The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-19 00:00:00

FORGERY FRANCE,

_ Seine
named Giraud
has been oceu-
The Cou'rt of Assizes of the
pied for two days in trying then .'an) ,
who was ar,
,Tated in August lay t at Gatebourse
(Charente-Inft,rienre) for making and uttering a
number of for6•ed notes of the Ihn.k of France.
From the indictment and the 6videnCe given on
the trial, it appear s that in 1853 the Bah k became
aware that a great' number of forged 100 f .-notes
were in circulation, all the measures taken to
discover the forger pr v
,ved fruitless for some years.
In 1857 many notes for 200 f., evidently from I.he
same source, were also uttered, and the Bank eon,.
sequently ceased to isstie notes of that amount.
The forger then fell baci-: upon the 100 f. notes, of
which a great number we,.,e received at the Bank in
1859, 1860, and 1861. As a great proportion of the
forged notes were paid into the brancil bank at An-
gouleme, the directors came to the con elusion that
the forger resided in the Charente-Infevieure, and
alter minute inquiries suspicion at last fell upon
the' prisoner, who resided at the :Chateau of Gate-
‘e where he lived in great style, at an expense
fbaoru
bey:
end the resources he was known to possess.
The prisoner was a native of that part of the tloun-
try, which .he ?eft at the age of 17, and wen t to
South America, where he remained 15 or 16 yea re,
ostensibly working: as an engraver on metal, bttt
there is good reason to bolieve that he at last;
quitted the country through fear of a prosecution
for forgery. He returned to France at the end of
1851 in an almost destitute conaition. In Mareh,,
1853, he signed a deed of partnerah.ip with a litho-
graphic printer named I)upuy, for tile purpose of
working certain improvements in the a.rt of engrav-
ing of which he pretended to be the inwentor. The
enterprise, however, was not carried °tn." for want
of capital. It was towards the close of tkhat same,
year that the first forged notes were disoovered.
In 1857, the prisoner went to his native place, to all
appearance a man of considerable property', and
although he had a wiee in America, he married a
Mademoiselle Michaud, who had an income of
5,000 f. a year, and was proprietor of the Chateau
of Gatebourse, where the prisoner took up his re-
sidence, and began to indulge in great expense,
keeping 11 servants, six or tight horses, and seve-
ral carriages. When the hoe's e was first searched,
at the time of his arrest, the pol,;ce found two copy-
ing presses, a galvanoplastic apps tratus, a complete
set of graving tools, and a roCI of 120 bank-
notes for 100 f. each, complete all but the signa-
ture of the controller, and 24 more were in a
less advanced state. A second search was made
a week later, and then all the blocks, enoravings,
apparatus for making the water-mark, anel other
articles used by forgers, were found in a cask hav-
ing a false bottom. A close examination of these
plates and blocks showed with what skill and per-
severance the prisoner had retouched them in every
part till they were so near perfection as to produce
notes which none but the most experienced eye
could distinguish from the real ones. All eh() notes
found on the premises and received at the Bank
had evidently been made with these plates. The total
number of forged notes paid into the Bank from
1853 to 1861 was 1,532, of which 1,394 were for
100 f. each, and 138 for 200 f., amounting in all to
167,000 f. Before the examining magistrate, the
prisoner declared that he had not made the notes),
but had found them it: a secret drawer of a large
bureau, which he bought at the public auction-
rooms in Paris, with artlo: of engraver's tools. In
court ho repeated the sarme story, and added that
the secret drawer also contained the four
paper
parcels which the police ILad discovered in the
cask, and which he had hidtien there without being
aware of their contents, as they were sealed up.
The prisoner was, however, muble to produce any
evidence as to the purchase of t`he bureau in ques-
tion, and no such piece of furniture was found either
in his lodgings inParis or at Gatebcourse. The whole
story, indeed, was so full of improbabilities and con-
tradictions as to be totally unworthy' of credit. Se-
veral witnesses were called for the defence, but their
evidence had no bearing on the principal points of
the case, being chiefly confined to prov.h that the
prisoner's expenditure had not been so lavish as
represented by the prosecution. The jn,"Y, after
the President had recapitulated the evidence, re-
tired to deliberate, and in half an' hour returned into
court with a verdict of guilty. The Court then
sentenced the prisoner to hard labour for life a
, fine of 100 f.

COUNIitY MARKI;IS.

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WAKEFIELD—APRIL 17.
To-day the attendance was thin. The show of wheat
was small, and sales were at fully is advance upon the
prices of last Friday, with a moderate business. Barley is
dearer. Beans, oats, and shelling fully as de..v.

EXETER—Arnm 17.
Thinly attended, and purchasers very scarce, at elO same
prices as last week.
Wheat, white 7s 6d to'7s 6d I Barley. 3s 9d to 4i' 4d
Ditto new .0s Od to Os Od Oats ... 2s 9d to 3s 01
Flour, fine, 43s to 46s ; seconds, 41s to --a per sack.
CATTLE.
The market to-day was poorly supplied with stock, and
little business done, being more of a holiday character.
Fat beef,p score,9sOd to 10s0d Ewes, per lb .... 6zd to 7d
Pork carcases, 9s 6d to lOs 6d Wethers, d 0...... 7d to nd
Lambs, per qr . . ... ..7s to 8s Fat calves, d0...5d to. 6 •
Rough fat, 32d per lb.