The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-14 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Sept. 13.

-t----

THAMES.—FAMILY REVELATIONS.—EIizabeth
Cain, a careworn-looking woman, about 40 years
of age, and who was described as a laundress, of 2,
Charles-street, Hampstead-road, was brought be-
fore Mr. Selfe, charged with using abusive and
threatening language towards John Crosby and his
wife, of 11, Denbigh-terrace, Bow.

The complainant, Mr. Crosby, stated that he co-
habited with the prisoner for many years, and they
lived together as man and wife. They had several
children, and two of them he kept at a boarding-
school, and allowed her a maintenance after he was
married.

Mr. Selfe—ls that your wife by your side ? (The
magistrate pointed to a lively young woman, half
the age of her husband.)
Mr. Crosby—Yes, that is my wife. I allowed
the prisoner 10s. per week after I got married. I
gave her money to apprentice one of my girls to a
business and her mother spent it. I also gave her
£5 to buy a mangle, and she spent that.
Mr. Selfe--Is that your child which the prisoner
has in her arms ?

Witness—No, it is not my child.
The prisener—You wretch ; it is your child, and
you know it.
The complainant said that the prisoner had an-
noyed, abused, and threatened him at every place
where he had lived since their separation, and had
also acted in a similar manner towards his wife.

She also went to his dwelling one day while he was
out, broke open his drawers, and took everything
out of them. On Monday evening she came to his
house and made a great disturbance, to the annoy-
ance of his neighbours. She knocked loudly at the
door, and when he answered it called him a thief,
pickpocket, card-sharper, rogue, and other names,
and said his wife was the greatest -- in England.
The prisoner—So she is.
Mr. Selfe--You must be quiet here till your hus-
band—l mean the complainant—has finished his
evidence.

Mr. Crosby, in answer to questions by Mr. Selfe
said he was married in September, 1857, and then
put in a letter, in the prisoner's handwriting, which
she had sent to his next door neighbour. It con-
tained the most diabolical threats towards his wife,
and the most scurrilous abuse of her. The prisoner
threatened to murder his wife, and be hung for her
at Newgate.
The prisoner—All this is done through spite.
Mr. Crosby—Here are seven similar letters, and
the language used in all of them is dreadful.
The prisoner in her defence, made a long harangue
and said that Crosby seduced her when she was
only 16 years of age, and induced her to leave an
excellent home and good parents under apromise of
marriage. He frequently said he would make her
his lawful wife. The child in her arms was the
eighth, and Crosby was the father of all of them.
She supported him in his adversity, and, when he
had no food, worked hard to procure some for him.
In his prosperity, and when he got higher in the
world, he became faithless to her, and often brought
home unfortunate girls 14 years of age, and paid
them for their favours in bad half-sovereigns. While
she was in a state of pregnancy he used to throw
cold water over her. She met with an accident and
he got £2O damages from a public company by
stating she was his wife: The complainant did not
allow her 10s. per week. Her allowance was £2
every five weeks. As to the wife, who was now
starinc, and laughing in derision, she was once her
servant. She took that infamous wretch when she
was destitute, and bought her a chemise for 15d.
and a pair of stockings for 9d. One day she caught
the girl coming out of her master's bedroom. She
could not put up with that, and, on upbraiding her
husband with his infidelity, he struck her, and
blackened both eyes. After that she used to go out
to work to support Crosby while he carried on an
adulterous intercourse with the girl he had since
made his wife. At last she was obliged to turn the
girl out of her house, and this happened last Ascot
races two years. Her paramour swore he would
never marry, but he went with a bottle of gin in his
own gig to Turnham-green to see her.
Mr. Selfe—Now, what has all this to do with
the charge against you ?
The Prisoner—Well, I did call him a pickpocket
and a thief. I work hard for my living, and after
living with him as his wife for 17 years, and being
faithful to him, it is very hard to be turned out of
doors for another woman. I can substantiate what
1 say—that he is a thief. I can tell you who he
has—

