# Mother Guttersnipe — The Mystery of a Hansom Cab character guide

> Mother Guttersnipe in The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mother

**First appearance:** 0028-xxvii-mother-guttersnipe-joins-the-majority

## Snapshot

A fearsome old crone of Melbourne's slums, ruling her patch of squalor with a tongue sharp enough to draw blood and a memory for secrets.

## Who they are

Mother Guttersnipe presides over the poorest quarter of Melbourne like a malevolent queen, her authority built on fear, favours, and the secrets she hoards about everyone around her. She is the keeper of Sal Rawlins and the gate through which any outsider must pass to reach the slum's hidden knowledge. Her refusal to be intimidated by respectable investigators makes her a formidable obstacle, and the truths buried in her filthy domain are essential to understanding what really happened in the hansom cab.

## In the story

### [XIV: Another Richmond in the Field](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xiv-another-richmond-in-the-field)

Her crib in Little Bourke Street is where the stolen swag from the Toorak burglary was hidden.

### [A Woman of the People](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xv-a-woman-of-the-people)

A repulsive old fortune-teller living in squalor, who is hostile and evasive when Kilsip questions her about the deceased woman.

### [Missing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xvi-missing)

Reveals that Oliver Whyte visited the 'Queen' multiple times; angrily resists police surveillance and threatens violence.

### [Sal Rawlins Tells All She Knows](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xviii-sal-rawlins-tells-all-she-knows)

Sal's grandmother, drunk and belligerent, demands money for Sal's testimony.

### [Three Months Afterwards](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xxi-three-months-afterwards)

Objected to Sal becoming Madge's maid but gave in; recognized the dying woman and spoke with her privately.

### [XXVI: Kilsip Has a Theory of His Own](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xxvi-kilsip-has-a-theory-of-his-own)

Dying and wants to see Calton to reveal a secret, possibly about Rosanna Moore.

### [Mother Guttersnipe Joins the Majority](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/chapters/xxvii-mother-guttersnipe-joins-the-majority)

Reveals herself as Rosanna Moore's mother and confesses her scheme to hide Sal's parentage from Mark Frettlby. Dies at the end of the chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/characters/mother_guttersnipe
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mystery_of_a_hansom_cab_se/characters