The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-24 00:00:00

THAMES.

A FEMALE THIEF ON lIER Tlt.tvELB.—Charlotte
Coleman, a bold-looking woman, was brought be-
fore Mr. .Paget charged with stealing a basket,
jacket, and bottle, the property of Charles Day, a
labourer, and also stealing a sheet, the property of
Mr. William Reed, the landlord of the Coach and
Horses public-house, in Iligh-street, Bow.
Day was at work upon some houses in Devon's-
road, Bromley. He put a basket, containing a
bottle and his coat., over a fence, while he was
pursuing his employment. The prisoner, who was
passing, took both coat and basket off the fence, and
went away with them. The robbery was noticed
by a man named Epratley, who gave information to
a constable named Cowles, No. 399 K, who took
the prisoner into custody with the property upon
her. Cowles also found upon her a sheet, which
was identified by Mr. Reed, who said the
prisoner paid a visit to his kitchen on the previous
evening, and after she was gone a sheet, hanging on
the back of a chair, was missing. A policeman said
the prisoner was wanted for a third robbery in
Essex, and that she had been travelling through
the country for some time past, and was a regular
thief.

The prisoner said she could not tell what pos-
sessed her to take the basket and coat.

- Mr. Paget—And the sheet—what have you to say
about that?

The prisoner—l cau't tell what possessed me to
take that. •

Mr. Paget Committed the prisoner for trial;

EX7RAORDINARY PROCEEDING.

At the Central Criminal Court, yesterday, Mr.
Avory, the clerk of the court, called the attention
of the Recorder in the course of the day to a cir-
cumstance which, he said, was of very great import-
ance in connection with the administration of jus-
tice in that court. A person named Frederick Lee,
rr
on business as a harness maker in Brown-
ing
ic
treet, Drury-lane, was summoned to serve on
thawe- s
one attended and answered
pettyy jury, and some
to the name and was sworn on the jury. In con-
sequence of some information he received he
piked if a person named Frederick Lee was
the jury,
jury 7 to the jury box and in-
and one of the persons
servingin went on T
th
t on
back obs
row answered to the name,
and he then thought there must have been
some mistake in the information he had re-
ceived. He had subsequently, however, received
further inforrnatiOn, acid lie questioned the party,
and be admitted that he was not Mr. Lee, but only
his foreman, and he said that Mr. Lee had sent him
to do duty for him as a juror, The consequences
of such t pioddeding as this might be Most serious,
and he felt it his duty to bring the matter before
the court, .

The person referred to Was directed to stand for-
wards and in answer to questions put by the
and was not aware
hitsh antuthse had merely done as ho
ter,
that he was doing wrong._
wasite e o rddi
tee%) iccie sbayi d

The Recorder-inquired of him whether he took
the oath, and was sworn as Frederick Lee.
He replied that he had.
Mr.
thatinguthiletyo
first place the person
complainedf a
gross contempt
of court. He had very nearly committed the crime
ror
of perjury, and he and his master would certainly
Ao
f s a
hadi d
been
be amenable to a charge of conspiracy to break the
law. He added that it was a question whether all
the proceedings of the court in which the unquali-
fied juryman had taken a part were not void.
The Recorder, after conferring with Alderman
J. C. Lawrence and Alderman Waterlow, ordered
the person now before the court to pay a fine of
£5 for contempt of court. He also inflicted a fine
of £lOO upon Mr. Lee, but process in this case was
not to issue until the first day of next session, when
Mr. Lee would be called upon to show cause why
the fine should not be inflicted, and it was stated
that in the meantime the question would be con-
sidered whether an indictment for conspiracy
should not be preferred against both parties.

REFORM FETE AND BANQUET.—A. fully attended
meeting of the general committee for piomoting this fete
in celebration of the passing of the Reform'llill was held
last night for the purpose of receiving a report from the
;.. ;Uorrens, M.P., Mr. Thomas
sub-committee as to the time and place for holding it. The
Hughes,secretll mre.apd.,lejstitre.rs
J. S.
111).
M
General Thompson, and other gentlemen, approving of the
proposed fete and promising their.co-operation. From the
arrangements made it appears probable that the banquet
will be held at the Crystal Palace on Monday, Sept. 30.
It was also reported that several of the " leading Liberal
members of the Common Council and other influential
middle-class reformers" bad accepted invitations. It was
resolved that a great beating-up should take place to induce
a full attoutlauce.

The Lamentable Tragedy at Lambeth.

An inquest was held yesterday on the bodies of
Mu. Roberts and the two children whom she had
killed previous to taking her own life, when some
evidence was given showing that domestic differences
existed, and that the wife had left her home on
Sunday last and did not return till next day, having
remained at the house of a relative. The jury de-
liberated for an hour, and then returned a verdict
that the deceased woman had " destroyed her own
life while in a state of unsound mind." It is stated
by a neighbour that when the mother, intent upon
committing a third murder, found her son leaping
over some flow/21-s, and getting out of her way by
climbing over the fence, she threw the knife which
she had in her right lond after him, and it narrowly
missed striking him in the back. Iris mother when
she caught hold of him by the shirt, which fortu-
nately tore, tried to plunge the knife into his ab-
domen. The boy struggled, his clothe?, tore, and he
eluded her grasp a second time, and then a race
between the mother and the son took place.
A Horse Sus:.ended in a Sewer.

This morning between 9 and 10 o'clock an acci-
dent, which might have been attended with serious
if not fatal consequences to three persons, took
place in the Waterloo-road, opposite the entrance to
the Windsor arrival platform of the South Western
Railway Station. A large sewer is in course of
construction at this part of the road, and shortly
after the arrival of one of the trains several cabs
were leaving the station. One, a hansom, in which
were two gentlemen, came down the hill somewhat
unsteadily, the horse curveting and kicking in such
a manner as to alarm the passengers, and on getting
to the bottom of the hill he made a plunge, and the
next instant was suspended in the sewer, the cab
being saved only by a plank of wood which fortu-
nately lay in the road in the embankment. The
two gentlemen who had seen the danger imme-
diately sprang from their scats, as did also the
cabman, and measures were at once taken to pre-
vent the cab falling over into the sewer, and to
extricate the horse. Some considerable time was
consumed in adjusting ropes round the animal and
in bringing him to the surface, but this was even-
tually effected without injury to the horse. The
sewer at this part is about 20 feet deep, and there
can be little doubt that, but for the block occa-
sioned by the plank of wood, the cabman and his
fare must have been precipitated headlong into it.
It appears that there was a similar accident at 10
o'clock last night in another part of the sewer, and
this suggests the desirability of greater precaution
being observed by the contractors in preventing the
possibility of such mishaps.