The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-12 00:00:00

CHARGE OF SWINDLING.

Yesterday afternoon, at the Justice-room of the Mansion-
house, Alderman Waterlow was for some time engaged in
investigating the circumstances connected with an extraor-
dinary charge of swindling preferred against Henry Horace
Linguardo, descr.bcd as an actor, and as residing at Butler-
street-buildings,East Smithfield, who had been remanded
from the previous Monday.
The case excitd considerable interest, and the court was
crowded during :he examination,
To render the proceedings of yesterday intelligible it is
necessary ehortly to recapitulate the evidence given on the
first examination:of the prisoner before the Lord Mayor. It
was then proved that on Saturday week the prisoner, alight-
ing from a carriLge, entered the shop of Mr. Thos. Mills, a
clothier in Aldgate, where he was an entire stranger, and
selected clothes to the amount of £2l 175., for which sum
he wrote on a sheet of noto paper a check on the Provident
Savings bank n St. Martin's-place, Trafalgar-square.
From among the clothes he bought ho selected a full suit,
which he put on at once, including an overcoat. He then
went to the hosiery department, and selected goods to the
amount of £5B lls.,which he directed to be sent to No. 4,
Ovington-square, Brompton. He complained of being
thirsty, upon whirl the attendant, Joseph Millhouse, gave
him some wine and.a cigar. Ile then asked if he could dine

