The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-13 00:00:00

1186 February last, of 500/. in two 1001. notes, numbered 39,538 and 42,225, live 501., numbered 19,324, 21,858, 26,249, 26,711, 28,489, two 201., numbered '73,624, 73,625, and one 101. note, numbered 21,558, paid to the credit of the house at Messrs. Currie's on the same day. Another witness, Raffan, a fruiterer, swore to changing—" about twelve months ago "—a 1001. note, numbered 45,425, for the prisoner Pierce. He changed some other notes for gold to the amount of itoo/. The convict Agar was then brought into court. Mr: Goodman. the chief clerk, read over the whole of the prisoner's evidence. Agar paid the greatest attention to ever• word that was uttered, and made same corrections, which showed the accuracy of his recollection. Mr. BODKIN (to Agar) : You have spoken of a person named Tester. Is that the man (pointing to Tester)? Witness : Yes ; on the left hand side of Burgess. At the time of the robbery he was clerk in one of the offices. have seen a strap very much like this (referring to a strap handed to him by Mr. Bodkin). It was attached to a small black bag. I can't remember what became of it. think it was left in my tool box. The shot and part of the tools were carried in the black bag. When I was taken into custody I left the bag at Stanbury-place. 1 could not say rightly whether the strap was left at Shepherd's•bush or in my trunk at Pierce's. I find at some part of the strap it appears to have been pressed by a weight. . . _ Cross-examined 'oy Mr. BUCHANAN : There was a time when we four had a division of the money. I cannot tix the date, neither to a day nor a week. I should say that probably it might be two months from the time of the rob bery. When I first knew Tester he was clerk at the ticket office at Canterbury. That is where I first saw him. I had no conversation with him at tha; time. He was pointed out to me as a ticket-collector. I first became acquainted with him between three and four yeas ago. I went by the name of Adams. Tester knew I went by the name of Archer at Folkestone, and also by the name he gave me there himself. I forget what that name was, but 1 adopted it. I have only gone by the names I have stated. Tester has known me by my right name—not always; but he did previously to the robbery. I can't say how long before the robbery, but I know he did know my name was Agar. He heard me called Agar, as he heard me called by other names. Several witnesses were then examined to prove the identity of Agar and Pivrce in relation to their visit to Folkestone. Mrs. Hooker, of 27, Victoria - terrace, Folkestone, upon being brought into court when Agar was purposely mixed with the crowd, picked him out without hesitation as the friend of Pierce. with whom she was well acquainted, and the man who lodged at her house with Pierce in May, 1854 They were not much in doors, but used to go out walk• ing down l)over•street in the direction of the pier. During the time Agar came in day after day and said, " Mrs. Hooker, no letter for me?" and I said." No, sir." I caused inquiry to be made. I thought there was a mis take, as a person of the same name had lived next door and had gone over to No. 4. In consequence of that Agar went to No. 4, and he returned bringing a letter with him. He told me he did not like to have his letters opeced—that it was very unpleasant. The letter had been opened. Mr. Chapman, the export agent to the South- Eastern Company at Folkestone, corroborated Agar's evidence so far as related to his second visit to Folkestone in Oct., '54, and the arrival for him of a parcel in the bullion-safe. Mr. Steer, the superintendent of the Folkestone police, ilentiied Agar and Pierce as the two persons who were constantly on Folkestone pier in May, '54 : Something was said to me about them by Jones, the guard of the South• Eastern Railway, in consequence of which I noticed them more than ordinary people, and ob served that they were very attentive to the boats, and ap• peered to watch the harbour•house very closely. I never saw them together but twice. I saw them frequently upon the pier, but not in company with each other. I noticed they saw me, and on several occasions I observed that they walked away in a different direction. I noticed Agar afterwards alone, about a week or ten days after I lost sight of Pierce. Later in the year, about October or November, he saw Agar again ; he made an entry of his re-appear ance in the "Occurrence-book," and set a detective to watch him. Once he himself saw Agar, Burgess, and a tall gentleman, together in the town. Sharman, formerly a booking clerk at Folkestone, swore to having seen Agar and Tester together at, Folkestone in October or November, '54. Tester was perfectly well known to him. This witness first said : When I have seen Agar there be has been in company with another, who is Tester, the prisoner at the bar. Tester at that time was known to me perfectly well. In answer to further questions, he replied : I saw Agar and him together at the Pavilion Hotel. It was only once. I never saw them together but on that occasion. He continued : I soke to Tester. I don't now recollect what I said It was p some commonplace observation. lie answered