Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-04-05
The Great Diamond Case.
From the N. Y. Times

From the N. Y. Times
a new form of crime has been invent
ed III London, end; unless legal provis-
ion IS speedily devised I'd meet the
contingency, we may expect to hear OF
numerous instances of it's commission.
The novelty consists not il the deed
perpetrated, but in the method where
by punishment is evaded For some
time the English Press has given unu-
sual atteTtftn to a certain robbery of
diamonds by Mr.. and Mrs Torpey
and, in the issue of the trial of tf.e
latter person, is illustrated the new
form of crime. To get clear view of
The matter It is peedful to recite it's de
:, tails
On the 18th Of januafy last gentle
man called at the jewelers. shon Of
Messrs. London & Ryder, iii New Bond
street. He asked to see diamonds, and
sCr1e were shown to him. He then
made an arrangement for shopman to
take certain articles Of i5welry to q
house in Upper Berkeley-street Ills
name he left as Mark Tyrreu, and OBJ
served that the object of the arrange
trent in question was that of showing
the diamonds tc his wife-for whose
use they were intended-tefore com
pleting the purchase. The shopman,
one Parkes, went in due time to the
house, and was met at the door bv
Mr.. Tyrrell, who apologized for the alb
serce of q servant, and conducted his
visitors upstairs. When they entered
the drawing room, Mrs Tyrrell-othef-
wise the Martha Torpey who has Just
been tried for the robbery-was seated
by the fire. Parkes soon took the dia-
n2onds from their cases, and exhibited
them to the husband and wife Vari-
Gus remarks were made ON the beauty
OF the gems, their cost and relative de-
STABILITY, and then Tyrrell proposed to
his wife that she should call her sister,
who was said to be in the next room, to
get her opinion on the subject. The
woman left the room as suggested,
leaving Parkes standing with his back
to the door by which she went out. In
few moments she came back and said
her sister would be there directly. At
the same instant she passed behind the
unsuspecting Parkes and crammed q
handkerchief, saturated with some pow
erful anAsthetlc, over his nose and
mouth. At the same time, TyrreI
rushed upon him from the front and
pinned his arms against his sides. A
struggle ensued, Parkes trying to free
his arms, and occasionally escaping
from the handkerchief, but Tyrrell or
Torpey continuing to grapple with him,
and the woman to follow him up, and
to thrust the handkerchief against his
mouth and nostrils, At last "Parkes
was thrown on a sofa and became
insensible. When he recovered he
found himself bound hand and foot,
while his male assailant was standing
over him. The woman was gone
probably to put the jewels in some
secure place = and the man, after
cautioning his prisoner to make no
noise under pain of death, and saying
that in short time some one would
come and release him, disappeared also.
After while Parkes contrived to free
himself and made his escape.
OF course the alarm was given, and
equally OF course the birds had flown.
In the sequel, Torpey got off safe tc
Inc Continent, whore he IS still -
large, taking with him the diamonds.
The police, however, managed to cap
trlre the woman-who had none of the
booty-and the other day Martha Tor
pey was put on trial for the robbery.
All the facts, as we have stated them,
were duly proved, and the case given
to the jury. In seven minutes, and
without leaving the box, that jury
brought in the verdict of not guilty,
and the prisoner was thereupon dis
charged. This singular looking con-
clusion was arrived at upon theory of
great antiquity, but one, we should
suppose, that must be growing more
and more distasteful to o certain class
of "pro gressive thinkers This
theory consists in the legal fiction
that q woman has no existence
save through and by favor of
her husband. The Recorder, in
summing up for the jury, charged
them that the presumption of law was
that when an act was committed by a
wife in the presence of her husband, it
was done under his control. Mr..
Montagu Williams, who urged this line
of defense with remarkable ingenuity
and eloquence, insisted that Mrs. Tor
pey had been actually coerced by her
husband to do as she had done; and
the effect of his glowing periods was
enhanced by the prisoner, who wept 81
lently throughout his speech, while her
baby, in the arms of female warder
hard by, set up ga feeble little wall.
To the eye of common sense, the rob
berry was clear case of conspiracy; to
the eye of the law, the accused was the
innocent tool of a wicked husband
She consequently left the dock not only
scot free, but, in the technical sense,
without stain on her character; and
by this time, no doubt, is sharing with
her lord the fruits of their audacious
enterprise in some town of Southern
France or sunny Italy.