The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-25 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

DANGEROUS NUISANCE.—An elderly man, named
George Harris, was brought up in custody before
Mr. klammill, charged under the 60th secti,•n of the
Act 2d and 33 Vict., cap. 47, with having unlawfully
cast out a quantity of noxious and offensive matter
into a public thoroughfare, so as to cause an ob-
struction.

Police-constable Kearney, H 184, stated, that
-while on duty in King-street, Spitalfields, between
eleven and twelve o'clock that morning, his attention
was directed to a large collection of filth, composed
of putrid offal and manure, which was lying at the
side of the foot pavement, and the prisoner soon after-
wards emerged from an adjoining court, wheeling a
barrow full of the same fetid matter, which he shot
out into the general heap. It having been commu-
nicated to him that the prisoner was the occupier of
one of the houses in the court, in which an immense
accumulation of a like description was deposited, he
proceeded to examine the place, and found that the
basement floor was used as a receptacle for the offen-
sive compost, which was piled up to the height of the
ceiling, and the glass and frame-work of the window,
having long since fallen in through dilapidation, a
most noxious effluvium was constantly emitted, which
was calculated to be seriously prejudicial to the health
of the neighbourhood. The court in question was
densely occupied by persons of the poorest de-
scription, several of whom complained to him
of the mischief and annoyance to which they
were exposed from the .effects of the nuisance,
and informed him that the prisoner was in the daily
habit of collecting refuse matter and offal from
the different markets, which he suffered to remain on
the premises until there was a sufficient accumula-
tion to fill two or three carts, when he removed it in
his barrow and shot it into the main street for the
convenience of the persons who came to cart it away.
The officer added that, under these circumstances, he
felt it his duty to bring the matter under the imme-
diate notice of the magistrate ; and in order to effect
that object he took the prisoner into custody for the
minor offence of causing an obstruction to the tho-
roughfare.
In answer to the charge, the prisoner said that he
had been in the habit of getting his living in the
manner described for the last sixteen years, and was
never before aware that he had committed any legal
offence. _ _

Mr. HAMMILL said that he could not be per-
mitted to pursue such a mischievous mode of ob-
taining a livelihood at the expense of the health and
comfort of the neighbouring inhabitants, and he
should impose upon him the full penalty of 40s. for
obstructing the thoroughfare, or commit him in
default for fourteen days to the House of Correction.
The Magistrate also directed the officer to make an
immediate report of the case to the Commissioners
of Police, in order that the necessary proceedings
might be at once adopted under the Sanitary Act,
for the; entire suppression of the nuisance as speedily
as possible.

