The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-06 00:00:00

IRT/47, I[4Ol4DPWir SAITIRPAY EVRITING; JANUARY 6, 1664.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Jan. 4.

MANSION-HOUSE.—Benjamin Rooper Spier was
brought before Alderman Wilson for final examination,
upon the charge of having forged and uttered a cheque
for 3701., with intent to defraud Messrs. Spooner and
Attwood, the bankers.
Mr. Mullens, of the firm of Bush and Mullens, solici-
tors to the committee of bankers for protection from
forgeries and frauds, attended for the prosecution ; Mr.
Crawford, from the office of Mr. Wentner, for the
defence.

The case being one of very great interest to the vari-
ous banking concerns throughout the country, several
gentlemen connected with such establishments were pre-
sent during the investigation. It will be remembered
that the cheque stated to be forged cannot be found.
The following is the additional evidence :
Robert Prevost, a porter, to be found, according to
his own statement, at the Spread Eagle, in Gracechurch-
street, said—l know the prisoner. The first time I saw
him was on Tuesday, the 19th of December, between
half-past three and four o'clock. He came to me
and called me under the gateway of the Spread
Eagle, and asked me if I wanted a job? I said,
"Yes." He said, "I want you to go to Spooner
andAttwood's, and ask for Stevens and Son's pass-book."
He said, "Go to the left hand counter, and bring it
to the Spread Eagle." I went as directed, and asked
for the passbook, and it was given to me, and I took
it back to the Spread Eagle, and waited at the corner
of the gateway about ten minutes, and the prisoner
came up from across the road and said, " Have you got
the book ?" I said " Yes, sir," and gave it to him, and
he gave me a shillling. Heathen went away up the yard
of the Spread Eagle, taking the book with him, and in
about ten minutes afterwards he came down the yard,
through which there is a thoroughfare into Leadenhall-
market with the book. He said to me, " I want you to
take this book back again from where you fetched it.
All you have got to do is to take the book and chuck it
down on the counter where you had it from, and then
come out." I took the book and did as he desired, and
as I came back I met him half-way between the Bank
and the Spread Eagle. He walked back with me to the
Spread Eagle, and asked me if I had taken it, and I said
" Yes." tte said, " You have been very quick," and
asked me if I had been asked any questions ? I said
"No." He said, "It's very strange, as it is over their
time for taking in pass-books." He then walked with
me to the tap in the Spread Eagle yard, and gave me
some brandy, and had some himself, and he gave me
another shilling. He went away and I stayed some time
there, and afterwards I went down the yard, and he came
to me again and asked me if I should be there at eight
o'clock. I said, " No, not much after five o'clock."
He said, " Never mind ; I shall want you to-morrow
morning, very likely, to go and get the same book again."
He added that he was staying at the Spread Eagle, and
should be there three or four days, and that he had not
been in London for seven years. The next time I saw
him was in Newgate, while under remand for this charge
of forgery. I was shown by one of the turnkeys to a
yard where several persons were walking, and I imme-
diately identified him. He was not pointed out to me.
Cross-examined—There were two other persons in the
yard at the time ; they were not dressed as he is. He
is dressed now as he was on the 19th, `or something
similar ;he was in black. I recognised him by his fea-
tures. I had never been at Spooner and Attwood's,
but I knew very well where it was.
George Hall, eity porter at the Spread Eagle, Grace-
church-street, at which he said he had been upwards of
25 years, said—l saw the prisoner first standing, on the
16th of December, in the Spread Eagle gateway. I saw
him for several days afterwards, and recollect seeing him
talking with the witness Prevost twice on Tuesday, the
19th of December.