in the neighbourhod, and the shopman mentioned the name
of a house a few doers off. The shopman, whom he invited
to dire, accompanid him there. After dinner the prisoner
asked him to pay the bill, Bs. 7d., and place the amount to
his account, which,he shopman did, and they returned to-
gether to the shop. By this time a messenger who had been
sent to get the checs cashed had returned and reported
that the bank was dosed fur the day, and he had not got
the money. Upon hat the prisoner said he had no money
about him, but tha if the shopman would ride with him
in his carriage to Ovington-square he would pay for
the clothes he hd on and hand him a check upon
Messrs. Coutts fa• the balance, amounting to £69
odd, The attendant went with him there accordingly,
and the prisoner asled at the house No. 4 for some one by
name. The reply was that no such person resided there,upon
which the prisoner, still attended by the shopman, drove to
some livery stables rear Russell-square, where ho had hired
the carriage. Arrive,cl there he was going away without
paying for the use o. it, when the proprietor presentcdhim-
self, and, in the remit, the prisoner, who had stated he had
no money about hin, loft the undercoat he had shortly be-
fore selected al; Mr.Mills's shop in pledge for 255., the hire
of the carriage, the slopman Millhouse strongly remonstra-
ting, on the ground hat the garment had not been paid for,
and eventually giving the prisoner into custody.
On that evidence tie prisoner had been remanded, and
yesterday Mr. Wonkier, solicitor, of Bucklersbury, who at-
tended to conduct thi prosecution, said it was necessary that
he should state sores circumstances in the prisoner's career.
He had, in the first instance, given an address at the Goat
Inn, Farnham, but that statement was incorrect. He was
certainly known atFarnham, and that to the cost of some of
the inhabitants, bit the landlord of the Goat disclaimed his
acquaintance altogsther. In November last he was convic-
ted in 403. and cots for riding to Aldershot by railway
without a ticket, and refusing to pay the fare, and in default
of payment he was sent to the House of Correction for a
month. That oight to have had some effect in improving
his morals, but nit so, as was shown by the fraud he had
since practised upon Mr. Mills on Saturday week. With
respect to his tranactions with the livery-stable keeper,Mr
Hicks, he, in the frst instance, wanted to buy a horse and
carriage there, buta servant whom he saw declined, in the
absence of his maser, to undertake the sale, and the pri-
soner contented hinself with hiring a carriage for the day.
He went to the shop of Mr. Medwin, in Regent- street,:and
bought goods to the amount of £3 13s, which he took
away in the carriate, paying for them with a sham cheque
and thinking it beneath his dignity to take either the
invoice or receipt, which was tendered him. Thence he
went to the shop of a tailor at the west end of the
town, and, representing that ha was about to be married,
selected a smart overcoat, tendering a similar check in
payment, which, lowever, was declined, and " my lord,"
teking umbrage, dove off in his carriage. He next pre-
sented himself at the shop of Mr. Dent, the jeweller in the
Strand, and orderedjewellera to the amount of £6O, for which
he gave a check on the Provident Savings Bank, but that
was refused, and the prisoner took nothingby the transaction.
Since his arrest tee result of inquiry at the Provident
Savings Bank in St Martin's-place showed that in March,
1860, the prisoner, who then described himself as an actor,
and resided in Nicholas-equare, Hackney, deposited £25 in
the bank, but drew it out about ten days afterwards, and he
had never had any transactions with the bank since, though
many of his sham checks had been from time to time pre-
sented there to be cashed. Probably the Court would think
it would be for the benefit of the public that this man's ca-
reer of fraud shoulc be put an end to, and that the proper
course would be to send him to the Old Bailey, where a jury
would deal with trim and his checks in an exemplary
manner.
Mr. James Down was called. He said—l am a tailor and
outfitter in the Strand. On Saturday, Jan. 2, the prisoner
called on me about 1! o'clock in the day in a carriage, with
a servant, and selected a light brown overcoat, the price of
which was £2 ss, for which he offered to give a check. I
said it was not usual vith me to take checks from strangers,
but that if he would write a check I would get it cashed
and then send the coat to his address, or he could call again
That he agreed to do, end wrote the check produced on the
Provident Savings Bank. In less than hour he called again.
I had presented the cheek in the meantime, and it was dis-
honoured. I told him it was an ungentlemanly transaction;
my father, who was present, went further, and called him a
swindler. The prisoner merely said something about " an-
other man in the Strand having taken his check," and then
entered his carriage auddrove off. He had mentioned Mr.
Dent, and I supposed it was he who had taken the check.
Robert Verity, foreman to Mr. James Medwin, of 86,
Regent -street, bootmaker, deposed that on Saturday, the
2d of January, the prisoner called there in a phaeton, be-
tween 12 and 1 o'clock, and said he wanted to be fitted with
some boots. Witness showed him some, and he selected
four pairs of boots, one pair of leggings, and a pair or
slippers, which came to £3 13s. He made out a bill and
gave it receipted to the prisoner, who then wrote the check
produced for the amount on the Providence Savings-bank.
On being asked for his address, he said, " Goat's Head Hotel,
Farnham." He took the goods away in the phaeton, leav-
ing the bill and receipt on the counter. Later in the day
the check was returned to witness dishonoured.
John Level Dening, clerk at the Provident Savings-
bank, St. Martin's-place, Trafalgar-square, said the pri-
soner had no account there, and that the directors of the
bank never paid by checks, Since Marcie, 1860, he had had
no money there at all.
know of him ?
Alderman We.terlow—Weal did you darn
of March,
Witness—He attended at the bank on the;` l 7
1860, and paid in 425, which he drew out on tht; 30t11. Het
had been there since in connection with anothee aeek;:in
which was not in his name, bat in that of a minor.
Alderman Waterlow—Had ho any power to draw on any
other account ?
Witness—No.
The prisoner said the minor referred to was his son.
Witness said money at the bank belonging
to a minor
cold not be touched by a third party, unless with the
minor's consent indicated by a power of attorneMr. Charles Hicks, a livery stable-keeper in ,
y.
Russell-square, said,—Un the 2d of January the prisoner
Koppel-street
had a phaeton from my establishment. I was not at home
when it was hired, but I was when he brought it back. The
charge was 255., including the driver. He was getting into
a cab to go away without paying or returning the phaeton.
He said he should require a carriage next morning, and he
would pay then. I asked for payment at once, he being a
stranger. He replied that he had got no money about him,
and then walking into the counting-house with me he said,
"Give me some paper and I'll write you a check." I said
a check was no use to me, and that I had had trouble
enough with him already, without his check. Ho replied
that lie could not pay, upon which I said he must leave
some deposit with me for the charge. He said ho had got
nothing to leave. I remarked that he was wearing a good
greatcoat, upon which the tailor who was with him stepped
forward and said, "That belongs to me." The prisoner then
took off his under coat and handed it to me. The tailor,
interposing, said "That belongs to me also," (A laugh.) I
said I would take care of it until I was paid. The tailor and
he then wont away, and just as they were leaving a cabman
drove up and said to tae, s' Mr. Hicks, I want to see you.
I drove this
gentleman (pointing to the prisoner) to your
yard this morning, echo came to hire a carriage, and on
leaving the cob ho told me you would pay his fare," (A.
laugh.) I said I would not. The prisoner, who was then
standing by my f
8-de, heard that.
The prisoner—That is rather a high price for your trap
for halfit ea s
s day, Mr. Hicks, is it not r
n
was
told by the Court ho nood not answer that
question, and he did not. r
Mr. Wontner said it was right ho should state that a few
weeks ago the prisoner was taken before Mr. Norton, the
Lambeth police magistrate, as a common cheat. Ho was
then charged with obtaining provisions from tradesmen in
Lambeth on various pretences. The evidence, however, did
not quite establish the offence, and Mr. Norton discharged
him. On that occasion a number of cabmen, whom ho had
defrauded, attended, and it then appeared that be was well
known to their fraternity, and went by the soubriquet of
" The Ghost." A gentleman from Farnham also said that
recently the prisoner got up an entertainment there, at
which he was announced to play " The Ghost." A number
of people went and paid their money at the door, and when
the time arrived for the commencement of the performance
The Ghost was nowhere to be found, hence the cognomen
of " The Ghost,"
Police-constable Back, in whose custodythe prisoner was,
said in searching him at the police-station ho found nothing
upon him but an empty card• case, a bill for refreohraents
and some cabmen's tickets.
A cabman named Chas. Woolley, stepping into the wit-
ness-box, said he recently drove the prisoner to the Oxford-
rooms, and paid ss. for a lobster supper and cigars for him
there. (A. laugh.) Ile afterwards drove him to a place in
the neighbourhood of the Tower, whore the prisoner got
out and went up a court. Witness never saw him again un-
til now, so that he lost the price of the supper and his fare.
He hoped the prisoner enjoyed his supper. (A. laugh.)
Mr. Auidjah, looking-glass manufacturer in Bishopsgate-
etreet-without, said the prisoner, who was a stranger to