Mary Ann Sullivan

341

Maureen Withey on 1st September 2025

Mary Ann Sulivan, per Mary Anne, 1822, Ticket of Leave, No 34/200. District, Patricks Plains; Born, London; Trade, Needlewoman; Tried, MGD.

341

Maureen Withey on 1st September 2025

Tried at the Old Bailey, 24 Oct 1821. 1294. ANN TURNER , MARY ANN SULLIVAN , ELIZA KELLY , and RACHEL SIMMONS , were indicted for feloniously assaulting Lewis Baptiste , on the 23d of October , at St. Mary-le-Strand , putting him in fear, and taking from his person, and against his will, the sum of 13 s. 6 d. in monies numbered, his property . LEWIS BAPTISTE . I lodge in John-street, Bedford-row, at Mr. Riley's, the King's Arms, public-house - Mitchell lives with him also; I am a servant , I left my place on the 17th of September. On the 23d of October, I went with Mitchell into the City, and at five o'clock we were going to Drury-lane Theatre, we went to a house (I do not know the name of the place;) when we got inside, the prisoner Sullivan said to Mitchell "I know you," and asked him up stairs - he went up with her, and I went up with Turner; we two were in a room by ourselves - she demanded 4 s., which I gave her; she then asked for another shilling, and I gave it her - about that time Sullivan came into the room, and said she wanted 1 s., and if I did not give it her, she would knock my brains out, and tear my coat off my back - I gave her 1 s.; Turner then demanded another shilling, which I gave her - Simmons then came into the room, saying she was mistress of the house, and asked for 2 s. 6 d. for the room, I said "If you will let me come down stairs to the street door, I will give you what money I have about me" - Then Sullivan and Turner demanded 2 s. 6 d. each, more; I said, "Let me go down, and I will give you all I have" - they would not agree to this, and the two women knocked me down - Simmons was present then; one of the two women laid hold of my neck, by thrusting her fingers into my cravat - I called out Murder! to my friend, he did not come - I heard one of the three say, they would throw me out of the window; one of them put a chair against the door, I asked them to let me go down stairs. In consequence of their violence I gave 14 s. 6 d. to Turner and Sullivan, and they let me go down stairs - Simmons then opened the door and let me out - I do not think she had any of the 14 s. 6 d.; when I got down, I found my friend alone. Cross-examined by MR. WALFORD. Q. What countryman are you - A. I came from the Isle of France; I have lived with Colonel Fonstein , in Han's-place, and with his father - I left about a month ago, as I was ill; I have got a place now, and am going to the East Indies - I had dined in the City, and I think we had two pints of beer and a glass of rum each at dinner; then we went a little way and had a pint of beer between us - we went to no other public-house, nor had any thing more to drink; I think I was a little in liquor, as I am not accustomed to drink much - I sent my friend to this house to enquire for a young woman whom I knew in France, I had seen her at this house two years before - I did not know what kind of a house it was; I stood at the door, and the girls said the young woman did live there, and they made us go up stairs - she was not a bad girl; Turner said, "Come up stairs, and you will see her," and I went up - I did not promise her any money; I was a quarter of an hour in the room altogether - nothing passed between us, I did not call Sullivan up. Q. Simmons did not attempt to keep you in the room - A. She let me out when I gave the 2 s. 6 d. and the 14 s. 6 d. - she did not put the chair before the door; I did not want to go for an officer, for fear of my character, but my friend took me to Bow-street - I never sent any message to them that I would go to Gravesend, some people came to me. COURT. Q. Do you swear you never had any criminal connexion with them - A. I had not. CHARLES MITCHELL . I am a planter, and lodge with the prosecutor. I went with him to Drury-lane, intending to go to the Theatre; we had dined together in the City, we had two pints of porter between us, and a glass of rum and water - we were going to the Theatre, it wanted a