The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-04 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

Eleanor Bennett, a young woman of 25, and who
has been an almost innumerable number of times in
custody for assaults and outrages of the most violent
kind, was placed at the bar before Mr. Arnold, charged
with threatening to murder Mrs. Isabella Mountford,
schoolmistress of the Bethnal-green Union, under the
following circumstances :
The past life of the prisoner has been one of a
rather strange description. She had been an inmate,
it appeared, for a number of years, of the workhouse
in question, from which she was in the habit, at inter-
vals, of discharging herself, and after remaining ab-
sent for as long a time in each case as she chose, or
as suited her convenience, would then return to
the house and demand to be again admitted. If the
slightest demur was made to this demand she inva-
riably smashed every window within her reach, and
conducted herself in such an outrageous mannwas
to inevitably lead to a prosecution, and as this'
cessarily caused great expense as well as trouble
to the parish officers, but none to the prisoner
herself, her request was but seldom refused.
For offences of this kind she was almost con -
stantly in prison, and whilst there, and for a portion
of each time she was in the workhouse, she conducted
herself with the greatest propriety, but would all of
a sudden take a dislike to any one about her, and,
bursting into a furious fit of rage and revenge, resort
to the most unscrupulous methods of gratifying her
vengeance. Upon one occasion she was secured in
the refractory ward for some gross misconduct, and in
return smashed all its windows out ; for this she was
sent to the House of Correction, and on being liber-
ated and going back to the workhouse again miscon-
ducted herself, and on again being locked up in one
of' the wards, broke no less, as Rowland, the warrant-
officer, said, than 72 squares of glass. For this also
she was committed, and on being on another occa-
sion sentenced to a term of imprisonment flung a
slipper or shoe at the magistrate, but missed him, and
on a fourth occasion hurled a patten or clog at the
head of one of the relieving-officers with such force
that, had it struck him, it must have inflicted a very
serious injury; she fortunately, however, failed in her
object, and the clog, missing its aim, struck the parti-
tion at the back of the officer with such violence as
to cause a somewhat deep dint in it. In the present
instance, whilst in the dining-hall, Mrs. Mountford
saw the prisoner standing by the side of the storekeeper,
who was weighing oat the dinners for the paupers,
when she discovered some meat secreted and covered
up with an apron. On asking who had hidden it
the prisoner told her to mind her own business, and
threatened, if she interfered with her, to cut her head
open with the plate, and do her an injury when she
least expected it. Witness was frightened, and hur-
ried away, but was followed by the prisoner with a
plate in her hand, with which she so threatened to
split open her skull that she ran to her own apartment
and locked herself in. About two hours after she
was passing through the corridor, when she heard
footsteps behind her, and, on turning round, found
the prisoner close to her with an earthenware pan in
her hand, which, after exclaiming that she would
murder her with it if she caught her, she levelled it
at her head with such violence that, had the blow
taken effect, it would most probably have fulfilled the
prisoner's threat ; the witness's screams, however, at-
tracted the notice of one of the officers, who caught
the prisoner's arm just in time to avert the blow, and,
after a violent contest, she was secured and locked up
in a room, preparatory to beinks placed in custody ;
but, on going to the room shortly afterwards, she
was discovered almost naked, and the clothing she
had previously worn strewn about the floor, torn up
into the smallest fragments. The witness besought
the magistrate to protect her, as she felt satisfied,
from the revengeful feeling the prisoner had shown,
that her life was not safe while she remained at
liberty.
Upon being asked if she wished to say anything, the
prisoner exclaimed,—" Yes! I don't like the woman,
and I am determined to stick a knife into her, if I
have to wait a whole twelvemonth to do it. You may
do what you like with me, I do not care ; and, as to

you (turning to the magistrate), I will stick a knife
into you, too, the first chance that I get."
Mr. ARNOLD entertained some doubts of the pri-
soner's sanity, and desired Mr. Agar, the parish sur-
geon, to examine her, but that gentleman reported
that she appeared to him to be in perfect possession of
all her faculties, and that what the magistrate had
witnessed was merely an ebullition of her violent and
uncontrollable temper.
Alderman, the gaoler, also stated that, young as the
prisoner was, now scarcely twenty-five, he had known
her for eight or ten years in his business capacity,
and that during that time, to his knowledge, she
must have been in custody, without much exagge-
ration, from 90 to 100 times. She had been summarily
convicted times innumerable, and also committed for
trial at the sessions, and on one occasion Mr.Broughton
entertained so strong a conviction of the prisoner's in-
sanity, that he had requested Mr. Wakefield, the
House of Correction surgeon, to examine her ; but
that gentleman also reported in favour of the perfect
soundness of her intellect.

Mr. ARNOLD said that it was manifestly useless to
sentence the prisoner to the payment of any penalty,
or to undergo any short term of imprisonment it was
in his power to impose ; and, as it was also obvious
that the school-mistress would not be secure from per-
sonal danger if the prisoner were at large, he should at
once order the depositions to be taken, and commit
her for trial at the sessions.
The prisoner was then locked up in the cells, where
she kept up such an incessant hammering at the door
and shouting, that the gaoler was compelled to close
the lattices, and keep her in darkness until she was
carried away in the van.