in THE PRESS. the same way. Agar said nothing to me. They were talking together. I did not join in that conversation. They went to the Pavilion ; I walked with them. There were four of UP. The other was a friend of mine named Urimstead. We had some sherry and biscuits, after which all four came out together, and they went into a eigar•shop ; I myself remained outside. They brought out the cigars and smoked them . ~, '."ti Cross-examined by Mr. Buchanan, be said:— it was on a Sunday that I saw Agar and Tester together, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. I was in their com pany half an hour and better. I left them together. The case was then adjourned till this day. In connection with this remarkable trial we may mention that the antecedents of Henry Agar, the approver, furnish ample evidence of the convict having pursued a most remarkable career of crime for some years. That he should have escaped the ends of justice so long can only be accounted for by the extraordinary canning and tact he displayed on every occasion. Agar states his age is about forty. He is of middle stature, intelligent, and determined. For years it was known that he was associated with a class of systematic bank forgers in what are denominated large offences. In the pursuit of this excellent business various stratagems were resorted to, and perhaps his most successful scheme was that of advertising as a commercial man for clerks, or writing . to those who had advertised for situations, engaging them for some kind of service, and "testing their honesty " by sending them, generally at the first in terview, with forged cheques to the bankers. A con federate was always placed on the watch ; he followed the clerk to the bank, and, in the event of there being any delay, and an evidgnt detection of the fraud, the principal accomplice had timely notice, so as to enable him to escape. It was in this way that all traces of the real delinquent were so frequently lost. The extent of this description of fraud upon banking firms has of late years reached to a considerable amount. One of Agar's confederates was a man named Nash. He, like Agar, generally passed as a commercial man. He was convicted at the Central Criminal Court about six years since, having been detected at the Bank of England in ob taining gold for 8001. in notes paid by Messrs. Bar nett and Hoare in Lombard -street, on a forged cheque, presented by a young aspirant after a clerk ship undergoing the usual test for honesty. The forgery was not discovered until after the money had been paid over the counter and the clerk had left. The heads of the firm, however, immediately apprised the Bank of England authori ties of the numbers of the notes nearly at the same moment that they were presented by Nash, who was at once handed over to the custody of the detectives on duty at the Bank. Nash was sentenced to four teen years' transportation. From some circum stances or other, however, after a servitude of five years, this respectable member of society obtained a ticket of leave, and is now at large in the metropolis. Agar was concerned with Nash in that forgery. Agar and Pierce, on Nash's conviction, coalesced, and con tinued the business. This accounts for Agar's se veral trips to New York, in order to dispose of Bank of' England notes the results of such forgeries, and of course not negotiable in this country. They con tinued this business up to the period of the gold rob bery on the South-Eastern Railway. Soon after this, probably about a month, Agar was apprehended on the:charge of forgery. The circumstances under which he was detected are worth notice. One day in the month of August last year a man gave information to the Forresters at the Mansion-house respecting a cheque (forged) for 7001. on Messrs. Stevenson, the Lom bard -street bankers, which had to be given to him to get cashed on a certain day, and of which he bad his suspicion, as he was promised the handsome girt of 100/. if he succeeded. The matt was taken to Messrs. Bush and Mullens, the solicitors to the Committee of Bankers, who arranged that he should act as he bad been directed. The man presented the cheque at the bank named, and received in re turn a bag which he supposed to contain sovereigns, and proceeded to Bedford row, where his employers had appointed him to meet them. After loitering about some time, a well-dressed man accosted him. It was Agar, who, observing two men on the oppo site side of the street, said, " Come on, we are watched;'' and, on reaching the corner of Princes street, he added, " Sling the stuff over to me, and I'll bolt." The man did as required, and Agar took to his heels. He was pursued by the two men, who were Goddard, the officer, and an assistant of the Forresters ; and a de-perate chace took place before he was captured. He denied being the man, hut the bag was found in hi s possess i on. Instead co! con• taming sovereiens, however, they were 700 farthings, which Mr. Mullen,: had arranged with the bankers to substitute for gold. At his trial a paper parcel was produced whi c h conta i ned nine copper - plates, sixty-nine blank cheques of Messrs. Courts and Co., forty-nine blank cheque s o f t h e E ast of England Bank at N orwich, and a number