quarter to five o'clock when we got to Drury-lane, we sauntered about and went to several courts; he pointed out a house in Swan-yard, and said, "I knew a young woman, named Mary Ann, who lived there, I wish youwould ask if she is there now, as I am a foreigner," he said he knew her as a lady's maid; I went to the door, which was open, I knocked with my hand against it, and four or five women came up from below; I asked for Mary Ann, they said she did not live there; one of the women said she knew me, I said that was strange, for I had not been in England for eight years; Baytiste stood by the stairs, one of them caught hold of him and went up stairs with him; I went up stairs to follow him, but when I got up, I saw no more of him - I went up to the second story with Sullivan, I said, I thought my friend was there; I had no money, and did not wish to go with her; she said I had better go down stairs and wait till he came, I did so, and sat down in the room on the ground floor; I heard him call me before he came down, he said, "Charles! Charles!" three times; I did not hear a cry of Murder! - when he came down he said he had been robbed; the women were present; there was a good deal of talking, I could not hear what was said; he said he would not leave till he had got his money. I told him he would never get it by waiting there, and went with him to Bow-street. Cross-examined by MR. AIKIN. Q. What planter are you - A. Of sugar canes. I told Sullivan I had no money, she said my friend would pay her, I said, I knew nothing of that - Baptiste called out to me while I was down stairs, nothing passed about his having no money - I do not know what became of Sullivan, I was down in the parlour, he did not call her up; I heard feet shuffling about - it is a small house, I think if he had called Murder! lustily, I should have heard him; when he came down, he said he had been robbed of 2 l., but on coming out, he found he had a sovereign and two or three shillings left; then he reckoned his money, and said he had given them 13 s. 6 d. in silver, and 13 d. in copper; he said he was robbed, and had given them money, that one demanded 2 s. 6 d., another 3 s. and 1 s. and another 4 s. Q. When he called out Charles! if you thought he wanted assistance, you would have gone to him - A. I did endeavour, but Kelly was in the parlour, and said, If I tried to go out, she would tear my liver out - I got hold of the door to open it, she prevented me, and said she was in the family way, and would swear her life against me - I said, I was not going to fight with her, and sat down; I was detained in the parlour about five minutes, Baptiste came down soon after he cried for me. BENJAMIN MORRIS. I am a constable of Bow-street. The prosecutor came to me, I took him to Swan-yard, and found them all (the prisoners) at the house; the last witness pointed out Kelly, and the prosecutor the other three; he said, in their presence, that they had robbed and beat him up stairs. TURNER'S Defence. Two gentlemen came and asked for Mary Ann, we said she was not there; he said, "You will do the same, let us go up, we went up," he wanted us to do wrong, but we refused. SULLIVAN'S Defence. We were down at dinner, Mitchell asked if I knew him, he said, "Come up stairs," and offered me 2 s., I said that was too little, he said his friend would pay me; he did as he liked, I went down and he gave me 1 s.; I saw no more of him. KELLY'S Defence. The gentleman came into the parlour, and being a stranger, I was in care of the parlour; he would pay nobody but the landlady for the room, she went up for it, I remained in the parlour, the man went towards the door, and I said he should not go till his friend came down, if he did, I would tear his coat, he pushed me, I said, "Don't, for I am in the family way." SIMMONS'S Defence. He sent word that he would pay nobody but me, and I went up. CHARLES MITCHELL . I did not propose to give Sullivan 2 s., or say my friend would pay for me. TURNER - GUILTY . - DEATH . Aged 16. SULLIVAN - GUILTY . - DEATH . Aged 16. Recommended to Mercy by the Jury. KELLY - NOT GUILTY . SIMMONS - NOT GUILTY . Second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Justice Park.

