The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-03-01 00:00:00

THE KING OF BEGGING LETTER
IMPOSTORS.

At the Middlesex Sessions, John Sullivan, aged f 6, de-
scribing himself u a hair-dresser, was indicted for obtaining
by fahe pretence. from General Braybrooke the sum of Li
with intent to defraud. There was another Indictment against
him for attempting to obtain money from a lira sandeman
by false pretences.
-

On the 14th of December the prieoper went to the
house of General Braybrooke, of South Kensington,
mind handed to the butler a letter for his master, pur-
porting to have been written by the Rev. Dr. Heesey,
Rector of Kensington, strongly recommending to
his charitable consiieration the case of a Mrs.
Brown, widow of Sergeant Brown, who served up-
wards of twenty-four years in H. M.'s 90 h Regiment,
who sal in China under the Commend of Colonel Hart
Ounne, and wax in several actions there, and at
the taking of Pekin; and as General Braybrgoke had
been commandant on the 99th Regiment, he was aeked
to attach his signature to the memorial, to which the
widow would for ever feel grateful. The letter went
on to say that Dr. Heemy had known the family ever
since their residence in his district, and could strongly
recommend it to General Braybrooke's consideration.
The letter was accompanied by a memorial written on
the back of distress warrant on the goods of Mrs.
Brown for Lit, and to this memorial were attached a
great number of signatures, with amounts thereto,
ranging from El Is. upwards, the donors professing to
be the Rev. Dr. Hesmy, the Duchess of Inverness,
Lady Holland, Lady George Paulet, the Hon. Mts.
Mender, and several other persons of the highest re-
spectability in the parish of Kensington.

General Braybrooke read the supposed lettir from
Dr. liessey. He noticed that ft contained 'levers'
grammatical errors, and on remarking this to the
prisoner he explained this by saying that as Dr.
liessey was very bushy engaged at the time he had
directed Mr. Reuben Green, tne vestry clerk of Ken-
sington, to write it for him. Being somewhat patio-
lied with this answer, he gave the prisoner &sovereign.
and the general's Eon also gave him 10c, under the
telief that it was a true representation from Dr.
liessey. In consequence of certain facts which came
tothe knowledge of Dr. Heariey, a warrant was obtained
for the appreaension of the prisoner, and it was placed
in the hands of Andrew Lanedowne, detective
sergeant. of Scotland-yard, sad on Saturday, the 15th
of February, he met with the prisoner and read the
warrant to him, and no Pooner hail he heard it than he
took papers and letters from his pocket and began to
tear them up, but Lanedowte and Walter lkireell,
another oilier, succeeded in getting some from him,
and which were those produced, and amongst them was
a fictitious memorial and letter he had sent to Mrs.
Sandeman, from whom he was unsuccessful in obtain-
ing 'windy. Tliere were taping Lontaining the eldreases
of persona who had either been, or were intended,
victims of the prisoner.
General Braybrodke was closely crposexamined by
the prisoner as to his identity, and although he said he
had some doubts about it when he Paw the prisoner at
the police-court, in consequence of his then having a
beard and moustache, which he had not when be called
upon him, and his general dirty appearan>3 ; but 'the
he bad no doubt whatever, and swore positively that
he was the man.

The Rev. Dr. Heasey was called, who said he livednt
St. Barnabas vicarage, Kensington, and had never Cecil
the pH/wrier until he saw him at the police court.
Ile signature of the letter to General Braybrooke was
not in his handwriting, and there was no such cases'
that asserted in the memorial. No letter was written,
by his authority, by the vestry clerk of Kensington.
Mr. Ribton Turner, organizing secretary of the
Charity Organization Society, said he had Been the
dociumnte found upon the praoner, arid believed they
were all in the same handwriting.
The jury immed;ately found the pi sooner Guilty.
John William Honsford, chief officer of the Menai.
city Society, awd he was present at the Guildhall,
Westminster, on the 14th of May, 1866, when the pri.
Boner was convicted of fraud, and sentenced to five
yeara' penal servitude. He had known him for twenty
years as the king of begging letter importors.
George Lockyer, sessions officer, said he had known
the prisoner since 1840 as a begging letter impostor, and
he had twelve months' imprisonmentin 1862 as • rogue
and vagabond. He had been under hie charge in prison
twenty or thirty times.
The Judge said the prisoner was a most mischievous
person, as he caused charitable persons to turn a deaf
ear to cases of real &strew, and had the effect of mak.
in the poor poorer, and stopped that liberality on the
part of benevolent persons that would otherwise flow to
them. He had already been sentenced to five years'
penal servitude, and that did not stop him, and the
sentence now upon him was that he be kept in penal
servitude for seven years. The society had done good
service to the public by prosecuting this prisoner and
getting him convicted.