The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-24 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Sept. 22.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET. A man named
Richard Coulson, of No. 1, Crown-street, Soho, was
summoned for levying an illegal and excessive dis-
tress on goods belonging to a poor but respectable
mechanic, at 8, Grafton-street.
Mr. Edward Lewis, of Marlborough-street, gra-
tuitously appeared for the complainant and stated
his case.

Mr. Lewis said the complainant, a short time
back, had the misfortune to lose a child by death,
and when he buried it was in arrears for rent
half-a-crown; he had hard circumstances to con-
tend with, and on the 13th inst., eight days after,
he buried his wife, who died soon after their in-
fant. The day before the funeral—the 12th-ss.
were duo, which would have been paid, but the
unfeeling defendant, as landlord, taking advantage
of the mournful procession leaving the house actually
broke open the door of complainant's apartment,
and with a broker, carried off all his little furni-
ture, together with his tools of trade, and the few
articles of apparel of his deceased wife, and that for
55., which he had been assured would be paid him
on the complainant's return. He was aware the
penalty under the 2d and 3d Victoria, cap, 71, was
but small and quite inadequate to meet the justice •
of as hardhearted and inhuman a case as the
present. The object was to take the sense of the
Court on it, and compel the return of the goods
in question.
The complainant, now residing in Dartmouth-
street, proved all that had been advanced, and
said the defendant called on him on the 12th for
his rent, when he bid him of his loss of his wife
as well as child, that he should bury her next
day, and would directly afterwards pay the ss.
for rent dee, adding that he had it then, but did
not know exactly the interment fees at Woking,
and, therefore, should like to wait till he returned.
The defendant replied, " Oh ! You have the money,
and won't pay ; then I know what to do," and
left. Returning from the funeral, he found his
room-door, which be had left locked, broken open,
and all he posse.sed taken away—bed and bedstead,
mahogany sideboard, books, his work tools, and a
gold ring and clothes of his dead wife, which he
should be sorry at all to part with, though not per-
haps, in actual value, worth more than 50s.—goods,
tools, and clothes, seized for ss.

Ellen Brussley proved breaking open the door by
the defendant, and the carrying away of the goods
by the broker and h:s man.
Mrs. Elizabeth Lock, of Prince's-row, a mourner
at the funeral, proved the locking up the door of
the apartment in which were the goods, and giving
the key to the complainant on the arrival of the
coffin.

In reply to the charge the defendant said the
complainant had refused to pay him at all, because
of the deaths ; that other lodgers grumbled because
of effluvia arising from the room he had tenanted,
and wanted it aired, and that he consulted a broker,
who advised a distraint. All the goods he had got
still, and would return on his rent and expenses
being all paid him.
Mr. Lewis—l am instructed to say that all the
man has stated in defence is untrue.
Mr. Beadon—Your conduct, and that of the
broker for lending himself to it, is most inhuman
and indecent, and if the goods, every article, are not
forthwith returned on the payment of the 55., with-
cut a farthing expenses, you will be fined 30s. Let
every article be instantly returned.

