The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-09 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE

Mr. E. Howell (the prosecutor) was then called. He
said : The prisoner is a stranger to me. I bad been
making free with liquor, and was in Houndsditch at
about twelve o'clock last night. I met the prisoner first
in Bishopsgate street, but Ido not recollect where. I
walked with her. I had a pocket-book and a half-
sovereign and ss. or 6s. in my pocket. A bag in which
I kept the money was left in my pocket, but the money
was taken. I also lost a hankerchief. I recollect fall-
ing in Houndsditch. The prisoners gave me a violent
blow or push on the pit of the stomach, and I fell and
cut my head open. I lost nearly three half-pints of
blood, and was in a very weak state from the loss. I
did not speak to any other woman to my knowledge.
The prisoner : I am perfectly innocent, my lord. The
robbery was committed by another woman. I tried to
prevent the gentleman from being robbed, and he never
charged me at all with the robbery, and I called out
murder, because they told me they would murder me.
The prisoner was then committed for trial.

CLERKENWELL. CHARGE AGAINST A ROMAN
CATHOLIC PRlEST.—Pierre Paulzenntti, the Roman
Catholic priest, was finally examined before Mr. Tyr-
whitt, charged by Mrs. Jemima, Downes, of No. 23,
Foundling-terrace, Gray's-inn-road, with having inde-
cently exposed himself, and also with attempting to
stab her with a knife.
Mr. Woollett, barrister, attended for the defence.
Mrs. Downes, having been sworn, reiterated her for-
mer evidence.
Mr. Woollett questioned her closely upon the various
points, but without shaking her evidence. She shed
tears, and sail she was very sorry that she was obliged
to come forward in so painful and delicate a case.
Henry Patman, a vender of fish, of No. 16, Pugh-
street Bagnigge-wells-road, gave confirmatory evidence.
He saw Mrs. Downes beckon to her husband, who
came up, and said something to the prisoner, when he
took something from his pocket like a knife, and made
a stab at him.
Thomas Downes, the husband, said—On his wife tell-
ing him of what had occurred he touched the prisoner
on the shoulder, and said, " What is this about," on
which the prisoner took out a knife and made a stab
at him.

Mr. Tyrwhitt—Might it not have been his spectacles,
and not a knife ?—Witness—lt might.
William Henry Maskell, sergeant of the G division,
produced the memorandums found in his possession, also
a knife and a pair of spectacles.
This being the whole of the evidence,
Mr. Tyrwhitt (addressing Mr. Woollett) said he had
looked over the papers found on the prisoner, from
which it would appear that he had come from the dio-
cese of Como, and that he was a missionary priest. They
had been signed by the Bishop of Como, and bore his
seal, entitling him to say mass and describing him to
be a " worthy character," &c.
Mr.- Woollett here explained that it had appeared
in the public prints that the prisoner was connected
with convents in America. Such was not founded
in fact. He had no power or authority here
from Rome. He was connected with highly re-
spectable persons, whatever his state of mind might
be. He was introduced in January last to the Rev.
Dr. Melia. He was a foreign exile for political mo-
tives, and Dr. Melia was the party from whom he re-
ceived the papers alluded to. He (Mr. Woollett) sug-
gested that it might be a case for summary punishment,
but he could call witnesses to show that his mind was
not in a proper state. His present garb was more like
a pauper's than that of a Roman Catholic priest, and
the charge of attempting to stab he considered must fall
to the ground.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said that Mrs. Downes had given her
evidence and conducted herself most creditably in the
matter.

Mr. Woollett made a powerful appeal to the bench,
and said that the prisoner, under all the circumstances,
was more a fit object of compassion than of scorn. He
Milled

The Rev. Dr. Raphaelle Melia, Roman Catholic priest,
of No. 54, Lincoln's-inn-fields, who having been sworn,
said that he was a missionary apostolic, and the only
one doing duty in this country. The document was an
authority given to him only to collect contributions for
a church for Italians. In January last the prisoner
was introduced to him by Mr. Gattie. Saw the prisoner
three or four times, and observed something very pecu-
liar about his manner, but nothing indecent.
By Mr. Tyrwhitt—The papers were genuine. The
last time he saw the prisoner he said he was going back
to his own country. The prisoner had no connection
with convents in America. Witness appointed deputies
under the above authority.
Mr. Joseph Gattie chocolate maker, of Aldgate, had
known the prisoner since 1834 in France. Never ob-
served anything evil or indecent in him. Recently he
had noticed a change in his manners, so much so, that
he considered he ought to be under medical treatment.
He always dressed in the style of a priest (in black),
quite different to the garb he now appeared in (a rough
brown suit).
_ _

Mr. Tyrwhitt said he had paid great attention to this
painful case, and after regretting that a person of the
prisoner's description should be involved in such a
charge, said that under the circumstances, there was a
doubt which would act in his favour, and he would dis-
charge him. He believed Mrs. Downes to be a respect-
able woman, and there was no distrust upon her evi-
dence.

The prisoner then left the court with his friends.

