Mrs. Torpey, the person accused of assisting her husband to
rob Mesars.Ryder's assistant of £2,500 in diamonds, has been acquitted. 'The Recorder laid it down that if the wife acted under the coercion of her husband, she was innocent ; but if she took an independent part, she was guilty. The evidence that she took an independent part was very strong—she having, for instance, left the room to put chloroform on a handkerchief, and written a forged letter—but the jury, moved by her appearance with a baby at the breast, acquitted her. She was also acquitted of the assault. It appears, -therefore, that any woman may commit any robbery if only her husband is present, and if he can escape with the booty, nobody -can be punished. That is a lesson forgers will improve. A more -discreditable failure of justice never occurred, or a worse illustra- tion of English sentimentality.
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