THAMES.—ELOPEMENT AND ROBBERY.—On
Saturday James Wildsmith, a gunmaker, aged 23,
Emma Perkins, 16, and Johanna Manning, 24,
were brought up on remand before Mr. Yardley,
charged with stealing £l2O in cash, a black leather
bag and three linen bags, the moneys and property
of James Perkins, the landlord of the Bricklayers
Arms in Gloucester-street, Commercial-road East.
Mr. Stoddart, solicitor, conducted the prosecu-
tion ; Mr. Charles Young, solicitor, defended Wild-
smith.
At the first examination on Friday it was proved
that Wildsmith, who is a married man, and whose
wife has lately given birth to her first child, and
Miss Perkins, the daughter of the prosecutor,
eloped on Wednesday morning last, and that the
girl took with her £l2O in gold and silver, which
was deposited in several linen bags, and placed in
a black leather bag. The girl adroitly removed the
black leather bag and its contents from under her
mother's pillow, while she was asleep. Wildsmith
and the girl were discovered on Thursday after-
noon, on board the ship North America in the
Mersey, by John Scott, a Liverpool detec-
tive. They had paid £l4 13s. for their passage to
Quebec, and were travelling as Mr. and Mrs. Gold.
They intended to proceed to the Salt Lake Valley,
andjoin the Mormons. Wildsmith delivered £73
of the stolen money to Scott, who brought the
offenders to London.
Mr. Stoddart said he had considered a sugges-
tion thrown out by the magistrate on the first
examination, and he now proposed to call the
woman Manning as a witness.
Mr. Yardley—That is right; let her be sworn.
Johanna Manning, a stout Irish woman, was
then released, and, after being sworn in the wit-
ness-box, said—l was in the employ of Mr. and
Mrs. Perkins, of the Bricklayers' Arms, as general
servant, up to Thursday last. I am now living at
No. 21, St. Dunstan's-place, Brook-street, Ratcliff.
Before the prisoners eloped I heard Wildsmith say
he intended to take Emma Perkins to Scotland.
I knew they had been keeping company for some
weeks before. I said to Miss Perkins, "Do not
keep his company, you do not know bat what he
is a married man." She said, "I do not care
whether he is married or single ; I love and like
him, and will have him if I can." She also said,
" I have seen his wife and child at the front of the
bar." I said, " Emma, you have proof now that he
is a married man." She said, " I don't care if he
has twenty wives, I'll have him if I can." She
said Wildsmith met me, and told me to make up as
much money as I could, and he would take me to
America. She said, " I will get the money if I can,
as much as will take us both to America." On
Wednesday morning, before breakfast, I saw
Emma Perkins, with a leather bag, in my brother's
house, in St. Dunstan's-place. I saw the bag
opened. There were three linen bags in it, and she
took twelve sovereigns and a half sovereign in gold
and gave them to me. She went out of the house,
and I put the money in a piece of paper, and de-
posited the parcel under Mr. and Mrs. Perkins's
bed. On Thursday, after I heard that Wildsmith
and Perkins had been apprehended, I told Mrs.
Perkins where the money was, and gave it up to
her.

Mrs. Perkins—On Thursday Johanna Manning
took the money, £l2los. and two half-crowns
from under the bed, and gave it up to me.
Henry Perkins, a young man, said he lived with
his parents in Gloucester-street, and recollected on
Wednesday morning last, at a quarter to eight
o'clock, seeing Wildsmith in front of the bar. A
few minutes before that he saw his sister Emma
dressed and ready to go out. He prevented her
doing so, but soon afterwards, while he was wash-
ing his hands and face, she absconded. He said
to Manning, my sister is off, and she expressed
surprise, and said," Dear me, is she ?"

Richard Owen, secretary to a loan society, called
" The Friends of Labour," held at the prosecutor's
'house, said the prisoner Wildsmith, who gave the
name of Gold, borrowed £5 of the society on Tues-
day night last. He paid him the loan of £5 less
the discoun t.
Porter Win. Dunaway, 129 11, said that when
the prisoner Wildsmith was brought to the station-
house in Leman-street, Whitechapel, he searched
him and found upon him a silver watch, a gold
guard, a gold pin,a watch, brush, and key of a box
which contained four new shirts and other pro-
perty. On the charge being read over, Wildsmith
said, " I had the money from her ; I did not know
it was stolen. When I did know it it made me
open my eyes."
Mr. Young said his client Wildsmith would re-
serve his defence.

