The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-15 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER ADJOURNED
SESSIONS

(Before Mr. WALESBY and a full Bench of Magistrates.)
On Friday John Cowley surrendered to take his trial
for an assault on Mrs. Mary Anne Peel, on the 20th of
March. Mr. Prendergast appeared for the prosecution,
and Mr. Wilde conducted the defence.
During the trial the defendant was allowed to sit be-
hind his counsel.
The circumstances under which the assault was com-
mitted were as follow :—During the latter end of last
year the husband of the prosecutrix was in trouble, and
while in the Insolvent:Debtors' Prison the prosecutrix
was desirous of entering into business, and having heard
that a public-house, called the Grapes, in Old ('ompton-
street, Soho, was to be disposed of, she applied to Mr.
Forewig, who had the letting of the house, and with
whom she came to terms, on condition of giving him a
bill of exchange for 3001. The defendant at that time
was on friendly terms with the prosecutrix, and being
anxious to forward her interests, env-red into security
to Mr. Forewig for the prosecutrix, and the latter
took possession of the house on the 4th of December
last. Subsequently the defendant was in the habit of
giving references to different tradesmen to the Grapes,
and in those instances he generally- represented him-
self as a captain in the navy, and proprietor of the
public-house in question, to which he. seemed to think
he had a right, by frequently calling in (as the pro-
secutrix stated) in a friendly way to dine, and when
short of money would call on Mrs. Peel to replenish
his pockets. However, on the 20th of March the de-
fendant came to the Grapes, accampanied by a broker
and eighteen men, took possession of the house, and
commenced moving the furniture. The prosecutrix,
with her husband, was at the time at breakfast upstairs,
and hearing the noise, both came down to the bar, and
found the defendant, with his men, taking everything
moveable, and placing them in a van, which stood in the
street. The prosecutrix ran to the station-house to get
assistance, and on her return, she found her. husband had
beets turned out of the house. She then went to the
rear of the house, and succeeded in making an entrance
through one of the back windows into the concert-room.
The defendant, who was in the room at the time, seized
a quart pot, and struck the prosecutrix a violent blow on
the back of the head, from the effects of which she has
not yet recovered, and on the next day the defendant
took the prosecutrix before the presiding magistrate at
Marlborough-street, charging her with keeping forcible
possession, but the magistrate dismissed the case.
Mr. Wil.nr., having addressed the jury, called several
witnesses for the defence.

The CHAIRMAN having summed up the evidence,
The jury deliberated for a short time, and returned a
verdict of Guilty against the defendant.
Tho COURT ordered him to pay a fine of 51. to the
Queen, and to be imprisoned until such fine be paid.
Mr. PRENDERGAST suggested to the Court that the
only wish of the prosecutrix was, that he should be
bound over in his own recognizance to keep the peace ;
to which the Court assented, in addition to the fine.

SURREY QUARTER SESSIONS.
MR. W. COULSTOCIE, APPELLANT, THE MAGISTRAT/S

OF THE CROYDON DIVISION, RESPONDENTS.

This was an appeal against a deei,ion of the bench
of magistrates at Croydon, refusing the appellant a
license to retail spirit.- at the Ralk, ay Tavern, in the
Addiscombe-road, near to the Brighton Railway Ter-
minus. The case occupied the Court from ten in the
morning till eight at night, and from the circum-
stances connected with it created a great deal of in-
terest. _

Messrs Wellidger and Knapp were for the appel.
lent; and Mr. Montague Chambers and Mr. Taylor
appeared on behalf of the Croydon bench.
The grounds on which the license was claimed
were, that it would be a great accommodation to
parties travelling by the railway, who had occasion
to alight at Croydon, ;ld the Director; of the
Brighton Railway expres,ed their opinion to that
effect. A number of witne<ses were caned, who
stated their opinion to the effect that the granting of
a license would be really an accommodation to the
public, and that the house was required. Evidence
was given to show that the house was commodiously
fitted up, and in every way calculated for the recep-
tion of visitors, and to give them the accommodation
required. It should b stated that a great wally of

the witnesses were railway clerks, and persons ac-
quainted with Mr Couistock.
Upon the other hand it was contended, in support
of the decision of the bench, that the house in question
was not required ; and it was also urged that there
was another licensed Ivaise, the William the Fourth,
kept by Mr. Laing, within a very short distance, asi
that two houses were not necessary. The petition of
the other licensed victuailers of the town was also put
in against the license, and it repi-e-ented that, owing
to the decrease of traffic occasioned by the railway,
they were at present only with difficulty able to get
a living, and that it was impossible for another li-
censed house to be required for to be advantageous to
the public.
After a great many witnesses had been examined
on both sides,

The COURT decided up ,n allowing the appeal, and
directed the license to be granted forthwith.

CORONER'S INQUEST.

On Saturday a lengthened inquiry was instituted
before Mr. Baker, the coroner, at the Brown Bear,
Leman-street, Whitechapel, respecting the death of a
fine young woman, named Elizabeth Ilatchell, aged
23, who died in the Whitechapel workhouse. . .
It having been repurted that the deceased had died
front the effects of sumo• poison administered for the
purpose of procuring abortion, more than usual in.
terest was manifested during the proceedings, and
which was incrett.ed from the circumst ince of there
being some presumed neglect of the parochial autho-
rities.

