The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-10 00:00:00

SOUTH WARK.

Mary Ann Payne, a girl of 17 years of age, the
daughter of a tradesman residing in Upper Ground-
street, Blackfriars-road, was placed at the bar before
Mr. A'Beckutt, charged with attempting to commit
suicide.

The complainant, a rather interesting looking girl,
was obliged to be supported into court, owing to the
extreme exhaustion produced by the poison she had
taken and the remedies administered to neutralise its
effects.

Mary Payne, a respectable woman with an infant
in her arms, stated that the prisoner was her
daughter, and that she had been latterly in service.
On the previous day, however, she retur❑ed home
from her situation and complained of illness as the
cause, and said that she had a severe pain in the chest
and was recommended to apply a musard plaster
over the part affected. She (the mother) was about
preparing the remedy when her attention was di-
rected to her daughter, whom she observed in the act
of swallowing something from a teacup, which she
then placed on the table, and exclaimed, '• I have
taken poison." Witness, on hearing the avowal of
her child, immediately left the house for medical aid,
and the assistant of Mr. Bull, a surgeon of Black-
friars-road, having been immediately called to the
case, he at once discovered that the prisoner was la-
bouring under the effects of oxalic acid, a portion of
which he found in the cup out of which she had taken
it. The quantity she had swallowed was excessive,
but owing to the administration of antidotes, and also
the stomach-pump, the poison was neutralised in a
great degree, and the patient although much debili-
tated, was still so far recovered as to be enabled to be
brought up to this court on the present occasion.
Mr. A'BECKETT said that at present he should de-
cline putti❑g any questions to the girl as to the cause
of her having made so determined an attempt at sui-
cide, for if medical assistance had not been speedily
procured, she would in all probability have been de-
stroyed, owing to the corrosive nature of the poison.
The magistrate then inquired as to whether it was
ascertained where the girl had procured the poison.
The mother replied that she had told her that she
sent a little girl for it, who was served at once from
a shopkeeper in that neighbourhood.

ATECICETT said that an Act was now in
operation which made it a punishable offence for any
person to sell poison under certain restrictions ; and
that if it was purchased by any person under a cer-
tain age the seller was liable to a penalty of 201. The
magistrate added that he should remind the prisoner
for a week, with directions that she should be properly
attended to in the infirmary of the gaol ; and in the
meantime the policema❑ had orders to ascertain, if
possible, where the oxalic acid was bought, in order
that the person, whoever he might be, that sold it
might be brought there to answer for the offence.
The unfortunate girl was then carried out of the
court in the arms of a policeman.

FRAUD ON THE GREAT WESTERN
RAILWAY COJIPANY.

A man named Jonn Brockman was brought up in
custody at the police court, Bristol, on Monday, on a
charge of having defrauded the Great Western Railway
Cuwpany, by riding in one or their carriages from
Bristol to Swindon without paying or tendering his fare
for the journey. The informations were laid under the
provisions of the company's Act. 2d Victoria, cap. 27,
clause 29 which says, " That if any person shall at
any time hereafter wilfully and knowingly ride by any
of the said company's coaches or carriag' s, without
having previously paid or tendered to the said company
his fare, or the charge for riding in the said carriage,
every such person shall forfeit and pay any sum not ex-
ceeding 405., together with the costs, Bzi.f.” Mr. Ward,
of the firm or o..borne and Ward, one of the company 'a
soliciti,rs at Bristol, attended to prosecute the complaint,
and said he was instructed to press for a conviction and
punishment. Ha should establish a complete case f
fraud on the part of the prisoner, and as a sort of traffic
was carried on by a great number of persons in the
tickets of excursion trains, the company had been
compelled to resort to the present pr-atenings, in the
hope that it would check the system complained of.
The evidence was then gone into, by which it fully
appeared that an excursion train left Paddington
for Bristol and back, the tickets for which were not
transferable, at eight o'clock on Sunday morning. It
arrived at the Bristol terminus in Temple Meads at a
quarter past twelve o'clock. At half-past eleven o'clock
a police-constable named Spear saw the prisoner in front
of the gateway on Bath•paradc, awaiting with many
other persons the arrival o the train; therefore he could
not have come down by it, for it had not then arrived.
Just before the departure of the train in the evening on
its return trip, the prisoner was seen on the pl.stform,
apparently about to depart by it. He was pointed out
to Superintendent Burton, of the company's police, who
having watched him into the train, and taken particular
notice et the compartment of the carriage in which he took
his seat, got himself into the carriage, and accompanied
the train as far as Swindon, where he saw the pri.,ner
get out of the carriage and show a ticket properly
marked for the down voyage. He was then questioned
as to bow he gut possession or it, and his replies show-
ing that he had not received it in a prop-r manner, he
was taken into custody, and br,.ught b ick to Bristol by
he superintendent, and locked up for the nigirt. The
magistrates observed that a clear case of fraud had b, en
established again,t the pri,mer, by which he had ren-
dt red himself liable to three mon, hs' imp, Isom:tient. The
case, however, was the firs,. of the kind which had been
brought before the bench, and they should therefore mi-
tigate the penalty. The prisoner was then fined 205, and
costs, and in default of payment was committed to the
House of Correction for 21 days.

