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

EXTRAORDINARY REQUEST.

At Guildhall yesterday Matilda Barton, who has
for many years obtained the sympathy of the magis-
trates of this part of the City, and who from her ec-
centric and dissipated habits has secured to herself the
appellation of "Mad Madge," applied yesterday to
Alderman Lawrence with the following extraordinary
request :
Madge—l have come now to ask you a great favour,
if you will grant it to me.
Alderman Lawrence—What is it, Matilda ? Madge
—Well, I want you to have the kindness to send me
for three months to Bridewell.

Alderman Lawrence—But you broke the windows
when you were in there before.
Madge (raising her voice)—And F 0 I would again
if they offended me. An angry word will have no
effect upon me, but soothe me and you may do what
you like with me.
Alderman Lawrence—What do you want me to
do for you now, for you know I cannot send you to
prison ?
Madge—l know that Unless I destroy the property
of those who are disposed to be my friends, that you
cannot commit me to prison ; but I hope you will
give me money to get some new clothes, for lam
now in a most filthy state for want of theni.
Alderman Lawrence—I shall not give you any
money, for you only spend it in gin, your old enemy.
You had money from the magistrates on Saturday,
and again on Monday, and you do not seem any the
better for it now.
Madge—Well, if you will not give me any money,
my pet, do send mo to prison again, there's a dear,
and God will bless you for it.
Alderman Lawrence—Suppose I lock you up in
the cells beneath the court for a week, just to see how
you would like three months of it ?
Madge—What ! would you put me there to play
with the rats ? Oh, no, Sir. I often go without food
now, because I will not partake of that for which the
people I live with work hard; and I will not steal
from any one.
Alderman Lawrence-1 know, Matilda, that if you
were starving you would not do that. However, the
only thing I can do for you is to send you to the
House of Correction in Giltspur-street for 14 days as
a vagrant.
Madge (very much excited)—Oh, don't send me
there ; let me go to Bridewell.
Alderman Lawrence—l know you will thank me
after you have been there a week.
Madge—But you will come and see me sometimes,
as that dear man Alderman Farebrother does, God
bless him ?

Alderman Lawrence—Certainly. In the course of
next week I shall visit the prison and see how you are
treated, and how you behave.
Madge—l have no shoes and stockings on, and
cannot therefore walk through the streets. I must
have a cab to take me to the Compter, or I will not
go at all.

Alderman Lawrence—Very well, you shall have
one.

Madge, who is remarkable at all times for being
the most industrious and best-behaved woman in
the prism), was then conveyed back to her old
quarters.

On Tuesday a man named Donald M'Phail threw
himself into the canal or water cut near Inchinnan-bridge.
On being immersed in the water, he seemed just as anxious
to regain the land as he had formerly been to throw himself
into the water, as he made repeated efforts to obtain a
footing on the bank as he was swept along by the tide, but
before assistance could reach him he disappeared.—Greenock
Adertiser.
The New York papers state, on one day—the 231
of September—more than 3,000 emigrants arrived at that
port from Ireland, England, Holland, Germany, Sweden,
&c. On the other hand, 220 dissatisfied Irish immigrants
had just shipped on board the Constitution to return to
Liverpool.

We understand that the difficulties which caused
the suspension of Messrs. Maitland, Fawkes, and Co., on
the 231 ult , have been overcome, and that in the course of
a few days their liabilities will be paid in full by Mr. Fawkes,
who will carry on the business as heretofore.
A gentleman named Harrison, while out shooting
near Llantrissent, on Friday, gave his gun to a lad to hold
while he was going over a hedge. The piece was then
handed over to him, the muzzle pointing towards his body.
From some unknown cause the piece exploded, lodging the
whole of the contents in Mr. Harrison's side, and he expired
in a short time.

SHREWSBURY AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.—Mr.
William Ormsby Gore, M.P. ~ the chairman of the Shrews.
bury and Birmingham Railway, has retired from the direc-
tiou. He will be succeeded by the deputy-chairman, the
Hon. R. H. Clive, M.P.; and it is understood that Henry
Hill, Esq , will occupy the seat thus vacated by Alr. Clive.
A workman was suffocated in a sand-pit at Wigan,
on, Saturday, by a vast weight of earth falling upa Liu