The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-05 00:00:00

A Strange Freak•

At the Ashford petty sessions on Tuesday (before
Mr. W. P. Burrs) the following peculiar case was
heard :

Sarah herring, 23, cook, in the service of Mr.
Clark Hills, Singleton, Great Chart, was charged
with stealing six forks, the property of her master.
It appeared that on the previous Thursday even-
ing, about half-past 8 o'clock, the prisoner came to
the parlour door, where the family were sitting, and
said the housemaid heard some one walking upstairs.
A search was made, and sundry articles of female
wearing apparel were found done up, and dropped in
different rooms, as if by some one who had made a
hasty flight from the house. In one of the bundles
was rolled up six silver forks. A search was made
over all the premises, but no one was found. The
next night, about 9 o'clock, the housemaid came
running to the parlour, saying that Sarah (the pri-
soner) was screaming in the garden. A general rush
was made there, and the prisoner was found sitting
against the wall of the house outside, bleeding from
several cuts on the back of one of her hands. She
complained of being in great pain, and a doctor was
or waist with
ei l two
over
sent for from Ashford. She said that a short man,
dressed in dark clothing, with a loose cloak, a belt
round d
hat,hi and
a v
hisist face, had
had caught hold
stuck in it, a " Mul-
-1 e
of her, and declared ' he would murder her for last
night's work," and said, further, that if it had not
been for her the house would not have been as it
was then. She said that the man attempted to drag
her along, and she clung with one hand to a post,
and that he was going to cut her throat with a
knife, but that she put her other hand round it,
and that was how the cuts were caused. A
policeman had been stationed on the premises from
the preceding night,
and this official suggested to
Mr. Hills that a stronger force should be sent from
Ashford, and a messenger was sent there accord-
ingly. About 40 men were also hired in Great
Chart to assist in searching the shrubberies and pre-
mises, and a minute search was also made of every
room in the house, but the terrible burglar could
not be found. The search was continued in the
grounds all night, although the rain was pouring in
torrents, and the whole
place was kept until the
xcthiteemgeirnit,s.
hoaefd arrived,
next day in a state of rgsmudroi
surgeon,
turmoil
disbelief
and
f
.lan
anledhelexiipe'rel‘ssierd. hard,
story, and on visiting the house again next day for
the purpose of minutely examining her hand, he
was quite convinced that the wounds had been in-
flicted by some small sharp instrument. He told
the prisoner that he knew she had had some-
thing to do with the matter, that he was certain her
story was false, and that she had better tell the
truth, as she would be certainly found out. After
a great deal of persuasion, the prisoner admitted
that the whole affair had been got up for a " spree"
by herself and the housemaid, and that the wounds
on her hands wore inflicted with Mr. Hill's razor,
which the housemaid procured from his bedroom
br the purpose.
The prisoner made -a long defence, in which she
detailed the proceedings of herself and the house-
maid in a very humorous manner, and asserted that
the housemaid
latter,me aiwashowever, u quit
it appears, was only 15
quite
as bad as she was.
years old, while the prisoner was 23.
Mr. Burra committed the prisoner for a month,
for misbehaviour in service, dismissing the charge
s
of stealing the forks.—Kentish Observer.

LOCKING UP PAUPERS WITH CORPSES.—There
seems to be no end to the details of workhouse mismanage-
ment. The public mind has already been thoroughlysick-
encd and disgusted by the horrible revelations which the
London union houses has supplied, and now it creeps out
that at Gateshead the dreadful practice has prevailed for
years of locking up refractory paupers and corpses. The
deadhouso at Gateshead workhouse has done duty also
under a grim economy as a prisDner's cell ! How revolting
this is to all feelings of common humanity. Even when
there are no bodies in it the associations of such a place
would be enough to make a solitary prisoner shudder with
terror, unless possessed of strong nerves. Being locked up
with a corpse alone is really sufficient in some constitu-
tions to produce madness, or at least to give the nervous
system a shock from which it could never recover. None
but the most callous embruted nature could pass through
the ordeal altogether unmoved. Take into account also
the physical dangers attending the practice, and it is hardly
possible to conceive anything more heartless and cruel. It
is neither more nor less than the propagation of contagious
disease reduced to a system. Of course the execrable mode
of punishment will at once be put an end to ; but what have
the Visiting Committee been about not to have dealt with
it before, and how is it that the master has persevered in
the practice fur years without enforcing upon the guar-
dians the necessity fur other provision being made. Evi-
dentlyPoor-
law Board say to this ?--Northern Daily .Express.
paupers. What will the anything will do for