The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-16 00:00:00

LAMBETH.

Mary Ann West was finally examined before the Hon.
G. C. Norton, on a charge of having caused the death
of her mother, Elizabeth Shields, by personal violence.
The brief facts of the case are these :—The deceased
occupied an apartment in the New Cut, Lambeth, for
three weeks preceding the quarrel which led to her death,
and, during that time, she was scarcely sober for one
hour. Some of the witnesses said she got drunk as often
as three or four times a :day on rum, and, as soon as she
had slept away the effects of one debauch, she commenced
another. On Wednesday, the 30th of last month, the
deceased and the prisoner had a violent quarrel, the
former having accused the latter of having robbed her of
101., and, when the landlady came down stairs, she found
their hands tangled in each other's hair, and the de-
ceased, in falling, drew the prisoner on the top of her.
The mother was found to have received a severe wound
on the back part of the head. Her face was much con-
tused, and both her eyes blackened. The police were
called in, and the prisoner given into custody by the de-
ceased. On the following day the parties appeared at
this court, when the prisoner was ordered to find bail to
keep the peace towards her mother. The mother, how-
ever never recovered from the injuries she received, and
died on the morning of Thursday week.
The following is the medical evidence in the case :
Mr. Michael Keating'O'Shea, surgeon, in Mount street,
deposed that on the 4th inst. he was called in to see the
deceased, and found her face and right temple bruised.
Erysipelas had commenced then, and it continued until
the 7th inst., when she died. He made a post morlem ex-
amination next day, and found marks ou the eyes and
right temple, corresponding with the external bruises he
had before spoken of. He also found a triangular wound
on the back part of the head, communicating with a
cavity under the scalp, caused by a blow. There were
traces of effusion of serum under the scalp, which might
have been the result of erysipelas. The witness was of
opinion, from the examinations before and after death,
that the deceased was a person of drunken habits, but he
thought the immediate cause of death was the violence
she received. She was suffering from delirium tremens
when witness was first called in, and that might have
caused her death, for her frame exhibited the appearance
of a person of drunken habits. He thought her death
was accelerated by the violence she received; but he
was firmly of opinion that death would have ensued
from the amount of violence received if the deceased
bad been in a healthy state. Tho wound on the back of
the head he thought more likely to have been inflicted
with a brick than by a fall on the step which had been
shown to him. The appearance at the back of the head
might be accounted for first by a blow from a brick, and
subsequently by a fall on the step. He considered that
there was not a sufficient amount of delirium tremens to
cause death alone separated from any other cause.
Martha Foster, a little girl of nine years of age, de-
posed that on the evening of the 30th ult. she saw the
prisoner throw half a brick at the back part of deceased's
head immediately before the quarrel before spoken of;
and,

Sarah Cross, another witness, swore to having seen
the prisoner strike the deceased repeatedly in the
passage. .

The prisoner, who offered• nothing in defence, was
fully committed to Newgate to take her trial at the
ensuing sessions on a charge of manslaughter.
THAMES.
James Furlong, a well-known and desperate thief, was
brought up on remand charged with being concerned
with a woman named Julia Lennard, who was com-
mitted for trial on Saturday last, in committing a daring
highway robbery on Mr. W. Ebblewhite.
The prisoner said he was quite innocent of any parti-
cipation in the highway robbery, and never saw Mr.
Ebblewhite.

Mr. BALLANTINE said, he should send the prisoner
before a jury, and committed him for trial as an accessory
after the fact.

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE
OF FRIDAY.
DOWNING-STREE T, SEPT. 15, 1848.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to give orders
for the appointment of Colonel Henry Somerset, of the
Corps of Cape Mounted Riflemen, Lieutenant-Colonel
Abraham Josias Cloete, Deputy-Quartermaster-General
to the Forces at the Cape, and Lieutenant-Colonel
George Henry Mackinnon, Unattached, to be Ordinary
Members of the Military Division of the Third Class, or
Companions of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.