The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-05 00:00:00

ORGERV and ROBBERY in THE CITY

(From the Observer.)

A paragraph hag appeared in the papers, stating that a
pAing.inan; clerk t(3 A (14,,isinifi iii:.rt•hant, had absconded,
taking- .tvith him 5,000/. the of his master.
Thee is a mistake tzs to the amotrit of the rahtierf, an:l

there is a very important omission, that of the perpetra-
tion of a forgery, which succeeded as well as the other
offence. the following are the facts of the case:—Cle-
ment Flindt, the son of Mr. Vlindt, lately member of the
Stock Exchange, was clerk to Mr. .gartztr:da, the mer-
chant, of Broad-street, and had been, although no* uniy
19 years of age, very confidentially employed in the house,
to which he had been attached between two and three
years. Mr. Ilarranda, wit) banked at the house of
Messrs. Jones, Loyd, and Co., it is said, had the highest
opinion of him, and nothing occurred to shake that opi-
nion until it was found that he had defrauded the house.

On the 31st of March, young Flindt, presented a
cheque, purporting to lie of Mr. Birranda'a drawing, fee
500/., at the desk of the bankers, and immediately received
tie cash. He had previously taken away whatever money
he could lay hands upon, amounting, it is conjectured, to
about 7001. ; and, although he absented himself, no SU,
picion was enter tamed as to the cause, until a message was
was received from Messrs. Jones, Loyd, and Co., on the
subject of the cheque. It appeared that the tailor em-
ployed by young Flindt to execute a sudden order, hail
called at the hankers' with one of th-.? notes which bad been
so lately given in payment of the cheque, and some con-
versation took place which led to the detection of the for-
gery of that instrument. The detection of the robbery
immediately followed, and Mr. Gates, the solicitor to the
committee of bankers, and Mr. Cope, the city marshal,
commenced active inquiry and pursuit. Flindt, in
order, no doubt, to recommend himself to the notice
of his employer, pretended to be a student at the
London University. It was certainly found that he
resided in the neighbourhood of that building, but his ad-
dress was No. 12, Carmarthen-street, whets ha remained
every night with a young woman named Sarah Kean, who
had formerly been a favourite of the celebrated actor, and
long frequented the saloon of Drury-lane theatre. With
this female and her child, about ten months old, and a
servant, whom be dressed up in a splendid livery, it was
ascertained he set off, a few hours after he received
the amount of the cheque, for Portsmouth, nut having
succeeded in enga,ing a 'passage to America in London.
His movements were very rapid. Mr. Gates and Mr.
Cope traced hint from town to town, and the former re-
turned to London as soon as he found that the Marshal was
on the right scent. Mr. Cope reached Portsmouth on the
eve of the morning on which Flinch got on board the Co-
lumbia, which was about to sail for New York ; and the
vessel could not have been out of sight an hour when he
was on the beach. The idea of following the Columbia, •
which was suggested by the authorities of Portsmouth,
was rejected by Mr. Cope, who was not at liberty to take
any extraordinary means for apprehending the culprit ;
the expences attending the pursuit of Rowland Steehenson
having in some measure deterred the Society of Bankers
from authorising unlimited pursuit. The lady, it is said,
prevailed upon him to make those preparations for his voy-
age. They were in the habit of supping in the Saloon,
and at infamous houses, and of drinking the most expen-
sive wines, and they occasionally visited Windsor in a
coach and four, with out-riders. Although their ac-
quaintance was not of longer duration than a few months,
the moral feeling of the young man was completely de-
stroyed. It has been ascertained that be strongly calcu-
lated upon Mr. Peel's Forgery Bill giving a remission of
the ea pital punishment, and that he wavered between the
choice of a forgery for 500/. and one for 1,000/.

NEST OF DARING SWINDLERS.