The girl Perkins, after receiving the usual cau-
tion, said I wish to make a statement.
After she had fainted and recovered, she made
the following statement, which was taken down in
writing by Mr. Bowden, the second clerk :
The first day after I saw Mr. Wildsmith, the ser-
vant, Johanna Manning, whom we called Anna,
said tome, " What a nice young man Mr. Wildsmith
is." I said " Yes, he is." She told me she had seen
him and spoken to him. He told her that the
first time he saw me he swore to himself he would
have me if I was standing on the brink of hell, and
that he would go with me as far as I would go. I said,
" He is a married man." She said, " You are a --..
fool, he is not." I said, " I know better, I have
seen his wife and child." She said " She is not his
wife, only a woman he is living with." On Mon-
day evening Manning said to me, "I have seen
Wildsmith this afternoon, and he said he should go
mad if he did not have you." She said he swore
he was not married. She said he would take me to
America if I would go with him. I said, " He has
no money." Manning said, " But your mother has
got plenty." " Oh, God, has it come to this ; am I
to rob my mother ?" Manning said, " Tell me
whether you love him. Will you go ?" I said,
Yes." On the following day Manning
said she
had seen Wildsmit h, and asks.' him if he loved her,
and he replied, "Yes, to madness." She said to him,
" By —, then, you shall have her." In the after-
noon Wildsmith saw me, and asked me if I was
going. I said, " Yes." I told him I was going to
Manning's brother. Manning said she was going
out in the evening, and if Wildsmith would follow
her she would show him where her brother lived.
He said, " All right; I gm, oming." That rfoning

Manning went out, mil took a dress of mine to
bribe her sister to let me stay there till Wildsmith
came for me. The saini3 evening, when Manning
came home, Wildsmith ,came into the kitchen and
gave me a sovereign to get changed in the morning,
and he said, "Mind,
you .must come ; if you do not,
I will shoot you." He' sail, "If you do not get the
money, I must take yo `u w ithout." I said, "If I
can, I will get the mono
7, when I and the servant
went to my room and pa, lked up a carpet bag full
of my clothes. We had r,,ot been packing up long
before I heard my father c oming up stairs, and she
blew the light out. The ni'xt morning, when I got
up I put on my things, ready to go, except my silk
dress: I had on my cotton dret 'a. I went up stairs
to change the sovereign, and my , mother was asleep.
I took the leather bag which was between the bed
and the mattress, from under my m,ther's head. It
contained £l2O in gold and silver, but' I would never
have robbed my mother if I had known Wildsmith
was a married man. I then went to put 01 my cloak
and bonnet to go out. My brother saw int.' and said.
" Hallo, Emma! what is up ?" I said, " I am
going out on an errand." He said, " I will not
allow you to go." I begged and prayed of him to
let me go, but he would not. I then went into my
room and put on my cotten gown. I said to my
brother, " You can go now, for you see I cannot get.
out." About two minutes afterwards Manning
came into my room, and she said, " Now is your
time, your brother is washing his hands." I ran
out at the door with the leather bag and money,
and went to Mr. and Mrs. Downey's house, in St.
Dunstan's-place, Ratcliff, when Manning came to
me and said, " They are all looking after you ;
they don't know I have come here, so you are quite
safe." About half an hour afterwards Wildsmith.
joined us, and was much pleased that I had stolen
the money, and said you have done it cleverly. The
girl then went into a lengthened statement of the
proceedings at the house of the Downeys' in St.
Dunstan's-place, the purchases made by her and
'Wildsmith, their trip to Liverpool by the mail
train, the payment of their passage money, and
their embarkation on board the North America,
where they were taken into custody by John Scott,
the Liverpool detective, and brought to London.
She denied having given Manning more than ss.
The .£l2 10s. in gold must have been given to Man-
ning by Wildsmith.
Mr. Yardley said it was his duty to commit both
prisoners for trial.
Mr. Young—Will you take bail for the prisoner
Wildsmith ?
Mr. Yardley—No.
Mr. Stoddart—l am instructed to renew the
application, I made yesterday, and successfully, to
accept of bail for Perkins, and allow her to go
with her mother.
Mr. Yardley—Yes. I will take bail for her
appearance at the sessions, herself in £lOO, and
two sureties of £5O each.
The bail was tendered and accepted.