The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-24 00:00:00

THAMES- OFFICE.

Yesterday Mary Bennett, a common prostitute
of the most abandoned character, who had been fre• li
quently brought to this office on charges of robbery
and assault, was charged with attempting to murder
her daughter, a little girl aged nine years, and bear-
ing the same name.
It appeared from the evidence of James Graham,
a policeman, No. 49, K, that about two o'clock that
morning he was on duty in Union-street, Shadweli,
when he heard the prisoner calling police ; and on
proceeding towards her, she said she had killed her
own gill, at the house, No. 2, and implored of him
to go and fetch a doctor. He, however, first pro-
ceeded into the house, and on entering the prisoner'v
room saw the child lying on the floor, apparently
lifeless, and weltering in its blood, which was flow-
ing profusely from a deep wound in its head. lie
asked the prisoner what she had been doing, and
she said that the tail of the bedstead had fallen upon
the child's head, and inflicted the injury. A north•
country sailor, whom the prisoner had brought home,
and was lying on the bed, immediately told him that
the prisoner struck the girl with the rail, as she was
lying on the floor, at the same time uttering
dreadful exclamation. The sailor now repeated this
statement.

William Butler, a policeman, No. 48, K, stated
that while Graham carried the child to a surgeon,
he conveyed the prisoner towards the station-house,
and on their way there asked her how she could
hurt her own child. She replied that three of her
children, by different men, were lying in the church-
yard, and she wanted to kill this, and did not care
how soon she got rid of it.
The girl, who appeared in a weak and dangerous
state, was carried into the office, and said that her
mother was a little tipsy, and struck her with all her
force on the head, with the bedstead-rail, fur nothieg
at all.

The rail was produced covered with blood.
The prisoner, who hid her face in her hands, and
sobbed audibly, and was apparently absorbed in
grief, said that she was very sorry for what she had
done, and that she dearly loved her girl, and would
not injure her again.
Mr. BALLANTINE said he was quite staggered by,
such infamous profligacy and heartless cruelty, and a
more unfeeling wretch than the prisoner he had
never heard of. He should not be doing his duty
as a Magistrate if he did not prevent the unnatural
mother from again having the care of the girl, and
punishing her to the fullest extent. He then con-
victed her in the highest penalty of .51., and, in de-
fault of payment, to two months' imprisonment.
The worthy Magistrate ordered the girl to be pro-
vided for in Shadwell workhouse.

The prisoner no sooner heard the sentence than
she uncovered her face, and abused Mr. Ballantinr
and Captain Richhell in the most vile terms, and said
" they and the girl might go to -." She was
removed by the officers, uttering the most horrid
Tecations.

THE DOSE TO BE REPEATED.-WETIIE-
RELL called the Bill by the name of RussELL's purge;
but considering its effect on the close boroughs, it should
rather be termed an opening medicine. —Figaro in London.

BURKING IN LANCASTER.—As the public
papers are full of acc, unts of this atrocious crime, and a
a false report is in circulation respecting a man having at-
tempted to Burke two little boys on Tuesday morning
last, it may not be amiss to relate a circumstance that oc-
curred the other day at the White Lion, in this town.
THOMAS Com-mm.4m, the ventriloquist, happened, along
with some other persons, to be in the parlour of the above
inn, when an old farmer, carrying over his shoulder a sack
which contained something that seemed bulky, entered the
apartment. As he passed ConwrxwAlTE, a voice from the
interior of the sack called out in a smothered tone, " 0
dear, good folks! help me, help me out of the sack ! this
fellow has Barked me !" The astonistipsent of the com-
pany may be more easily imagined than described. Tt.e
farmer protested that his sack only contained a few other
empty sacks—but the voice continuing to supplicate in
most piteous tones, his positive declarations were all to no
effect, and he was compelled to reveal the contents of hi.•
burthen. As the affrightened mart began to untie the sack,
every eye being attentively fixed upon it, a person who
was in the secret exclaimed, " There's his head!" and im-
mediately made as rapid an escape as he could. He wa•
followed by the ingenious ventriloquist and the rest of the
company, not excepting the worthy farmer himself, who,
when the first terrors occasioned by the mysterious voice
were subsided, returned to the parlour, convinced himself
that the alarm had been a false one, collected his scattered
sacks, and vowed that when he entered a public-house
again, he would ,sot go with a sack on his shoulder .1—
Loicaster Herald. ' '