31

Garry O'Keefe on 19th June 2021

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Mon 17 Oct 1864 DEATH FROM A GUN-SHOT WOUND. [ FROM A CORRESPONDENT ] It is my painful duty to report a case of death through a rifle shot, discharged by a trooper named James Murphy, on Saturday evening, 8th instant. The facts of the case will appear from what follows. A magisterial enquiry was held at the Rocky River Hotel, Maitland Point, before Mr H A Thomas, JP, of Saumarez, and Mr. Brown, the Superintendent of Police, Armidale. The deceased was Mrs Mary Ann Boda, better known by her former name of Mrs, Jones, at one time keeping a public house upon the Sydney Flat. She was well known throughout the whole Northern District Mr Thomas Wakley Wetherall stated that about five o'clock on Saturday afternoon last he was in the act of reining his horse to the fence in front of deceased's house; he was outside, and deceased inside the fence, about three yards' distance intervening between them; she suddenly threw up her hands, and exclaimed," Good God, Thomas, I am shot !" I answered, 'nonsense'; I heard at the same time a slight noise like the bursting of a percussion cap thrown upon a fire, or a little gunpowder; deceased put her hand to her body and began to stagger about; I saw no blood; I turned round to deceased's grand daughter, Minna Jones, who was standing by, and asked if she had been doing anything; the girl laughed; I said what have you been doing; she laughed and gave me no answer; my reason for asking that question was, that I thought that the girl might have been making the noise which I heard; just at the time I heard this noise deceased spoke; I afterwards thought it was a bullet; I then conducted Mrs Boda across her place to a sofa, and asked her to lie down, but she would not, and kept exclaiming 'I'm shot,' and 'Oh, my poor children, fetch my children,' or words to that effect; at this time I heard some horses, and I went to the door and saw a young man named James Northy, and said to him 'Mrs Boda says she is shot;" I left Northy with her, and went to John Fletcher's, her son-in -law, to fetch him; apparently but a minute had elapsed from the time of her saying she was shot; Fletcher's is distant about 300 or 400 yards, I said at Fletcher's that 'the old woman is shot,' Langton and young Willy Jones came up; I followed with the women; I told them that I did not think she was shot; when I came back to Boda's, Northy was about to start for a doctor; I met Mrs. Northy and wished her to see the nature of the wound, John Fletcher said, 'Oh, there's no mistake, it's a gunshot wound;' James Northy went for the doctor, I went to report the matter to Commissioner Addison; I did not see the wound, I saw the hole in the stays and blood; saw what I conceived to be the bullet on the opposite side; the stays were taken off;deceased said, 'Feel here, Thomas,' and I felt what I considered to be the bullet; I went to Commissioner Addison, and asked him if any of the troopers had been out firing,or if he had heard any shot? he told me that he had heard one shot distinctly, but that he was busy writing at the time, and that he saw some cockatoos flying over, and he supposed they were shooting at cockatoos; Mr. Addison then asked if I had seen Murphy? I told him I had not, I thought it my duty to come and report the matter to him first; with that Mr. Addison came out of his garden and went down to the huts, I mean the barracks, and called Murphy, who is a constable; I believe he said to Murphy, ' Have you been away from the barracks this afternoon'; he (Murphy) replied, ' No'; asked Murphy, 'Did you hear a shot fired'; he replied, 'Yes',I rode away from the barracks in company with a man named McNiel, round Champion's paddock, and came back to Boda's,finding nothing out; we thought to see somebody out shooting. Cross-examined by Mr Thomas: I did not hear a shot fired. A miner named Harris and his wife, living between the camp and Boda's, and McNiel's children as well said that they heard a shot fired, and In the direction of the camp. Dr Spusshatt deposed: That he was called to Rocky on Saturday to Mrs. Boda; arrived about 11 o'clock, found her lying in bed in very exhausted state from effects of gun shot wound; found bullet lodged on left side, on the margin of lower ribs, on left side the ball had entered, on right side of body corresponding part, discoloured surface some inches extent; I made incision, and attempted to extract ball with forceps, but found it inadvisable to proceed in exhausted state of patient; she did not rally from the shock, and died on the following morning at 10 o'clock; I remained all night, but was not present at death; made post mortem examination; gave description of nature of wound, &; produced the bullet (which was one of the kind above described, and afterwards compared with cartridges from Murphy's pouch) which was lying about two inches below incision; the death was caused by the bullet produced. (Dr Spasshat's evidence was taken at this stage in consequence of being called away to an accident resulting in a broken leg.) James Murphy deposed : On or about five o'clock Saturday evening last, I took my rifle to discharge it previous to cleaning and oiling it ; in doing so, I stood a few yards from the barracks door ; I fired in direction of the hill which is in front of the door, making sure, as I thought, that the ball should lodge in the hill; after which I took and cleaned it ; in or about an hour afterwards, Mr. Wetherall came to the camp and made some report to the Commissioner, not in my hearing ; Mr. Addison asked me did I see anyone shooting; I said not, but I heard a report at that time ; I did not know that there was any one hurt or anything done ; I did not know what the charge was ; I did not know what had brought Mr. Wetherall to the camp, and I did not know why he (Mr Addison) asked the question ; after Mr. Wetherall's leaving the camp I asked the commissioner whether anything was wrong ; he said Mrs, Boda was wounded by a shot ;afterwards I went over to Mrs. Boda's house and made enquiries, and found that such was the case; the place where she was standing at the time was pointed out to me ; in looking from that to the camp I considered it next to an impossibility to reach that from the camp, and every person there expressed the same opinion, considering the large hill that is there, the ground very hilly and rocky, and densely covered with trees; in a while afterwards I went home to report the case to the commissioner; I walked the ground over from Mr. Boda's to the camp, and I was certain that a ball fired from the camp could not reach Mrs. Boda's,a high hill lying between the camp and her house. Cross-examined by Mr. Thomas : Did not know whether the bullet produced was the same as used by police; had only seen them in cartridge; I fired at a cockatoo which was directly opposite lo the hill - not flyng; the cockatoo was upon a tree directly opposite to the hill, something in a line with Mrs. Boda's house; I thought the shot could not go over the hill, the elevation at which I fired was not very great. Robert King, a trooper, deposed: The bullet now produced is such as in use by police precisely similar ; I have no doubt of it; two cartridges taken by senior-constable Mullhall from Murphy's cartouch were opened and bullets compared; the comparison tended to identify the bullets as being the same, the fatal one being slightly lengthened. Mr Thomas, In a feeling and energetic address to Murphy said all present, decided that the death was accidentally caused by a gunshot wound, and a record accordingly made. The distance between where the shot is said to have been fired, and where deceased stood is stated to be over half a mile. Uralla, Rocky River Gold-field, New England, October 10,