Some of our readers may perhaps have noticed an
advertisement which appeared hi the Times a few
weeks back, in which a Sir William Freemantle
offered to lend two thousand pounds to any respect-
able Barrister, upon " his personal security," and
referred to a house in Half-Moon-street, Piccadilly,
at which applications were to be made. We have
reason to believe that several Barristers, anxious to
avail themselves of so generous a proposition, were
induced to try the experiment, and no doubt some
have fallen into the trap, which turns out to have
been laid for them by a gang of swindlers. One
instance has come to our knowledge, in which a
young gentleman of wealthy connections, who has
chambers in an Inn of Court, was induced to call at
the place mentioned, inalollthereititiriairea,lra"
footman in livery, to a gentleman in appearancesnnd
address, who professed his readiness to serve him,
and told him that if he would give him his accept-
ance for 1,9001. at two years' date, he would pro-
cure for him 1,600/. To this proposition the young
gentleman, after some hesitation, at last agreed,
and four bills for 4751. each were drawn, but no
drawer's name was attached. •To these he put his
acceptar.ce. So far matters looked promisit:g, but
the money had yet to be produced. Day after day
passed, however, and no cash was forthcoming.
At length, as the Circuit approached, the ne-
cessity for a temporary supply became more pres-
s'ng, the Barrister said he must have 3001. for
his immediate wants, and wrote to his generous
friend to that effect, who, in reply, declared he could
not give him the money, but would give him bills on
unexceptionable parties for the sum required. A
note was then despatched, requesting that these
bills might be sent immediately, as they were to be
discounted at a banker's in time to enable the Bar-
rister to set off by the mail. They were not senr,
however, 'till after banking hours, and then proved
to be drawn and accepted by persons who had
already appeared in the Swindler's Gazette, as wine-
coopers in the City. This at once opened the eyes
of the victim of such gross deception, and he felt
that he had involved himself in a snare from which
he knew not how to get extricated. In this state of
things, the circumstance came to the knowledge of
his father, in Devonshire, in consequence of inquiries
as to the respectability of his son's acceptances.—
Alarmed at the intelligence, the father sent for his
son, who at once explained the whole transaction,
and both came to town with the view of taking steps
to produce the restoration of the bills. For this
purpose a professional man, well acquainted with the
tricks of the town, was applied to, and he hit upon
the following expedient for getting out of the diffi-
culty :—A note was despatched from the Barrister
to his friend, in Half-moon-street, stating that he
had been unable to procure cash for the 3001. bills
sent him, but that he had found a gentleman who
would discount his own acceptances for the 1,9001.,
provided they were drawn in a regular way, and
who would be at his chambers that afternoon, if the
bills were brought. This ruse had the desired
effect. The Barrister, his father, and his professional
friend, were in readiness to receive their visitor;
and a knock coming at the door, the father retired
into the bed-room. Mr. H. (for that is the first
letter of this trickster's name) was announced,
and being asked whether he would sign the bills
which had been accepted by the Barrister, he
replied in the affirmative. He was then assured
that a gentleman was in the next room who would
perform his promise of discounting them ; and
Mi. H., drawing forth a long black pocket-book,
produced the bills for the purpose of putting his
name to them. At that instant the professional
friend of the Barrister, in a very unprofessional, al-
though in a very justifiable manner, snatched the
bills from his hand, crammed them into thy pocket
of his inexpressibles, and seizing the disinterested
and diconcerted Mr. 11. by the neck, addressed him
in no measured terms upon his rascality. Mr. H.
made a desperate effort to regain the bills, and ac-
tually tore the professional's pantaloons from the
waistband to the knee ; but it was of no avail—
the father came forth, and there being now three to
one, Mr. H. was ejected vi et armis. The outer
door was bolted, and after storming at a great rate,
he went off to fetch an officer, but did not venture
again to return. How many " unfortunate" fel-
lows may have been plundered in the same way we
know not ; but this exposure will, no doubt, operate
as a lesson against all future money-lenders, whether
Baronets or bankrupts. There is no doubt, had
the bills got into circulation, that they would have
been paid on coming to maturity ; and we fear
many have been induced to part with their accept-
ances in a similar mariner, who will hereafter have
painful reasons to lament their credulity, and who,
from the apprehension of exposure,would rather Sub-
mit to the loss than subject themselves to the ob-
servations of their friends—a feeling of which the