The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-29 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.-July 28.

MANSION-HOUSE.—Etizabeth Tregarthen, a note.
rious impostor, of plausible demeanour, was charged be-
fore Sir R. W. Carden with begging.
Mr. J. Grieve, clerk to a mercantile firm in St. Paul's
Churchyard, stated—On Saturday afternoon 1 was stand-
ing at the door of my employer's premises when the pri-
soner approached me, and, after apologising for speak-
ing to me, said she was in very great distress, having
only a short time before come from Penzance in search
of a situation ; that she had been unsuccessful in obtain-
ing one, and all her means of subsistence were exhaust-
ed ; that for the last three nights she had had to walk
the streets for want of money to procure a lodging, and
that she had scarcely anything to eat for several days.
She also said that if she did not shortly obtain relief she
was fearful that she might be induced to take away her
own life. I told her that any assistance I could render
her must necessarily be of a temporary charabter, and
recommended her to apply to the parochial authorities
without delay. She replied that in that case she would be
compelled to go to the workhouse, which would be most
distasteful to her as she bad been well brought up, and
that it would break her heart. She added that whilst
walking the streets at night great insult and indignity
had been offered by the opposite sex, which had particu-
larly distressed her mind, and wounded her feelings. I
was so moved by her story and the apparently truthful
manner in which it was told that I gave her a shilling.
As she was leaving me a clerk in our establishment came
up and asked me if I had relieved her, and on my reply.
ing that LI had, he said the prisoner was an impostor,
and that a short time previously she had obtained 6d,
from him by narrating a similar tale of poverty and
misery, Upon this I caused her to be taken into cus-
tody. She also told me that on the previous Sunda2,
she bad attended Divine service three times.

Mr. W. Barrett said that the prisoner came to him at the
warehouse some weeks before, and told him the same
story.
It was stated that the prisoner had called upon a good
many people, and made similar representations. She
had also applied at this court two or three months ago,
stating that she bad just come from Cornwall, and was
in a destitute state.

Sir R. W. Carden said he had no doubt she had been
imposing on people for years. He should commit her
to prison for a month, with bard labour.

WORSHIP-STREET.—Mr. John Charles German,
a horsehair weaver and sieve manufacturer, formerly of
Old Ford, but at present carrying on business in York-
street, Bethnal-green, was charged with having grossly
neglected and ill-treated five young girls, his apprentices,
whose ages varied from 14 to 17 years.
Mr. James, clerk to the board of guardians of the
Holborn Union, attended to watch the case on behalf
of the complainants, who bad been apprenticed to the
defendant by the authorities of that parish.
Mr. C. Christie, the relieving officer of the Bethnal-
green Union, stated that he proceeded, about tea days
since, to the defendant's premises, which consisted only
of three wretohedly-furnished rooms for the general ac-
commodation of himself and his wife, a female lodger,
and the five apprentices. The defendant and his wife
were both intoxicated at the time of his arrival ; but
having ascertained that he would find the apprentices at
the top of the house, he made his way to a small attic,
which they used in common as their workshop and sleep-
ing and sitting apartment. There were two beds in the
room, the coverings of which we-e begrimed with dirt,
but scarcely any other furniture, and the whole place
presented an appearance of squalid destitution. On ques-
tioning the poor girls with regard to their miserable
personal appearance, they informed him that they had
been compelled to part with the rest of their clothing to
procure food, with which their master bad refused to
provide them. Having elicited from them, atter some
further conversation, that they had been shamefully neg-
lected and illtreated in other particulars, he felt it his
duty to undertake their temporary charge, and trans-
ferred them to the workhouse.

Bridget Dacey, the eldest of the complainants, stated
that some years since she was apprenticed from Holborn
Uuion to the defendant, who had subjected her to very
harsh treatment, having occasionally beaten her with a
le ►thorn strap, and that both her master and mistress
were habitual drunkards. Witness and the other ap-
prentices were generally compelled to provide themselves
with food and clothing, although their average earnings
amounted to 3s. a week, in consequence of their mas-
ter's neglect in supplying them with the necessary ma-
terials for their work. The bedding accommodation
was of the worst description, as they had slept without
sheets for nearly two years, during which period the
blankets had not once been washed. She ha,.11,d a
miserable life from the commencement of her apprentice-
ship, and she hoped the magistrates would cancel the
indentures. _ _

In answer to the charge, the defendant said that he
had recently fallen into adverse circumstances, which
precluded him from discharging his duties towards his
apprentices to the extent he had originally intended, but
that he bad studied their comforts as far as his means
allowed, and should he able to prove that the account
they had given as to their alleged grievances was greatly
exaggerated.
Mary Anne Williams, who described herself as a
married woman, was then called, and stated that she
was a lodgerjin the florists, and she had never seen any-
thing in the conduct of the defendant towards his ap-
prentices which at all justified the present complaint.
She had been given to understand that the defendant
had engages to supply them with food, on the condition
that they paid him Bd. a day out of their earnings, fail-
ing which they were expected to provide their own
maintenance. She considered it to be their own fault
if they wanted proper necessaries, as they were capable
of earning about 101. a day.
On being closely pressed by the magistrate, the wit-
ness stated that the bedding certainly was rather defec-
tive, and that the apprentices sometimes remained with-
out food from their early breakfast hour until six or
seven in the evening. She aloe admitted that the defen-
dant aad his wife " took a drop sometimes," but that the
lady, in that respect, was worse than her husband. It
was only at intervals that witness lodged in the house, on
which occasions she was in t'll3 habit of sleeping at the
foot of the bed occupied by the defendant and his wife.
In reply to a question from the magistrate, it was inti-
mated by Mr. James, from the Holborn Union, that the
defendant had received a premium of 51. with each of the
girls, who had been severally apprenticed to him at
various times within the last five years, but as ho had
manifestly failed to fulfil the conditions of his engage.
ment, it was obviously desirable that the indentures
should be at once cancelled.

Mr. D'Eyncourt said that abundant evidence had been
placed before him to show that the defendant bad been
so scandalously wanting in his duty towards the unfor-
tunate children who had been placed under his care, that
ho considered there was almost sufficient to justify his
prosecution by indictment, and he should not only order
the indentures to be cancelled, but reqtfre him to refund
a portion of the premium amounting to 2/. in each of the
cases which had been brought under his notice. With
regard to the case of the fifth girl, who was not in at-
tendance, he should suspend the summons for investi-
gation on a future day.
Tlumas Bennett and Henry Arnold, two youths, were
charged before Mr. D'Eyncourt with stealing a gold
watch and medal from the person of a young lady
named Davis, the wife of a commercial traveller, residing
in Vaughan-terrace, City-road.
The offence was committed on the 10th inst., while
the complainant and a child were passing a somewhat
secluded spot near Hackney. It was broad daylight,
and the two prisoners, who had been gambling with
several others within a few yards of the spot, walked
directly in front of her. Bennett snatched the gold
cbain, to which the watch and medal were attached,
with such violence that it broke, letting the valuables
fall to the ground ; he ran off with the medal, while
Arnold threw the lady on her face as she stooped
to recover the watch, and then followed his accom-
plice. Mrs. Davie fainted on the spot, but oboe