Mr. Selfe—l have had enough of this. Here is
a letter in your own handwriting, a frightfully
hideous letter, threatening to take away the life of
Mrs. Crosby for marryinc, your paramour. You
say you do not care whether you are hung for her
or not. I must have sureties to compel you to keep
the peace.
The Prisoner—He swore that I was his lawful
wife, and got £2O by it. What am Itodo ?
Mr. Selfe—Keep away from him. You must
find sureties to keep the peace or go to prison.
The Prisoner—What am I to do, sir ? I have
one child lying dead. I got her buried by bor-
rowing the money, and can't repay it. There are
two of our children in court and one at home. It
was hard, very hard, to be deserted after being his
faithful companion for 17 years.
Mr. Selfe—You should have made him put a ring
on your finger in church before you lived with him,
and you would have had a legal claim on him as his
wife. This is the way these unhappy connections
generally end.
The Prisoner—That man, who calls himself John
Crosby, is John Macdonald, the betting man. He
has many names. The child I brought from the
boarding-school because it was ill-used.
Mr. Selfe—You have threatened to take away
the woman's life, and I must have security.
The prisoner—l can't get bail. I live in the
Hampstead-road.
Mr. Selfe—You had no right in Bow at all.
Keep away from there.
The complainant said he paid the prisoner 10s.
per week for the maintenance of his children.
Mr. Selfe—There is no great merit about that.
You ought to pay for them.
The complainant—l kept them at boarding-
school formerly.
The prisoner—l cannot keep his three children
on 10s. per week.
Mr. Selfe—l will have nothing to do 'with your
disputes. I must have the peace preserved.
three
dree
one surety in £lO to keep the peace for

months.
Theo ?
prisonerm a
a undn
(wringingoe,
forlornhe woman.rbands) If Whataml
to dyou
will allowHe misea tboadgmo
man
—waillbentetvinegr
mgoann_eaarndhimif
again.
I was to tell you how he gets his living you would
be astonished.
Mr. Selfe—l do not want to hear it. However
bad he is, you have no right to threaten him and
his wife, and to abuse them. Now, I will let you
go if you promise- not to go near him again. ,If
you repeat your silly behaviour of last night I will
compel you to find heavy sureties to keep the peace.
The only legal claim you have upon him is to obtain
an order of affiliation for the maintenance of the
children if they are under 13 years of age, and
obtain 2s. 6d. per week for each. Perhaps that
will be the best course to adopt.
The prisoner—They are all under 13.
The complainant—No ; one is above 14.
Mr. Selfe then discharged the prisoner on her
solemn promise not to molest her paramour and
his wife again.
Crosby asked the magistrate what he was to pay
for the children.
Mr. Selfe—l will not tell you. Do what is right
by that woman and her children. You are the father
of the children and ought to maintain them.

WESTMINSTER.—EXTRAORDINARY GOVERN-
MENT PROSECUTION.—John Daly, a reepectable-
looking man, holding the responsible situation of
" cloth viewer" at the Army Clothing Stores, Gros-
venor-road, Thames-bank, Pimlico, was placed at
the bar, charged with stealing some pieces of string,
value twopence.
Isaac Coles, a labourer at the stores, said he untied
some bales of cloth between 6 and 8 that morning,
and threw the string down. Prisoner came behind
him, and, taking some of it up, put it into his poc-
ket, as witness thought for a joke. Prisoner and
he went out to breakfast, when the accused was
stopped by the police and the string found in his
pocket.
Mr. Arnold inquired what usually became of the
string taken from bales of cloth.
Witness replied that the " cloth viewers " came
to him sometimes for it, or picked it up to pu. t in
where damages were found in cloth, the remainder
was generally swept away into the dust-hole as
waste.
Sergeant Cox, 24 B,
said he was on duty at the
Military Stores when the men left for breakfast.
Observing something bulky in prisoner's pocket he
stopped him, and inquired what he had got there.
Prisoner pulled out his handkerchief, and in doing
so witness saw a portion of the string in hi • pocket.
Witness then asked the accused to go into the lodge
and show him what he had got, when he produced
the string from his pocket, and said he had got it
off some bales of serge, and was going to take it
home for his own private use, and added, that the
string was not Government property. Prisoner
was then kept till 10 o'clock, for the arrival of Mr.
Elliott, military storekeeper, and subsequently de-
tained till the arrival of Col. Dorbury, inspector of