The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-09-22 00:00:00

OLD B.I7LEt•
Tugs' Av. Srrrelestall.

:OF

CHARGE OF FORGING A BILL EILCRANGr..
Pardolmmo Waite. • "coddle-aged min. very
genteely dressed in black, was indicted for felo-
niously forging and tittering a bill of Peels Inge.
purporting to he of the value of 180/. with intent
to defraud Joseph Wheatley.
Mr. At.I.FY "Wed the ease to the Jury.
Joseph AVlleatley stated, that he was a hosiery
manufacterrer at Leicester, and had employed the
Prisoner as his baleitnan, at a warehouse he kept in
Wood-street, Clieroptiide; he had two assistants in
the. warehouse. Ile had given •the Prisoner in-
structions when lie employed him in the beginning
of the year 1818. that he was not to give credit
to any jeers, nor In takers reader-stride bill. In the
mouth of December lost, lie received a bill for one
bemired and eigloy pounds, euclosed in a letter of
the Prisoner's—[The letter and hill he now pro-
duced]—it was a six months bill, and when lie re-
ceived it, he was dissatisfied, as it was such a hill
as the Prisoner had no right to have received. He
came to town about a fortnight after mid inquired
of the Prisoner who was " James L:iwes," the en.
doper on the hill, to whom he sold the goods ; lie
replied he was a merchant, who had just gone to
Portugal, he believed, amid that he knew him to be •
respectable mats. who passed 4o and from Portugal.
—Witness then asked him who were the drawer and
acceptor of the bill ? He said the drawer, C. W.
Roland, was • timber-merchant, residing at Car-
; witness said it would not do to have to go to
Carlisle if the bill was not paid, and he wished the
Prisoner to take it back and try and get another
for it, but this he refused. He then left the bill
with one of his assistants, but when it became due
he could nut find either the acceptor, who was said
to live at Manchester. or the drawer at Carlisle.
He failed to find any such persons at either of
the places. There was • Mr. Roland, a clerk at a
banking-house at Carlisle, who was (except his
father) the only man of the name there. Joh*
Abbott:, of Manchester, who was represented to be
the acceptor, was also tint to be found. He then
came up to town to look after the Prisoner, whom
he saw at the Mansion House, but he gave no new
account of the way he (obtained the bill. Willies*
took William Worsham, the officer, with him to
Manchester mind Carlisle, where they in vain inquir-
ed for the mono( Arcady mentioned.
Cross.exantined by Mr. ADoLptloS—Witness
agreed to give the Prisoner a salary, and he wits to
have a cominirsion, which was to rise in a ratio ac-
cording to the sales. The salary was to be 140/.
a year. and it was to rile to 400/. and upwards, if
the sales exceeded 17,0001. yer annum. He in.
structed him, verbally. out to take ready-made bills,
that is, not to take bills brought in ready drawn up.
and so forth. 'The Prisoner might have, in the
course of their comiexion, sent him down bills to a
considerable amount, but be could not precisely
specify it. In the course of the month of
January he aacertsined that there was no such per.
son at Carlisle as "C. W. Roland." He knew
the Prisoner'. brother, to whom he complained of
the bill ; the latter said. no doubt it was a good
one, and witness admitted that he had offered to
negociate the hill with the brother, who was a
broker, and to take goods fur it from him or his
friends, and told him lie was dissatisfied with the bill,
awl did not think it a good one. He did not actu-
ally discharge the Prisoner, but the latter absented
himself when lie expressed dissatisfaction about the
bill. Ile knew where the Privoner lived after he
had absented himself from the warehouse, amid had
seen him several times in law Suits, where he brought
him forward as • witness, in consequence of impro-
vident oaks he had made while in his service. He
was produced and examined In his behalf last Term,
and he had also mode depositions fur him in
Chancery in the bankruptcy of one Plinhom. He
had been bail for the Prisoner since he left his ser-
vice, so late is in the month of April ; he after-
wards ourrendered him in discharge of his bail,
shortly after lie had been his witness at Guildhall,
and while lie was in attendance by his desire at
LincoliO-Jon, on a consultation.
tee-crontined.—The occasion when he produced
the Prisoner as a witness was in the case of Moseley
Woolf, when witness sought the recovery of goods,
deposited by Prisoner with %Vuolf.
The officer who accompanied the first witness to
Manchester and Carlisle corroborated his state-
ment, that no such persons as the acceptor and
drawer of the bill could be found.
Edward Harvey Roland. from Carlisle, proved,
that except !morel( and his father, there were no
other persons of that same at Carlisle. He had
lived there all his life. and had never known any
other family of this name except his own. His
father had been a timber-merchant about Isis years
ago.
The bill was now handed to witness, who exa-
mined the signature to it. and said it was net in
either his or his father's hand-writing.
The tax-collectors at Manchester proved, tint-
there was Pa such Deana as Abbott. (the acceptor)
residing in Mancoester. -
John James Reynolds stated, that he was a clerk
in the warehouse at Wood-street, Cheapside, when
the Prisoner was there last December. He re-
membered at that time the Prisoner selected a
pared of goods to he sent out, and entered them
in the waste-book himself. The entry was made in
the name of " James Lowe.," and the amount set
down at 1401.; wittiess knew no such person as
James Lewes, nor did he remember any one of that
name coining to the warehouse to give orders about
any goods. The bill was here handed to witness.
which he said he first saw with the Prisoner.
The case was here closed for the prosecution,
and the Prisoner, on being called upon for his de-
fence, replied. that he left his case with him Coun-
sel, who produced the following witnesses
George Clarke, a shoemaker, in St. John-street.
Smithfield, said, he was last November acquainted
with Due George Harrowell, a coachmaker, living
in Long-acre ; he had been there for a number of
yearn, but was now gone....[Here the hill on
which the Prisoner was indicted was put into
witness's hand., and lie was asked whether he hail
seen it before ? he replied. he had. nod it was offer-
ed to him on payment by one Pearse, who was
known to flarrowell. but as the bill was endorsed
" Lower," he inquired who that person was.].-.
The bill was given to witness to pa
with. He made inquiries respecting

ft.(' WOO 11101 permit Humeri pucact.uovais ••••••••• • dritha,.
0 witness to pentium hosiery I contained the prober. 1.1 the will. is 171. rwelisseim, be *id, hi lift,- pearl'
tiries respecting Roland, whose i liu sumer to questions frost 'fr. Justice B SST,
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