The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-29 00:00:00

tor was standing at his door on Saturday night,
having some words with his wife, when a crowd
assembled, and the prisoner getting close to him be
heard a snap at his watch. He immediately seized
her hand, when the watch dropped to the pave-
ment, and she was given into custody.
It was proved in evidence that she had been con-
victed of felony and sentenced to four years' impri-
sonment, and she had in addition been frequently
summarily convicted.
She was fully committed for trial.

THAMES.—ROBBERY OF £305 AND A GOLD
WATCH.—John Dent, a cab driver, aged 34, Ann
Dent, his wife, aged 29, and Mary Shaw, their
niece, aged 19, were brought before Mr. Yardley,
charged with stealing £305 in gold and bank notes,
and a gold watch, the moneys and property of Mrs.
Louisa Fisher, a dealer in marine stores, of No. 62,
Lem an-street, Whitechapel.
John Dent and his niece, who had been for some
time carrying on an incestuous intercourse, were ap-
prehended on the 14th inst.by an active and intelli-
gent officer named Clark, 108 M, at No. 6, Union-
place, Crosby-row, Long-lane, Bermondsey, and he
found there a large quantity of new furniture and
wearing apparel recently purchased. They were
taken before Mr. Combe at the Southwark Police-
court, and the fact was proved that Dent was sepa-
rated from his wife for some time and had been co-
habiting with his niece, who had given birth to a
child, of which her own uncle was father. They had
been in a state of the greatest poverty. until Mrs.
Fisher was robbed of her cash-box, £305, and a gold
watch. After that event they were flush of money,
and made various purchases of furniture and wear-
ing apparel. They also spent a good deal of money
in drink. On Saturday, the 19thinst., Mr. Radley,
the superintendent of the Rochester police, appre-
hended Ann Dent at a place called Charlton Green,
near Dover, and in a box belonging to her disco-
vered £9O in gold and a large quantity of new
dresses and wearing apparel. y esterday John Dent
and Mary Shaw were sent from the Southwark
Police-court to the Thames Police-court, and were
arraigned in the felons' dock with Ann Dent.
In addition to the evidence given on a former oc-
casion, Mr. Radley said that, since the last exami-
nation, he had seen the male prisoner, and said to
him, " Your wife has robbed her mistress, do you
know anything about it ?" to which he replied,
" No, Ido not ?" He said to the prisoner, " Why,
you have been to Rochester and visited your wife."
Prisoner said, " I have not been to Rochester, nor
have I seen my wife." On Tuesday be saw the male
prisoner in custody at the Southwai k Police-court,
and told him his wife was under arrest, and had re-
vealed everything to him. The prisoner then said,
" I know she will transport me if she can." On
Monday he saw the woman Ann Dent, in the cell
behind the Thames Police-court, and she made the
following statement :—" I took the cash-box, con-
taining £305 in notes and gold, and a gold watch
from my mistress, and went direct to my husband,
John Dent, at a coffee-house near the Bricklayers'
Arms. I found him seated there, and said to him,
Cabby, you are wanted.' He came out and asked
me if I thought any one knew me in the coffee shop
I said I thought they did. He said, wish you
had not come here.' We walked on a bit, and my
husband said, I will get a cab and take you up.'
He got a shofull (Hansom cab), and I went down
to Gravesend with him in the cab. Another man
drove us, When we passed through the toll-gates
he told me to squat myself down at the bottom of
the cab to avoid being seen by the turnpike men.
When we reached Gravesend I gave my husband
£5 out of the stolen money. He said that was not
enough, and I gave him another sovereign, and a
severeien for drink. I also paid £3 for the cab
and took the remainder of the money—gold and
bank notes to Rochester. I walked from Graves-
end to Rochester. On the Tuesday following, my
husband (Dent) came to me at Cross's house at
Rochester, and took the notes to London to get
them cashed, and took the watch with him as well.
On the Sunday following he came to Rochester
and brought me £26 of the money he had received
for the notes. I asked him if that was all he had
received for the notes I gave him. He said,' Yes;
I had much trouble to get the notes cashed, and
had to throw in the gold watch and chain.' I
should not have committed the robbery if my hus-
band had not told me to do so, and he promised to
take me to Australia.
Mrs. Louisa Matthews said—My name was
Fisher at the time of the robbery, and I have since
been married to my present husband. The prisoner
Ann Dent was four months in my service. She
left me on Good Friday night. She slept in the
same room with me. They went to bed at the
same time on Good Friday. On awaking I found
the prisoner gone, and searched the house for her.
I could not find her, and went to the street door,
and found it not bolted, and the key outside. I
went to a drawer where I kept my cash-box, and
missed it. The drawer was locked, and the key
was in my pocket. The prisoner must have taken
the key out of my gown pocket, unlocked the
drawer, and replaced the key in my pocket. The
cash-box contained £305 and a gold watch and
chain. The money consisted of £4O in notes, and
the rest in sovereigns and half-sovereigns.
Dennis Clark, a police-constable, 108 M, said,
from information, he went to the lodgings of the
prisoner Shaw, in Union-place, Bermondsey, on the
14th inst., and asked her if ehe knew Ann Dent,
to which she replied in the affirmative. He asked
her if she had any property of Ann Dent's, and
she said she had not. After some resistance on the
part of the prisoner, he opened a trunk, which
contained new wearing 'apparel teed other pro-
perty. The prisoner said the trunk belonged to
her aunt, Ann Dent. On the wely to the
station-house he asked her to Wi.ilom the
men's clothes in the trunk belonged, and she replied
to her uncle, John Dent. He afterwards arieested
John Dent, the cabman, at a public-house in South-
wark. The prisoner, in reply to a question put to
him, said that a new coat and three waistcoats 111
the trunk were his property, and he had recently
purchased them. Dent and his niece had been
cohabiting together as man and wife. They had
one child.
Elward Cross, a shoemaker, living in Troy-town,
Rochester, said the prisoner Ann Dent came to his
house on the Bth of April last. She said she had
come from Gravesend, and had come down for a
run. On Tuesday week John Dent came and visited
his wife. They were for some time /closeted toge-
ther in a room up stairs, and he heard the clinking
of money. He saw Ann Dent wearing a gold watch
and chain. She said she brought it from Australia.
Mr. Yardley said the coffee-shopkeeper who saw
the woman Ann Dent in his house, and heard her
call for her husband, the man who drove the man
and his wife to Gravesend, and some other witnesses
ought to be forthcoming. There was no evidence
on which he could commit the younger prisoner,
Mary Shaw, and she must be discharged.
Shaw was then trdered into the witness-box and
sworn. She gave her evidence in a bold and reck-
less manner, and was repeatedly admonished by
the magistrate, and also warned that if she said
that which was false he would cause her to be in-
dicted for wilful and corrupt perjury. She said
she was a single woman and had known the male
prisoner some time. She never lived or cohabited
with him. The men's clothes in the box belonged
to John Dent. They had been in her possession
for one week. John Dent told her to put them in
the box. The other clothes had been in her pos-
session three years. John Dent did not lodge in
the house. Her apartments had been furnished for
three weeks. ghe bought the furniture with her
own money she had saved. Her cousin took the
house for her. She had lived in a garret, for which
she paid ls. 6d. per week rent, until three weeks
ago. She bought some of the furniture in the New-
cut, and other things in the Waterloo-road.
Mr• Yardley—Do you mean to say you have not
been living with your uncle, John Dent ?
Witness—l have had a child by him. (Sensation.)
Mr. Yardley—What money have you had from
that man Dent in the course of the last three
weeks ?

