ABSTRACT
I was present, a few days ago, at an investigation before the magistrates of the head police-office, to which I find a great deal of importance is attached by the citizens of Dublin. The facts of the case are very few, but they involve a very important principle. It seems that, some short time since, the bedroom of a female servant of an officer of the 3d Dragoon Guards was invaded by two young officers of the regiment, who conducted themselves with so much impropriety that the servant, Harriet Hurst, felt it necessary to summons those officers before the magistrates of the head police-office. The complaint made was fully proved. A compromise was permitted. An apology was tendered to the girl, with a sum of money paid as costs and damages. The money so paid was handed over by the complainant, an English woman, to charitable institutions in Dublin. Here the matter, it might be supposed, would have ended. The investigation, however, at which I was present, was the second portion of the transaction; in which Harriet Hurst was again a complainant, and then these facts were proved—that on her attempting to enter Portobello barracks, where she had formerly lived as the servant of Mr. Tims, the veterinary surgeon of the 3d Dragoons, she was stopped by the sentinel, and the corporal showed her her name in the Guard-room book, as amongst the persons to be excluded. She there appeared as “Harriet Hurst, the servant of Mr. Tims.” The adjutant of the regiment proved that her name was ordered to be inserted by the colonel commanding the 3d Dragoons.
