The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-23 00:00:00

Serious Charge of Fraud.

At the Mansion House, yesterday, Edward Russel Daunt,
described as of 2, Hercules-passage, was brought up in
the custody of Detective-sergeant Haydon, before the Lord
Mayor, having been apprehended upon a warrant signed
by Mr Alderman Waterlow, charging him with having
unlawfully and by false pretences obtained fr )m Lieut.-
Colonel Alexander Strange a cheque for £229 12s Bd,

with intent to defraud,
Mr Humphreys appeared for the prosecution ; and Mr
Sleigh, barrister, instructed by Mr Holmes, appeared for

the prisoner.
Mr llumphreys, in opening the case for the prosecu-
tion, said the prosecutor in this case was Lieut.-Colonel
Strange, a retired officer of the Indian army. In 1862 he
was desirous of investing some money he had then in his
possession, and in consequence of the prisoner's adver-
tisement, he employed him as his stockbroker, and since
that time there had been several transactions between
them. Ile told the prisoner that he was no speculator,
_ .

and did not want to dabble with his money. Lieutenan

..._ ..... _
Strange, however, did not know much of commercial pur-
suits, but gave himself up to the advice of the prisoner,

and the result was that he was a loser to a very cone

derable amount. The charge arose upon a cheque which
the prisoner obtained by fraud. On the 15th of June
last year, the prosecutor instructed the prisoner to pur-
chase for him Greek stock to the amount of
£25,000, and he received from the prisoner the
purchase note, which with
,the commission amounted to
about .0,000. The prisoner it appeared had purchased
£25,000 in Greek stock, but not at the price mentioned in
the purchase note, namely 39k. Lieut.-Colonel Strange was
not able at the time to take up the purchase, and left some
Ottoman Bank shares in the defendant's hands. The prices
fell, and he instructed the prisoner to sell and purchase
every fortnight until the 21th November, 1863, when he
instructed the prisoner to sell the whole, and received from
him a sale note which purported to show that £25,000 in
Greek stock had been sold at a loss of about £2,200. The
accounts were delivered to the prosecutor every fortnight
for his inspection, and as far as he could see they were all
right. On the 24'h of May, IS6I, the Ottoman Bank
shares having rie en, Lieutanant-Colonel Strange determined
to close his account entirely with respect to the G:cek
stock, for which he had been paying interest to the prisoner
for the deficiency, and instructed him to sell his shares in
the Ottoman Bank. This, according to the calculation of
the prosecutor, would leave him a margin, and he directed
the prisoner to purchase some shares in the Egyptian Corn.
mercial and Trading Society, and received from him what
appeared to be the purchase note of those shares. The
Egyptian Trading Company's transfers were net in the pro •
secutor's hands, he thinking they were safe in the hands of
the prisoner, left them with him. From something that
was communicated to him respecting the prisoner, he ap-
plied to him for the transfers, and got from him 200 out of
350, and subsequently received the remainder. They all
seemed to have been purchased at different periods, some of
them on the 24th May, the date of the purchase note, and
some as late as the 15th September in the present year, so
that in point of fact the purchase note was fictitious. In
addition to that, it had been ascertained that instead of the
Greek stock being sold and bought every fortnight, as he
had been instructed, they were all sold at one date inJune,
1863, so that the purchase notes, on each of which the de-
fendant had charged his commission, were entirely fictitious,
and the prisoner had defrauded Lieut.-Colonel Strange of a
sum amounting altogether to no less than £3,500.

- -
The information upon which the warrant was granted
was then read over, and was as follows :
A'exander Strange, of 41, Brompton-crescent, said—l am
a lieutenant-colonel in the Indian army. In the early part
of 1862 I employed one Ed. R. Daunt, now of 2, Hercules-
passage, as my stock broker, and he has bought and sold
stocks and shares for me from that time to nearly the pre-
sent. On the 31st May last a settlement of our transac-
tions took place between us, on which I paid him a cheque
for £229 12s. Bd., the balance apparently due to him, which
cheque has been returned to me as paid by my bankers.
The settlement comprised a purchase of 320 shares in the
Egyptian Commercial and Ti ading Company (Limited),
which by the statement rendered by the defendant he pur-
ported to have purchased on the 24th May last at £3 2a. Gd.
per share, and £2 paid, the total to my debit being £1,6t8
12s. Gd. I have since obtained from Daunt several transfers
for 320 shares, and find that the transfers do not relate to
any purchaFes of the like shares on the 24th May, but on
vari,,us dates in July, August, and September. I find also
that the price at which the shares were purchased by the
defendant is less by about £4OO than the amount he debited
to me for them in his account. I should not have parted
with my cheque for £229 12s. Bi. if I had not believed that
the 320 shares had been purchased as represented on the
24th May, and at the time debited to me by him in his
account.
Upon
this the case was remanded at the requet of Mr
Sleigh, the Lord Mayor declining to admit the prisoner to
bail.