The Sun. — 1847-10-14 (London, England)

WORSHIP-STREET. Yesterday, a woman named Ann Hill was charged with committing the following violent and unprovoked assault upon Mrs. Jane Jackson, the wife of a gunsmith in Well-street, Whitechapel. The complainant stated that while proceeding towards home through Commercial-street, Spitalfields, at eight o'clock on the previous evening, accompanied by her mother, the prisoner, who was an entire stranger to her previously, came up, and accosting her in the most disgusting language, accused her of stealing the infant she had In her arms, with the intention of murdering it—the child being her own child, and the youngest of six. She was so overcome by such an infamous accusation and the positive manner in which it was made, that she could not instantly reply to it; and without allowing her time to do so the prisoner struck her such a violent blow on the face, that she and her infant were both felled to the ground. The child fortunately escaped any serious injury by falling on its mother, but the witness's head came into such violent contact with the edge of the kerbstone that she was completely stunned, and lay there senseless for several minutes, when the instant she was restored to consciousness the prisoner renewed the attack, declared to a large mob whom her outrageous conduct had collected round them that the witness was a woman of loose character, whom she had known twelve years before as frequenting houses of an infamous description, and earnestly assured the crowd that she had been for a long time past in the habit of procuring a living entirely by kidnapping little children. The indignation of the mob against her on hearing this declaration was extreme, and though she assured them and the prisoner herself that they were mistaken, as she had only been in town a few years, they did not appear to believe her, and she was hastening away to escape further molestation, when the prisoner again caught hold of her, and grasped her round the throat with such violence that she was nearly black in the face, and with difficulty escaped strangulation. A policeman, however, fortunately came up at the moment, and, having rescued her from the fangs of the prisoner, carried the latter off to the policestation.  ' The complainant's mother, an elderly respectable' looking widow, corroborated the evidence of her daughter, and stated, that upon endeavouring to undeceive the prisoner by assuring her, as was really the fact, that the complainant and her husband had only lately come from the country, the prisoner abused her in the most infamous manner, declared that she was no better than her daughter, that she had been leading an abandoned life for more than twenty years, and menaced her with personal violence. She assured the magistrate that her daughter was what she appeared to be, a modest, well-conducted married woman, who was endeavouring in the most praiseworthy manner to support her family by her own industry, her husband having been for several weeks confined to his bed by sickness. When called upon for her defence, the prisoner, whose features bore the stamp of confirmed drunkenness, said that whilst passing quietly through the street the complainant either jostled or was pushed forcibly against her, which, as it appeared to be done purposely, induced her to retaliate, and that, although she had certainly been drinking rather freely, the evidence of both witnesses was grossly exaggerated. Mr. HAAIMILL, however, told her it was beyond a doubt that she had been guilty of a most scandalous and unprovoked outrage, and he regretted that the circumstances of the complainant and her husband precluded his sending the charge to the sessions ; but, as such a course would only entail additional annoyance upon those who had suffered enough already, he should adjudicate summarily upon the case, by ordering her to pay the full penalty of 51., or, in default, two months' imprisonment in the House of Correction ; and, at the expiration of that term, she must furthermore find two substantial sureties for her good and peaceable behaviour for the succeeding three months. The MAGISTRATE also ordered some pecuniary assistance to be furnished to the complainant from the funds of the poor-box, which the poor woman thankfully received, and the prisoner, who was unable to pay the penalty, was carried off in the van.