The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-25 00:00:00

CLERKEIV WELL,

- Mr. COMBE—What have you to say to this charge
of beating your mother ? Prisoner (sneeringly)-1
don't know whether she is my mother or not ; per-
haps.l am a bastard.

Mr. Counc---Has he ever ill-treated you before ?
The unfortunate mother bared her neck, and showed
the marks of three stripes, which she declared the
prisoner hal caused by dragging a red hot poker over
that part of her body. He heated the poker for the
purpose.
Mr. COMBE—What have you to say to that ?
Prisoner-ust nothing, ,
Mr. OOMBE—You must: go to the House of Cor-
rection for two months, or pay a fine of 51.
He was committed.
" ' 171V102VHALL.
• Hartiot Thorp; a dwarf, was.charged before Mr. Cot-
tingham with taking laudanum for the purpose of de-
stroying herself. '
It appeared that on Tuesday night a policeman found
the defendant lying asleep on the step of a door. He
awoke her with-difficulty, and she then told him she had-
taken laudanum; when he took her to the hospital, and
the stomach-pump having been used, it was brought
away,.and she recovered.
In.reply to Corrnicii.kx, the defendant,said that
she was a native of Bristol, at which place she joined a
travelling showman, and exhibited. as a dwarf in his
:caravan-at the different fairs throughout the 'country;
that she-_hai ,been lately exhibiting at Chelms-
ford, that the business being slack,;the man she
was with sent ilei• :11 to London, saying that he would
soon follow her. She had our tittle money on her arrival,
and this being expended she was drier.; to want, and
obtained a little work, but this failing she was Ili
reduced to a state of destitution, and while in that con-
dition bought some laudanum and swallowed it to put an
end to her misery.
The MAGISTRATE having condemned the conduct of
the chemist in selling the defendant such. a quantity of
laudanum, said that as she had showed such a determina-
tion to destroy herself, he could not let her go at large
without some person came forward, and was bound for
her future good behaviour.—She was then locked up.

HAMMERSMITH.

Henry Jones, John Hill, William Benson, Henry
Key, and James Foreman, labourers, were charged
with causing the death of a man named George Ben-
son, in a fight, which took place on Sunday morning,
near the Basin of the Kensington Canal. The first
was charged as a principal, and the rest as aiders and
abettors in acting as seconds. After the hearing of
the evidence relative to the fight, and the death of the
deceased from the injuries he had received, the priso-
ners were remanded till Thursday.

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

Monday a Commission de lunatico inquirendo was
opened at the Ship Inn, Waltham Abbey, before Mr.
Commissioner Winslow and sixteen special jurors, of
whom J. Colvin, Esq., was foreman, to inquire into
arl'
commission Escl '
of
as of " Dr. Al-
len's
Asylum,
the state of mind of Herbert Mayo, Esq., aged 40, a
gentleman of fortune, of the county of Herts, and
Theobald's Park,
Essex,son-in-lawe described
t giiin
inh the a
Beach, Essex:'
Mr. Birkbeck (son of the late Dr. Birkbeck) ap-
peared as Counsel in support of the Commission ; and
Mr. Cotton, solicitor, to watch the case on behalf of
the alleged lunatic.
The unfortunate gentleman, a fine-looking man,
but with a countenance exhibiting a sort of wildness,
was present during the inquiry, but took little inte-
rest in the proceedings.
It appeared from the statement of Counsel, and the
evidence of Dr. Allen and other witnesses, that Mr.
Mayo has a family of six children, and is entitled to
property amounting to about 3,0001. a year. He
had, previous to 1840, exhibited some flightiness, but
during that year, while residing at Oxford, symptoms
of aberration first manifested themselves. He then
lost a favourite dog which concerned him much,
and he appeared so overjoyed at its restoration
that he actually sat up two nights with the dog. In
1841, he lost a child, of whom the surgeon deemed
it necessary to have a post mortem examination, when
Mr. Mayo conducted himself very strangely, and was
present at and assisted in the post mortem examination.
On another occasion he gst two of his children into a
room, shut them in; and alarmed them by brandish-
ing two cutlasses. lie barricaded the door, to pre-
vent any person going in, by placing a chest of
drawers against it. The children screamed loudly,
upon which he threatened to kill them, and going to
the window flourished the cutlasses therefrom anti
collected a mob in the streets below. The door was
at length forced open, when he cut at the persons who
attempted to enter with such violence, as to sever part
of the door post ; and when at last persons succeeded
in entering and rescuing the children, he leaped from
the window into the street and sprained his ancle. In
1842, hearing his wife was coming to Oxford, al-
though he had prwiously been an affectionate hus-
band, he precipitately left and went to Cheshunt,
where he resided some time at a public-house, pur-
suing the same uproarious career, until it was at
length found necessary to remove him, under the
usual certificate, to the establishment of Dr. Allen, at
High Beach. Dr. Allen and other medical gentlemen
were of opinion that Mr. Mayo was 'decidedly of un-
sound mind, and incapable of managing himself or
his affairs.

