The Express.
London, England, 1862-01-20 00:00:00

THE FORGERIES UPON THE IMPERIAL BANK

or RL&sil.

Sines the apprehension O 1 the three prisoners '
who an chterclizith c= • plate to be engraved far the
WM° d fen toile antes antes the Iro-
penal Bank dRS sone ademiling disclosure' have
begs mode, which ere sheer that there existed a very
wide spread and cirpoisi swespincy for the pupa's of
effecting the object In dew, end that but for timely &g-
-=the whole of the Roiniam Empire and its depaidegicies
have been completely inundated with forged notes of
the iisewiption mentioned. There *poems to be so doubt
that the project of coming to this country to poems the
fend plates from which the notes coin d be struck off
tees smeacted abroad, and that the three persons
at present in custody, one of whom is stated to be a very
diem lithographer and printer, were selected from several
sans who are concerned in the transaction to carry it
NO, sad it is believed that although the detective police
have only been upon their tract for about three months,
that their operations have extended over a muck
huger period. It appears that they applied to a great
somber of engravers to endeavour to induce them to en •
grave a copy of a genuine tea rouble note, but most of the
paean to whom they applied declined to under-
take the work, and the way in which they at
length succeeded was by having a small portion
of the plate executed by different engravers, and by this
mown they at length were able to obtain • completely en•
graved plate, bordered and lettered in such • manner as to
enable them to strike off a moat excellent facsimile of •
genuine ten sable note. The nominal value of these notes,
is about thirty shillings or • little over, and they circulate
to an enormous extent throughout the whole of the Russian
empire, and It is stated upon good authority that, in order
to give facilities to the circulation of this description
of paper money, it is issued upon • condition
which renders the bank liable to pay all the
notes that are in the hands of bad fide holders,
even though they should be forged, and hence it will be
seen that it is of extreme importance that such wholesale
atierapte at forgery should be pat • stop to. It would seem
that some notes had actually been struck off from the
forged plates at the time the affair woo detected, and •
large quantity of them were discovered in the following
singular manner. It will readily be understood that all
she proceedings of the prisoners were conducted with an ex-
treme amount of skill and caution, and one of the modes to
which they resorted to belle inquiry, was by constantly
' changing their residences, and endeavouring to destroy their
identity. They wera however, of omrsiselosely, watched, and
in consequence of Woman= received by the oaken Brett
and Scott, they went to • lodging that had been monied
by one of the prisooers, and to which he wee still in the
habit of resorting occasionally for the purpose of making
some inquiries. The apartment wim meanly famished, bet
there were several framed paintings and engraving hanging
up in it, and among the latter was a full length MOMS of
Garibaldi. This they were iadnered to examine cardally,
&a scan particular rams, and they discovered that in the
back of it • large quantity of rouble notes had bees ma
sealed, and awn their bang examined by an engraver sad
eampared with the forged plate found in the possession
of the prisms, it wee manifest that these notes
ware impamions from that pinta it is evident from
the &wombs that have taken pdacie that • wholaciale hscui
of than forged notes was intended to have been made shod-
famously, by various members of the gang of forgers, in all
ports of the empire of Rom* sad es the middle and lower
dot:a people in that country, among whom notes of this
prinnally aide* ere very ignorant, and
the forged ease- would have bola sidlleindly well =maw
tared to decisive an unpractised perms, there appears to be
very little doubt that bat for the &faction of the nefarious
scheme an sacenicaus amount of tie spurious notes would
have been put into circulation. The public is aware that a
great many conditions have taken plisee for an offence of
this description, which is created • felony by • special act of
parliament, and it is anther • curious fact that nearly the
whole of the meow so convicted were Jews, and mostly
from Poland.