The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-09 00:00:00

THAMES,

THE FORTUNE TELLER'S fORTUNE TOLD.—Elisabeth
Woodfield, a cunning old woman, well-known in the dis-
trict of this court as a fortune-teller, and who was mixed
up with the abduction of a girl named Newman, in 18.51, and
in a very disreputable manner, was brought before Mr.
Yardley charged with stealing a piece of bacon weighing
two pounds and a half from the shop of Mr. John Mills, a
cheesemonger, of Charles-street, St. George's-in the-East.
The prisoner is as savage and vindictive as she is cun-
ning; and when she was fined Lb, for a brutal assault 13
years ago by the late Mr. Broderip, that gentleman
declared her to be one of the, most dangerous and crafty
women that he had ever met with. She was in the prac-
tice of attending this court daily for many years, for the
purpose of obtaining people's secrets, in the discus-
sion of assault cases and breaches of the peace, and then
making use of the information thus obtained to extort
money. Mr. Ingham, who was formerly a magistrate of
this court before he went to Hammersmith, fined her 405.,
and gave directions that she should be excluded from the
court in future, a proceeding for which the public are deeply
indebted to the worthy magistrate. Mrs. Woodfield has
been lately doing business in a beer shop near the Clerken-
well Houik of Detention among the friends of prisoners
confined Mere. Mr. Walker, a very intelligent officer, the
sergeant of the van which conveys the prisoners to and
from this and Worship-street, stopped her vile practices
and drove her away from Clerkenwell.
Thomas Smith, a boy in the ervice of the prosecutor,
said that he saw the prisoner take a piece of bacon off his
master's shopboard yesterday evening. He followed her
and took it from under -her shawl.
The prisoner said she did not steal the bacon. The boy
picked it up in the road.
Mr. Yardley—You aro here again. You are a most dis-
honest old woman—a very bad woman.
Mr. Livingston, chief usher of the court, here produced
.0 pack of greasy cards which had been taken from the pri-
soner.
The depositions having been completed by Mr. Bowdler,
the second clerk, the prisoner said that she would prefer
that the case should go before a jury. She wished to make
one remark. The boy said he took the bacon from under
her shawl. She wore no shawl last night. She sent for
the yellow shawl she was then wearing.
A policeman--The prisoner wore a black shawl last night
and sent it home.
Mr. Yardley—The prisoner is committed for trial.

TIIE FELLS ON FIRE.—The other day, a rumour
reached Appleby that a fire had broken out on Burton Fell,
one of the Crossfell range of mountains, and it was soon as-
certained that such was really the case. From what can be
learned, it appears that the fire was discovered by a farmer
who was looking after his stock, but having no idea that it
would extend far, he took no steps to extinguish it, al-
though it is alleged that a canful of water at that time
would have been sufficient to put it out. Since then, owing
to the extreme dryness of the moss and heather, aided by a
strong easterly wind, the fire made consideiable progress,
having reached Hilton Fell, and spread over an extent of
ground roughly estimated at 1,000 acres. The fire has got
a strong hold of the peat moss, amongst which it smoulders
until it reaches the dry heath, when it bursts into flame
and then rapidly spreads. How it is to be extinguished, it
is remarked, is a serious puzzle. An attempt is being made,
by digging a deep trench, to cut off the communication, but
whether this plan will be successful remains to be seen. It
will entirely destroy the prospects of the sportsmen for the
eason, as the game are nearly all sitting at this time of the
year. John Wybergh, Esq., is the owner of Burton Fell,
and Hilton Fell is the property of the Earl of Lonsdale.—
Cumberland Pa4uet.