A SINGULAR HISTORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1160, 21 February 1874, Page 11

A SINGULAR HISTORY.

(Mucl'jee Post. )

A woman named Mary St. Clair, of middle age and nice address, was a couple of weeks ago received into Mudgee Gaol, having been forwarded from Gulgong, by order of the Bench there, for medical treatment. It was at that time supposed that she was suffering from an attack of lunacy, and this idea was strengthened when the woman (who had been arrested at Gulgong for using improper language) told the constable that she had lost a sum of money, a statement which was not credited at the time it was made, and was supposed to have been an emanation from a disordered intellect. The woman was visited in the gaol by the medical officer of the prison and another medical gentleman in town, and after being examined, showed no traces of insanity. The police magistrate had also seen her during her incarceration, and was so impressed by her apparently rational manner that he interested himself to discover the truth of the story she told about losing the money, although it seemed very improbable when related first and taken in conjunction with surrounding circumstances. It seems the woman had been in service in the district for some time, and had saved about £00, the amount that had been stolen from her, as now appears to be the case, during her absence from home. She is a married woman, but her husband deserted her about five years ago. He recently returned to the neighbourhood where his wife was living, and shortly after his advent the money disappeared. M,rs St. Clair was afterwards taken into custody for using obscene language, although she stoutly denies having done so. She says that she was at the time endeavouring to find her money, when she was arrested for being of unsound mind at Gulgong. She was sent from there to Mudgee, and incarcerated in gaol in the usual way for medical treatment, when it was found that she was quite sane (as already stated). On Tuesday she was brought before the Police Court, and discharged. She asked the Police Magistrate what she should do about the money. He said, from the information in his possession, he believed it had been traced to a bank at Dubbo, where it had been deposited ; but the rules of the bank sealed tho lips of the manager aa to who had placed it there. But the singular part of the story of this woman remains to be told. The police magistrate asked her if she had heard that £1000 had been left to her since she was confined in gaol, by a relative who had died in England. She replied, "I have not heard of that, sir," and was assured by her interlocutor that it was perfectly true. She betrayed not the slightest surprise, and after making some further enquiry as to how she was to obtain the money taken from her, and reiterating her assertions that she had not used the language imputed to her, and that neither she nor anyone connected with her had ever been mad,, she left the Court, thanking the Bench for the information that had been furnished her.

An amusing letter, attributed to Marshal BrogJio, is quoted in Paris. It appears that the father of the present Duke wished the Marshal to betray the King and oleavo to tho Republic. The old soldior wrote back : — " If a sound caning could be transmitted by writing, I should beg you to apply this letter to yoiif back, '-Your affectionate father," &cv