SOUTHWARK.
Eliza Denton was brought before Mr. Cottingham,
charged with stealing nine sovereigns from the person
of Mr. W. Swaney, Walworth.
The complainant stated that, being in the neigh-
bourhood of Whitechapel on the preceding afternoon,
he went into a coffee-shop, where he met the prisoner
and treated her to some coffae. In the course of
conversation she told him that she lived in the
Borough, and as he was going in that direction he
invited her to take a seat in a cab with him, as it was
raining hard at the time. They accordingly proceeded
over London-bridge, and as they were going along
near St. George's Church he missed his purse,
containing nine sovereigns, which was taken out of
his trousers pocket, and as he had seen it a few
moments preparatory to his entering the vehicle
with the prisoner, he accused her of the robbery.
She, however, having strenuously denied all know-
ledge of the circumstance he had the cab stopped,
called a policeman, and gave her into custody, and
they all proceeded to the station-house in the vehicle,
On their arrival there the cab was ordered to be exa-
mined, when the parse was found at the bottom of it
with only two sovereigns in it, and on carefully look-
ing through the straw in the same place one more
sovereign was discovered, leaving six sovereigns still
unaccounted for. There was nothing found on the
prisoner, and the complainant added that she must
have taken the purse and its contents and thrown
them down in the straw in the cab when she found
that he was determined on giving her into custody;
that he was convinced she still had the six sovereigns,
notwithstanding the strict search she had undergone.
The strong supposition of the prisoner being in pos-
session of the six sovereigns was verified from the fact
of the sudden and serious manner in which she was
attacked with illness soon after she was locked up in
the cell. Her groans being heard, the female searchers
hastened to her assistance, and found her lying on the
floor apparently dead and frothing from the mouth,
and it was a considerable time before she recovered ;
but even when placed at the bar the following morn-
ing her appearance indicated that she was extremely
ill, and the cause was believed to arise from her having
swallowed the six sovereigns. She, however, denied
such to be the case, and, in fact, declared she knew
nothing at all about the purse or money which she
was charged with stealing.
Mr. COTTINGUAY said there was very little doubt
in his mind but the prisoner had taken the money as
described, and that, in order to secure a portion of it
for herself, without the fear of detection, she had
recourse to the dangerous experience of swallowing
six of the sovereigns ; but it was not by any means a
solitary instance of persons charged with crimes of a
similar description running the risk of losing their
lives by such means; and that, with the view of in-
vestigating the present case still further, he should
remand the prisoner for a few days, and direct that
she should bo closely watched while in gaol.
Remanded accordingly.
Susan Allen, a tall well-dressed woman, was next
placed at the bar, charged with stealing three half-
crown pieces from James Phillips, an elderly man. It
appeared in this case that the complainant went into
the Mayor of Mansfield public-house, in Lock's-fields,
and having treated the prisoner to pme_liquor, hp had,
oicsOofCto bike his purse haMing.iounted
out some silver on the counter she snatched off three
half-crowns. He supposing she did it by way of a
joke desired her to return the money, but she insisted
that she did not take it; and although threatend with
being given into custody she still denied the fact, and
a policeman was called. When the latter entered
the house the prisoner was observed to convey some-
thing to her mouth, which upon observing the po-
liceman went up and seized her throat, and was just
in time to prevent her from swallowing the three
half crowns, which she made an effort to do, but
they dropped out of her mouth on the floor.
The prisoner was committed.
Win. Hughes was brought up for re-examination
charged with assaulting and wounding Eliza Minon,
who appeared with her head bound up with bandages,
and had only that day come out of the hospital, in
which she had been a patient owing to the brutal at-
tack upon her by her assailant.
The circumstances are briefly these :—On the night
of the sth instant, a policeman on duty in Tooley-
street was called into a house by a woman named
Jenkins, whose hands and clothes were covered with
blood, and informed by her that a man was murder-
ing a woman in the house. lie went into a room
on the ground floor, and saw the prisoner in the
act of kicking the complainant on the head with
an iron-shod shoe as ~he lay upon the ground.
She was streaming with blood from the wounds
her brutal assailant inflicted upon her head, and
she appeared to be in a state of total insensi-
bility. The prisoner tried to make his escape
by rushing out of the room, but he was secured by
another policeman stationed at the street door, whilst
his unfortunate victim was immediately conveyed to
the hospital, where, on examination by the house
surgeon, it was ascertained that she had no less than
seven serious wounds on the head from the repeated
kicks inflicted by the prisoner. At first there were
apprehensions for her life, but owing to a strong
constitution and the remedies adopted at the hospital
she was now considered sufficiently well to be enabled
to attend this Court. When the case was called on,
the unfortunate woman evinced great reluctance to
give evidence against her assailant, saying that she
did not wish to prosecute him, as she considered she
was to blame herself, she having given him provoca-
tion by taunting him and using language calculated
to exasperate him. The woman Jenkins also evinced
a similar feeling towards him until assured by Mr.
Cottingham that he would not permit such a fligrant
act of violence on the part of the prisoner to go un-
punished ; that he (the Magistrate) had been com-
pelled to issue warrants in order to bring the wit-
nesses forward, and that he was determined twelve
men should adjudicate upon his case, for it was ab-
surd to suppose that the punishment he had the
power of summarily inflicting upon such an offender
was at all adequate to the offence. He should there-
-I,re commit the prisoner for trial to the Central
Criminal Court.