The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-09 00:00:00

CROYDON i'OtACE.

An old woman, apparently between sixty and seventy,
named Elizabeth Holmes, was brought before Messrs.
Reid and Currie for final examination upon the charge
of feloniously receiving a quantity of mutton, part of a
sheep that had been stolen from Mr. Walter, a farmer at
Purley, near Croydon, well knowing that it had been
stolen.

Mr. Richards appeared in support of the charge, and
Mi. R. Russell attended for the prisoner. The circum•
stances of the case were of rather an unusual character.

It appeared from the testimony of several witnesses
that on Saturday night, the 24th of October, the prose-
cutor's shepherd placed a flock of sheep, consisting of
152 ewes and two rams, in one of his fields at Purley,
and on his going to the fold the next morning he ob-
served footsteps, and saw that the fold had been dis-
turbed, and upon his counting the sheep he ascertained
that one of the ewes was gone. A search was made
and the skin of the lost sheep, with the head and the
greater part of the back, were found in an adjoining
field, and in consequence of information received by
the police, Cooper, one of the constables of the P divi-
sion, the next day went to the prisoner's cottage in
Selsdon:lane, and upon seeing her, he asked her some
questions, when she denied that she had either a hus-
band or a lodger in the house. The cons able then in-
quired what'she had for dinner the day before, and she
replied that she had nothing but some tea and bread
and butter, and she also told him that she was very poor
and was receiving relief from the union, and that she
had not eaten any meat for a fortnight. The constable
then searched the house, and in a cupboard he found a
loin of boiled mutton, and when he showed it to the
prisoner, she said she had quite forgot she had that in
the house, and she said she
.had bought it of a butcher
whose name she did not know. The constable,
seeing a pot boiling on the fire, asked what
it contained, and the prisoner with an oath,
declared there was nothing but turnips in it,
but on the constable stirring it up with a fork, he
speedily brought to light another great lump of mutton,
and in a chest of drawers in the room he found a leg, a
loin, ind some other joints of mutton, and also two
bags, which the prisoner told him contained some
" halfpence" to pay her rent with, but upon his exa-
mining them, he found they contained 121. is. in gold
and silver. The constable then told the prisoner that he
must take her into custody, when she replied that she
hoped he would not do so, for that she knew nothing of
where the mutton came from, and said that some of it
was brought to the house by her son and the rest by her
lodger. The prisoner was then removed to the station-
house, and Cooper afterwards made a further search in
the drawers, and he found a knife ground very sharp at
the point, calculated for killing sheen, and also 3/. more
money, and a large bag that, from its appearance, had
evidently been used to carry hot fat in. The meat that
had been found was afterwards carefully examined by a
butcher, who stated that none of the joints had been
severed by a butcher, and also spoke confidently to the
fact of the, joints found in the house of the prisoner,
corresponding with the skin of the prosecutor's sheep
that was discovered in the field.

In answer to a question from the Magistrate, Inspector
Collier said that active search had been made after the
parties mentioned by the prisoner, but they had ab-
scended and the police had not been able to take them.
The prisoner, who, by the advice of her attorney,
declined to make any answer to the charge, was then
committed for trial, but upon a communication being
made to the bench by the Inspector it was arranged
that she should be brought up again if the other parties
were apprehended.