The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-22 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

OCT. 22.

fi'.•.velopecL Scarcely a robbers has-Vccurierin any of the 1
mail coaches fora series of fifteen years.past, in which the pri-
soner has not had some concern. V`arious other robbeties of
bank notes were also traced home to him, throne,ll his.itgency
in the circulation of such notot, in which he hat! proved himself
a consummate adept in all thi mysteries of pra:tical friese ;
nor could any thing in the artifices of the 'memorable Patch
Price transcend his ingenuity in change of costume, or variety of
wig and cut, to di,guisd his Wrathy. By the4e stratagems. he
not only carried on his frauds with success, but battled the s igi-
lance of the police officers, -arid :defeated all the ends of justice
regarding himself. .
The greater part of the day was spent in this investigation,
and Mr. Brodie devoted every possible attention in taking down
the testimony of the witnesses who attended.
Many other charges still remained to be urged against the pri-
soner, which there was not time to investigate; and he was re-
manded for further examination oil a future day.

CHARGE OF FORGERY.
Major Plunkett was, on Wednesday laqt, charged at
this Office, at the suit of Mr. Northwood, No. 70, 111olineaux-

street, Mary-le-bone, with forging an acceptance to a bill
of exchange, purporting to be of the value of 651. and
Mrs. Plunkett, who was same time since charged with forgery,
vas charged with uttering the said bill of exchange, knowing it
to be a forgery. The prosetutor stated, that he received the
bill of Mrs. Plunkett a twelve month since; but on presenting it
the drawer could not be found, and having paid it away, he
afterwards paid the value of it. He had afterwards called on
Major Plunket,- who denied ever having written the acceptance,
but afterwards observed that he did not chine to lead his v. ifs
into a snare by aliswering the question in any shape. The pro-
secutor contended, that Mr. Barker was present when the bill
was shewn to the Major, and he observed that it was a goad
mitation ; witness had no idea the bill was a forgery, until he
conversed with Major Plunkett. Mr. Parker, a Solicitor, re-
quested to say a few words to convince the Magistrate that there
was no foundation whatever for the institution of this charge,
which had originated in a contention betwixt the parties. In
answer to a question from the Magistrate, the prisoners left their
defence in the hands of Mr. Parker, who stated, that previous to
Miss Gunning having been married to Major Plunkett she was
pressed for money, and Mr. Northwood, the prosecutor, had
discounted bills for her, for which he always received a valu-
able consideration. After Miss Gunning's marriage with the
Major, she, unknown to her hu4hand sold an anunity of 50!. to
the prosecutor for 180/. she being then still pressed for money.
This was done unknown to the Maj•.r ; who, on becoming pos-
sessed of the fact, offered to repurchase the annuity, and pay five
per cent. for the use of the money advanced.
There was a balance of money due. from Major Plunkett to the
prosecutor, and when this bill of exchange was presented, the
Major neither denied nor acknowledged the acceptance to he
his hand-vi riling ; but he was willing to pay the balance of the
account betwixt him and the prosecutor, providing the latter
chose to admit some pecuniary difficulty betwixt them. The
prosecutor was offered to he paid. for the bill of exchange in this
settlement ; but he refused to settle the accounts and said he
would arrest the Major. Mr. Parker stated that he had seve •
cal interviews subsequently 'with the prosecutor; and he said
if the Major did not pay him the whole stun due to him he
would take up his wife fOr forgery: Mr. Parker continued that
he never heard a syllableilbout a forgery until Major Plunkett
refused to comply with payit..?,* the sum of money Mr. North-
wood required, which was about 400/. Major Plunkett. had
always agreed to settle the balance, but nothing further.. There
had been several money transactions betwixt the parties, and
Mr. Parker concluded by observing, that the very purchase of.
the annuity of Mrs. Plunkett, after her -marriage, was a gross
fraud upon her husband. The Magistrate asks•d'Mr. Parket If
he was ready to swear that in his several interviews with the .
prosecutor, he had never heard about. a forgery, until •Mrtior.
Plunkett refused to pay him his alledged balance; Mr. Parket.
replied, that he was ready to do so •tit that moineat.-
Mrs. Plunkett is said to be in a pregtiant states she it
Friday bailed before one of the Judge!s.
•

No. 2,618 (Class B) drawa a Prize of Twenty TEtimultd
Poturis, %%as sold by Hornsby' Mud Co. in the following Shares,
viz. o.i? Quarter, Two Fights, sot Eight Siltteeoths, at:their
Lottery 011ices,20, Coruhttlitild St. hiatgarees Hill; flocciogO•

.4.• . ~..". •

L. 1,4

•

t 4

lb AA. r

ACCIDENTS AND 0 FFENCES.

