The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-20 00:00:00

GUILDHALL

Mary M'Carty, a diminutive and dark red matron,
native of the county Tipperary, was brought before Sir
PETER LAURIE, on Wednesday last, in a strait-waistcoat,
charged with the following manifestations of excessive dis-
orderliness:—Eating oil-cake, the property of Sir Charles
Flower, from a waggon of his, laden with that unctuous
article, in its passage through Upper Thames-street; per-
sisting in eating the said oil-cake after she had been warned
that it was not food for Christian ladies; threatening divers
persons with the vengeance of Mr. O'Connell, when pre-
vented, vi et armis, from eating any more of the said oil-
cake; raising a mob about the said waggon, by the means
aforesaid ; !setting the police of the city at defiance, and
threatening to " mark every mother's son of them, for
thundering bloody-minded Protestants," which threat she
sedulously endeavoured to carry into effect upon the faces
of several of them ; so that they judged it the safest way to
clap a strait-waistcoat upon her, and bring her forthwith
before the Magistrate.
Before the Magistrate Mrs. M'Carty would give no ac-
count of herself; she would neither tell who she was,
where she lived, nor why she had taken a fancy to devour
the oil-cake ; in fact, she would give no answer to the
questions put to her by the Magistrate, but remained ob-
stinately mute; and therefore the Magistrate, strongly sus-
pecting that she was either drunk or mad, ordered that
she should be detained in custody for a few days, until the
true state of her case should be ascertained.

On Saturday she nas again brought before Sir PETER
LAURIE, but divested of the strait-waistcoat; the officers
stating that she had "come about so comfortably" as to
render the waistcoat no longer necessary ; and they added
that they believed she was more drunk than mad, for they
bad found a pint bottle in her pocket.
"Divel a bit I was drunk at all ! ' said Mrs. M'Carty.
" Then why had you the bottle in your pocket ?" de-
manded Sir PETER LAURIE.

Och, sure I was going to Virginia Chapel to get some
holy water in that," replied Mrs. M'Carty ; and by her
further answers this appeared to he the true state of the case.
At all events she had no other way of accounting for her
vagaries; " for," said she, " devil a bit I was drunk at all,
and I never was mad in my life befoor—nor never will
again, place the Lord."
And thereupon she was discharged, with an admonition
not to suffer herself to he drawn away from the right path
again by such a queer temptation as oilcake.
ST. ANDREW WARDROBE V. FLINTON was a
proceeding by the parish officers of St. Andrew Wardrode
against a person named Flinton, for neglecting or refusing
to maintain his wife. For the defence it was shown that
the wife had sued her husband in the Ecclesiastical Court

for a separate maintenance, on the ground of alleged
adultery on his part ; which suit the Court had dis-
missed, on the ground that both husband and wife had
been equally guilty of that crime; and the husband's
Counsel now contended that as the Ecclesiastical Court
had pronounced the wife not entitled to a separate mainte-
nmce, the husband was not bound to support her.
Sir PETER LAURIE, having heard both sides at great
length, and also evidence in support of the averment of
adultery against the wife, observed that it was a question
of great importance to parishes generally, and therefore he
would take the opinion of the City Solicitor before he pro-
nounced a decision ; and Thursday next was then ap-
pointed for the rehearing.