The Sun.
London, England, 1823-05-30 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

Ovitanist.t..—About six weeks ago„ a young female of very
reputable appearance, was brought before the sitting Magi*trate, Mr. Alderman .1..1. Salmi', under circumstances which
excited considerable interest. 81te had been observed on the
banks of the Noy. Canal in the City.road, evidently ine,,
dinning self-destruction by throwing hersdf into the water.
,
A crowd soon collected round her, and among them a young
Tiosanwoeuf4thtreeenta,nwiehooffelltainndteervoilitevli riensihdeitrigsit4atton,
conveyer
in Spencer-streetd
her to the house of a friend of his in the neighbourhood, till
she recovered from-her ogitation, and' subsequently undertook
totter her home to her friends, who, they collected from her, re.
sided in Brunswick-square. Vie, young num accordingly a0c.0,„
satisfactory reit-
partied her there toe house which she pointed nut. She expressed
great aversion to his going to the door with her.He therefore'
hri
let her go by 'herself ; but perceiving her return ann imme.
diately, and not being able, to get from her an
son w hy she had not gone in, he went to tine house himself,
where the persons professed to know nothing at' all respeetinif
her, except that 4 person of that description had q.un,,•thein
el
Op early in the morning, insisting that she lived therne. Durin
the interval of this conversation, the girl had ran oft On his
g,
return"home, however, he accidentally overtook her, anti UR he'
could
get whin, bo incoherent accounts from her,' he gave
her into custody of the watchmen of Bt, Afrom
ndrew's parish,
whence she was taken to the Giunpter.
Her conduct before the Magistrate induced the belief that
her mind was thundered, and she was directed to be taken too.
of in the infirmary there, where she remained for threo or font
days, tiptrkntly under the iniluenee of insanity. During this"
period, she talked incoherently. of Aim Duncan, IT Brunswick.
square, of Capt. Brown, of Wit i techapel, and her uncle at Shields,
36tIcer. iaßler'enn4iplme, an she
tiell'agtlueriilgthis paroxysm, to be Matilda 1
between 21 and 211 At length,

she seemed gradually to recover her reason, and then told the
following well-connected story :
She was the only child, 'she said, of Mr. Temple, of Hil-
ston-castle, Shields, the proprietor of several extensive coal-pits
there ; that at his death, about fetur years ago, she had been
deprived, by Some claims that had been set up against the pro.
per_ty, of all that he had left, and went to reside with an uncle
at Newcastle, and subsequently,
_On account of some disagree-
ment with a female acquaintance at:the same place, having a
great desire to come to London, this lady wrote to her own
brother in London, to meet her on the arrival of the ship,
and to see her placed in some respectable house as a lodger,
until she could procure the situation of companion to a
lady. She arrived in London a few days befbre Christmai last,
was met by the supposed brother, -who took charge of her trunks
and herself, saying he was about to place her with Mrs. Duncan,
a lady of respectability in Brunswick-square. After driving
about in a coach for it. great length of time, they alighted where
there wag a large :net-may across the road, and a clock project.
ing over the street, and they went up a narrow passage, to a
house where she had been confined till the morning of the day
she was found hear the canal. On the first night of her arrival
at the house, they,entlethan gave her supper and vine; and in
the morning she discovered he had been with her all night, and
had effected- her rub while she was iu a state of stupefaction.— Ile called Several times afterwards, but she had not seen }inn
for some dayS, and understood he had gone to sea previous to
ber e9'ecting her escape.
The person who bad got possession of her father's property,
she stated, was a Alr. Brown; .111ile-end-road.
This story was believed, and 'the girl, by direction of Sir
C. S. Hunter, who was the Magistrate next in rotation, anti
was made acquainted 'with the facts, committed her to the
care of Mr. Jones' the constable, who originally had her in
custody, who took her to his own house, from whence she
applied, as she said, to 111 r. Brown, who hail received 'her
kindly, Tind wished her to remain with him (Jones) till pro.
per clothes could be provided for her, when he would send her
back Intel the country. Under these circumstances, she re.
nutined with the constable's family for four or live. weeks,
when she at length disappeared, and on inquiry Mr. Brown
neither knew or had ever heard of such a person. To the
great surprise,however, of all those who had taken an in.
serest in her ate, she was apprehended last Sunday. evening
at another part of the canal, playing off the same trick of at-
tempting to drown herself, prevented by an officer, and taken
to Worship-street, from whence she was sent by the Alegi-
straws to be taken care of in St. Luke's workhouse, urith:r the
idea, from the incohereney of her manner, that she was not in
her right mind. Her old friends in the cite heard of the affair,
:and she was in consequence brought up again yesterday et this
office, before Mr. Alderman BRIDGES. • Sir C. S. HUNTER.
