Star.
London, England, 1810-10-11 00:00:00

SURREr SESSIONS.

Yesterday, Ann Roikr was indicted fer keeping a
disorderly house in Artillery-streets St. George's

Mr. Nor.Ax, on the part of the prosecution, stated,
that this was an indictment brought against the de-
fendant by the Parish Officers of St. George, by the
express direction of the Magistrates at Union Hall,
charging her with being a person of ill fame, and the
keeper of a disorderly house, in that parish ; the crime
with which the defendant was charged the Jury would
find aggravated by some circumstances which though
not strictly connected With the indictment, he should
feel it his duty to mention. some time since the
daughter of Mr. Richard Brariscomb, a child about
eleven years of age, was lost to her parents. Whether
she absented herself of her own accord, or whether
She was inveigled away, they could not discover;
they learned, however, that she had been in the house
of the defendant, though they did not find her there.
She was at List discovered in the poor-house of the
parish of St. Clement anies. The story which the
child told, however, was, that she was spirited away
by one of the unfortunate girls who did lodge in Mn.
Rotter's house, who took her to the house, and told
the defendant she had brought her another lodger.—
Mrs. Rotter said, however, That she could not take
her in, unless she brought a sheet and some other
things, which it was customary for those who lodged
in her house to furnish themselves with. The child
accordingly went back, and continued with her father
and mother till she had an opportunity of getting the
things mentioned, 'when she returned to the defen-
dant's house ; there, however, she continued only two
nights, and then wandered away, and was found, as
before stated, in St. Clement Danes poonhouse.—
, He should prove that the house Mrs. Rotter kept was
a disorderly house, and if he should prove these ag-
gravated circumstances, he felt convinced the Jury
would find the defendant guilty, and the Court inflict
such exemplary punishment upon her as the enormity
of her crime deserved.

Ann Smith, a girl about eighteen, was then called,
who said she had lodged in the defendant's IKetse
seven weeks, she paid 15s. per week for her lodging,
and 2s. 6d. per day for board, and found her own
beer. Mrs. Rotter knew it was for the purpose of
seeing gentlemen that she had the apartment. She
frequently introduced gentlemen to the witness, and
arranged the price they were to pay fcr the favours
granted them.
Mr. Branscomb's child was then set up, and the
witness was asked, if she knew of her being in the de-
fendant's house ? to which she replied, she was cer-,
Wu that was not the child who was there ; the girl
brought to Mrs. Routes house was fourteen years of
age, and had more the appearance of a woman than
Bra nscomb.

Cross-examined by Mr. limtnnw.—She had an op.
portunity of seeing every thing which passed in the
defendant's house, and. if Branscomb had been there,
she must have known it. There were no more riots
is the defendant's house than in other houses in
the neighbourhood. There was but one mocha louse
in the :area.

Ann Carney, another girl, lodged in the house on
tlw same terms. The defendant asked her, when she
took the lodging, if she was a girl of the town i The
deie.nd ant had frequently introduced gentlemen to her.
On her cross-examination, she said, she was sure she
never saw the child, Branscomb, in the house ; there
was a girl, about 14 years old, who slept there three
nights, and was going to Camberwell Fait with her,
the witness, but the girls in the neighbourhood cried
shame of it, and a woman in the street took her into
her house, since which time the witness had not seen
her.

Mr. Nolaa was here going to put the child into th•
witness's box, to prove that she had been in the
house ; when _ _

Mr.- Barrow objected to it, as being contrary to
the rules of the Court for any party to call witnesses
to contradict their own evidence.

The Court held the objection to be good•; and the
child was not examined:

Mr. Barrow thee} addressed the Jury, on the part
of the defendant. He contended, that his Learned
Friend having failed in proving that Branscomb's
child had been in the defendant's house, the. case
merely became the common case of a person keeping
a disorderly house ; and the most atrocious part of
the offence was done away. The defendant was a
widow,- and had three children to maintain ; and
though she had not chosen the most moral or meri-
torious way of providing for them, yet he hoped, for
their sakes, the Court, if they should find her guilty,
which, upon the evidence, he feared they must,
would inflict as lenient a punishment as the nature of
the offence would admit.

The Jury &and her guilty, and the Chairman, af-
ter a suitable address to her, pronounced the sentence
of-the Court, which was, that she should he impri-
soned in the County Gaol for six calendar months.
Fred••rick Myers was indicted for stealing a bun-
dle, containing two table-cloths, and two shifts, the
property of V Hudson.- It appeared, that the son
of the prosecutor, a boy about I years of age, had
seen sent by his mother to Camberwell, to fetch the
articles mentioned/in the indictment, from a washer-
wont:la's, and, on his return, be was met in a field by
the prisoner, who told him to get down into the
ditch, to look for something he said he had lost. The
boy did • so, and, in the mean time, the prisoner
wok an opportunity to no off with the.bundleo The

boy, hOwever, giving the alatm, the prisoner was
secured. The Jury found him guilty. In his de-
fence, the prisoner said he got his living by recruit-
ing ; and the Court seat him to recruit for seven
years in New South Wales, or the islands adjacent.