The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-26 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

• STEALING THE QUEEN-S PROPERTY.—CharIes
Craekael, lkte a private ia the Coldstream. Guards,
was charged with stealing a colour-sergeatit's tunic,
value £4 93. Gill, the property of her Majesty
the Queen.

A summons had been issued koinst a Mis. llyas
for buying the coat, and for her Mr. W. D. Smyth,
of Rochester-row, watched the case.
The coat belonged to Colour-Sergeant Alfred
Hardy, of the Ist Battalion Coldstream Guards,
and the prisoner was suspected of stealing it, as
he had been in the barracks at the time it was
missed ; however, he took the coat shorn of all its
buttons and ornaments to Mt s. I)yas's, and, stating
it was his own, sold it to her for 25., she after-
wards selling it for 4s. in lloundsditch. (The coat
was produced, and it was nearly new.)
Pi ironer had nothing to Ray, and was remanded
in order that the summons against Dyas might be
heard with it.

THAMES.

POOR MARY ANS.—Mary COghlall, an Irish
woman, carrying a b.‘by iu her arms, was brought
before Mr. Benson, on remand, charged with un-
lawfully wounding Joh❑ Driscoll.

The complainaut, a young man, dwelling in
Dock-street, Poi lar, opposite the prisoner, was
coming home at one o'clock in the morning of the
25th of July, and singing a song which he had
heard at a music hall about Mary Anu. The pri-
soner, whose baby had been baptized and named
Mary Ann, took offence at the harmless ditty which
her countryman was singing, and told him to go to
the devil. Fie asked her what for, and she abused
him, and told him not to ridicule her child if it was
named Mary Ann.

The complainant's sister said there were more
Mary Anns in the world than her Mary Ann. The
prisoner still objected to the song, went indoors,
put her Mary Ann in bel, and returned into the
street with a poker, with which she beat Driscoll
over the head, and then struck him with a stone.
She rendered him perfectly insensible, and inflicted
serious wounds on his temple and body. Ile was
carried to the Poplar Hospital, and was under
medical treatment there a week. He has been
very ill ever since ; he lost a large quantity of
blood, and his cure will be a loag one.
Mr. Benson said if the complainant was singing
the old ballad of " Poor Mary Ann," it was a very
plaintive and beautiful one, which he had often
heard with delight.

The complainant —I heard Mary Ann at a music
hall.

Mr. Benson—You had a right to sing it before
your own door.

Two witnesses confirmed the statement of the
complainant. The poker, a formidable weapon,
was produced.

The prisoner, who kept up a continual clamour,
said the complainant called her very offensive
names. She denied striking him at all, but she
intended to do it. The complainant was drunk
when the affray occurred.

Driscoll said he was only half drunk, and de-
clared that he called the woman no names.
Mr. Benson said it was a great absurity to be
offended with the song of 4' Poor Mary Ann." He
committed the prisoner for trial.

The French Atlantic Cable, it is stated, will be
operated by means of the instruments so recently invented,
to communicate delicate signals with the least expenditure
of electro-magnetic fluid. Thus it is asserted that the
ocean wire is not connected with an ordinary telegraph
instrument, but is attached to a " condenser." This
condenser consists of two metallic plates, separated
from each other by about the two-hundredth pare
of an inch, one being soldered to the cable and the
other to the wire connecting with the "speaking" or
receiving instrument, so that when the electric signal ar-
rives at the cable plate it exerts an influence upon the
speaking plate, but does not pass to it. Mr. Cromwell
Farley, the inventor of the instrument, states that " the
induction of the condenser enables the operator to work by
the increment and decrement of the electric charge, and
not by the electric current itself." The advantages of this
method are that by its use the disturbing influences of
earth currents are avoided, and the transmission and read-
ing of messages is increased and facilitated.
The Volage, newly-built (composite) wooden-
cased iron ship, of 2,338 tons and 600-horse power
arrived at Portsmouth yesterday in charge of Staff-
Commander Roberts, Assistant Master-Attendant
at Sheerness Dockyard, and a party of men from
the flagship. The Volage was built after the de-
sign of Mr. Recd, Chief Constructor of the Navy,
at Millwall by the Thames Ironworks Company,
and promises to rival if not surpass the Inconstant.
ller engines are from Messrs. Penn's, and during
the trip worked exceedingly well, being under the
charge of Mr. Anderson and a party of men from
the works. She will be taken into dock in a few
days.

tier Majesty's screw steam corvette Malacca, 13,
Capt. Oldfield, from the Pacific, passed up Chan-
nel, near the Eddystone, at 2 o'clock on Tuesday
morning.

The eastern side of the cavalry barracks at Col-
chester is being enclosed with brick and iron palls-
ading. Commanding officers' quarters are also in
course of erect: on.