The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-29 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 29, 1833

knew us or not, yesterday evening.--Farewell, dearest
Maria. Yours most affection ►tely, T. D.
" To Miss Manning, Lower Bridge.street."
Now, my Lords, permit me to observe that this
letter developes a new feature of fraud. My un-
happy client, thinking she was about to oblige a man
who was shortly to become her husband, sold out of
her little fortune as much stock as brought her 50/.,
which she handed to this insolvent. My Lords,
after obtaining from her, in August, the sum of 50/.
it would appear that the insolvent's attentions had
cooled a little. The expenditure of the 50/. that
he had swindled her out of gave him sufficient em..
ployment for that month ; but September exhausted
the money, and this " high-spirited" and " noble-
minded" young man, thought it advisable to renew
his attentions to my client; and, my Lords, on the
29th September, being Michaelmas day, he ad-
dressed to her the following apologetic notice :
" 29th Sept., 1830,
" My dear Maria,—'Tis more than possible the writer
has by this time entirely escaped the memory of her to
whom those lines are inscribed ; I shall not attempt ex-
culpation till I can have an opportunity in doing so in
person."

My Lord, that note which I have just read, had
the effect desired by the writer, and the clandestine
meetings were renewed and continued until the 20th
December following, when he again informed her
that he was in want of a little more money; in the
mean time he put off the marriage, until he got a
little hold of his profession, but on that day he suc-
ceeded in extracting 401. more of her stock from
her. Matters continued much in the same way till
the latter end of April or beginning of May, 1831,
when he extracted a further sum of 201. from her,
and completes his designs upon her by prevailing
on her to leave the protection of Mr. Manning, and
to accompany him to Home's hotel, where—as your
Lordship will bear it detailed by the victim herself
—the marriage ceremony was performed between
them by a person who was represented to her as a
Catholic clergyman. After the ceremony they re-
mained a night or two at Home's hotel, and subse-
quently took lodgings at Harold's.cross, where she
continued to reside until his perfidy and baseness
%%ere fully developed. 1 think it sufficient to read
the remainder of the correspondence that pas4ed be-
tween them, and the first letter I shall trouble the
Court with is one in which the insolvent works on
the fears of his victim, as he on a former occasion
worked upon her jealousy, when he wrote about the
ladies hiding his hat—what a precious bargain the
ladies had of the young " gentleman."—(Laughter.)
" May 19, 1831.
" My dear Maria,—Business relative to the late con-
versation in the tavern has prevented me from writing to
you. I have traced out all the parties concerned. Until
I have received ample satisfaction, I cannot have the
pleasure; but should I escape in the affair, you may de-
pend on seeing me immediately after—should it prove
otherwise, why then, farewell ! and may every happiness
attend you, is the fervent wish of your sincere and affec-
tionate friend, " THOS. DUIGAN.
" To Miss Manning, Harold's-cross."
The next letter is as follows:

" June 11.
" My dearest Maria,—Like a dear, dear, good-natured
girl, get me what I a.k you for to-morrow. The 19th
of this month seals my doom. I shall positively be with
you to-morrow morning to breakfast. In haste, dearest
Maria, your sincere and affectionate

" TOMMY DUIGAN."
About this period she exhibited all the symptoms
of her connexion with him; she was enceinte, and
consequently unwell, and having apprised him of
her delicate situation he wrote the following letter
to her :

" August 4.
"My dearest Maria,—l shall certainly, please God, be
with you to-morrow early at noon; I have something par-
ticular to say to you. I trust you have got rid of the
nausea of the stomach ; I shall bring you some bitters,
which will prevent its recurrence. In haste, dearest
Maria, your sincere and affectionate friend,
" TOM DUIGAN."
On the 12th September he wrote her the follow-
ing letter :

" September 12.

"My dearest Maria,-1 am in the greatest difficulty at
present that ever poor devil was in ; in fact, I'm kilt,
murdered entirely, bothered complete. If you do the
needful for me, Maria, you'll not only resuscitate me, but
make me happy for the remainder of my life—if ever such
can be the case. I'll be with you, please God, o❑ Mon-
day morning, at one o'clock ; in the mean time I'll be on
the look out for the little house, or rather apartments,
where we may spend a few agreeable months at least
together. In haste, dearest Maria,

' di T. DUIGAN.,"
The next letter was dated 28th September, and
is as follows:

" September 28.
"My dear Maria,—By Jove, I did not sleep a wink last
night, fearing, that before you could do that for me, I
might be disgraced for ever, by being placed in jeopardy,
which God forbid; should it so happen, I never would
show my face in Dublin again. The principal debt I
owe is a debt of honour, inasmuch as it is Mr. Gregory's
fees for hospital attendance, but from him I should never
be addressed on the subject. But then there are others
who will not be so lenient, and who have evinced their de-
termination to sue me unless settled with very shortly;
from my brother I need expect no assistance for five
months. But, Maria, dear, I have not one pound left in
the world. 1 was since obliged to do what I told you last
evening, to satisfy a creditor, but under the circumstances
must either do one thing or the other. In haste, fare-
well, my Maria. " Yours, &c.
"'l'. DUIGAN."
But on the 13th October he again assails her
purse; he writes—
" Maria,—lf I stood on the brink of a precipice, would
you stretch out your arms to save me ?"