THE SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTED MUR-
DER AT TOTTENHAM.
The adjourned inquest on the body of Carl Criglo
was held yesterday ac the White Hart, Tottenham,
before Mr. W. Baker. The court having been duly
constituted,
Miss Brand, to whom the deceased was attached,
deposed as follows :—The deceased had been away
before the day of the accident, the 20th of August, for
about three weeks, and on the morning of his death I
had an interview with him. He came about eleven,
after an absence of three weeks. My mother saw
him also. When I saw him I asked him how he had
been so long, and I inquired where he had been. He
seemed very much confused. He said he had lost his
way in his rambles. He complained of pain in his
head, and said he thought he had a concussion of the
brain. We were toge,her tome time, but we did not
talk much, and he complained of his head being bid,
and that he could not talk. He said nothing about
our being married at that time. This was about
eleven. He sat there until about twelve, when a
letter was sent by him to the post, which was
strangely written. The general purport of it was
that he was about coining to the main or top point.
H - said he had not been well all the time he had been
away, and he complained of pains in his head. This
was about twelve o'clock, and at dinner time, between
half-past twelve and one, I saw him again. He set
down to dinner, and appeared to be quite comfortable.
He then talked rationally. He did not then wander
from one subject to another; he was quite rational.
He then smoked a cigar. He was very much ad-
dicted to smoking. He then asked me if we had re-
ceived a letter from his brother, and I said we bad
not. He said that his brother had stated that his
father was dead; but that was not the fact. I told
him his father was alive, and he said he had seen him
passing along the streets, and he also said that people
had seen him going along. I asked him what people,
and he said he did not know, but they told him so.
He seemed wandering. He seemed labouring under
a delusion. He sat on the sofa, and after a short time
he got up and said he must go again, and he got his
hat and did not stop to shake hands with any of us.
We thought this very strange. During the whole
of this period he did not attempt to take my life,
or anything of that kind. He did not appear to
have any feeling of jealousy. He then went away,
and returned about eight o'clock in the even-
ing, when the accident took place. I was sitting
at the window that looks on the pond, and my mo-
ther was in the garden watering the plants. I was
writing a letter, and heard some footsteps. I looked
from the window, and saw him at the gate, although
it was dusk at the time. I saw there was a wildness
in his countenance. He was quite alone. I got up
to go to the door, and he got in before I could get to
1 the door. He was very much agitated, and I now
wish I had prevented him from getting in. He said,
" Miss Brand, are you alone ?" a❑d I did not answer ;
and he then repeated the question. I answered, " No,
I shall fetch my mother, who is close at hand." He
said, " Oh, no ; I don't wish that." He took hold of
my hand then—my right hand. I tried to get away
to go into the garden, as I thought he wanted to see
my mother. He seemed frightened—he trembled
greatly, and was very much excited. He then put
his right hand in his pocket, and I then screamed out.
I saw something in his hand which made me scream.
He then struck me immediately with a dagger in the
chest. (The dagger was here produced—it was about
six inches long.) He struck me at first lightly, but
the second time more violently and forcibly. It
slipped off the vital part of the side, and therefore had
no fatal effect. He still held me by the hand. I was
fainting, and fell down. He still held my hand. He
tried to stab me again, but I caught the blade
with my hand. He tried another time, and
I forced away that also. He made a third attempt,
and then stabbed himself twice near the abdomen very
violently. He then fell down at the lower end of the
room. My mother was crying " Murder !" He was
on his hands and knees, trying to get up ; he struck
my mother, who received the blow on her chest. My
mother is now getting better. My mother then ran
out into the street. All this occurred in the kitchen
which fronts the street, and looks towards the rail-
way bridge. I believe he was unsound in his mind
when he committed these acts. He was evidently la-
bouring under temporary derangement or delusion—•
he could not have been 090nd in hie mind. There

London: Printed and Published by MURDO YOU—W liqr
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, ;...,I)*ft.
Strand, in the Precinet of the Savoy, in the COv"'"'
iiLiddleoz, Wednesday, Eleptember 10,1851.