The Sun. — 1859-10-25 (London, England)

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD•  in Cupid's-alley, off Deansgate, Manchester. He had been accustomed to tak his pot of beer and smoke his short pipe under Betsy's roof, and had at least taken a decided fancy to Betsy herself. He was a good-looking young man was Harry Stokes, for although btill undersized, and innocent of whiskers, a face as smooth as a woman's he was stoutly built, had a capacious depth of chest, and a pair of hips which gave an unusual profit to his tailor. Betsy then looked with- favour on Harry's suit, for he had the reputation of being a good, steady workman, and was doing pretty well as a bricksetter. It was resolved that the twain should become one flesh, and so to church they hied. Harry discharged the duties of bridegroom at church to perfection ; but when the widow got him home there was a terrible row. The night was spent in downright quarrel and fight, and the result was a summons taken out by Betsy against her husband for assault, for which he was condemned to the New Bailey for one or two months. During the hearing of the case, Betsy with great vehemence declared that her husband was not a man, and that she therefore would not live with him. The case created great amusement and gossip at the time, and formed the; subject of popular ballads, which were sung and hawked about the streets of Manchester. " Harry" Stokes, on issuing from the New Bailey, was considerably persecuted by those little gamins who know so well how to torment street celebrities, while he was also the object of much curious speculation among his brethren of the trowel. He, however, maintained a discreet silence as to his sex, threw out hints that the woman he had married was mad, and as the most effective proof that she was a malevolent libeller, he soon afterwards married another widow rejoicing in the name of Frances Collins, who was some 15 or 20 years his senior, and who had a grown up son and daughter living with her. His connexion with this woman, with whom he lived until he committed suicide, is the most mysterious phase of this mysterious history. She declares, with solemn earnest. ness, that she did not know until informed the other day that the person with whom she had been living for 25 years, sleeping together night after night in the same bed, was a woman, and her own children looked upon Stokes as theirstep-father. She asserts that she took Stokes into her house in the first instance out of pity, to shield him from the persecution to which he was subjected. It may be that, though out of a sense of shame, the old woman thus attempts to conceal her knowledge of Stokes's sex, she did in reality know from the first that the person was a woman, and that she was in all probability, induced by Stokes to consent to the union, in order that the appearance of married life might dispel the rumours afloat, and enable him to live "in peace and quietness." Whether or not that was the inteation; the acquaintance brought about that result; for although there were surmises that " Harry" Stokes was a woman, and he was constantly the object of curious glances, he escaped the open molestation to which he had been previously subjected. Harry and Fanny took a beer-house in Corporation-street, Salford, where they lived for two years, when they " flitted" to Quay-street, near Deansgate, turning a private house into a beerhouse. At this house they stayed eleven years, during part of which time they held a second beerhouse in Camp-street, off Deansgate, which they called " The Pilgrim's Rost," and which was superintended by Mrs. Stokes's son. To this house they themselves filially removed, and kept it on for six years, when they carried their furniture to No. 11, Richmond-street, between St. Stephen-street and Broughton-road, Salford, where they still lived together as man and wife, though the neighbours had their little whisperings together—the staple of their conversation being the peculiar figure of Harry Stokes, and speculations thereabout. They were living in Richmond-street up to the time of I the tragedy which has revived the whole history of this singular person. Harry Stokes appeared latterly to be falling into decayed circumstances; and the fear of poverty is believed to have induced him to commit suicide. On Friday evening the deceased went to the Swan public-house, Pendlebury, and after drinking four glasses of ale he left for the purpose of proceeding, as he stated, to Throstle 4.. est. In the morning a hat was seen on the top of the water in the sluice of the river Irwell, at Mode Wheel, and on examination the body of a man was found standing upright in the water. At the inquest before Mr. Coroner Rutter, on Saturday, the body was identified as that of " Harry' Stokes, the well-known piaster bricksetter of Salford ; and it would probably have been buried in its clothes as it was, and the secret of the poor, courageous, hard-working llarriet Stokes would thus have been buried with her, had not one of the jury been acquainted with a portion of her past history. He mentioned his suspicion that the deceased was a woman and not a man, and two women who were sent by the coroner to solve the mystery returned tittering into the court with the information that., true enough, the body in the man's clothes was that of a perfect woman, and no man. She was very full breasted, but the shape of her womanly make was distorted by a broad strap which was buckled round her body under the arms. There is something of grandeur, after all, in the character of that strange woman. She has left mementos of her industry and skill all over Manchester, and in many places in Salford. She was very clever in the erection of tall chimneys, and some of the highest in Manchester have been partially or wholly construoted under her superintendence; she has built churches, chapels, and extensive blocks of dwellinghouses, among which are mentioned the large houses at the back of St. Philip's Church, Salford ; she was most expert in fitting stoves and fire grates, and her aid in this branch of her trade has been obtained in some of the best hote,es in Manchester : and in the days of the Chartist riots she was sworn in as a speoial constable, and was made captain of her company. Her industry and skill at one time placed her in very comfortable circumstances, and there are persons who are now esteemed among the foremost men of Manchester who have been entertained at the roaring suppers given by " Harry" Stokes.