The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-17 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONB, MAIICII 15.
Stephen Kelsey was indicted for feloniously forging
and uttering a promissory note for 1501., with intent to
defraud.

The circumstances under which this charge was pre-
ferred were of a rather peculiar character. It appeared
that a society had been established at Whitstable, under
the title of the Co-operating Society, the object of which
appeared to be to purchase provisions and other neces-
saries at wholesale prices, the members of the society
being entitled to the :privilege of purchasing them at
those prices, with an addition of 71 per cent, for rent
and other expenses. The society was carried on under
the stperintendence of three persons, named Waters,
Wheeler, and West, and prisoner was the secretary ;1
and it appeared that the entire management of the con-
cern was left to him—the three persons mentioned, who
were the committee, taking very little share in it. It
seemed that the operations of the society were not satis-
factory, and in July last year one of their creditors, a
Mr. Barnwell, applied to the prisoner upon the subject
of a debt of 400/. that was due to him, and insisted upon
having some security, and the prisoner after a little ne-
gociation gave him a promissory note for 1501., bearing
the signatures of the three persons who formed the com-
mittee, and also his own as secretary. It appeared that
the prisoner paid the amount of the note out of money
that came into his hands ; but when he applied for the
promissory note Mr. Barnwell, for some reason or other,
could not give it up, and told him it was destroyed.
The society after this got into still greater d;fficulties,
and upon an examination of the accounts, it was found
that they were 1,000/. in debt, and the prisoner failed
to give any satisfactory account respecting the defi-
ciency, and subsequently absconded, and upon the
society being made acquainted with the transaction
relating to the promissory note in question, the pre-
sent charge was preferred against him and he was
taken into custody. These facts were proved in evi-
dence, and the three persons whose names appeared to
the bill were examined, and they swore that the
signatures were forgeries, and that the prisoner had no
authority whatever to sign such an insrument in their
behalf.

Mr. Parry made a very ingenious address to the jury
for the defence, and he contended, en behalf of the pri-
soner, that although he might have acted improperly,
and even dishonestly, as regarded the society in refer-
ence to the money intrusted to him, yet that there was
nothing to show that he had any intention to defraud
either the society or Mr. Barnwell when he passed away
the promissory note in question, and that the fact of his
having paid it afterwards negatived the suspicion that be
ever entertained any idea of committing a fraud. He
likewise urged that in point of fact the prisoner was the
principal member of the society, and had complete con-
trol over all matters connected with it, and that he
might have considered himself authorised to put the
names of the committee to such an instrument ; and he
said that, although he might be wrong in law in enter-
taining such an opinion, yet, if he conscientiously did
so, the jury would not be justified in convicting him of
forgery under such circumstances.

Mr. Bramwell, in summing up, told the jury it
was his duty to inform them that if a person put the
name of another to a bill of exchange or promissory
note and passed it away, even if it should appear ever so
clearly that he intended to pay the bill when it arrived
at maturity, he was still undoubtedly guilty of forgery.
The instrument was calculated to deceive and defraud
every person to whom it was passed as bearing the
genuine signature of the person whose name appeared
upon it, and it was the object of the law to prevent such
proceedings as being calculated to cause great incon-
venience and mischief in a commercial community. The
learned gentleman then called the attention of the jury
to the facts of the case, and said that the only questions
they had to decide were whether the signatures to the
promissory note in question were forged, and if so,
whether, when it was uttered, there was an intention
to defraud any person.
The jury, after deliberating for some time, addressed
the court and said they were of opinion that the signa-
tures were forged, but they did not think that there was
any intention to defraud the society.
Mr. Parry said that this was a verdict of not guilty.
Mr. Bramwell was about to give some explanation to

the jury, when Mr. Parry interposed and said that the
court had no right to discuss the matter with the jury,
and he should object to anything more being done than
to ask if they had agreed upon their verdict.

Mr. Brana'Well said be should certainly inform the
jury that it was not necessary for them to be satisfied
that the prisoner intended to defraud the society. He
had pieced the promissory note as a genuine document
to Mr. Barnwell, and they would consider whether or
not he intended to defraud that gentleman by giving
him a forged instrument.
Mr. Parry said he must protest against the course that
was taken by the learned judge, as being alien to every
principle of the English law. He had all through the
case evidently been actuated by the desire to get a ver-
dict, and his summing up was a reply, and during the
whole of it he bad not said t.n3 word in favour of the
prisoner.
Mr. Bramwell said the learned counsel must be aware
that such an observation was most irregular and impro-
per, and it compelled him to make this remark, that if
he l:ad said nothing in favour of the prisoner, it wat be-
cause it appeared to him that there was really nothing
to say,
The jury then again deliberated, and after some time
they gave a special verdict to the effect, that the pri-
soner had knowingly uttered a forged instrument with
intent to deceive Mr. Barnwell, but without any inten-
tion to defraud ultimately.
Mr. Parry asked the court to reserve the question of
the effect of this verdict for the consideration of the
Court of Criminal Appeal; but Mr. Bramwell said he
was of opinion that it amounted to a verdict of guilty.
He would, however, take advice upon the subject ; and
in the meantime, he should postpone passing sentence.
The prisoner was subsequently brought up for judg-
ment, and Mr. Bramwell said that lie Lad consulted the
judges with reference to the verdict that had been de-
livered, and after full consideration, the result arrived
at was that the prisoner Lad been properly convicted.
The offence of fOrgery is a very serious one under any
circumstances, and in the present case there could be
no doubt that the prisoner had committed the crime in
order to conceal other peculations. Under these circum-
stances, Le felt it big duty to order him to be kept in
penal servitude for four years.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.-YORK, MARDI 14.
THE OTLEY MURDER.

Mary Blessing, 45, was charged with the wilful mur-
der of 'Francis Blessing, her uncle, at Otley, on the Bth
of January last. Mr. Hardy and Mr. Middleton were
for the prosecution. Mr. Dearsley defended.
The prisoner is tha wife of a man named Bryan Bles-
sing, living in Otley. The deceased, Francis Blessing,
uncle to the prisoner's husband, was an infirm old man
84 years of 3,4 e, who, for many years, had lived with
the prisoner and her husband. Deceased obtained his
living by begging, as his age and infirmities prevented
him from doing any work. On the morning of the Bth
January,of
Aiiill e
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nd
informed prisonerw e nit,
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thatthe
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Mullen
deceased
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of the stairs, with a fender lying in fr,nit.s a t
of him, andnd oneon
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t
which it was alleged he had fallen
of her daughters, aged 11 years, were. Prisoner
the oonnelyr,naiembers
of the family at house, the r, at having left for their work
some hours previously. Mullen obse'rved various things
which led him to doubt the prisoner's statement.. On
going up stairs he found blood on the wall and on the
bed in deceased's sleeping room. There was no blood
upon the fender, and on the table lay a hammer having
grey hairs and stains of blocd on it. Further inves-
tigation tended to establish the conviction that, the
deceased bad been murdered, and at the coroners in-
quest, the prisoner, who had previously given several
different statements, confessed that she had struck the
old man with a hammer four or five tunes on the head,
and then drag;ed him down stairs rs to make it appear
that his death was accidental. She further represented
that deceased had been a great burden to her and her