The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-01 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

A MEAN THIEF.—John Estall, a young man, was
brought before Mr. Lushington, at the Thames Police-
court, charged with stealing 3s. from a poor woman named
Elizabeth Canty. The complainant is dwelling in
Osgood-street, Bromley. She had occasion to go into a
public-house in that locality on Monday last. The pri-
soner was there drinking, and stood alongside of her.
She felt a hand in her pocket, and immediately after-
wards the prisoner left the house, and she put her
hand in her pocket, and missed 3s. the hard
earnings of her husband. She was positive
of the prisoner's identity, and had seen him frequently
in the same public-house before. Julia Canty, a girl,
was with her mother on the day in question, and saw the
prisoner go up to her and take a key from her pocket,
and run away. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and Mr.
Lushington said he had committed a very mean robbery,
and plundered a poor woman of all 'her money. He
sentenced the prisoner to six months' imprisonment, with
hard labour.

THE ALLEGED LIBEL BY A SOLICITOR.-At the Court
of Queen's Bench the case of Catch v. Shaen, was resumed.
An action to recover damages for libel, was brought by
the late master of Lambeth Workhouse. The alleged
libel was contained in pamphlets published by the defen-
dant, a solicitor and parishioner, reflecting upon the
management of the workhouse. The Solicitor-General,
Mr. Willis, and Mr. Thomas, appeared for the plaintiff;
Mr. M. Bern, Mr. Philbrick, and Mr. G. Howard, were
counsel for the defendant. The examination of
the plaintiff was proceeded with. He denied the
several acts of violence and cruelty alleged against him in
the pamphlet. It was not true, ho said, that he had pre-
vented the friends of dying paupers from visiting them ;
that he had suggested the discharge of paupers who ought
to have been retained in the workhouse; that he had re-
ceived bribes from contractors to allow inferior articles of
food for the consumption of the paupers to be passed ;
that he had prosecuted pauper girls on false charges, or
had them convicted on false evidence; that lie had hushed
up a charge of adultery made against a medical officer, or
sent the woman out of the house, or that he caused a
female ward to be overcrowded, so that the beds touched
each other, and the air became foul; and lie explained the
charge of " unearthing a pauper," who was supposed to be
hidden in the chimney: The case has not concluded.
ALLEGED LIBEL IN A NEWSPAPER. - Mr. James
Irving Scott, proprietor of a newspaper called the
Reporter, was charged, at the Mansion House, with pub-
lishing a libel on the Globe Marine Insurance Company.
The statement on behalf of the company was that the
defendant had applied for an order to insert the company's
advertisement in his newspaper, and had promised
that if he got the order, he would print
a " leader " on the subject in an early number;
that the order was refused by the secretary, Mr. Cobb,
and that the defendant had in consequence published,
under the head of " Answers to Corruspondttnts," false
and scandalous observations on that gentleman, at the
same time designating the company "a shaky concern."
The cage was remanded till next Monday at the defen-
dant's request, and he was admitted to bail in the mean-
time.

IN OR OUT OF THE ORDER OF PROVIDENCE. —At Sun-
derland, a woman prosecuted her married daughter for
stealing a pair of trousers and a coat. The young woman,
who had been previously in custody for a felony, was
committed to the House of Correction for a month. The
father, before she left the deck, addressed the bench in
the following peculiar manner :—" I don't wish to say
anything, but a year past August, it so happened in the
order of Providence or out of the order, that she was
allied in marriage, and I am very sorry to say that
she fell indifferently in; a finer girl could not live up
to her marriage. She came home. I gave her house
and habitation, I clothed her and I clothed him. He got
her away again, and she went, but she came back home
again, and I took her in the second time, and she de-,
camped on the Thursday, as you hear the statement of
the mother, and so of course she took away the part that
she is charged with. She has had a home and good
parents." The, prisoner had said that h'er " father was
°state, but her mother was not a mother.".