The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-24 00:00:00

case, and, therefore, I have no fault to find with
the accuracy of the report. ram willing to take
upon myself all the responsibility of the case ; but
it is, I must say, something new to me, after 30
years of devotion to the principles of justice and
humanity, and of anxious zeal to rescue such girls
as Mary Donovan from a life of misery and vice, to
be accused of all sorts of crimes against justice, and
even, I may say, common humanity ; and if it had
not been for the contributions I should have thought
it altogether unnecessary to offer any remarks
whatever upon the case. If after this it be still the
desire of those who have sent their contributions
that those contributions should be applied to the
use of Mary Donovan, I will place the money in
the hands of one of the most humane clergymen in
the city to do everything with it for her service ;
but I must again say that in my opinion the case
is not one which ought to excite public sympathy.
Some years ago this girl was placed in the
King Edward's School of Industry and Refuge
for Girls in Spitalfields, and extraordinary re-
sults were anticipated from her evident natural
abilities, but after two years of training for a
pupil teacher, with the view of opening up to her
a respectable and useful mode of support, the
authorities of the establishment were compelled to
dismiss her for her disorderly conduct, and since
that time she has been living in Flower-and-Dean-
street, Spitalfields, a locality chosen rather by per-
sons of most irregular habits ; in fact, by thieves
and prostitutes, than by those who live by honest
industry. However, as I said before, if, after this
statement, those who have sent their contributions
still wish their contributions to be applied to the
use of Mary Donovan when she comes out of prison,
I will see that they shall be so applied, and I have
already written to Mr. Cohen, the chaplain at
Holloway-goal, requesting that he would ascertain
if there be any chance of doing her any real and
permanent service, but I must add that the contri-
butions usually sent to this court are for the benefit
of the deserving poor and not for the criminal.
This girl has been in prison before. She had been
long under the notice of the police, and was the
ringleader of a gang of girls who have been long
complained of by the inhabitants of the district in
which she was apprehended for their habit of col-
lecting round the Royal Exchange and the Fen-
church-street railway station for the purpose of
importuning gentlemen for money, and it was well
known if their importunities were unsuccessful the
vilest abuse followed ; and there is strong reason to
suspect that the combs and other articles which
these girls carry and ostensibly offer for sale are
carried, not for sale, but to enable them to effect
other objects. Among the letters sent to me with
small contributions I have had communications
forwarded by several papers. Those sums I shall
apply with the others, if the donors still desire it,
and I wish to say that, however harshly some
of the papers have acted towards me, I shall
not be prevented from endeavouring in the
most earnest manner to rescue this girl from
a life of vice. I must add that on the very
day she was brought before me, and imme-
diately after the case was ended, a gentleman
came forward to complain of her conduct, but
said that he did not dare to make the complaint in
open court, because he was convinced that if he
made the complaint his windows would have been
broken next morning by her companions. I have
only to add to these observations that I shall re-
quest that the press will acknowledge my receipt
of all sums I have received for Mary Donovan.

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