The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-06-15 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY ROMANCE.

A most repulsive romance was related at the Mansion
House on Saturday week, when Mehemet Abraham, a blind ,
jet-black beggarman, who is usually led through the
streets by a brown dog, and Eliza —, aged 23, the
daughter of a gentleman of fortune who resides in Lon-
don, were brought before the Lord Mayor by Henry
Major, an officer of the Mendicity Society. The male
prisoner is a peculiarly revolting object, his head being
covered with long matted hair, and the covering upon his
limbs being tattered and filthy in an extreme degree. The
woman is a small-sized, pretty-faced one, presenting a re-
markable contrast to the wretched creature who accom-
panied and was cherished by her. The officer, in reply to
the Lord Mayor, said he had traced them to their very
bed together, and then read the following history of the
young woman, as given by her father in a letter to the
secretary of the Mendicity Society :
" Dear Sir,—l beg to submit the following distressing
case to your sympathies, and to solicit from you the ad-
vice and assistance which I am led to understand are
kindly afforded by your society in extraordinary cases out
of the pale of parental authority. By birth and education
a gentleman, I married in the year 1829 a lady in the
same sphere of society, by whom I had issue two daugh-
ters, the eldest of whom (the unfortunate subject of this
application), now twenty-three years of age, was, from the
age of three months, brought up and educated in the first
style by her maternal grandfather and grandmother. At
their decease, about seven or eight years since, she be-
came an unwilling inmate of her parents' dwelling, from
which she contrived to get away with a married man, and
was not heard of (having eluded the efforts of the police
to trace her for many months) until the receipt of a letter
in the Times newspaper, from Mr. D'Arcy, our solicitor,
at Newton Abbott, Devonshire, in which paper a detailed
and humane account of the distressing condition of a
young lady then lying in St. Luke's workhouse appeared
under the assumed name of Elizabeth Allen. This ac-
count, as regarded my daughter, abounded with the most
atrocious falsehoods, as detailed by herself to the board of
guardians of St. Luke's. My wife, having a cousin of the
name, to whom the solicitor suggested it might apply—
went to St. Luke's, and found our daughter to be the
person whose case had been detailed in the Ti»zes, and on
her being brought; before them and her mother, was there
and then convicted of deliberate falsehood and fraud, and
handed over to her mother. Exertions were then suc-
cessfully made to get her cured of a complication of loath-
some disorders at St. Barthelornew's Hospital, whence,
after being brought to a state of convalescence, and rob-
bing some of the nurses of small sums of money, she es-
caped, and again was lost sight of for many months, when
a gentleman, a friend of the family, saw her and gave her
into custody of the police, who restored her once more to
her afflicted parents. Her conduct from this period was
infamous in the extreme, and, on her coming of age, she
threw off all restraint, and having a small house property
in Devonshire, subject to her parents' interest, but which
was waived in her favour, she left us, nor did we know of
her whereabouts until about ten months since. I met her
in the streets of Whi'echapel, in the last state of destitu-
tion, filth, and rags, singing ballads. My humanity once)
again led me to speak to her, and to remonstrate, the re-
sult of which was that we took her home, cleansed,
clothed, and cared for her. This lasted but a short time,
and her recurrence to her former habits again precluded
all knowledge respecting her, until, a few days since, we
received a letter from our solicitor, saying that he had
heard from our daughter, as the wife of a Mr. Abraham,
desiring the sale of her property, and requesting bins to
take the necessary steps—one of these, and the prelimi-
nary step, being our signatures and consent. My first
impulse was to visit the locality specified in the solicitor's
letter, 7, Little Halifax-street, \Vhitechapel,' and there,
in one miserable room, cohabiting with a black blind beg-
gar, who perambulates the streets with a brown dog, this
wretched girl is to be found. The parties who live in the
same house say that she has been cohabiting with this
monstrous loathsome being for two months, and that they
live most luxuriously. Her mother, who has had an in-
terview with her, states that she boasts of this man bring-
ing her home from the West-end frequently 15s. per day,
and on an average 7s. or Bs. per diem. She stated herself
to have been married to him seven months since at White-
chapel Church, which, on careful inquiry, I find to be
false, having examined the church books and seen the of-
ficials on the subject. These latter circumstances induce
me to think that the humanity and exertions of your so-
ciety may be made available for the suppression of so
much vice, and the salvation of this unfortunate child."

The Lord Mayor.—Certainly this is the most horrible
piece of London romance I ever heard of, and it would
be quite incredible if I had not here before me all the
persons concerned. Is it possible, young woman, that
you can have any respect or affection for the miserable
creature at your side ?

