The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-20 00:00:00

Stealing a Penny.

cn g Recyliar_inaptitude of clergymen for the dis-
P,
exhibited at Redditch, according to a reporiLwilVa
we find in the Birmingham Daily Post. A child,
named Emily Jane Ballard, a scholar in Inkberrow
Sunday school, it was alleged, on Sunday last, while
in the Inkberrow church, stole a penny out of the
pocket of a scholar. " The vicar, the Rev. G. R.
Gray, who is chairman of the bench of magistrates
for this petty sessional division, being informed of
the petty theft, after making some inquiries into the
case, instructed the village policeman to take the girl
to the lock-up, which ,was done on Monday last.
Substantial bail was offered, but the Rev. Mr. Gray
refused to accept it. The sympathy for the child,_
who is about 10 years old, was so great that a sub-
scription was set on foot in the town, and in a short
time the fee requisite to employ a solicitor was raised,
and Mr. W. E. Simmons, of this place, was retained
for the defence. The case was to be heard at the
petty session held on Friday, and long before the
court was opened a crowd of persons had assembled
for admission to hear the case, so great was the in-
terest manifested. The magistrates on the bench
were the Rev. G. R. Gray (chairman), and Messrs.
W. Tabberer and J. Smith. The chairman said he
hoped the case would be publicly reported, as he
understood it had caused a great sensation in the
town ; and he proceeded to give an explanation of
the circumstances, which he thought would make
the public less surprised at the detention. About a
fortnight ago, he said, this child, who was reported
to be only nine, but was in reality 11 years old, and
who had been in his school some time, stole a pen-
knife. The counsel for the child here interrupted
the chairman, denying the charge of knife stealing,
and the chairman then said he never intended to go
on with the case; all that he wanted was to make the
child know that she could not steal a knife with im-
punity. The offence was the more serious as it was
committed in the House of God. The child had
put her hand into another child's pocket, and he
thought it was his duty to punish her. He had no
intention whatever to go on with the case, and he
merely sent her to the lock-up to slightly punish
her. He himself considered that a child of her age
was quite as able to know right from wrong as a
child much older, and especially in the House of
God where the offence was doubly wrong.
the de-
sired Mrs. Davis (a woman who attends to
lain the case, but from
organ) to attend and explain
t done so [At the
chil-
dren in church while the mistress is presiding at the
some cause or other she had no .
hearing. A rs. Davis was
comm, but did not ansiiver.] He
loudlnotice of the
case, and
intended to take no further
trusted it would prove a lesson to the
he hoped and
yecnaclelmedent severalo
If a child
11years old would steal a penny,
she would not hesitate to steal a much larger
The case would be dismissed, and the little pri-
soner discharged. The child then loft the dock.—
Mr. Simmons objected to the case being settled
in that way. The case had cast slurs upon the
child's character, and his instructions were to go
fully into the case and have the matter
cleared up. He would consent to have the case ad-
journed for a short time then, or until that day
week, to give Mrs. Davis an opportunity of attend-
ing. (An attempt at applause was here
The
made, but
was speedily suppressed by the police).
chair-
man acquiesced in the case being
gone into, and
in the dock
the child was brought back
and placed
Simmons applied to
again for a short time. 3•
have the child released on bfa,ril, which was granted."

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