Cross-examined----I can recollect from one day to
another. Mr. Brett (the officer) spoke to me about it.
The bills were issued out, and one of the parties asked
me if I knew any one who had fetched a book from
Spooner and Attwood's, and I said, " Yes, Bob (mean-
ing Prevost) fetched a book."
Mr. F. Fansey (clerk at Spooner and Attwood's) said
—The cheque I paid was for 3701., and signed " Stevens
and Son," and payable to Mr. Phillips.
Mr. W. M. Todd, clerk in the Issue Department of
the Bank of England, said—On the 18th of December
three bank notes wero brought, I believe, by the wit-
ness Dixon (a person previously examined), for change.
The notes produced are those. The words " For
Messrs. Stevens and Son, Southwark-bridge-road Iron-
works," were written on the 3001. note when brought
to me. I paid them all in gold.
Cross-examined—l made the entry at the time in the
book I produce.
Brett (the detective officer) said—On Thursday, the
28th December, I was in Rheidol-terrace, Islington,
with Bassett, another officer' and shortly after twelve
o'clock I saw the prisoner leave the house No. 31
in that terrace, where he lived, and ge to the Duke
of Cambridge public-house. I had also in the neighbour.
hood the witness Dixon, whom I desired to go after the
prisoner and look at him. Dixon overtook the prisoner
by the corner of a short street into Regent's-street, City•
road. I saw the prisoner turn round and look at Dixon,
and I immediately ran round to the corner of Regent-
street, when I saw the prisoner at the end nearest the
City-road running as fast as he could. I ran after him
across the City-road, down York-road, where he turned
to the right, and then to the left, up Pitman's-buildings,
into Iromsionger-row, near St. Luke's Church, where
I succeeded in overtaking him, and collared him. We
both stood some seconds before either could speak, both
being out of breath. The prisoner said, " What do
you want me for !" At that time Bassett came up. I
said "I am an officer ; you are in my custody on the
charge of forging and uttering a cheque for 3701. on
Messrs. Spooner and Attwood on Monday, the 18th."
He said, " I'll go quietly—leave go of my ann."
I said, "No ; I have had trouble enough to catch
you. If you had gone twenty yards further, I eQuid
not have caught you." He said, "I wish to God
I had known it, and you should never have had me."
Ho said, " Where are you going to take me ? To the
Mansion-house ?" I said, "You will go there, but you
are now going to the station-house." He said, "I'll go
to no Mansion-house if I know it. lam going home.
I have got a wife at home, and a goose for dinner.
Come homo with me." He then said, "Let me go and
see Mr. Twells." I asked him what for? He replied,
" That I may see if I can't arrange it." He said (re-
ferring to the date of the forgery), " What day did you
say it was ?" I said, " The one I now charge you with
was on Monday, the 18th." He asked me if I had got
the forgery, and if I had, to let him look at it, He
asked me that several times. I took him to the station-
house, and on searching him I found a gold watch,
41. 4s. 11d., a receipt for 201. deposited at the London
and Westminster Bank on the 22d of December in his
own name, and sundry papers. On the same day I
went with Bassett to the prisoner's house, where I saw
his wife and on searching a desk, which Mrs. Spier un-
locked, I found a number of letters addressed to the pri-
soner, and also a receipt, which I produce, dated 18th
Dec., 1854, for 3031. 4s. 6d.. signed " James T. Spier,"
and two papers pinned to it.
Mr. Alex. Thomson, clerk in the Union Bank of
London, said :—On the 19th of December I received
3001. on the deposit account of James Thomas Spier. It
was paid all in gold. The person who brought the
money filled up the paper I produce, and also gave his
signature in the book.
Mr. H. Webster said—l am a clerk in the Commer-
cial Bank of London, in
,Lothbury. Mr. James Thomas
Spier is also a clerk there. The signatures to the papers
produced are in his handwriting— viz., the deposit re-
ceipt and the receipt far 3031. 4s. 6d.
_ _

Mr. Mullens said that was the case for the prose-
cution. He had refrained from calling as a witness Mr.
James Thomas Spier, the prisoner's brother, a gentle-
man who was wholly ignorant of the transactions
in which the prisoner had been concerned, and who.
upon hearing of the accusation, had immediately
given up the sovereigns, which had been lodged
at the banking•house, in payment of a sum of money
due to him by the prisoner, to the solicitors for the
prosecution.
The prisoner, upon 'being asked whether he wished to
say anything in answer to the charge, said he would
leave the case in the hands of his solicitor.

Alderman Wilson, in committing the prisoner for trial,
said the case was one of the most serious that could be
committed in a commercial community. It had been
carried out with a singular ingenuity, and had a pecu.
liarity which he had never in his experience met with
before—he meant the absence of the document for which
he was committing the prisoner. He entertained no
doubt that at the Central Criminal Court perfect justice
would be rendered to all parties. The prisoner was then
committed for trial.

LAMBETH.—James Manning, the driver and owner
of the hackney cab No. 36, appeared before the Hon.
G. C. Norton to answer a charge of unlawfully making
use of abusive and obscene language.
Henry Ba*ce, the waterman at the Camberwell-green
cabstand, deposed that on the night of the 29th of last
month the defendant left his cab in witness's charge,
stating at the time that he was going to have some re-
freshment. Some time after, and while the cab was the
first on the rank,
public hou—see,
into it by 1,
aluastlagdoy and a little boy were admitted
it
his cab, and hea
anhadthhiedwtbeentdetfoenthdeanttaptbroeoremwoafsthaefaTriegieor
and decl
great passion, :4
bite.
sThhouelddefneontdalenatvgeo, tbiunttohae
The defendant then ran otti tat:
(witness) told him he timst
the lady and the little boy getttien
heh was bound to do so.
cab, and insisted on
some other cab, saying he could
lady refused to get out, and svitne
wahralhe com-
ff,ssozptuootn
told
ntrls,going
d e f
defendant
di
an
nt t
takei them. The
he was bound to go with the fare, u
menced making use of the grossest abuse
expressions. —sgusting
Mr. Norton--Was the language directed towards you
or the lady who refused to get out of the cab?
'Witness—Well, sir, I believe it was principally ad-
dressed
to me, but then it was in the lady's presence, and
the expressions were really so bad that it was quite unfit
she should hear them.
Mr. Norton—Well, defendant, what have you got to
say to this charge of making use of filthy language in
the hearing of this lady and her boy?
Defendant—l can't deny it, Sir ; but the fact is that I
wag awfully put out at being disturbed from my supper.
Yhe lady would have got into another cab, but this man
(tche waterman) would not let her, and, being vexed, I
earn I blew him up.

fr. Norton—What did you get for supper that caused
you to reluctantly to leave it ?
Delendant—A nice hot steak, your worship.
3rNorton—Well, why not take it with you and
have it when you set down your fare.
went la,nt—Well, si.r, the fact was that it was served
up so tic e and hot, with a drop of nice gravy, and a
tater, that: I did not like to leave it or let it get
cold. (Laughter.)
Mr. Norton—All this cannot jastify your making use