also attended, when her real history was fully discloseclhy 4
letter which Mr. Jopson, the vestry clerk of SkAndrew's, had
received iu answer to his inquiries from 'Mr. 'Straker, of the
Walker colliery, near Newcastle, which stated, that the real
name of the prisoner was Ann Robson, that her father anti brother were labouring men at the coal.pits there, that about
four years ago a young man of the name of Wigliam, to whom
she was to have been married, was accidentally killed at the
West Moor 'Pit ; since, which she could never settle to any
thing, and they thought her at • times insane. She had left
them for London, about two years since, and the last time they
heard of her was in Jule 1822, living in service at a Alr.
Wright's, No. 9, or 19, flacincester.place. The letter expresssd
the desire of her friends that she might be sent home, and their
willingness to defray any reasonable exnence that might have
been incurred. •
During the reading of that part of the letter which related to the
death of her lover, and at every allusionmade to that occurrence,
the girl evinced strong symptoms of agitation, event() tears, and
it seems to be evident that the fateofn 'Otani bad partly affeeted
her intellects. From all inquiries; however, that have been made
respecting her, it appears she is more imposter than maniac. Some
months ago she contrived, upon the strength of a similar story, to
get het self maintained for three or four weeks-in the family of a
constable, in Bunhill.row ; and though. when taken to the spot,
she pointedour a house in Shire-lane, aa the place front whence
she made her escape, Temple-bar, and. St. Dunstan"... clock, as
the objects site had described, yet she 'refused to sign any &Po-
titian to that effect, alleging that she had been deprived of
her father's property by signing some papers, and had mule
a vow never to sign anything again ; and Oen now, notwith-
standing the evidence of the letter, she persisted her name was
not Robson, but Temple; and affected during'the whole exa.
ruination a bewildered simplicity 1;f Manner.
It is perhaps needless to told; that 11Ir. ItrOwti.knoWs nothing
of' the girl, and that she has used.bli name as knowing he wits
connected with the Temple coal-mines.
After some consultation between Mr. Alderman Be tpoEs,
Sir C:'S. HUNTER, and the City Solicitor, there being no very
serious offence charged against the girl, end reason to believe
that she -was not et all times perfectly same, after a prom ad-
monition she was directed to be taken care of, till she could
be conveyed back to her friends,
Bow-ST It E --( Charge of Fraud.)—An application was
made to Sir R. IltitstiE and T. Ilat.i.s; Esq. the presiding
Magistrates, by an Attorney; Tor a warrant against a.young
Lady, whom he- described to be living in a most fashionable
Style, tar obtaining, by false pretences front several tradesmen
who were then prevent, goods to the amount of between 7 and
1109!. and the Lady, he said had, in the first instance applied to
and represented herself as the only surviving child of an
eminent builder, who lately died worth a considerable antis of
money, the whole of which wits coming to her. She gave him
instructions to take the necessary steps towards forwarding her
Mahn, and also produced several doctiments tending to prove
the truth of her assertions. He accordingly prepared a written
statement of the facts, and took such other measures as the
case required, when, itf the mean tinie, the lady hired a large
house, and besides an extensive assortment of handsotne fur-
niture, ordered in several expensive articles of jewellery,
Watches, &c. referring the tradesmen, who supplied her with
the articles, to him for a confirmation of her statement, and
On the faith of What he told them they gave her credit ; it
has, however, been since ascertained that although she Was
actually the person she represented herself, .she had no title to
her father's property, as tier mother was
atilt living; but, on.
the contrary, that it was so disposed of that she would not have a shilling of it. Under these circumstances application
was made to the lady to return back her' ill-gotten spoilt but
she peremptorily
.refused, and within these few days public
notice has been given of the furniture to bit sold by auction--
The applicants entered into a long "discussion, contending
that the fact of the'principal representation, namely; the right
to the property being false, there was sufficient authority to
grant a warrant; but Air. HALLS remarked that he would not
grant it, as common caution had not been used—and, rejoined
Sir R. Brit tE, " common sense would have dictated :Melt a
,measure ;" and he wished it to be generally understood by
tradesmen, that without necessary caution was observed before
they • trusted stlangers to such an enormous amount, the pro-
tection of' the law would not he affinded them, as it was only in-
tended for the prevention of imposition on the limiest and in.
eustriotts tradesman, while many, with a view to gain large pro-
fits, gave extensive credit to persons:they knew nothing'of ; but
in such sites the lew certainly did not apply.