SOUTHWARK.—THE MURDER OP ELIZA GRIM-
WOOD.—Peter Lamesehall, the Dane, was again examined
on the charge of having murdered Eliza Grimwood.
Mr. Cornbe said—ls there any further evidence in this
case ? Now Goff is present, he can tell me what he has
done.

Goff—l do not think there is any evidence to impli-
cate the prisoner. He is too short in stature, and does
not at all correspond with the description given of the
foreigner who was last seen with the murdered Eliza
Grimwood. It appeared that she met a foreign gentleman
in the Strand, and was driven in a cab with him to her
lodgings in Wellington-terrace, Waterloo-road, at 3 o'clock
in the morning of the 26th of May, 1838. At 6 o'clock
the same morning she was discovered lying on the floor
of her bed-room with her throat cut from ear to ear, and
stabbed in several parts of her body through her stays.
The foreigner was not apprehended, although a descrip-
tion of him was widely circulated, and a reward of 1001.
was offered for his apprehension. The cabman who
drove them from the Strand on that fatal morning stated
that the foreigner was a taller man by two inches than
he was. The cabman was five feet six inches in height,
and the prisoner therefore is considerably under the
height. The cabman was transported in 1846 for rob-
bing a gentleman of a gold brooch near the Surrey
Theatre, and he is employed as a coachman to a judge
at Hobart Town. I have also examined the Police
Gazette and other documents, and I find the prisoner
don't answer the description given of the foreigner.
Mr. Combe to Jennings—What have you to say' to-
day. Do you still adhere to your statement of Mon-
day ?

Jennings—Yes, I do. He told me on several occa-
sions, when he thrashed me, that he would serve me in
the same way that he had served Eliza Grimwood, over
the water. Not only that, your worship, he said he
would cut me to pieces and put me in a pickle tub, and
send me to Holland. (Laughter.)
Mr. Combe—lt is a ridiculous affair altogether, and
the idle threat of a lazy vagabond towards a prostitute.
The words uttered by such a man were without mean-
ing, and there was not the slightest pretence for charg-

MANSION-HOUSE.—HIGHWAY ROBBERY BY A
FEMALE.-A well-dressed young woman, named Celia
Smith, was brought before Alderman Salomans, upon
the charge of having assaulted and robbed a gentleman
on the Queen's highway. The case attracted a crowd.
James Hall, potboy at a public-house in Hounsditch,
said : Last night as I was leaving my place at a little
after twelve o'clock to go home, I saw the prisoner strike
a gentleman in the stomach and knock him down. She
then put her hand in his side pocket and took out his
pocket-book. He tried to get up, and I went and helped
him, along with another person, and the policeman then
came, and she threw the pocket-book into the road.
The policeman picked up the pocket-book and took the
prisoner into custody. Whilst the officer held her, she
said to the gentleman, who had been drinking, " Have
I robbed you ?" to which the gentleman replied, "I do
not know." At the same time some money dropped
from her, which the policeman picked up.
Cross-examined by the prisoner : There was another
woman present, who had nothing at all to do with the
business, but the prisoner wished to fix it upon her.
Mr. A. D. Ellis was next called, and the moment he
appeared in the witness-box the prisoner said, in appeal-
ing tones, to the alderman, " Oh, my lord, this fellow 's
a Jew." (Laughter.) The witness said : As I was
passing through Hounsditch, at ten minutes past twelve,
I saw a man fall upon his back in the street. I crossed
over to pick him up. The prisoner had her hand in his
pocket, and was taking out different things, and at the
same time intreating hirn to get up, " For," said she,
" if the policemen come here and find youdrunk, you
will be fined 51." I thought, from her manner and
what she said, that she was his wife ; and I was going
to leave them, when the policeman came up, and the
prisoner then flung a pocket-book which she had taken
from the gentleman into the road, and let some money
she had in her hand fall to the ground. I helped the
policeman to pick up the money. When the officer
took her into custody she saw another woman, who had
not interfered at all, and immediately accused her of
having robbed the gentleman, and made an effort to
seize her.

Alderman Salomons : Did you see the prisoner take
the pocket-book from his pocket ?—Witness : Most dis-
tinctly.

Alderman Salomons : Did you see her strike him ?
Witness : No.

S. Obie, 694: At five minutes before twelve I saw the
prisoner and the prosecutor in Church-passage, Bishops•
gate-street. The gentleman was lying on the ground.
The prisoner said, "He has been drinking, and I can't
get him home. He is very obstinate." We then lifted
him up, and I asked him whether he could walk ? "Oh
yes," said the prisoner, "he can walk if he likes. We
have been to the Bank, and he has put in 1001. there
today." I said, "Do you know him then ?" She re-
plied, " Yes, he married my sister ; " and she then said
to him, "Will you go home to Jane, or will you go to
the station-house ?" He said that he would go home.
" Oh !" said she, "Jane will be in a dreadful way when
you get home." (Laughter.) I told him I'd take him
to the station-house if he would not walk home, and she
then took hold of him, and said, "Come along." I
thought then that she was his sister-in-law. While I
was taking her to the station-house she continued to
scream out " murder," and that the Jew had committed
a robbery upon her. At the station-house a half-sove-
reign dropped from her, and 3s 104 d. were found in her
pocket.