A REMARKABLE BEGGAR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8596, 11 September 1889, Page 3

A REMARKABLE BEGGAR.

A curious scene was presented at the Dublin Police Court the other day of a stalwart constable struggling to raise to the bench a hamper which taxed his strength, for it contained 4| stone of silver and copper coin, and this was only a part of the treasure -which the female searchers found in the tattered garments of a woman arrested the previous evening for begging. Among other unconsidered trifles stowed away among her rags were about half a stone of potatoes, a quart of peas, and a miscellaneous collection of other articles. But the hamper of coin was only a fraction of the mendicant's wealth. There were found upon her besides £283 in gold, £390 in notes, a bank deposit receipt for £100, and two Bhares in the Monarch Building Society for £10 and £14. As she stood when arrested she carried money and securities to the amount of nearly £800. How she walked under such a weight is almost incomprehensible. Her name is Annie Cooley; she is about 45 years of age, but looks much older, with dishevelled iron grey hair. Her account of herself, confirmed by a brother, a respectable artisan, is that her father was a butcher, and grazed in Lucan, and the money was left to her by him. At one time she had most of it invested in United States bonds, but they were called in and paid off, and since then, for fear of being robbed, she carried all her treasure about her, disposed of so ingeniously among her wretched clothing that it took the searchers and police officers many hours to bring it all to light. She occupied a room in Foolbeg street, and, it was stated, had not undressed for six years. She denied the charge of begging, but a constable deposed that he had seen her ask several persons for alms. A certain flightiness of demeanor had also for some time attracted the attention of police to her, and when arrested Bhe became very violent and hysterical. It was stated that she was about to go to America with her brother-in-law, now in Paris, and pending his arrival she was remanded, in ordir that she might be under the surveillance of the prison doctor, the police being directed to take charge of her room.