The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-13 00:00:00

SINGULAR CASE.
At Worship-street Police-office, on Thursday, a well-
dressed young woman, named Jane West, in the
service of Messrs. Atkins and Co., milliners and
bonnet-manufacturers, in High-street, Shoreditch,
and who is the daughter of a gentleman holding a
situation in one of the Government departments, was
placed at the bar before Mr. Hammill, charged,
under the following extraordinary circumstances,
with robbing children of money and other property
in the public streets :
Towards dusk on the evening of the 3d inst., as an
elderly gentleman, named Spencer, was proceeding
through the Kingsland-road, he was suddenly stopped
by a genteel little girl, between twelve and thirteen
years of age, named Isabella Lloyd, the daughter of
a builder, in Acton-street, close by, who anxiously
pointed out the prisoner, a short distance in advance
of them, and entreated him to give her into custody,
as she bad robbed her of tea and a quantity of other
grocery articles about a fortnight before. He did
not like to assume such a responsibility at the
instance of a child, but followed the prisoner
until they met Sergeant Godfrey of the N divi-
sion, to whom he communicated the circum-
stances of the alleged robbery, and who instantly
crossed over to the prisoner and accused her of
it. The prisoner expressed the greatest astonishment,
denied she had ever seen the little girl before, and,
protesting her innocence, refused to move until her
employer, Mrs. Atkins, had been apprised of her
situation. The sergeant warned the child to be
cautious, but she persisted in her identification of
the prisoner, and as her father, upon calling upon
him, also preferred the charge, the accused was
taken to the station-house. Before reaching there,
however, a second little girl, Isabella Denvil, eleven
years old, and daughter of the actor of that name,
came up, and the instant she caught sight of the
prisoner exclaimed, " Oh, dear, policeman, that's the
woman who robbed me of my 4s. 101 ;" and upon
inquiry it appeared from the statement of both the
children that they had been sent to the shop of a
teadealer named Dickinson, at Kingsland, for grocery,
and that while the one was going for the goods and
the other returning with them, they were met by the
prisoner, who in each instance carried a bonnet-
)); and who cajoled them out of their goods and
money upon the pretence of sending them to the
'muse of a Mrs. Smith for a 51. note and package of
',Thy linen, promising to wait at Mr. Dickinson's
:Ina' they returned. The result was, that after hunt-
ing about till they were tired for the houses, 174,
ii.lng-street, and 142, Mansfield-street, neither of
which streets had such a number of houses, the little
itirls returned without discovering them, and found
hat the prisoner had in the meantime absconded. On
reaching the station-house, Mrs. Atkins attended there,
and expressing her conviction of the prisoner's
innocence, and that she must have been mistaken,
from personal similarity, for some one else, offered to
have the prisoner's boxes searched, which was done,
bat no money was found there, and no more finery or
clothing than such a person as the prisoner might
reasonably possess.
The children were severely questioned by Mr.
Vann, who appeared for the defence, but without
shaking their testimony in the least—they each swore
po-itively to the prisoner, and the mothers of the
children deposed to their daughters coming home
crying convulsively after being robbed, And giving a
description of the thief, which exactly tallied with
the prisoner's personal appearance.
This was the substance of two of the cases, but in
the mean time a third charge turned up, and in this
else it appeared that a child named Jane Dunt,
daughter of a coachman in Cross-street, Finsbury,
while passing Messrs. Cater and Woods, at the end
of Chiswell-street, at twelve o'clock in the day, about
a month before, was robbed, under similar pretences,
of half-a crown and a farthing, by a woman, again
with a bonnet-box, who, finding that she could not
get the money from the child by any other means,
forced it out of her hand and ran off with it. Little

Dunt hurried home crying to her mother, and she
fetched her husband, who, 20 minutes after, stopped the
prisoner (a fourth titre with a bonnet box), upon Fins-
b ary-pavement, from the description the child had given
of the thief, and she being also positively identified
by the little girl, was taken in custody to Feather-
stone-street station. There she was searched ; but
though a farthing was certainly found upon her, no
half-crown was; and under these circumstances, and
as the prisoner declared her respectability and pro- '
tested her innocence, the charge was foregone and she
was liberated.- This fact the prisoner did not at all
conceal, but on reaching her employer's told Mrs.
Atkins the full particulars, and she and the prisoner's
father were so anxious to have her character cleared
from such an imputation, that they voluntarily took
her back to the station the next day, to see if any-
thing could be preferred against her.
In consequence of the other cases this charge was
renewed, and little Dunt again swore positively to the
prisoner as the woman who had robbed her, and her
mother also gave the description her child had given
hf-r of the woman, which likewise tallied with that of
the prisoner.
Mrs. Atkins, who evidently felt warmly in the
prisoner's behalf, stepped forward, and, expressing her
earnest conviction of the prisoner's innocence, stated
that she had received an excellent character with her
when she entered her service ; that she had been with
her a considerable period, during the whole of which
she had conducted herself with the greatest integrity
and propriety ; that she had left her repeatedly in sole
charge of her property without missing anything ;
and that she was not only in the habit of entrusting
her with considerable sums to receive and pay away,
but that the amount of these disbursements through
the prisoner's hands had considerably exceeded 1001.
n the course of one month alone.
i Mr. Vann addressed the magistrate on behalf of the
accused, urging the probability of the children being
all mistaken, and stating that he had several persons
in attendance who could not only speak in the highest
terms of the prisoner's previous conduct, but some of
whom could absolutely prove an alibi for her on two
of the occasions spoken to. He hoped the magistrate,
in a case of some doubt, if it was his intention to send
it before a jury, would accept bail for his client's
future appearance, which would be put in to any
amount.
Mr. Hammill, however, said that in a case of such
positive identification he did not feel justified in taking
bail, and as it was his intention to send the prisoner
for trial, he thought it would be most advisable for
the Learned Gentleman to reserve the conflicting
evidence he was in possession of for that occasion,
where it would be much more effective, if available.
The depositions were therefore taken, and the pri-
soner, who was tenderly embraced by her mistress
when she left the bar, was fully committed for trial
upon all three charges.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
__

Two men, named Henry Albert and Henry Howard,
were brought before the Lord Mayor upon the charge of
having plundered the warehouse of Messrs. Wood and
Co.. warehousemen in Watling. street, of carpeting.
The case exhibited one of the numerous instances in
which the extensive houses in the city have been recently
plundered through the instrumentality of servants. The
prisoner Albert had been in the employment of the pro-
secutors, and it was stated that within but a very few
weeks robberies had been elected in the establishment
to the amount of upwards of 5001.
Mr. Nobler conducted the prosecution, and Mr.
Wontuer the defence. . .

The Lord Mayor was occupied for a considerable time
in hearing the very complicated evidence, and the pri-
soners were ordered to be brought up on Monday in
order to be committed for trial.

A man named Enever was afterwards brought up on
suspicion of having been concerned in a robbery upon
the same firm, and after a long examination was set at
liberty upon his own recognizance in 401. to appear to
answer the charge. It was quite evident, from the state-
ments made in the course of the investigation, that
several of the large establishments in the city have
been regularly beset by multitude of thieves and re-
ceivers.

The LORD MAYOR requested that the liberal dona-
tion of 201. to the poor-box might be acknowledged
in. the press, together with his warm thanks to " T.
and S."