The Sun. — 1830-05-11 (London, England)

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.  MANSION-HOUSE.  Yesterday two examinations took place before the LORD MAYOR, which exhibited proofs, in different ways, of the gin system. Mary Palmer, a young woman of genteel appearance, and extremely well dressed, was charged by an officer under the following circumstances:— On Sunday morning the defendant and another young woman, accompanied by two men, began to sing a glee in Coleman-street, to the utmost extent of their voices; and as the inhabitants had often expressed their aversion to such serenading as four drunken people may be supposed capable of giving, one of the officers went up to the " chanters," and requested that they would not persevere in breaking the rest of the neighbourhood. As soon as the glee was finished, all departed except the defendant, who thought herself bound to make amends for the absence of the other performers, and screamed as loud as she could, so that several persons left their beds, and threw up the windows to ascertain the cause of such horrible noise. The officer's advice and threats were equally ineffectual, and he was obliged to take the girl into custody, and lodge her in the watchhouse. So far the matter was comic enough, but in the strong-room of the watch-house the unfortunate creature was- ♦ery near putting a tragic termination to it and to herself. It was evident that she had been drinking ardent spirits, and the moment she was introduced to her prison she became exceedingly dejected, and looked broken-hearted. The watch-house-keeper, soon after she was locked up, heard an unusual noise issue from the room in which she was confined, and on entering found that the defendant had pulled her shawl tight round her neck, was stretched on the ground, and had that sort of rattling in the throat which, in cases of violence, often immediately precedes death. A few moments would have despatched her for ever, and it was with some difficulty she was restored. Upon recovering, she said she had drank so much gin, that she could not resist the temptation to destroy herself, and that if more ready means had presented themselves, she would have preferred them. The LORD MAYOR asked whether the defendant was in any business 7—The officer believed she lived by prostitution ; but although he frequently saw her in the streets at night, she was upon all former occasions very well behaved, and was evidently superior to the general run of women of the town. It was stated, by an experienced person who attended on other business, that since the gin had become cheap, suicides had increased, and that several parts of the town presented scenes strongly resembling Hogarth's celebrated picture of " Gin-lane," which was by no means an exaggerated repre sentatton. The defendant expressed sorrow for having made the attempt upon her life, and said that the gin had made her such a wretch that she knew not what she did; she really believed that it was made cheap to get rid of the poor. The LORD MAYOR advised her to abstain from such dreadful excesses, and having received a solemn assurance to that effect dismissed her. The defendant was said to have been once beautiful, but girl had bloated her face, and made her skin turgid, and a few months more of the use of the beverage must (if reform be out of the question) alter her appearance to that of a perfect fright. The next case was that of Marl/ Mumford, a woman who vends poultry about the streets. She had gone into a public-house and drank a glass of beer by way of a cooler. She then began to be very kind to the landlady's son, and upon being desired to walk out, she flung the beer glass at the landlady, and determined, in fact, to drive out every body and take possession of the premises herself, as she had a fancy for a publie-house.—(A laugh.)— The police, however, secured her, so that the house has not yet changed proprietors. It was in vain to expect that she would go on foot to the Comptes. She swore she had been drinking gin, and would do nothing of the kind, and the officer was obliged to treat her to a coach, there being no cart to shoot her into. The LORD MAYOR thought that the defendant was one his gin customers the moment be heard that a coach was necessary for her. ' The defendant said she accidentally drank a little too much gin, and she did not exactly know what she did after she got her "whack" of that article. She was willing to pay a shilling for the glass she had broken, but she denied that she filing it at the landlady, or intended to seize upon the house. The LORD MAYOR said that the gin was various ' in its operations, and told the defendant that, as she chose to break the glass, she must pay the full price of it, and as she would not condescend to walk with her gin aboard, she must pay for her coach. Defendant—No ; pay nothing but a shilling, or I shall have se money to go to market with. The