A WEALTHY BEGGAR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1946, 21 September 1889, Page 3

A WEALTHY BEGGAR.

The curious spectacle was pre- ! sented at the Dublin Police Court the other day of a stalwart constable trying to raise to the Bench a hamper which taxed his strength, for it contained 4f 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, £B9O in notes, a Bank deposit receipt for £IOO, and two shares in the Monarch Building Society for £lO and £l4. As she stood when arrested she carried money and securities to the amount of nearly £BOO. How she walked under inch a weight is almost incomprehensible. Her name is Annie Cooley; she is about forty-five years of age, bat looks much older, with dishevelled iron grey hair. Her account of herself, confirmed, by her brother, a respectable artisan, is that her father was. a butcher, and grazed m 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 polise officers many hours to bring it all to light. She occupied h room in Poolbeg 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 flightinessof demeanor had also for some time attracted the attention of the police to her, and when arrested she became very violent and hysterical. It was stated that she was about to go to America with a brother-in-law, now in Paris, and pending his arrival she was remanded, in order that she might be under the surveillance of the prison doctor, the police being directed to take charge of her room.