• -,

67

An old lady in Pimlico has lately been tricked out of a paccA
of diamonds, to the amount of 2001. and upwards, by a Jew, who
had offered her a considerable sum inure for theta titan any other
person, and told her that he expected his partner in town in a
day or two, and would thin call and settle with her about them.
On Monday, he and his pretended partocr waited on the old
Lady, And after havint surveyed the parcel a sucomi time,
*i.‘tiring that a deposit of Bank notes might lead to their detec.
he paid her fifty ,gnineas in gold by way of binui 1.1: the
bargain, and contrived, Whilst the old lady was Ascot fAr
few minutes, to exchange the diamonds for false stones made
up in the same manner. They took away the diamonds wit'a
them, and have not since been discovered.

SU ICI D E.—A Gentleman of the name of Steaning, who resided
in Brook's Building's, Portland-road, put a period to 'hi: ex-
istence on Thursday m9r&ng, by discharging the contents of a
horse pistol through his head.
On Wednesday evening a young man was sednced.by a woman
of the town to an apartment some here in W eStminster, where,
after drinking plentifully he was put to hz.d, and about two
o'clock in the morning was awakened by a fellow, who demand-
ed what business he had there. The deluded young man replied,
that a woman had brought him there to sleep that night; to
v. hick the other angrily retorted, that it was his own room, and
insisted on his quitting it immediately, that him;elf and wife
might come to bed. The young man rose, in order to dress him-
self, and, to his great surprise, found that his breeches had been
picked of a silver watch, and Bank England and some pro-
vin! ial notes, amounting- to nearly ten potols, and that the
rest of his clothes and hat were also carried nfl'. The fellow
then forced him out of the house, and in that condition he was
found wandering in Tothill street, by Herst, an °Ricer at Queen
Square, who conducted him to a public-house in the neighbour-
hood, where he relatild the above cause of his misfortune. On
being asked, if he could find out the place where he had been
so ill-treated ? h replied, that the woman having led him
through so many windings and turnings, it was utterly impossi-
ble. The other !hen conducted him to his relatives in Oxford.
street. He is the son of a tradesman, at Horsham, in Susses,
and came to town only on Sunday last. _ _

A melancholy circumstance happened on Monday last, at a■
Exhibition shop of Beasts and Reptiles. in Piccadilly, where
there is a Rattlesnake, in a dose cage. A carpenter itt work
there, dropped his rule ; in !aki ng it out, the creature hit hint
between the thumb and the finger. In a fee: minute:, the hand
was terribly swollen! and in a few tiours the poor sufferer was
oil of his reason. Ile is now at St. George's Hospital, where
all possible attention is paid to him ; but his dissolution is inevi-
table.

MARRIED.
At Sempringham, James Francis, widower, of Billnigbocie,,
to Ann Roe, of flirthrop, n discon,olate widow of six months.—
Their united ages amount to 150 years.
At Salthill, near Galway, the Hon. Charles French, eldest
son of the. Right lion. Lord Freoc:i, to Miss Wilda, eldest daugh-
ter of John Browne Moyne, Esq.
DIED.
Thursday. se'nnight, in the 90th year of his age. Mr. Richard
Reynolds, formerly butler of Gaits College, an antiquarian anti
rather eccentric character. His curious anuseuin, at bis notate
on the Market-hill, he was very proul of sheaving no stranger%
By his will be directed that his coffin should not he erole in the
• usual shape, hut lace a hox, to w hick a lock is fixed, and the
key delivered to thecare or his executor, upon tbe top wnerr-
of, on a leaden plate, the letters R. R. are io•crihed.
Aged 50, Mrs. Back worth, of Barrowden, in Rutland. She
had been in a desponding state for some time past, and wai
found by her iftoband hanging by the. neck in a closet in her
bed-Mom. • ,
At• Jamaica, the:26th of Jstly last, Brigadier General Joseph
)French, scciind' in command in the expedition against. St. Do-
tningh, fin coasiqiititre of ettreme fati.,tte in that expedition.
lii,l4evy ts;pronitneut feature in Mrs. Claike's erainination:
miss danghter of Mr. Sandy, of Blean Common, near
Canterbury. Afire having eaten a hearts itioner, and iu
rent good health, she was suddenly- seized kith iaidisp..son;
which niejanrboly to relate, terminated het exi gtstence 'irar-thoh
short space of five. minutes. It i 7 soppofed r-- •
an apoplectic alfectait...-.

t.