"Stealing from a parcel. - The wife of a porter at one of the inns, in this place, has been charged with the above offence which, we are sorry to say is one of frequent occurence here. It appears that a lady of the neighbourhood had occasion, a few weeks since, to send to London for a dress, and in the course of its transit here, it had to pass through the porter's hands, and while in his custody his wife opened it and cut off one yard; adjusted the parcel again, and carried it home.
"The lady, finding one yard gone, wrote to the house in London for an explanation; a correspondence took place between the parties, the result of which was, that the shopman who served the order was immediately dismissed, and in fact charged with embezzling the property.
"Nothing more was known of it for several weeks, but at last, whilst coming from church one Sunday, the lady espied a piece of the same fabric on a child's back in the shape of a scarf or tippet. Upon enquiries she soon found that it had been presented to the child's parents by the porter's wife, who, upon being charged with the theft, at first denied it, but ultimately confessed it and begged forgiveness, which was granted on account of her family."
It seems a remarkable theft, to open up a parcel, find a dress and cut off a yard of material and tie up the parcel again and send it happily on its way. It couldn't happen today in the Dawlish we know - drug pushers, yes, but dress slashers, never !
And then the remarkable way in which the lady, after church on Sunday, sees a scrap of her lost dress material around a child's neck.
The porter's wife begs for forgiveness, and receives it. There is, however, a shopman in London who has lost his job. I hope he is re-instated.
Tippet is a pleasing word. There is something, I learn, called 'turning tippet', which is a more elegant way to saying: making a 'U-turn'. Bring it back?
Source: The Western News, 7th January, 1843.
No comments:
Post a Comment