of others. These SATURDAY, were stated by the prosecution to have been placed for security by Agar in a con f ederate's hands. The clerks of Messrs. Glyn and Go., and Messrs. Coons and Co., proved that sume of those blank cheques belonged to customers of theirs whose places bad been burglariously entered. In two instances cheques for 7001. and 800/. had been paid. Forres ter also produced Agar's trunks, which were found at his lodgings, 7, Stanley place, Paddington green. The contents comprised some gold, documents and securities of value (portions of the proceeds of the sale of the stolen bullion) ; but as the prosecutors were not in a position to prove that it was the pro duce of any particular forgery, the judge ordered it to be delivered up to Agar. His defence was, that he had been ensnared by a third party. The jury found him guilty of the forgery, and he was trans. ported for life. Pierce was said to be implicated with Agar in the forgery, and was included in the indictment on which Agar was convicted. The part he is believed to have taken in the affair, was in watching the man to the bank in Lombard•street; and seeing him come out with the bag, as he sup posed, containing the gold, hastened off to apprise Agar of their apparent success. Although 50/. was offered for his apprehension, be continued to evade the vigilance of' the police until taken on the charge of stealing the gold. Agar was noted for being an experienced bcksmith. His explanation of the way he got an impression of the key of the bullion-safe, and the mode in which he manufactured it, showed him to be very quick and skilful in the art, and it is said he is the man who made the duplicate key which opened the iron safe of Messrs. Rogers, the bankers in Clement's-lane, on the occasion of the robbery of 45,0001. some years since. These and other circumstances, it is thought, were communicated to the learned judge who pre sided on the trial, and led to the sentence of trans portation for life being passed upon him, which, to those not acquainted with the career of the convict, was considered a severe punishment, there being no previous convictions against him. No doubt some extraordinary revelations will come out in his cross examination at the trial. With respect to the prisoner Pierce, after Agar's conviction for forgery his whereabouts for two or three months could not be ascertained. Subse quently, however, he was traced by the City detectives in disposing of bars of gold to one or two individuals, and investing the amount in Turkish bonds. It was also discovered that he had become the manager and part proprietor of a betting•office in Panton-street, Haymarket, which, on account of its "large bank," was doing considerable business, Pierce keeping a private account at the London and Commercial Bank. It does not appear, however, that he entered upon any great extravagances. Immediately after his ap prehension the metropolitan police searched the floor of the pantry where Agar said Pierce had buried the gold for security, but the treasure had vanished. A VENERABLE IMPOSTOR, of gentlemanly appear ance, last Saturday contrived to extract ten shillings from Sir Walter Trevelyan, Bait., upon a false repre sentation that he was Dr. Ashton of the Borough, collecting subscriptions for a distressed Taunton family now in London, and known by name to Sir Walter Trevelyan. The old gentleman. while having his boots cleaned in Victoria-street, was seen by Horsford, the Mendicity officer, who suspecting, from the description given, that he was a long looked-for impostor, followed him to several hotels, and finally to the Athenaeum Club, where he ( Hors ford) took his seat in the hall chair, and heard the whole of the conversation which took place between Sir Walter and the defendant. Horsford heard him tell Sir Walter that he lived in Union-street, in the Borough, and that the husband of a Mrs. Emery. who was suffering from a white swelling, was going to be admitted into St. Bartholomew's Hospital on Monday to undergo an operation; and this was why, ac cording to the letter ha showed Sir Walter, that the wife wished to return, meanwhile, to her friends in the country. The whole statement was of course utterly false. Horsford and Fergusson (officers ; of the Mendicity Society) produced a large bundle of letters, all similar to the one produced, and in the same handwriting—the name of the doctor being differently given in each. A dozen of these docu ments were also found on the prisoner, with lists of gentlemen, and memoranda of particulars to be used in other applications Mr. HENRY : Has the prisoner never been convicted ? Captain Wood said he had not. About two years ago the society had some trace of him, and witness found him out: but Horsford (the present witness's father) could not swear positively as to his identity, so they did not apprehend him. Mr. HENRT: I must say peat credit is due to young Horsford on this occasion for his tact and skill in securing the defendant. The defendant persisted to the last in refusing his name and address, or satisfying inquiry on auy point. He said be was a professional man. Mr. HENRY ordered the defendant to be committed fcr three months. The defendant : Won't you mitigate the penalty ?