The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-21 00:00:00

Layton, a fine little boy, seven years of aga, son of
respectable parents, residing in Camden-passage, Is-
lington, Is ith having committed a brutal and unprovoked
assault upon him, by which he was most seriously in-

jured.
I The poor little fellow, who was in great pain and in a
very weakly state, was ttllowed a seat while giving his
evidence, which he did with ditilnity.
It appeared from this evidence that yesterday morn-
ing, at about half past nine o'clock, the prisoner was in
High-street, Islington, playing on a spinnet or imitative
piano, when the little boy, who had a bit of cane in his
hand, was moving it about to the tune of the music as he
stood by the side of the prisoner, who, turning round
upon him in a furious manner, made a violent attack
upon him, knocked him down, and kicked him in a
frightful manner on the groin, which rendered him in-
sensible. Several passengers who witnessed the
cowardly transaction became indignant, and detained
the prisoner until the arrival of a policeman, to whom he
was given into custody. The boy was taken to a sur-
geon's, when it was found that an extensive swelling had
been caused on his groin.
In answer to Mr. COMBE the boy said, he had not
been teasing the prisoner; he gave him no provocation,
and there were no other boys near him at the time.
Mrs. Jane Sefton, of No. 3, Canal-roadVoxton, cor-
roborated this testimony, and added that she never wit•
nossed so cowardly and brutal an attack in all her life,
and that a cry of " Shame!" was raised; she thought
the boy was killed.
Mr. James Absolona gave similar evidence. He felt
so hurt and indignant at the prisoner's unprovoked and
brutal conduct towards the poor boy, that he imuce-
diately.collared him, and held him tightly until he gave
him into the custody of a policeman, who took him to
the station-house.
Police-sergeant 12 N said that the boy was in a most
shocking state, and was obliged to be carried to this
court.
The prisoner now, as is usual with persons of this
country and class when they are in a dilemma of this
sort, affected great simplicity and ignorance of the Eng-
lish language, although acquainted with it fluently, and
had an interpreter present in court.
Mr. COMM?, concurred with the witnesses, that it was
a brutal and cowardly assault. It was evident that the
boy was very seriously injured, and he would suggest
that he should be immediately conveyed to the hospital
and be properly attended to, or the consequences might
prove more serious.
The father of the boy said he was dangerously injured.
He thanked the worthy Magistrate, and added that he
would prefer taking his son home, where he should have
every care and medical attention paid to him under his
immediate eye.
The prisoner's defence was that the boy touched his in-
strument with his stick; he did not deny the charge.
Mr. COMBE directed the interpreter to communicate to
the prisoner that he would eventually be fully committed
to Newgate to take his trial upon the charge, but he
would remand him until next Tuesday, whilst the boy
would be taken care of, and his state be made known to
the Court on that day. The boy was then supported into!'
cabriolet, and conveyed home in extreme agony, and the
prisoner was taken to prison.
Jane Wilson, a pauper, was fully committed for trial,
charged with stealing a wine glass from the London Spa,
Exmouth-street, Clerkenwell.
LAMBETH.

Richard Orpin, a well-dressed middle-aged man, was
placed at the bar before Mr. Norton, on a charge of being
concerned with two aged women, at present in custody,
named Linfield and Dryden, in endangering the life of
Eliza Wilson by inducing her to take steps to cause
abortion.

Mr. Robinson, the superintendent of the P or Cam-
berwell division of police, deposed, that from a disclosure
made to him by the young woman Wilson, to the effect
that the prisoner was the father of a child of which she
was pregnant, and that it was at his solicitation she had
gone to the women Linfield and Dryden for the purpose
of procuring abortion, he felt it his duty to have him
taken into custody. Mr. Robinson added that the young
woman Wilson had not only said that she had been
urged by the prisoner to go to the two women before-
mentioned, but that he gave her 2!. lOs. to pay Linfield.
The prisoner, in reply to the charge, admitted that he
had been on terms of intimacy with the young woman,
that she had stated to him that she was in the family-
way, and said that something must be done, and also
asked him for 30s. to get some stuff. lie, however, told
her that he would not have anything to do with it, and
he had not seen her after that time. In reply to the
question of Mr. Norton, the prisoner said he was a car-
penter by trade, but had been coachman to a gentleman,
and his wife, with whom he lived, was a laundress at
Norwood.:

Mr. NORTON remanded the prisoner to a future day.
At a late hour in the day, William Linfield, a rough,
singular-looking fellow, was placed at the bar, on a
charge of having been concerned with his mother, as
she was described, in carrying on practices of a highly
revolting, if not criminal character.
In this case Mr. Robinson stated that he had accom-
panied the two constables who had the case in hand to
the house occupied by Linfield, one of the women
charged before his worship on Monday last, and there
found the prisoner, her son. Under his direction the
constables made a diligent search, and found a number
of instruments, many of them resembling those used by
surgeons, together with something resembling herb
medicine, &c. From the discoveries that had been made,
and the appearance of the place, he (Mr. Robinson) was
induced to make inquiries in the neighbourhood. and
found that Linfield was not only in the habit of having
" respectable" female " patients," as she called them, in
her house, but of being visited by a number of ladies
dressed in the first style of fashion, many of whom drove
in their carriages close to, but not quite to, the house.
The object for which these parties visited the old woman
he (Mr. Robinson) could not positively state, but he cer-
tainly had his own conjecture on the subject,
Police-constable, Thomas Cannon, 59 P, here placed
on the table before the magistrate a box, from which he
took a number of instruments, some of them of a' very
curious construction, and some of which, it is feared,
have been used for very mischievous purposes.
Mr. NORTON having looked carefully over them di-
rected the superintendent to have them exaimed by a
surgeon, a surgical-instrument maker, or some compe-
tent person, who might be able to speak to their intended
uses at the next examination.
The prisoner, when asked what he had to say, replied
that the superintendent was wrong in stating that Mrs.
Linfield was his mother, for, in point of fact, ho (the
prisoner) was not aware whether his mother or father
were living ; and from all he could learn from Mrs. Lin•
field, it appeared that it was the intention of his father
and mother—or at least of the latter—as soon as he was
born, to throw him into the Surrey Canal, but Mrs. Lin-
field, who attended his mother during his birth, becom-
ing acquainted with the fact, managed to get possession
of him and brought him up as her son.
Mr. Robinson thought it desirable to mention that the
windows of the house were peculiarly adapted to deaden
sound. There were solid boards so constructed as to be
placed inside the windows or taken down at pleasure,
and on going to the house on the day mentioned he
found those belonging to a back room up. He also
wished to state that the prisoner acknowledged to him
that a great portion of the herbs in the shop were of a
highly poisonous description, and that he told people who
purchased them that they were so; but if they did not
follow his directions it was not his fault. The prisoner
further acknowledged that women were in the habit of
coming to be confined at Mrs. Liufield's, but said they
came at the proper time.
Mr. NORTON, in remanding the prisoner, remarked
that the case was a most extraordinary and suspicious
one.