The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-22 00:00:00

THE HENDON UNION.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
The recent proceedings upon the Coroner's inquest on
the unfortunate pauper of this Union has created a great
deal of interest, and the verdict of the Jury, it is to he
hoped, will have the effect of preventing the harsh and
cruel proceedings that, under the present system of
society, may be committed in the Union workhouses
without any chance of their being laid before the pub-
lic, from being attempted in future. In the report of
the proceedings of the inquest it was stated that some
person connected with the Board of Guardians said that
the case in question was the only case of punishment
inflicted since the formation of the Union. It will be
remembered, however, that about five years ago a case
occurred in the same Union, in which that death was
not the result as in the present case was probably
owing to the accidental interposition of Captain Car-
wick, an ex-officio Guardian of the Union. Soule par-
ticulars of this case were made public at the time, but
the following may be relied upon as an authentic state-
ment of the facts, and it will serve to show in what
manner the irresponsible power possessed by the " Guar-
dians" over the unhappy paupers may be exercised :
It appeared that a young woman, named Alice Shep-
herd, had been admitted to the Hendon workhouse.
She bad previously led a very dissipated and irregular
life, and it was deemed advisable by the Board, in con-
sequence of her having misbehaved herself on several
occasions, that she should not be allowed to go out of
the house. The effect of this confinement upon her
constitution wad to produce a peculiar and dreadful
malady (furor uterinus), which deprived her of her
senses, and while in that melancholy condition she con-
ducted herself with great violence, and in other re-
spects most outrageously. Information was sent to one
of the Guardians, who attended at the workhouse,
and, without inquiring into the cause of the misconduct,
he, without any ceremony, ordaed her to placed in
a strait-waistcoat, and to be kept in solitary confine-
ment on bread and water for fourteen days. The
poor creature was accordingly placed in a cell by her-
self, the strait-waistcoat applied, and for nearly a
week she had nothing but the diet ordered her,
and the sentence would have been fully carried out, but
fortunately Captain Carvick, a magistrate and ex-officio
member of the Board of Guardians, happened by acci-
dent to go to the workhouse, and he was dreadfully
shocked at the appearance of the unhappy woman.
She was of a thin spare habit, apparently suffering from
consumption ; and, as it seemed to him, rapidly sinking
under the effects of the dreadful punishment to which
she had been subjected. He lost no time in bringing
the subject before the Board, when a most animated
discussion took place, and
Captain Carvick expressed
his opinion that the punishment was a most unnecessary
and cruel one, and that it ought never to have been in-
flicted, especially upon a female, and under such circum-
stances. Tile result was, that the remainder of the
punishment was remitted, and it was understood that on
future all misconduct of the paupers should be publicly
inquired into, and dealt with before the Magistrates of
the district,

EVENING EDITION.

VACCINATION OF THE PRINCESS
ROYAL.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, DEC. 21, 1840,
is At two o'clock this afternoon the Princess Royal was
vaccinated by Mr. Blagdcn, in the presence of Sir
James Clads and Dr. Locock.