, 1859-11-15
Singular and Extraordinary Case Of
AT&0ns

About three years ago the daughter of a poor
German painter came 10 this country with her
The family Of Mr. Napoleon Bancroft, on Mar
shall street, Philadelphia, as domestic. She
very soon won for herself the good opinions OF
3fr. Bancroft and his family, and was esteemed
faithful, kind, diliccut and ohliging, although
subsequent revelations proved her to bo 2 girl
Of extraordinary cunning and depravity. About
the time she became fully domcsticated, the
fau,ly missed scyeralarticles Of value, and dis
covered truees Of wanton mischief in many
parts Of the house. Silk flocks Of Mrs. Ban
croft, and several valuable articles Of wearing
apparel belonging to her husband, we're found
tu hare been cut By scissors or otherwise TIRE.
parably injured.
Tie good opinion cntertaincd by the family Of
lhc domestic turned The current uf their suspI-
cions from her. Dy characteristic exhibition
Of cunning, she managed to fnsten all the blame
on little son Of MIR. Bancroft, named Johu not
Of these charges, little johnny was subjectedto
repeated and severe punishmcnts, and vas ut
times confined in a room, tied to n bed-post
with rope: After denying the allegations Of
Ills parents time and again, the son, with hope
Of escaping punishment, was induced to confess
| ihe charges made BY the servant girl.
! This state Of things continued fcE some two
| or three weeks, when on last Tuesday afternoon
the house OF Mr. Bancroft wns discovered to be
on iire. The flames originated in lot Of cloth
/ tuuL uuu UCeH htONEu AWAY II CiDstls ILL
] were discovered BY the Gernlan girl. She gaye
| the alarm to Mr. Bancroft at his office. on Gi-
,ard avenue saying at the time that little john
| ny had done it. While she was gone another
fire b:oke out, which, with the other was easily
| cxtiuguished. 4 half hour afterwards third
fire wAs discovered in closet, and before these
I flames had been quenched, two other fires Of IL
| similar character were discovered in various
| parts Of the house, making no less than five
| fires within two hours. All these fires were
discovered BY the servant and charged on little
| Johnny.
| During the excitement consequent upon ex~
tinguishlng fires, i friend Of the family, named
john II. Uuilcau, entered. After assisting to
drown the flames aud examining the premises,
! lie became conyinced that Johnny was innocent
and tint the girl was the culpable party. lie
succeeded in convincing the parents Of Johnny
| that his suspicious were correct. and charged
the girl with the commission Of the crime. She
| nude partial acknowledgement Of her guilt,
| and the circumstances were reported 10 FIRE
Marshal Blackburn. She was arrested by Con-
stable johnson, and underwent a most search
ing aud severe examination at the hands Of the
| Fire Marshal, who came to the conclusion ar
rived at BY Mr.. Boiteau. On being taken to the
Aiderman's Office, she made-a full confession TO
the Marshal, and was committed to answer the
charge In this confession she admitted her.
self to be the author Of all the mischief for
| which poor Johnny had been punished.
After the hearing, the girl WIS taken to DR..
Haynes, the phreaologist, who made an exam
inatiou Of her head. The result Of this exu,nl-
nation ms reported to us, exempliied in stron:
way the teachings Of the science ofphreuolosy.
The moral faculties were dininised, while tic
sei8EEsal strongly predonina.ed. The organs cf
acquisitivcness, secretiyeness, dcstrccsivcuezs,
and the sensual organs were very largely de-
veloped, while veneration and bencvo!ence were
almost entirely obliterated This case il ali its
singular aud extraordinary features, exhibits an
instuuce Of Il monomania 10 commit crime, and
total want Of moral force, rarely equalled in
tie annals of criminal jurisprudence.-PAita
| Ptt.s 1Ofh