CALKIN THE ALLEGED MITRDERESS. — This young woman, who was charged some
weeks ago with a strange act of murder, in the case of a child named Duffey, was at last, on Thursday, fully committed to Newgate. The miserable woman, against whom, previously, no charge of cruelty had ever been made, appeared, while under examination, to labour under the combined effects of sickness and severe depression, so as to be almost insensible to what was going on. When pressed, as usual, to speak if she had any plea to offer,—the Magistrate having first of all declared that he had made up his mind to commit,—she burst into tears, and replied that she would reserve her defence for her trial. AN INGENIOUS ROGUE.—Some time ago, a person named Earle, who gave himself out, at the time, as head of a concern called the Pickled Fish Company"—which indeed seems to have been pretty zealously employed in catching gudgeons, though it does not appear that they pickled as well as netted them—was charged, by a clerk named Price, with defrauding him of 50/. Earle had got that sum from Price, in the shape of a bill, as security for Mr. Price's good behaviour as clerk to the "Pickled Fish Company." The bill had not, when the first application was made to the City Magistrates, become due ; and the case in consequence stood over. On Thursday, the bill being mow paid and forthcoming, Mr. Earle was once more called up at the Mansionhouse. He endeavoured on this occasion to throw all the blame of the transaction on his partner, a certain Mr. No-one-knows, residing in the town of I-can't-tell-where ; and talked very big of his respectability, and that of the pickled fish. There was, however, ano- ther charge against this Earle, among commoners, which was not so easily eluded. The history of it, compared with the common trick of elerk-hiring, practised on Mr. Price, offers a rich specimen of London roguery. It seems that, during the late Mayoralty election, Earle waited upon the Lord Mayor; told him that he very much admired the political conduct of his Lordship ; was possessed of considerable in.. fluence in the City, and would have no objection to make one of his Lordship's Committee, in order to secure the return of so popular and praiseworthy an individual. The Lord Mayor referrer/ the gentleman to his Committee ; but Mr. Charles Pearson, an old stager, after having questioned him a little, dispensed with his services very uncere- moniously. Earle, however, contrived to turn even his rejection to ac- count. He saw one of the Lord Mayor's Committee just about to enter the shop of Mr. Woodhill the jeweller, in St. Paul's Church- yard ; and, by virtue of his Committee-room acquaintance, not only addressed him, but entered the shop and conversed with him on the most interesting topic. The jeweller supposed, from the circumstance, that Earle was a friend of his customer's; and when on the following day the gentleman called, spoke of his intimacy with the Lord Mayor and the gentleman whom he bad accompanied the day before, and
asked to look at a handsome gold chain which he had cast his eye upon, and which be said be was desirous to show to his wife ; he was allowed to take it home without hesitation; and, need we say it? he never afterwards returned. Mr. Woodhill subsequently gave 71. for the chain to a person who had purchased it at the shop of a pawnbroker, where it had been pledged. The rascal, it is said, made a very adroit attempt to convert the fraud into a debt : upon hearing that inquiries were made after the chain, he sent word to Mr. Woodhill, that if the bill were sent, the money was ready, and there was no occasion to make any noise about such a trifle. By way of a diversion in the intervals of pickling, it seems Earle has been projecting engines to work without steam, and been lecturing the people of the North on the Cholera Morbus ! He was remanded for further examination.
A robbery was committed, one day this week, in the Bankrupt Court, Basinghall Street. Mr. Franklyn, solicitor, of Barnet, at- tended with a country client who was to be examined. On taking his seat on the form opposite to the Commissioners, be placed his great coat under him. In a few minutes afterwards, having occasion to rise to address the Commissioners, he found that the coat on which be had so recently made a settlement \vas drawn away by some loitering conveyancer. This manceuvre was the work of a moment; in fact, there never was a deed so quickly executed. That it was irregularly assigned, and that its fate wins sealed, was evident ; but to whom it was delivered, no deponent could be found to declare.—Herald.
FIRE.—Between one and two o'clock on Wednesday morning, the lower part of Mr. Marshall's house, a butcher in Barbican, near Alders- gate Street, was discovered on fire. The fire in a few minutes com- municated to an adjoining house, which being composed principally of wood, a third was shortly in flames. Several engines arrived, attended by a large body of firemen, and, having a good supply of water, com- menced playing upon the surrowiding buildings : by this means the fire was confined to the three houses, which in less than an hour were burnt to the ground. Very little property was saved.
On Wednesday, the premises 2.24, High Street, Wapping, fell to the ground with a crash that shook the neighbourhood like an earthquake. The fall of the building arose from the immense weight of some two thousand quarters of wheat, which were heaped up in the upper story, under the pressure of which one of the main girders gave way in two places. Fortunately the girder cracked before it broke, and thus gave warning to the workmen to escape. No serious accident resulted from the falling walls. The front of a barber's shop opposite was forced in, the operator knocked down, and a sea captain, on whose chin he was employed, was fain to flee without hat or coat, and with his face half- lathered half-shaven ; but neither of the parties was dangerously hurt. The loss occasioned by the fall is estimated at 3,0001.
On Wednesday, while Mr. Gabagan, the principal assistant of Mr. Westmacott the sculptor, was employed in soldering a part of the colos- sal statue of the late Mr. Canning, on which Mr. Westmacott is at present employed, the chain which suspended the statue gave way, and he was crushed to death under the filling figure. It weighs nearly four tons.
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