The Sun. — 1850-07-03 (London, England)

WORSHIP-STREET.  Emma Constable, a young girl of delicate appearance, and scarcely exceeding 16 years of age, was charged before Mr. Arnold with the following repeated and determined attempts at self-destruction. Francis, a constable of the N division, stated that while on duty at Hackney at a late hour on the night of the 29th of May last, he found the prisoner wandering about in a very wretched and disconsolate condition, and as she acknowledged that she was both homeless and destitute, he conveyed her to the station-house. Upon reaching there.she was placed in one of the cells, and remained perfectly quiet until abeut two o'clock in the morning, when witness was hastily summoned by the reserve officer on duty, who had noticed something strange in her manner, and upon opening the cell door he found her sitting in one of the corners, tugging as hard as she could at the ends of a handkerchief, attached  to two pieces of tape, which were secured so tightly round her neck as to leave no doubt of her intention to destroy herself. After cutting the ligatures she slowly revived, and on asking her what she meant by such an act, she told him she was determined to put an end to herself at the first convenient opportunity. On that occasion she was brought to this court for attempted suicide, and remanded by the magistrate for a week, at the expiration of which she was liberated and received into a charitable institution in the neighbourhood, and he saw nothing more of her until the night of the 20th of June, when he found her lying under one of the railway arches at Hackney, and on rousing her up and inquiring why she was not in the institution, she replied that she had been subjected to ill-usage by another of the inmates, and had run away in consequence. At that time she was again remanded for a week, when a gentleman named Tucker, attached to the City Mission, attended and offered to procure her admission into another institution, where she would be properly protected, but she refused to avail herself of the opportunity. Bennett, 152 N, stated, that shortly after the prisoner had been locked up on the last occasion referred to by the officer Francis, he heard a gurgling noise in the cell where she was confined, and upon opening the door found her crouching down in the back part of the cell with her garters tied tightly round her throat. She had not at that time entirely lost her senses, and struggled violently to prevent his saving her life, but he succeeded with assistance in loosening the garters, and as soon as he had done so she told him sharply to leave her alone, as he had no right ,to interfere with her. During the remainder of the night he continued to visit the cell at intervals of every ten minutes, and upon going there a few hours afterwards he found her again lying at full length upon the floor, with her shawl wound tightly round her neck, completely black in the face, and evidently in the agonies of strangulation. She was upon this occasion again remanded by the magistrate, that he might have an opportunity of considering what course to adopt to insure her safety, and was transferred to the House of Detention in the prison van, with private injunctions to the van gaoler to watch her actions. This seemed scarcely necessary for the greater portion of the distance, as the prisoner remained perfectly tranquil, but upon opening the wicket of her compartment shortly before reaching the gaol the officer discovered her silently strangling herself with a piece of green riband taken off her bonnet, and which was tied so firmly round her throat that it was necessary to cut it with a knife.  Alderman, the gaoler of the court, apprised the magistrate that since the prisoner had been in his custody the had solemnly declared to him that it was her fixed determination to deprive herself of existence, and that all the precautions they took to prevent her were perfectly useless, as she would fulfil her intention the very first opportunity that presented itself. lie had continually kept a woman in the cell to watch her, but she obstinately refused to assign any reason for her extraordinary resolution.  A second gentleman belonging t) the City Mission, who appeared to take :great interest in the fate of the girl, and expressed his anxiety to procure her admission into another asylum, was now in attendance, but the magistrate thought it advisable to take further time to determine what course he should pursue with a person who had manifested such a pertinacious determination to destroy herself, and the prisoner, who remained obdurately silent, was again remanded for a week.