Southeastern Gazette, 16 August 1853.

Atrocious Assault.

At Dover police court on Tuesday last, a well-dressed Frenchman, named Adolphe Robert, was charged with a criminal assault on Harriet Upton, servant to Mr. Adamson, of the "Harbour Shades," Cross Wall. She had been engaged in the washhouse on the previous day, when the prisoner went there and commenced a series of indecent liberties. She called for assistance, and struggled with him, which rendered him more violent to overcome her resistance, but eventually her partially stifled screams were heard, and John Prebble, a blacksmith, coming to her assistance, the ruffian decamped. The injuries she sustained may be judged from the fact that she required assisting up stairs, and vomited blood, besides bleeding from the nose. Prebble pursued the Frenchman, who was captured by Mr. Adamson, the landlord of the "Shades." He (the prisoner) then offered £4 to settle the matter amicably, but the proposal was declined, as M. Adolphe Robert was deemed a proper person to be made a public example of. The magistrates, however, seem to have been of opinion that the affair might be dealt with very leniently, and they therefore fined the prisoner 60s. only, including costs, just 30s. less than the ruffian himself had set the indulgence of his brutality at. The money was paid.