseph
Andrews," prosecute for abduction and charge with
wholesale robbery his intended son-in-law, who with
extraordinary generosity, or still more marvellous
prudence, begs his lover not to apply her private
fortune to his support ? Why does this father, the
mischief being complete and irretrievable, gratui-
tously publish his sorrow- to the world ?

On inquiry being made on Saturday of Inspector
Lovelace, who took the groom into custody, it was
ascertained that the young lady remained in Wands-
worth until Friday afternoon, when she left with
her father and his brother for some place of security.
On the termination of the judicial examination on
Wednesday last, which occupied the magistrate's
attention until long after the usual hour of closing
the court, the young lady, as was reported, was
taken, with her friends, through ,the private way,
while her intended husband was removed down the
public staircase ; but she positively refused to re-
turn to Ockham Rectory. A compromise was
eventually made, the young lady consenting to re-
main with the family of Inspector Lovelace, who
is a very respectable officer, for a few clays, and
who promised that she should not have any com-
munication with her youthful lover. The in-
spector appeared to have undertaken a somewhat
arduous task, for the groom discovered her tempo-
rary abode, and was found early and late prome-
nading in front of the house. So determined was
he to remain in the sight of the girl, who was able
to see him through the window, that he defied the
inspector to remove him, telling him at the same
time that it was a public highway, and that he had
a right to be there. He, however, consented to go
away if desired by Miss Crosse, who then in the
presence of the inspector said, " George, go away,
I don't wish to see you." He implicitly obeyed her
injunctions and returned to the old lodgings at Mrs.
Wiggins's, in Love-lane. The inspector states that
Miss Crosse conducted herself with propriety while
in his house. It is a singular circumstance in the
case that in selecting Wandsworth as their place of
abode they should select lodgings within a few doors
of the police-station and court. It is expected that
on the day appointed for the next examination,
viz., Wednesday next, the case will not be proceeded
with.

ANTIQUITY OF TIIE PYRAMIDS.—Mahmud Bey,
astronomer to the Viceroy of Egypt, has issued an
interesting treatise as to the date of the building of the
Pyramids, tracing their connexion with Sirius, the Dogstarl
The late Viceroy, Said Pasha, ordered him to work out this
problem. He found the exact measurement of the largell to
be 231 metres at the base, and 146.40 from tho ground to
the apex. Hence follows, that the sides are at an angle
51 deg. 45 min. Mahmud Bey found that the angles of the
other three pyramids, near Memphis, were on an average
inclination of 52 deg. The fact that the sides of monu-
ments are placed exactly true to the four le in

com-

pass, stiemed to point to some connexion v-ith the stars,
and Mahmud Bey found Sirius sends his ne.u!y verti,
cally upon the south side, when passing the niridian of
Ghizeh. He then found on calculation back the exact posi-
tions the star occupied in past centuries, that the rays of
Sirius were exactly vertical to the south side of the Great
Pyramid, 3,300 B.C. Sirius was dedicated to the gybothis
or Toth Anubis, and hence the astronomer deduces tat the
,
Pyramids were built about 8,809