The Female Prisoner.—Yes, I have both respect and
affection for him. I have no idea of leaving him. We
can do very well together (and she laid hold of the tatter-
demalion's greasy black paw).
The Alendicity Officer.—The man has been begging
about for several years, and I have no doubt' is well able
to keep a woman in great luxury. lam convinced that
the girl has been attracted by the excellent living with
which he indulges her. They have been in the habit of
getting the best, and she does not deny it.
The Female Prisoner.—Well, I can't go home, and I
won't go home.
The Black said that he had been dog-led through the
streets of London for eight years; that there could be no
mistake about his blindness, and if any one knew how a
blind man was to support himself, except upon the kind-
ness of those who were not blind, he would be much
obliged to be informed.

The Lord Mayor then communicated privately with the
father of the girl, and both prisoners were remanded. A
large sum of money was found at their lodgings.

ARMY AND NAVY.

WAR OFFICE, JUNE 8.-7th Reeitnent of Light Dra-
goons : Lieut. W. D. Bushe to be Captain, by purchase,
vice Sartoris. who retires ; Cornet the Hon. No Do Vesci
Twisleton Wykeham Finnes, to be Lieut., by purchase,
vice Busche. 9th Foot : Major B. V. Layard to be Lieut.-
Colonel, by purchase, vice Densmore, who retires ; Capt.
C. Ehnhirst to be Major, by purchase, vice Layard ;
Lieut. J. W. Percy to be Captain, by purchase, vice Elm-
hirst ; Ensign J. L. Thurshy to be Lieut., by purchase,
vice Percy. 22nd Foot : Ensign W. M'Bean to be Lieut.,
by purchase, vice Graham, promoted ; Ensign W. Mac-
pherson, from the Ist Foot, to be Ensign, vice M'Bean.
2Gth Foot : Lieut. F. A. Quartley, from the 38th Foot,
to be Lieut., vice Stratton, who exchanges. 38th Foot :
Lieut. J. Stratton, from the 26th Foot, to he Lieut., vice
Quartley, who exchanges. 42nd Foot : Lieut. A. Pit-
cairn to be Captain, by purchase, vice Drummond, who
retires. 50th Foot : Captain W. Bellingham, from the
65th Foot, to he Captain, vice Anderson, who exchanges.
59th Foot : Ensign G. Tom to be Lieut., by purchase,
vice Wigmore, who retires. 61st Foot: Ensign W.
W. Pattoun to be Lieut., by purchase, vice Wall, who
retires. 65th Foot : Captain W. A. D. Anderson, from
the 50th Foot, to be Captain, vice Bellingham, who ex-
changes. 67th Foot : Captain the Hon. W. F. Cowper,
from half-pay Unattached, to be Captain, vice Bunbury,
who exchanges ; Lieut. Count W. C. Rivarola to be Cap-
tain, by purchase, vice Cowper, who retires ; Ensign A.
H. Coney to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Rivarola.
69th Foot : Captain G. Henry, from half-pay Unattached,
to be Captain (repaying the difference), vice Moore, who
exchanges; Lieut. G. Begot to be Captain, by purchase,
vice Henry, who retires ; Ensign H. B. Brady, to be
Lieut., by purchase, vice Begot. 71st Foot : Major N.
M. Stack to be Lieut.-Colonel, by purchase, vice Sir H.
Dalrymple, Bart., who retires ; Captain C. Ready to be
Major, by purchase, vice Stack. 91st Foot : Gent. Cadet
C. G. Dewell, from the Royal Military College, to be
Ensign, without purchase, vice Battiscombe, promoted.
Ist West India Regiment : Ensign W. Cave to be Lieu-
tenant, by purchase, vice Murphy. who retires. 2d West
India Regiment : Lieutenant G. Bennett to be Captain,
without purchase, vice Gordon, deceased ; Ensign F.
Rumley, to be Lieutenant, without purchase,vice Bennett.
Brevet : Captain G. Henry, of the 69th Foot, to be Major
in the Army ; Brevet Alajor G. Henry, of the 69th Foot,
to be Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army; Captain the Hon.
W. F. Cowper, of the 67th Foot, to be Major in the Army.
ADMIRALTY. JUNE 7.—The following promotions took
place on the 4th instant, consequent on the decease, on
the 3rd instant, of Vice-Admiral of the Red Robt. Jack-
son :—Vice-Admiral of the White J. Sykes, Esq., to be
Vice-Admiral of the Red ; Vice-Admiral of the Blue the
Hon. G. Poulett to he Vice-Admiral of the White ; Rear-
Admiral of the Red H. Parker, Esq , C. 8., to be Vice-
Admiral of the Blue ; Rear-Admiral of the White W.
Fisher, Esq., to be Rear-Admiral of the Red; Rear-Ad-
miral of the Blue Sir J. G. Sinclair, Bart. to be Rear-
Admiral of the White ; Captain Sir W. E. Parry, Knt.,
to be Rear-Admiral of the Blue.