The Sun. — 1845-12-15 (London, England)

LAMBETH. Miss Selina Sainfield, the daughter of the principal engineer in her Majesty's dockyard at Portsmouth, who had been charged at this Court, on Monday last, with having made two attempts to commit self-murder by swallowing large doses of arsenic, was brought from Lambeth Workhouse for final examination before Mr. Henry. The prisoner, on her last examination, attributed her attempts at self-destruction to her having been obliged in the first instance to leave her home in consequence of her father getting married to a second wife, and refusing to contribute to her support ; and she herself not being able to earn a subsistence at stay stitching, at which she had been employed. Her brother, on the contrary, declared she and her sister had left Portsmouth with two common vagabonds, and had subsequently been leading dissolute lives in town, and that this was the real cause of his father withdrawing his support from them. He (the son) however undertook to see his father on the subject, and the prisoner, instead of being committed to prison, was sent to Lambeth Workhouse. Mr. Steel, residing at 19, Brunswick-street, Stamfordstreet, deposed that Miss Stanfield had occupied an apartment of his house for fifteen or sixteen months, and while there had conducted herself with strict propriety. Her father paid her rent of ss. a week, but ultimately withheld it, in consequence of some representation, or rather misrepresentation of her conduct by a lady, " a friend to the family." The prisoner, while at his house, used sometimes to work at dressmaking with his (witness's) daughter, and at other times at staystitching, and, in so far as he had observed, seemed anxious to earn a living. Mrs. Garrett, at whose house the prisoner more recently lived, also gave her a good character for propriety of conduct. Mr. Henry Stanfield, the prisoner's brother, who is an engineer, here said that, in accordance with his promise on Monday last, he had visited his father in reference to the present charge against his sister, and had received his assurance that whatever the law compelled him to pay for the prisoner's support, he should do. so, or he should be perfectly satisfied to pay any sum his Worship should, under the circumstances, consider sufficient for her maintenance. The brother went on to say, that, notwithstanding all that had been said by Mr. Steel and Mrs. Garrett, he was sorry to say the prisoner's habits were far from moral or proper, and in confirmation of this, he begged to hand to the magistrate for his perusal two letters he had selected out of a number of a similar description. Mr. HENRY, after looking at the letters, desired that they Weis t P t banded to the prisoner.  This was done, and Miss Stanfield acknowledged she knew the writers of both, and that one was addressed to her sister and the other to herself. Mr. HENRY remarked that the contents of the letters went to show that their conduct was not strictly proper. He, however, suggested, as the best course, that the prisoner should be allowed ten shillings a wesk by the father for her support. Her brother said that this sum should be carefully contributed; and, after much crimination and recrimination between brother and sister, the latter agreed to go back to Mrs. Garrett's for the present.