The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-11-27 00:00:00

A FALSE PRETENCE.

At the Central Criminal Court, in 1.1113t100, on Monday,
Robert Cooke, 53 >ears of age. dmcrihed as a money-lender,
surrendered to as indictment charging him with a mis-
demeanour in hating in Effect by a false pretence induced
Apaches Clara Hall to execute a deed which then became a
valuable security, with intent to defraud. The alleged mite
pretense was that the deed so executed did not assign a
tile policy for £2OO. other counts In the indictment vat led
the deem itition of the r tfence.
Sir Serjeant sleigh ispecially retained) and Mr. Montagu
Williams were counsel for the prosecution : Mr. Serjeant
Ballsotine also sueciall) retained , Mr. Metcalf, and Mr.
Poland, conducted the defence.
The first. witne.as called was Angelina Clara
flaiL
She is the -widow of Mr. William Agar Hall, a sur-
veyor at Limerick. who died on the 6ffi if May, 1068.
She said she bed previously known the defendant, and
her heehaw] bail money dealings with him, She was
left a widow with five chibleen. When in London in
June, 1868; she called'on the defendant at his -.•ffi -e in
Watwick.street. and took him a pelicy for £2OO on
herhuebuad's life in the British Equitable Insurance
office. He looked at it, and said ne wan sorry for her
loss; 'and if she would leave the document with him
he wodld get the money for her free of expense.
She accordingly left it with him, and called on him
again in the following September, when he under-
took to advance her £2. 0. Her sister was with her
at the second interview, and a clerk of the defen-
dant, named Charles Poy Mee was also present. The de-
fendant produced a deed, and said it was for an ad-
vance of £2OO to enable her to go into business, adding
that he hail mentioned the life insurance in the deed,
but that had nothieg to do with the matter, for that,
he paid, was hers. 'lnc arrangement wan that she was
to take a publiu-houee with the £2OO, and he said ahe
was to pay £5 per cent, for it. She was aware pre-
viously that her husband had had an advance from the
defendant on mortgage on his Irish property. When
the deed was signed tie asked her if she wanted any
money. She said she might want about zo. Her
seder, who was ereeent, said "Nit lees than I:50," and
he then gave witness a check for 1:50. While hie clerk,
Charles Poyeter, was reading the deed, the de-
fendant snatched it hem his hand, and read it in
a berried manner. Poynter had been reading it to
bee lit a-way she nuderstoed. The defendant told her
it wee merely a deed to secure the interest on the
raw which her husband had previously borrowed.
She eventually signed the deed, and also a check for
£l2O. She asked what the check was for, and he said
to take wit administration in Eegland and Ireland.
The encloreenuent which now appeared on the check in
the canine " Henry. Arnold " was not Upton it when
Ile signed it. The deed was signed on the lOch cif
&V.:ember. The defendant said the administration
[entitled cost no much an £l2O, and if it came to more
she would have to pay the °yelping. She •ffil not
know at the time who Mr. Arnold was. She saw the
deed for the first time on the 10th of September.
When the defendant gave her the .1,50 he told her to
take care of it—that money was very slippery, and
would soon pros through her hands. She believed
when she signed the deed he was going to advance her
£2OO to go into busine as, but she did not believe she wag in
any respect conveying away her interest in the policy of
insurance. On the 18th of November she had another
interview with the defendant, and asked him fur some
money, showing bum some papers relating to public.
houses she had been inquiring about, but for which a
great deal of money was wanted. He said she might
go as far as Von or £5OO in that way, and he would ,
aduarm• her £5OO. He then gave her a check for £lO,
and v. ith it a plies of paper to sign. It was to the
effect that in consideration of the LAO he had pfsid her
ahe agreed that the same, with interest thereon at 1:10
per cent should be tacked to his mortgage to her, and
be a charge on the securities thereby assigned. That
she signed. Ile Paid nothing to her at that time about
haviog received the insurance money between the two
int. • iews. A clerk had brousbt a paper to her from
the Br cieh Equitable Assurance office, and she took it
,he iefendant eome time in October. The defend-
twe, wets dictated to her a letter she was to write to
the manager of the Equiteble. It was to the effect
that the atlice.wse to hand a check to Arnold for the
amount Of the policy. She asked if she might go with
Arfld tdreceive it, ThYr defendant replied, "Oh, no;
w • eI do all that 'Sir you." She then left with the de-
endasit the paper si.e had had from the Equitable and the
letter she had written tc his dictation. On the 23rd of
rrecember she called upon the defendant and asked him
(or cense money. lit replied that he could do no twee
in that way, for the ineurance money had all been
ow slimed up in expenses. He had never said before
that interview that the insurance money had been re-
ceived. He said lie had paid the money to Mr.
Arnold, who would give her an account of the expenses.
She tusked for £5. saying she had no provision fin- her-
self awl her five children, lie gave her a check for that
ageouut, and told her he could do no more ter her. At
the swim interview she wrote a memorandum, at the
defendant's dictation, in which she agreed that the £5
a-as to he tacked to her mortgage with him, with in-
terest at the rate therein mentioned. She hail a
brother a publican at Putney, and after that interview
she made a communication to hire. She eventually
broeght an aation agaiust the defendant to revover the
infonance anduey from him. She received in all
from the defendant before she brought the action, and
eo more.
The deed, a most elaborate instrument, signed by
the peoaecutrix at the instance of the defendant., WM
put in ba partly reed: It was an. extreerdtnary
specimen of legal prolixity and ingenuity, so much so
that the Common Serie ant at length interposed to pre-
vent it being read in detail, and Mr. Serjeant Bellew
tine, the leading counsel for the defence, remarked,
amid some laughter, that- probably nobody would
underetawl it if it wan read at leugth.
Witness, replying to Mr. Moutageu Williams, said
she never understood at any time that she was assign-
ing to the clefemlant her policy of insurance for 4:200
on her husbands life.
Mr. Henry Monsen (a clerk from the British Equit-
able Assurance-office) produced the policy, dated the
13114 of September, 1857, on the life of Mr. Agar Hall
for e2OO. Upon that, he twist, £l9O odd had been af-
terwards paid by the office in full of all chianti.
Ilre. Hall was recalled by 51r. Montagu Williams,
and said she signed the read pt wogs the policy at the
Diane of the defendant, and. handed it boar to him so
signed;
Being cnisseexarnined IT Mr. Serjeant Ballantine,
she sled her husband was thirty.eight when he died.
'Thwewas something said at the Ey uitable office as to
his age having been wrongly stated, so at least the de-
fendant said, and £lO was deducted on that account.