Witness—Only 25., sir.
Mr. Yardley—Did you have any money of him
before P

Witness—Yes, he gave me 14s. per week last
summer.

Here the female prisoner exclaimed, " Oh, what
a lie. My husband was out of employ all last
summer."

Hall, a police-constable, 127 H, said that John
Dent and his niece were in the greatest poverty
before the robbery, and did live together.
Mr. Yardley directed Mr. Pyer, the chief clerk,
to take the depositions formally against John Dent
and his wife. He should commit them for trial.
Finally the magistrate said he should remand the
two prisoners until Friday next. Mr. Selfe, his
colleague, had commenced the investigation, and
had better complete it. He had no doubt the girl
Shaw had told great untruths on oath.
The two Dents were then formally remanded
uutil Friday next.

IVESTMINSTER.—THE MATRIMONIAL CAUSES
AcT.—A gentleman applied to Mr. Arnold, stating
that he wished to take proceedings for a woman of
respectable and prepossessing appearance, about
thirty-five years of age, cgainst her husband, who
had used her very ill, and of whom she went in
dread.
Applicant said that the complainant was living
in the service of Lady Elizabeth Russell, and had
received no assistance from her husband for some
years, but the latter, not being content with rid-
ding himself of the responsibility of maintaining his
wife, constantly importuned her until he obtained
part of her earnings, And insigted upon coming to