The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-30 00:00:00

THAMES.

THE FEUALE BARMAN.—.EXTRAORDINARY CASE.
Mary Walker, aged 38 years, who was in male
attire, was brought before Mr. Benson charged with
placing herself in a public thoroughfare called
Cable-street, Whitechapel, fur the purpose of ask-
ing and collecting alms.
The prisoner has figured at several police courts
and other places as the female barman. She once
paid her addresses to a young woman to whom she
promised marriage, and was ultimately committed to
prison fora month for robbing her master, a licensed
victualler, when she officiated as barman. her
adventures in male garb, as John Walker and John
Turner, have been very extraordinary. She was
once a stoker on the Cunard line of steamers be-
tween this country and America, and her sex was
not discovered. She obtained a situation as porter
on the Great Western Railway by means of
forged certificates and letters, and there is at the pre-
sent time a warrant for her apprehension at the suit
of the railway company, but it was stated this
morning that the company would not prosecute.
On Saturday night the prisoner was singing in a
dark part of Cable-street. Connor, a police-con-
stable, No. 35 11, suspected that the prisoner was a
woman, and took her into custody, not for assuming
male attire, but for soliciting alms.
In answer to Mr. Benson, the constable said the
ballad which the prisoner was singing was about a
soldier, love, and war,
Mr. Benson asked if the Great Western Railway
Company intended to prosecute.
Inspector Holloway, of the H division, said the
prisoner requited medical treatment. She had been
examined by a surgeon, who said she was very much
out of health.

Mr. Benson questioned the prisoner. He asked
her why she degraded herself and her sex by assum-
ing male attire, to which she replied that seven
years ago she left her native village in Bedfordshire
and indulged in the foolish freak of changing her
clothes. The desire to act the part of a man and
to adopt the garb and condition of the sterner sex
grew into a passion. She IN ent on board ship as a
sailor, and her sex was discovered by her ship-
mates. She would uot, however, be disappointed
of her taking for the sea, and her desire of seeing
foreign lands, and was engaged in a Cunard
steamer, and afterwards as a barman.

Mr. Benson—Why not obtain a situation suit.
able to your sex ?

The prisoner—Who will employ me as a female
servant ?

Connor—She was once in the Elizabeth Fry
Refuge at Hackney.

The Prisoner said she left the Fry Refuge because
she was worse fed there than in prison, and the
other inmates made her uncomfortable.

Mr. Benson—What makes you affect a condition
and garb that don't belong to your sex ?
The Prisoner—l don't know, indeed.
Mr. Benson—Have you any friends?
The Prisoner—Yes, sir; if they can be so called.
They have all repudiated me.
Mr. Benson—Have you been used to hard work ?
The Prisoner—Yes : at the Great Western Rail-
way I worked very hard indeed. I hope you will
not send me to the Elizabeth Fry Refuge—l fared
very badly there.

Mr. Benson condemned the conduct of the pri-
soner in degrading herself as she had done. She
had not the vigour or the strength of a man, and
DOW was in a lamentable condition for want of
proper food and exposure. He remanded her to
the House of Detention for a week, and she would
be attended to is a proper manner.

SHEEP AND .LAmus.—From a return just pre-
sented to Parliament it appears that nearly all the sheep
and lambs imported into this country come from Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany, and Holland. In records
compiled for the year 1864 it is stated that 7,407 sheep
were imported from Belgium, 30,633 from Denmark, 1,264
from France, 189,371 from Germany, and 247,609 from
Holland. The total number of lambs imported during the
same year was 17,896-6,102 of which came from Denmark
11,537 from Holland, and the rest from other countries'
The largest imports of sheep occurred in the month of
December, and of lambs in August, none of the latter being
imported in January and February, and only 1,107 of the
former during the first month of the year.
PARLIAMENT AND ITS WORK. ---The House of
Commons, adjourning for the Easter recess on Friday next,
will have sat only on 32 days in this year, or only on 30 if
two sittings are not counted at which no business was
done, the new not Wag completed,