Sarah Higgs, one of the nurses in the above poor-
house, stated that the deceased .became an inmate of
that establishment about a fortnight before her demise.
She was a single woman, and an entry stated that she
was enciente. She had been a servant at Mr. Bar.
low's, the furnishing ironmonger, in King William-
street, and had been seduced by the foreman in. that
gentleman's employ, who had. since that period ab-
sconded to Liverpool. On the morning of the .30th
ult. she was suddenly taken ill with .the pains of la-
bour, she remained so for- twelve hours, and her ac-.
couchement then took place, the .infant being still
alive. She was properly attended throughout the de-
livery by the parish doctors, Messrs. Forster and
Ricketts. On the following day she expressed a
strong desire to see her mother, but, owing to some
mistake or other, she did not see her till the fourth
day of her confinement. On last Sunday her counte-
nance underwent a most remarkable change, having
turned quite yellow, and the medical ger3t:emet .were
irameliately called in, who acinfolisterA powders to
her and had mustard poultices applied, but she gra,
dually got worse, apparently as if in a stupor, . and
died on Wednesday last.
-The Coroner inquired of this witness if. she had
heard that the deceased had.in any way taken. drugs
for the purpose of abortion ? She replied in the ne-
gative, but stated that the deceased had attempted to
take poison, for what purpose she did not know, but
was prevented by the father .of the child, who ob-
tained possession of the poison, and threw it down a
sinkhole. .

The Coroner wi lied to know what gave rise to the
idea that she had taken poison ? Mr. Forster, the
surgeon, remarked that the deceased had taken some-
thing; and the master of
.the workhouse being in-
formed by the mother of the deceased that her daugh-
ter had been in the habit of taking drugs, in order to,
produce abortion, that official thought it prudent that.
the Coroner should be made acquainted with the fact.
The Coroner observed that it was a most extraordi-
nary case: He did not think that the deceased had in
any way taken poison, from.the fact of the child being
born a fortnight ago, and still living in a healthy state.
Mr. Forster was then examined, and deposed that
he was called to the deceased last Sunday, when
she was seized violently ill. lie found her labouring
under diarrhm and inflammation of the bowels, and
which ultimately caused her dea'h. He had been in-
formed that she had attempzed to take poison to
destroy herself, and other drugs so as to produce
abortion. If she had taken the latter, it would have
no effect upon the child, presuming it was born s,)on
afterwards.

The Coroner here put it to Mr. Forster, whether,
if the body was opened, he could discover proof of
poison, now that the child had been born more than
a fortnight. He answered that, if such was the fact,
he should find ulceration in the inte,tines.

The Coroner was of a different opinion, and he
should wish to know the feeling of the jury on the
subject, whether an adjournment was required, so as
to allow a post- mortem examination to be made.
The jury replied th it they did not think it neces-
sary, as so long a period had elapsed, and they con-
sidered that it would be impossible for the medical
man to trace any marks of poison.—A verdict of
" Natural Death" was ultimately recorded.

FIRE in the WESTMINSTER-ROAD

Shortly before four o'clock on Sunday morning a fire
broke out upon the premises belonging to Mr. Pardon,
hosier and linendraper, 'carrying on business at No.
81, Westminster-road, Lambeth. Police-constable
Fenn, of the L division, was the first to make the
discovery. It appears that the officer, in passing
along his beat, had his attention directed to the
premises by perceiving a dense suffocating body of
smoke issuing through the apertures in the window-
shutters. With all possible expedition an alarm was
raised, and the inmates aroused from their slumberi,
but by the time they were all awake, the whole of the
shop had become one vivid sheet of fire, and which
was making rapid progress up the staircase, to the
different apartments in the butldng, thereby cutting
off all escape by the usual means. The constable, seeing
the great danger to which gr. Pardon and his family
were exposiql, ran and brought a ladder, which he placed
in front of the l.lazing premise's, hoping to take the resi •
dents out with its aid, but so strong a hold had the
fire obtained of the whole of the upper portion of the
house, that the constable was obliged to immediately
retreat. Mr. Pardon, with several brinches of his
family, were to be seen in the kitchen area, confined
there by means of an iron grating, begging arid
praying to the officer to reletise them. At first, their
destruction appeared inevitable, but several other 'offi-
cers came up and happily succeeded in forcing up the
grating, when the affrighted persons were, one after
another, released. By this time the Waterloo-road
brigade engine had arrived with a strong body of
the brigade, followed by the West of England en-
gine, with Mr. Connorton and the Company's fire-
men. There being an abundant supply of water
flowing from the firemains in the neighbourhood,
these two engines were set to work, but the
fury of the flames were such that they de-
fied for some minutes the exertions of the firemen.

Mr. Braidwood, superintendent of the brigade, with
an engine from Watling-street, and Mr. Carter with
the County firemen and engine, were also at the scene
of conflagration. The firemen continued to work
with little intermission until half-past five o'clock,
when it bdcame evident that they had obtained the
complete mastery of the fire, and no further destruc-
tion of property occurred. Mr. Pardon, whose loss
is very heavy, we understand is insured in the County
Fire- office.