The remarks made by M. Mayo, in reply to the
Commissioner's questions, were of such an incoherent
character as to satisfy the minds of the jury, and a
verdict was returned---" That Mr. Herbert Mayo was
of unsound mind, and had been so from the 25th of
September, 1842."

DYING WITLI TILE REPUTATION OF WEALTH.—
On Monday Mr. Wakley, M.P., held an inquest at the
Three Compasses, Little Marylebone-street, on the body
of Eliza Jerrold, aged eighty-four, who died suddenly at
her lodgings, 12, Chesterfield-street, last Friday. The.
usual evidence as to deceased's death having been given,
several females rose, and, addressing the Coroner, stated
that she died wealthy, and each put in her claim to it,
from promises made and hopes .held out by deceased.
One said that deceased told her that she should be her
residuary legatee ; another, that deceased made her pro-
mise that she should close her eyes and follow her to the
grave ; a third laid claim to deceased's property, in
consequence of the latter having washed and dressed her
when she was born ; and several others laid claims to
effects and chattels upon somewhat similar grounds.
Mr. Wakley, who was little prepared for this scene, es-
pecially as deceased's. apartment betrayed anything but
the appearance of opulence, inquired if she had possessed
any property, when he was informed that she had been
a housekeeper to a respectable builder, who, in return
for her faithful services, bequeathed her an annuity of
531, and that she had been a woman of most frugal
habits. Mr. Walcley explained that his office was to in-
quire into the cause of death, and not the amount of
property. He added that it was most extraordinary
how many relatives and friends were found when property
was in quest:on, while he scarcely ever knew one to
come forward when death took place in a workhouse.
A Voice—" But where is the box ?" Several Voices—
" Yes, yes, where is. the tin box ?" Mr. Wakley—
What tin box ? First• Voice—" in which she kept her
money." A Mr. Parrot said, " I have it ; she left all
her property to my wife three years ago." Another
Voice—" Here is her will" (holding up a piece of dirty
paper, scribbled over). Mr.. Wakley (rising from his
seat, and endeavouring to make the best of his way from
among the contending legatees)—You must put the case
in the hinds of the Queen's Remetnbrancer. The worthy
Coroner having given this advice left the several
claimants to settle the dispute among themselves, having
first directed the beadle hew he should 494

BRUTAL TREATMENT OF A MOTHER BY A SON.—
Natluzniel Marks, a furniture broker, residing in
Eliza•place, Sadler's Wells, was charged with violently
assaulting Elizabeth Marks, his mother. The parties
are of the Jewish persuasion.
The prosecutor deposed that on Saturday, between
twelve and one o'clock, she went into the workshop
and asked her son to accompany her, in order to pur-
chase an oven; he refused in a very violent manner,
upon which she observed that he ought to be ashamed
of himself to treat his aged mother so in the presence
of his workmen. Upon this he rushed upon her,
seized her by the shoulder, and forced her out of the
shop. She strove to save herself fro.n falling down
the steps, but the prisoner having broken her gripe of
the door-post, knocked her down, and she fell on the
kerb-stone outside with great violence. When down
the prisoner kicked her on the body and side until
she was insensible. Her flesh in these places was
greatly contused, and she was still suffering much
pain.