The Express.
London, England, 1862-08-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20.

THE great Rourxu case has been concluded for
the present, but perhaps this may be only the first
chapter in the revelations of this extraordinary
drama. The action for the recovery of the Nor-
biton-park estate is the first attempt which has
been made by the ItourELL family to recover the
estates which, like so many forged Bank of Eng-
land notes, the late Member for Lambeth has
scattered among the public ; and this attempt has
been to a great extent successful. There are
other estates in the same predicament, and the
halls of the Old Bailey are destined soon to hear
the story of WILLIAM ROUPELL'S villany repeated,
and it may be hoped, with important additions.
The outline of the story is simple enough. The
late Mr. RICHARD PALMIR ROUPELL had spent a
long life in the business of • lead smelter. He
had a factory in Gravel-lane, Blackfrisrs, and •
residence in Cross-street, in the immediate neigh-
bourhood. During the week he devoted himself
to his business, and by his industry and shrewd-
ness he had amassed at the end of his life property
to the amount of 120,0001., besides purchasing
the Norbiton estate, near Kingston, worth
20,0001., and other estates in Essex, Hampshire,
London, Southwark, and Lambeth. It was the
habit of this prosperous man to retire every
Saturday afternoon to his place at Brixton, called
Aspen House. There resided his wife, whom he had
lived with before he married her in the year 1838.
Before that date they had had four illegitimate
children, one of whom was Wit.mAit, the late
member for Lambeth. After his marriage, there
was one son born, RICHARD, who is now about 22
years of age. It was the natural wish of the old
man to provide for his family, and for this purpose
he had from time to time made various wits and
codicils—the last of which was drawn up byhis regu-
lax legal advisers, on the 30th of August, 1856,
12days before his death. On the 12th of September,
however, old Mr. Roura.u. died, and it is some-
what remarkable that an inquest was held in order
to ascertain the canoe of that event.

Upon the death search was made for a will, and
it was found that the will of the 30th of August
had been superseded by another will, which bore
date the 2nd of September, giving the whole of
his property of every description to his wife. His
wife was named executrix, and his signature
was attested by WILLIAM ROUPELL and an old
man, Muocisamoz, a servant of the family. Now,
this will is alleged to have been forged, and
forged by the hand of WILLIAM ROUPELL. Ac-
cording to the former will the Norbiton
estate was devised to RICHARD, his younger, and
only legitimate brother. During old Mr. Rou-
raLes life, WILLIAM, who possessed his entire
confidence, had obtained possession of the title
deeds of this estate, bad forged the signature
of his father to a deed of gift, by which this Nor-
biton estate was transferred to himself, and bad
actually induced a respectable attorney to advance
money on the faith of this forged document
to relieve him from his embarrassments. Mr.
WAITE, who appeared as the defendant in the
action, which was tried at Guildford, bad bought
this Norbiton estate from WILLIAM ROUPELL, re-
lying upon this forged deed of gift. By proving
this forgery Mr. WAITE'S title would of course be
invalid, and the estate would either belong to the
widow, Mrs. ROUPILL, under her husband's will,
or,l if this will were also forged, to young
RICHARD ROLTPILL. This, then, was the question at
issue, and RICHARD ROUPELL was bound to prove his
case to the satisfaction of the jury. And how did he
attempt to do it? He did it by summoning his own
brother, WILLIAM ROUPELL, into the witness-box.
It is difficult to produce any parallel case in the
records of courts of law. The man was already
ruined past redemption ; he had already fled
the country ; and yet with a coolness and audacity
which is almost incredible, he returned to Eng-
land and voluntarily stood up in the witness-box
to confess himself a perjurer and a forger. With
unfaltering minuteness he told the jury bow he
had obtained the deeds of the Norbiton estate from
his father, and how he had contrived to get the
deed of gift, by which that estate was transf erred
to him, executed and attested.
He then told the story of the forgery of the
will ; and it was this. On the 12th of Sep-
tember, 1856, the old man died in the City. From
Aspen-house WILLIAM ROUPELL hastened to
Cross-street with his mother. " There," said this
audacious man, " I found the will and codicil of
" August the 30th, by which the Norbiton estate
" was devised to my younger brother." This will
must be got rid of. It could not be destroyed :
for, if destruction had been attainable, the
copy at the Proctor's would have revealed the
crime. It might be revoked ; but then
a new will must be prepared for the purpose.
But in what form 1 Time pressed, and there was
no time to prepare an elaborate wilL A common
form might be obtained from the law stationer's, and
the whole property given to Mrs. Roursu. shoo-

lutely. The will could be antedated, the dead
man's name might be forged, and with Roorzu.
himself for one attesting witness, and Muooi.
lIIDOE, an old man of 85, for the other attesting
witness, the thing was complete. All this was done.
The only difficulty was about Mcooxams,.and the
mode in which ROUPILI.L dealt with him insufficiently
characteristic. " I went to old Mtroonainon," he
says, " who was very old and infirm, and got him
"to sign a receipt for SI., which I
" afterwards burnt, and having thus ob-
" tamed his signature, I added it to the
" will. The signature was difficult to imitate. I
"at last succeeded in imitating it. I wrote my
" father's signature with his own pen—a short
" quill pen—and also that of MUOGIMIDGE. My
" own I wrote with my gold pen, and as lightly
"as I could, to make the contrast as strong as
" possible with the others." It is difficult, perhaps,
to believe fle story of so deliberate and consummate
a villain ; but the idea wag admirably conceived.
It is impossible to imagine any plan which would
better effect the object ROUPELL had in view.
There was no time to make an elaborate will, and
the gift of everything to a man's wife is so natural
as to lull suspicion. His influence with his
mother was boundless ; so that, in fact, the gift to
her was a gift to himself. No sooner was the
will proved *III ROUPELL obtained practical
possession of the whole property—of the personalty,
indeed, he had control as the acting executor. He
had obtained the power of spending vast sums of
money, nor did he neglect the opportunity offered
to him. He made perpetual demands upon his
mother ; be ruined his brothers and sisters, and
incontinently embarked in a career of daring
extravaganoe which surprised the town. The
man who had at least three times forged Ws
father's name was not likely to spare his mother
or his relations. His ambition rose with his
opportunities, and through oceans of beer he
floated into the House of Commons as Member
for Lambeth.

But his career is not yet ended. It was not
enough to ruin his family, himself, and all those
innocent persons who, relying upon the faith of his
forged documents, have spent their thousands in
purchasing large estates ; but, struck with remorse,
he must now come into court, and, in the face of
his fellow-citizens, confess his crimes, and attempt
to retrieve the fortunes of his family at the expense
of others. The money which he managed to
swindle out of the pockets of such innocent people
as Mr. WAITE is now all spent and gone.
At present his brothers and sisters have been
beggared. One action has been brought by young
ROUPILL, and has ended successfully. Others
may be brought. And it will be a feat of no
ordinary genius if this perfect swindler should
succeed in making people believe the story of his
villany, and thus reinstate his young brother in all
those great possessions from which he has contrived
to oust him. But even if such a result were pos-
sible, it is difficult to imagine any family so lost
to all sense of decency as to persevere in so scan.
dalous an enterprise.