The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-18 00:00:00

POLICE ISTELLIGENCE.—IAn. 17.

MANSION-HOUSE. Duncan Maclean W, ight
was brought before the Lord Mayor, in the custody of
a Liverpool officer, charged with forgery upon the house
of Overend, Gurney, and Co., the money dealers.
Mr. Vallings, the solicitor of the firm, attended for
the prosecution.
Mr. William Shipman, clerk to the prosecutors, said
—lt is part of my duty to open the letters addressed
to the house. The following letter was received at our
house on the 4th of November, and contained a bill of
exchange for 1571. 2s. 3d., purporting to be drawn by
Wm. Anderson and Co., and accepted payable at Messrs.
Glyn, Mills, and Co., bankers, in London, and not
elsewhere, " John Moore and C 0.," dated Manchester,
Oct. 23, 1354.
"Moore, due 23d-26th Feb., 54, £157 2s. 3d.
" 16, Dawber-street, Liverpool, 3d Nov., i 854.
" Gentlemen,—lf agreeable to discount the enclosed,
please send me the proceeds at a moderate rate, in half
notes, and oblige,

" Respectfully, your most obedient servant,
" D. H. WRIGHT.

"Messrs. Overend, Gurney, and Co., London."
In consequence of that letter we wrote a letter to the
writer of the first letter, in which the bill of exchange
was returned ; and it was stated to be contrary to the
practice of the house to discount any bills without an
introduction. Afterwards, on the 6 h of November, I
opened the following letter, which was dated, I believe
in error, the 4th of October instead of November :
" 16, Dawber-streot, Liverpool, 4th Oct., 1-54.
"Messrs. Ovorend, Gurney, and Co.,
" Gentlemen—ln reply to yours of this date, although
my discounts with you have never been of much magnitude
they have been over the space of twenty years or more. I
thought F might.have been personally known in your office,
where I have frequently done business.
" I might refer to introductions I have given to your
firm in favour of others, such as Christian, Allhousen,
and Co., of Newcastle. Having been abroad for the last
four years, my correspondence, &c., naturally ceased. I give
an opportunity of calling me again to your recollection by
returning for discount the enclosed 1571.25. 3d., for which
send me, if quite agreeable, notes for 1501. and cheque on
Barclays for the balance. I have lately opened a corres-
pondence with Messrs. Leonino Brothers for foreign busi-
ness. I presume their paper would at all times be accept-
able to you; and am, respectfully, your mostobdt. servt.,
cc D. M. WRIgHT.
"Need I revert to the year 1825, and ten years after-
wards, when I was cashier to your old correspondent A.T.,
at Glasgow ?"
. . _ _

That later contained the same bill which had been re-
turned in the previous letter, in consequence of which
our house discounted the bill, and forwarded the sum of
1501., in half Bank of England notes, i❑ two envelopes,
and a draft on a banker for 41. lls. id., the balance of
the bill less the discount,, which were addressed to Mr.
D. M. Wright, 16, Dawber•street, Liverpool. The
draft produced is that which was so sent. On the Bth
of November I received a letter, dated the Bth of No-
vember, and signed "D. M. Wright," acknowledging
the receipt of the enclosures.

Mr. Joseph Henry Dickinson, merchant at Liverpool,
said—l am a partner in the house of John B. Moore and
Company. The acceptances to the bills produced for
1571. 2s. 3d., and 294/. 16s. 3d. (a second bill then pro-
duced), are not in my handwriting, nor in that of my
partner, nor was either written by our authority. There
is no other house in Liverpool which trades under the
name, that I have ever heard of. We make our bills
payable at Messrs. Glyn and Co.'s, in London. I know
the prisoner, but have not had any transaction with him
on his own account, that I know of. I do not know
such a firm as William Anderson and Cu., Man-
chester. When I knew the prisoner he was clerk or
agent to a mercantile house. I was before a magistrate
is Liverpool on that subject, and (as our reporter under-
stood the witness) gave evidence there.
John Sullivan, detective officer, of Liverpool, said—
I apprehended the prisoner at No.. 16, Dawber-street,
Liverpool, on the 10th inst., without a warrant, on a
charge of forging a bill for 294/. 16s. 3d., which sum I
mentioned to him. He told me to ask him no questions,
and he would tell me no lies. I asked him his name,
and he said it was Duncan Wright ; and next day he
was taken befure one of the borough magistrates, and
another bill was then produced before the magistrate, by
Mr. Dickinson, namely, for 157/. 2s. 3d., which is the
bill produced here in the first instance. The magis-
trate's clerk then asked the prisoner in my presence if
he had anything to say to the charge, and the prisoner
said the bills were forgeries, and that he had forged
them. This statement was not taken down in writing
at the time.

The Lord Mayor was about to remand the prisoner,
when

Mr. Dickinson requested to be informed whether it
would be necessary for him to come again from Liver-
pool in order to give evidence before his lordship ?
The Lord Mayor said it was really difficult for him
to comprehend the course adopted by the magistrate
before whom the case was originally brought. That
magistrate either had or had not jurisdiction in the
matter. If the magistrate had the powers which
the Forgery Act seemed to give him, the prisoner
ought not to have been brought to London, by which
course considerable expense must be incurred in the con-
duct of the prosecution. If, on the contrary, the case
did not come. within the jurisdiction of the magistrate,
the recent act of Parliament laid down the coarse to be
taken, and therefore Mr. Dickinson's attendance would
have been unnecessary, as his evidence should have been
taken at. Liverpool, and forwarded to London.
The prisoner—lf it will save any trouble to any one,
I admit the guilt I are charged with.
The Lord Mayor then directed that the depositions
should be made out, and said he would commit the pri-
soner for trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The Lord Mayor requested that the press would ac-
knowledge his receipt of 101. from "T. and C 0.," aid
N. from John Butterfield, for the peor-box.

GUILDHALL.—Thomas Arthur Corlett, dressed in
the height of the go-a-head fashion, was placed at the
bar before Alderman Cubitt, charged with fraud.
A gentleman who attended on behalf of the Electric
Telegraph Company, having briefly stated the nature of
the charge, said this was a very serious case, inasmuch
as the prisoner bad stolen about 30 money orders for
various amounts, and the money he received for them he
had appropriated to his own use.
Phineas David Collins said—l am clerk to Messrs.
Hooper and Baker, of 12, Eastcheap. On the 4th Nov.
last I delivered a message at the Electric Telegraph-
office, in Lothbury, to be transmitted to Mr. James
Dalton, at Bures, near Colchester. I paid is. for the
message, and as the clerk did not know the distance be-
tween Bures and Colchester, I deposited 9s. to cover the
expenses for porterage. Having subsequently ascer-
tained that the porterage did not amount to more than
is., I made application on the 20th of December for the
return of the Bs. overplus. On the 29th of December
we received an order for Bs. 6d. from the company,
which was paid to me at their office in Lothbury on the
same day.
Mr. Thomas Baker— I wrote to the company several
times between the 4th of Nov. and the 20th Dec., about
the overcharge for porterage, and on the latter day I
directed Coiling to call about it, the consequence of