The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-04 00:00:00

A PAINFUL INVESTIGATION.

At the Thames police-court, on Saturday, Henry
Hills, aged 50, was brought before Mr. Yardley,
charged with criminally assaulting Anna Stamp, a
girl aged 10 years, and also with indecently assault-
ing Louisa Sidman, aged 13 years, and several
other girls.
Mr. Joseph Smith defended the prisoner.
The investigation was one of a most painful de-
scription. The prisoner has for some time filled
the office of assistant clerk of the Poplar Union,
and for a considerable period has performed all the
duties of chief clerk, in consequence of the illness
of Mr. Symonds, who holds that office. The pri-
soner was considered by the guardians of the union,
his neighbours, and most of the parishioners of All
Saints, Poplar, as a respectable, well-conducted, and
moral man. The prisoner's wife and two daughters
have for many yearsokept a day school for girls, and
the daughters of the most respectable tradesmen and
mechanics in the parish were among their pupils.
The prisoner, who has made a full confession of his
guilt, has contaminated in a greater or less degree
nearly all his wife's scholars, and it was painful to
see so many intelligent, well-behaved, and hand-
some girls, between the ages of nine and thirteen,
waiting to give evidence against the prisoner for
grossly immoral conduct towards them. •
Thomas Stamp, a highly respectable man, a ship-
wright, was the first witness ; he was deeply af-
fected. He said : I live at No. 5, Kirby-street,
Poplar. I have a daughter ten years of age in
August. She has been at school with the wife of
the prisoner, and I am sorry to say she has been
ruined by that person there (pointing to the pri-
soner), who is a very bad man. In consequence of
something I had beard from my wife and daughter
I consulted several friends, and among them were
Mr. Kidman, Mr. Hill, and others, whose children
had been indecently assaulted, and on Wednesday
evening we went to the prisoner's house, and we
told him we wished to speak to him in private, and
said we had been informed he had taken indecent
liberties with our children, and that he had impro-
perly exposed his own person and their persons.
He bitterly denied it, and called God to bear wit-
ness he had not done so. I said, " You know you
have violated my child," and asked him if he could
say in the presence of his Maker that he had not
done so. He then said he bad been romping with
my child, arid nothing else. I said, "It is good job
I was not there, or I should have struck your
head off." He then stood up, and made a full
confession of his guilt.
Mr. Yardley : Do not make use of the words
"full confession," but tell me exactly what he
said, in his own words.

Witness : He said, "I am a guilty man, and
all I can do is to ask mercy at your hands." I
said, " Had you any mercy on my child when
you rudely laid hands upon her ?" He then said
he had put his hands up the clothes of the young
ladies in the school, and had exposed his person to
them, and exposed their persons at the same time
(sensation and murmurs in court). The witness,
wbo looked indignantly at the prisoner, exclaimed,
" The scoundrel ! the wretch !"

Mr. Yardley begged of him to be calm, and not
give way to his feelings.
He then went on to say that persons came
to him and asked him to compromise the matter,
which he refused to do. He thought the case a
very trifling one at first, but he had since found
out it was a most serious one. Last' night when
he went home he found that Dr. Gray had been
to his house to effect a settlement, which was
declined. He refused to see Dr. Gray, and said
that he would take the law on the prisoner, and
he would see what mercy the law would show to
him. He heard that the prisoner was about to
abscond, and he went to his house, in Poplar, that
morning, and gave him into custody. The
prisoner then made a full confession of his
guilt.
Mr. Yardley : What did he say ?—Witness :
He said he was deserving of punishment. I can
scarcely tell you, sir, bow far he did go in his
wicked assault on my child. I told him he was
charged with violating my child, and he went
down on his knees and prayed for mercy.
Anna Stamp, a fine girl, aged 11 years, who
sobbed loudly when she was put into the witness-
box, deposed to several infamous and inde-
cent assaults committed upon her by the pri-
soner just before and soon after Christmas last in
the kitchen of his house. The last outrage and abuse
of the girl occupied a quarter of an hour and was at-
tended with the most offensive and revolting cir-
cumstances. The prisoner had assaulted her three
times.

In cross-examination by Mr. Smith, the girl said
that she told Miss Kidman, a fellow pupil, what
the prisoner had done, and she communicated all
that had happened to her mother five months ago.
She resisted the prisoner as much as she could, but
he used her very ill and threw her down on the
floor on each occasion.

John Martin, a police-constable, No. 441 K, said
that when he took the prisoner into custody he told
him to be very careful what he said, for he should
repeat the whole of what he said to the magistrate.
The prisoner then made a confession of what he
had done to his wife's pupils. The constable stated
at length what the prisoner had said, which is too
gross for publication, and also said the prisoner
concluded his remarks by saying anything further
than that I call God to witness I never did.

Mr. William Longhurst, of 4, Kirby-street, Pop-
lar, whose daughter had been indecently assaulted,
said her case was nearly parallel to the one just
heard. It was a most flagrant and disgusting case.
The evidence of the doctor, who had made a medi-
cal examination of one of the young ladies, would
show that the prisoner had been guilty of violence.
All the girls, 61 in number, in Mrs. 'Hill's school,
had communicated to each other that the prisoner
bad assaulted them improperly. He and his neigh-
ours had sent their daughters to Mrs. Hill's
school to be properly educated and their morals
improved, but to their utter disgust and astonish-
ment, they ascertained that the prisoner had con-
taminated every girl in the school kept by his wife
and daughter.

Louisa Kidman, a very genteel girl, 13 years of
age, deposed to three infamous assaults committed
upon her by the prisoner, who, on the last occa-
sion when he acted so improperly, made use of very
naughty words and said, "If you were, a little
older and I was a little younger, I would marry
you, my dear."
Mr. Longhurst said there were six or seven other
cases. Tne girls who had been interfered with so
grossly were in court.
Mr. Yardley said there was some evidence of a
felony in the case of Miss Stamp, but not quite suf-
ficient to commit the prisoner fur rape. He should
therefore commit the prisoner for trial for misde-
meanour in that case, and also in the case of Miss
Sidman. He was sure he was consulting the feel-
ings of the distressed parents before him and the
interests of public morality in declining to enter
into any more of these painful cases. It was de-
sirable this investigation should not be prolonged.
As far as was consistent with public justice, he
wished to consult the feelings of the parents and
the feelings of their children. The investigation
was the most painful one that had ever come under
his notice, and he thought public justice would be
satisfied by committing the prisoner for trial on
two charges only.

The depositions were then formally taken by Mr.
Bowdler, the second clerk, and the witnesses bound
over to prosecute and give evidence against him.
The prisoner on reaching the gaoler's room ap-
peared half frantic, and said, "I am a guilty man ;
I am a ruined man ; I deserve to be hanged for
what I have doile."

The prisoner bad made preparations for a flight
to America, and would have been away on Satur-
day afternoon if he had not been arrested.

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