The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-02 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY IMPOSTURES.

An extraordinary case of imposition has come to light
during the present week, the circumstances being of a
nature exeibii lug a vast amount of credulity on the part
of the poor woman who has been deprived of her property,
and, at the same time, a succession of artful impositions
on the part of a worthless creature, who has succeeded for
years past in living " by her wits" in a most disgraceful
matinee. It appears from the facts which have c -me to
our knowledge, that Ann Rawlins, or Rollins, the subject
of this notice, was born of humble parents in the little
village of Beaulieu, in the New Forest, and that when
old enough to be placed out to service was recom
mended to a working painter, living in Brewhouse-court,
Southampton, named G. Lock. Lock was.at the time
engaged to be married, and the romantic story told by
Rawlins induced both him and his intended to maeifest
considerable interest in her welfare, the whole of her
statements being received with a degree of credence
which is quite astonishing. She stated that, at an
early age, when attending a parochial school, a great
fancy was taken to her by a gentleman, who was at that
time a resident clergyman, but who has since become a
colonial bishop. The gentleman in question made an
application to the Queen for a situation as a bishop in
England, with no wish or desire to go abroad ; but he
thought that when the Queen offered him the situation
abroad he could not do leas than accept it. Alter
the bishop left England a young man of colour came
to Beaulieu on a visit, and at the house of her
grandfather, Mr. Goddon, became enamoured of the fair
Ann's charms, and offered her marriage. The young
man went to London, and before he had an opportunity
of fulfilling his engagement be was afflicted with a sick-
ness, from which he died, leaving Ann the property,
which he had brought with him to England for his sup-
port, as a testimony of his affection and regard for her,
and which amounted to the sum of 1,6001.
This munificent gift was placed in one of the South-
ampton banks, a man named Ward, of Beaulieu, being
entrusted with the care of the banking-book, but as Ward
did not fulfil his duty in seeing that the interest on the
principal was punctually paid, the trust which had been
confided in him was transferred to a well-known medical
gentleman in Southampton, who bad been in attendance
upon the bishop's family during his residence in Eng-
land, and was in the habit conetantly of receiving letters
from his lordship, requesting that Ann might be well
taken care of, as he intended to return to England for
the purpose of marrying her, and would well reward those
who showed her any kindness, as weil as discharge any
debts which she might incur until she came in possession
of the sum vested in trustees in her behalf. Ann was
treated with the best which the house could afford, and
when Mr. Lock at length became a husband, vast were
the expectations formed by himself and wife as to the
betiefite they would ultimately derive from Ann living
with them. Lock's income was found to be to, precari-
ous to defray the ordinary household expenses, and this
at length lad to a very reluctant notice being given to
Ann to quit her service. Ann protested that she had no
home at that time to go to, and held out such hopes of
, the benefits which must ultimately be derived from any
assistance that was rendered her, that Mrs. Lock lila-
, mately consented to return to the service in which she
, was formerly employed at the house of a Gentleman
I living at Bre,tenham Park, Biddlestone, Suffolk, and
6 support herself there, leaving Aen still in the house to
) take care of her husband, on condition that she kept
him clean and tidy, and took charge of her furniture
. and various boxes containing Indian goods and articles
of value which she had acquired by her industry. Ann
wrote from time to time informing her how things were
going on, and, in letters, the orthography of which was
very indifferent, repeated statements alleged to have
been made by the bi Amp in his cerrespeudence with
the medical gentleman to whom we have alluded, and
others of well-known standing and respectahitity, in
order to show the fond regard which he still entertained
for her, and the delight with which he was centem-
plating a visit t 3 England to make her his wife. Ann's
letters nearly, or always concluded with a request fur a
loan of money, and for a period of three years this re-
quest was repeatedly made only to be readily complied
with, until at length the sum thus advanced to her
amounted to about 1001., the whole of Mrs. Lock's hard
earnings. In one letter Ann detailed how a young man
in Southampton had dared to profess that he loved her,
but as she was of opinion that her money was the object
of his affection, she determined to remain true to the
bishop. How this determination was persevered in tnay
be judged by the fact that after a time Ann was with
child, and most numerous were the congratulations
offered to Mr. Lock upon the fact of his being about to
become a papa, but the wife was quite satisli al that this
could not be, because she received a letter from Ann
imputing the paternity to somebody else, and, as Ann
always told the truth, she must believe her, for, as Lock
remarked to us with a smile, " People will talk, you
know, sir, and says lots of things, but you can't be-
lieve 'em." But now arose the question, what woul 1
the bishop say ? and anxious were Mrs. Lock's in-
quiries of Ann upon this point, but her suspicions
teat she would lose the bishop's favour were soon
dispelled by the receipt of a letter from Ann,
stating that she had thought it best to make his
lordship acquainted with the whole of the circumstances,
and that though he was very angry at what had occurred
he should forgive her this time on condition that it
should not happen again I The child was maintained for
two years at the exoeuse of Mr. and Mrs. Lock, on the
promise that on the arrival of the bishop, the worthy
doctor, as trustee, would see them repaid for their trouble
out of the fund, which hail now accumulated by
interest to the sum of 1,7001, and to show how
faithfully the doctor fulfilled his charge in taking care,
not only of her health but of her worldly pros-
pect, he had, fearing the failure of the Southampton
Bank, in which the money was invested, removed
the whole to the Christ Church Bank. The girl,
finding at last that some additional reason was necessary
to induce Mrs. Lock to grant her a further loan, having
ascertained, it is supposed, by looking at ono of the
newspapers, that a vessel was leaving Australia for Eug
land on the 25:11 of May, wrote to Mrs: Lock to say
that -the bishop was coming by her, and as Mrs. Lock
found by referring to the Times, that a boat did leave
Australia on that day, she says she c mkt do nethieg
else than believe everything which had been told her.
The boat a-. length a,rrived, and no biehoe came : the hus-
band, instead of being taken care of, and " made tidy,"
was neglected ; during his absence on a vi-it to Ly-
mington in ee troll of work, the boxes in the house
containing articles of the greatest value, were all ran-
sacked of their contents ; and at last the fair Ann
herself decamped. Mrs. Lick wrote in great tribu-
lation to the medical gentleman at S mthatunton, who
took no notice of the communication, and was soon after-
wards waited upon by the good lady herself, when, to
her great astonishment, the doctor assured her that his
had not the slightest knowledge of any of the parties,
and knew nothing of the money or the bishop. Mrs.
Lock could hardly believe the truth of what she heard,
but was at length compelled to acknowledge that she
must have been deceived, and as the whole story
turns out to be a fabrication, the affair has now been
placed in the hands of the police, a search warrant being
granted by the magistrates to enable the house of the
girl's father at Beaulieu to be examined, to ascertain if
the property is secreted there. The bench has also
given directions to apprehend Ann herself, but she is at
present non e t.—Poole Herald.