My Lord, she did stretch out her arms, for on the
very next day she sold out her remnant of stock,
and handed it to him; and yet, my Lord, this is the
man—man, did I say ? No, he is not a man; he
may be one in shape and appearance, but he is de-
void of the spirit of a man. Here, my Lord, is the
last of his letters, and you will see from the manner
in which it is written that he assumed the innocent
and playful mood:—
" My dearest Maria,—Tommy-goes this day to inquire
about the house ; Saturday and Sunday were so uncom-
monly wet could not stir out of dogs—sallies forth at
twelve o'clock for that purpose. Shall be with you at
four o'clock on to-morrow, after that we'. will go to the
Arena.

" Good bye, dear Molchi, your own, your affectionate,
" Your little TOMMY DITIGAN.
" P.S. If you could spare me 51. you would oblige."
Mr. CREIGHTON—And, my Lords, that wretched
five pounds were plundered from her.
[The first part of the letter created considerable
laughter amongst the auditory, but when the latter
circumstance was detailei, expressions of disgust
were quite audibly expressed.]
Mr. CREIGHTON--My Lord, this poor creature is
rent in body and mind—she is pregnant, and on
the eve of her accouchement, and at this distressing
period, when her last shilling was torn from her,
and she discarded by her friends, in consequence of
her not having followed their advice—this cruel,
this abominable being, in the shape of man, has the
unrelenting barbarity to tell her, " I am not married
to you, and I owe you nothing." During her ill-
ness he entered her lodgings, where he opened a
trunk to gain possession of his letters to her, but
those read had fortunately escaped his attention.
He also attempted to get rid of her by having her
shipped off to Van Diemen's Land, under the pre-
tence of accompanying her, but his infernal intention
was happily discovered in time. She was scarcely
recovered from her illness, when she wus apprised
that he was going to be married. She could not
believe the story, but having heard, accidentally, the

name of a most respectable Presbyterian clergyman,
'Dr. Stuart, who was named to her as the person
that was to celebrate the marriage, she waited or
him, she told him her story, she produced her paper-
and her child, and that benevolent and humane di-
vine declined marrying him. Again, my Lords, In
procured his banns to be published in St. Mark',
Church—my client waited on the Curate of that
parish, she recapitulated her story to him, and he top
would not allow his church to be desecrated by such
an union ; but the insolvent took care that the third
attempt should be, more successful, and he was even-
tually united to a young woman, whose connexions
are respectable, and with whom he acquired a con-
siderable property, the whole of which, however, i•
settled on herself; but, my Lords, be is scarcely
married to this lady, when this unfortunate creature
(my client), is one morning surprised in her wretched
lodging, deprived of the means of subsistence,, and
employed in nursing her no less unfortunate child
by a visit from the insolvent, who brought with bin,
a lady, whom he had the unfeeling audacity to in-
troduce to his wretched victim as his wife. And
what was the object of this visit ? Was it to re-
lieve her misery? Was it to refund the money ht
had swindled from her ? No, my Lords, but it was
to challenge her, in the most insulting manner, fin
daring to assert that she was his wife, and to give 1
proofs of her marriage with him. And now, m)
Lords, what is the last scene of this disgusting his.
tory ? A demand for payment of the moneys which
he had plundered her of; there was no payment ;
she has recourse to the law, and his next step wa,
an insult offered to her, by stating that he might set
up a claim against her, if he liked.
Mr. Hume, of the Treasury, was the first witness
produced, and, on being examined by Mr. Huhand,
he denied all knowledge of the insolvent, who was
not related to him (Mr. Hume), in any way that he
ever heard of.—(Laughter.)
The letters were next handed in, and admitted by
Mr. Hatchell, the insolvent's Counsel, to be in his
client's handwriting.
Mr. Commissioner BußßowEs—The judgment of
the Court is, that the insolvent be remanded, at the
suit of the opposing creditor, for a period of two
years, from the tiling of his petition.
The very instant the judgment of the Court was
pronounced, the auditory expressed their approba-
tion by clapping their hands.--DublinWeekly Paper.