The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-05-15 00:00:00

CHARGE OF FORGERY ON THE BANK
OF ENGLAND.

At the Mansion House, in London, on Monday,
Major Frederick Beswick, the chief constable of
Birkenhead, was brought before the Lord Mayor on a
warrant, in custody of detective Sergeant Webb,
charged at the instance of the Governor and Company
of the Bank of England with forging and uttering on
the 24th of February last a power of attorney to trans-
fer a share and interest in stock then transferable at
the Bask of England, to the amount of £4,216 13s. 4d.,
Three per Cent. Consols, standing in the names of
Henry Thomas Maxted and Frederick Beswick in the
Bank books with intent to defraud. .

Mr. Charles Kaye Freshfield, solicitor to the Bank
of England, conducted the prosecution; the prisoner
was defended by Mr. Wontner, solicitor.
Mr. Freshfield, addressing the bench, said the pri-
soner was charged with forgery and uttering a power
of attorney authorising the transfer of a sum of £l3l
Is. 3d. in the Consols, part of a sum of £3,216 13s. 4d,
standing in the names of Henry Thomas Matted and
Frederick Beswick in the Bank books. The Bank re-
gretted exceedingly that they found it their duty to
prosecute the prneiner, taking into consideration Isis
family and the position be occupied, but the Court
I might think, after hearing the circumstances, that they
could justify ano leas severe course. The prisoner is
the Chief Constable of Birkenhead, and a retired
major in her Majesty's army, and in 1840 was sta-
tioned at Gibralter, where he made the acquaint-
ance of Mr. Matted. He soon afterwards left,
hut in 1556 he again called at Gibralter on his
way home from the Crimea, and stayed a day
with Mr. Matted. There was at that time living
at Gibraltar a lady named Agnes Clardy, who at her
death, shortly after, appointed Mr. Joe. Underwood
and Mr. Matted the trustees of a sum of £4,500 in the
funds, out of which they had to meet annuities of £6O
to Mies Honor Cundy, and £2O to Henry Cundy, be-
sides other sums payable yearly to a Mrs. Booth. In
1867 Mr. Underwood died, and Mies Honor Cundy re-
turned to England, afterwards causing, in combination
with the other annuitants, Mr. Matted to execute a
deed appointing a co-trustee, which he did in favour of
his friend Major Ileswick (the prisoner). In 1867 Mr.
Henry Cundy died, and a sum id f"133 Os. 8.1. Consols
was by his will paid to a Mr. Horton, leaving then in
the bank 1:4,216 13s. 4d. to meet the annuities of Miss
Cundy, Mrs. Booth, and Mrs. Horton. On the 26th
of January last the prisoner went to Mr. Hinde, the
manager of the Alliance Bank at Birkenhead
and saying that i'.400 was about to be sold ou'
of the funds, applied for a power of attorney
to be granted by the Bank of .England, which his
co-trustee (Mr. Matted) would sign on his ap-
proaching visit to Liverpool en route to America and
California. On the 2nd of February a power was
granted by the Bank to sell out £431 Is. 3d. Console,
representing £4OO sterling. On the same day the
Bank sent out the usual notices to the trustees, and in
consequence communicated with Mr. Matted at Gib-
raltar and Major Remick at Birkenhead, informing
them of the granting of the power. The next day the
Prisoner wrote to Mr. Matted advising, in the in-
terests of the annuitants, that the stock should be sold
out, or a portion of it, as another investment would
greatly increase the funds to be paid to the persons
interested. In that he did not refer to either the
approaching visit of Mr. Matted to England or to the
granting of the power of Attorney. On the 15th of
February Mr. ?slatted replied, declining to sanction
any such re-investment, as it would be contrary
1,, the express wish of Miss Cundy, the testa-
trix, and he further wrote to the Bank of
England stopping the transfer. He (Mr. Fresh-
field) could not say when the prisoner received
that letter, but a few days later he went to Mr. Hinde
at the Birkenhead Bank with a power of attorney then
purixiirtieg to be signed by "Henry T. Matted and
Fredk. Berwick, 'Major." trustees, and "J. Twybell,
Lieut.-Colonel, and John Chandler," attesting wit-
nesses. In it Mr. Matted was stated to liee both at
Gibraltar and Woodside, Birkenhead, and Mr. Hinds
said it might be stopped by the Bank if the words
"late of Gibraltar" did not appear. The prisoner took
it away, and returned with it in a few minutes with
that addition. Neither Colonel Twybell nor Mr.
Chandler saw Matted sign, but one or both of them
saw the prisoner affix his signature. On the 23rd
February the power was sent to the Bank and
stoppeiL Inquiries were then set on foot. On the
26th the prisoner saw Mr. Hinde, and stated that he
had been innocently duped by a man having a remark-
able resemblance to his co-trustee, and on the Ist
March he wrote to Mr. Matted asking him if any per-
son had then left Gibraltar, who was at all like him,
and could possibly have any knowledge of the facts of
Miss Cundy's wilL He received a reply in the negas
tive. The prisoner also wrote to Mr. Matted stating
that he had put detectives on the man's track, and
hoped to arrest him, as he thought he had not left
LiverpooL A further correspondence ensued, and
Mr. Matted came to England for the first time in his
life two days ago. Webb, an efficient officer, then
arrested the prisoner, and charged him with the for-
gery. He (Mr. Freslstield) would place those circum-
stances before the court, and ask for a remand, con-
sidering that the prisoner had only been in custody a
few hours. He contended that the facts, as stated by
the prisoner, were entirely irrecoticileable, and he
should produce evidence to strengthen that conten-
tion.

Maxted, of Gibraltar, was then sworn, and he
stated in answer to the solicitor for the prosecution
that he did not sign the power of attorney, that he
had never been before in England in his life, and that
he had never written to the prisoner to say he was
going to America and California.
Mr. Chandler, one of the attesting witnesses, spoke
to having been asked by the prisoner to attest the
signatures and to his doing so. He neither saw
Colonel Twybell nor Mr. Maxted.
Mr. Wontner, for the prisoner, submitted to the
Bench that the case was one in which substantial bail
muld be taken while the prisoner was under re-
mand. He was esteemed in the north cif England
as a gentleman of the highest honour and integrity,
as having served all through the Crimean war,
and as having been afterwards decorated by her
Majesty. Mr. Wontner also dwelt upon the possi-
bility of his having been deceived by the person repre-
senting himself to be Mr. Alaxted, and who said he
was on a visit to England on his way to California.
Seeing, too, that the real Mr. Maxted, like himself,
must have received a formal notice from the Bank as
to the proposed transfer before it was made, and that
the prisoner refrained from acting upon it until time
ufficient had elapsed for the receipt of an answer from
Gibraltar by the Bank authorities, it was idle to say he
had contemplated a fraud. There was, in fact, such
an absence of secrecy throughout the transaction on
his part as to be utterly irreconcileable with a guilty
intent. _ . .

'the application to admit to bail was opposed by the
Solicitor to the Bank under the peculiar circumstances,
and that being so,
The Lord Mayor declined to grant it, and remanded
the prisoner until Saturday.

The Lirerpoul Mercury says that Major Beswick was
appointed head-constable of Birkenhead about five or
six years a_fo at £250 a year; but since that time his
salary has been increased to £4OO. So little was
known of the major's arrest, that the cause of his
absence was attributed to business in London. Major
Beswick has a family of n ne or ten children, the
eldest of whom is about twenty-one years of age and
the youngest not more than a year or two.