The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.— Gabriel Sans Ga.-rat, who has
been in custody for some days upon a charge of having
uttered a forged letter of credit, by increasing the sum
of 2101. to 5,2101., was again brought up in custody of
Thane, the detective officer, and placed at the bar before
Alderman Wire, for further examination.
Mr. Mullens said, that on the former occasion, in the
presence of the Lord Mayor, he had charged the prisoner
with unlawfully attempting to obtain, by false pretences
from the Union Bank of London, the sum of five hun-
dred pounds ; that he had shown his friend, Mr. Wont.
ner, a copy of the depositions which were then taken,
but thought it desirable that the evidence should be read
over, as it would be necessary to put to Mr. Debenham
a few additional questions.
Mr. Debenham was then called, and his former depo-
sitions having been read, he was further examined as fol-
lows :—The letter of credit, number 41, was in favour of
the prisoner, Gabriel Sans Garrat. The whole amount I
paid him was 1001. I produce the cheques which the pri-
soner signed for the 1001. I saw him sign these cheques.
I have my letter of advice from New York. I filled up the
cheques produced for the prisoner to sign. Each of
these cheques purports to be drawn against Messrs.
Duncan and Shearman's letter of credit, No. 41,
Before I paid any money upon that letter of credit I
compared it with my letter of advice, with which it cor-
responded. The Union Bank have paid upon the order
of Gabriel Sans Garrat the whole of the 2101.
men-
tioned in that letter of credit. I produce the bills
drawn by the prisoner against that letter, amounting,
with the three cheques, to 210/. I saw him sign the
three cheques. There are five bills. I believe the sig-
nature to these bills, "Gabriel Sans Garrat," to be the
signature of the same person who signed the cheques.
The dates are as follow :—Berlin, 4th January, 1853,
251. ; Berlin, sth January, 101. ; St. Petersburg, 18th
January, 40/. ; Moscow, 17th January) '251. ; Moscow,
24th January, 101. All these bills upon the face of
them purport to be drawn against Duncan and Shear.
man's letter of credit, No. 41. When I paid the 1001,
I returned the letter of credit to the prisoner.
Mr. Wontner—The letter of credit is exhausted, is
it not ?
Witness—lt is.
Mr. Wontner—Supposing you h paid the 2101.
instead of the 1001. ; what should you have done with
the letters of credit ? Should you have kept it ?
Witness—The instructions to correspondents are for
the party paying the last amount upon the list of credit
to detain it.
Mr. Wontner— An_ d you would have done the same,
of course, if you had paid the Whole amount of the
credit ?
Witnew—Yes.

Mr: Wontner—You have Only nen ens letter et
credit

Witness—Only one in favour of Gabriel Sane Oarvat
credit—that was a letter of credit for 2101. •

Mr. Wontner—Has that letter of credit been through
the hands of one of your correspondents ?
Witness—lt has been through the bands of A. Mare
and Co., of Moscow, who are the correspondents of
Duncan, Shearman, and Co., of New York.
Mr. Mullens—lf, when Messrs. Mare and Co. saw
that letter of credit, it purported to be for a larger sum
than 210/., they would not have detained it ?

Witness —No.
Mr. Mullens—But would have given it back to the
person who presented it to them ?
Witness--Yes.
Mr. Mullens—Have you received any advice from
Messrs. Duncan, Shearman, and Co., to pay money to
Gabriel Sans Garratt except that letter of credit No. 41?
Witness—Never.
Mr. Alderman Wire—ls it the custom of those who
issue these letters of credit to advise all the correspond-
ents, or only the Union Bank ?
Witness—Only our own bank.
Mr. Alderman Wire—Then the parties on the Conti-
nent to whom that letter is addressed would not see the
advice as to the amount.
Witness—No.
Mr. Alderman Wire—They would only see what was
to be advanced upon the letter of credit itself.
Witness—Yee.
Mr. Mullens said he would now proceed to examine
witnesses upon the subject of the Berlin bill.
M. Alexis Marechaux was then sworn and examined
through an interpreter, as follows : I am in the service
of Messrs. Shickler Brothers, bankers, at Berlin. On
acit he 2d
are
ei
ttehseulla
rleriicel
correspondents
s t last,the
e the
person.o prisoner w
as a
Messrs.
Messrs.
D Shickler
o Duncan,
hnic bank
ikaena;
and Co.,
acaoinn.
cßcpa
renaeiudvndneki
Duncan,
aooanf
f. g
from
Lori
nnfossNnt
Messrs.dee
oabwrni
lm.lYsaonocor:fkni
and
nkheTdi
he
ehar2encydgt
ohep.
e:sdiysar
sum
newel:
drawn
oeeturfyhapel
05u
:pp
ooir
prisoner
eot
sentureclMessrs.rrnliironoenof
against the bill now li-reduced. I saw the prisoner sign
the bill, which is dated Berlin, 2d of March, 1853, for
5001., upon the Union Bank of London, to the order of
Messrs. Shickler Brothers, on account of Messrs. D. and
Co.'s letter of credit. No. 41, and it is signed Gabriel
Sans Garrat. I did not see the letter of credit which
is referred to in the Lill. The money was paid to the
prisoner upon the faith of this which is filled up by
one of signature. According to the practice of our bank
the letter of credit would be shown to Mr. Schultz; ."'"
-
who would not make out a bill of exchange for a larger
sum than the letter of credit I make the bill out from
the instructions I get from the principal. The letter of
credit would be delivered to Mr. Schult by the cashier,
in order that he might endorse upon it the amount of
money paid. The prisoner remained on the day in ques-
tion in the presence of one of theiprincipals and myself,
at the bank ; the money was brought into that room
and paid to the prisoner, and there the prisoner signed
the bill before receiving the money. The first endorse-
ment manager
ciationat
.
npr Inert. ai
clDeGrolfritA'h e house to keep
sowfb ytolniMetnlrem. r
—Sp he
Imperial liiteCrtohnteot
Mr.
a copy of the letter of credit ?
Witness—No.
Mr. Isaac Walton—l am the clerk to the Imperial
Continental Gas Association at their offices, No. 7,
White Hart-court, Lombard-street. Mr. Leonard
Drory is the manager of the Association at Berlin. The
Signature, L. Drory, upon the bill produced is in Mr.
Drory's handwriting. The directors of the Association
. endorsed the bill to Messrs. Spooner, Attwood, and Co.
Mr. W. M. Holmes—l am clerk to Messrs. Overend,
Gurney, and Co. On the Bth of March last, I was in
the service of Mr. George Michael Harrison, a notary.
On that day I, on behalf of Messrs. Spooner, Attwood,
and Co., presented the bill produced to the Union Bank
of London, when the answer I received was, "the credit,
No. 41, against which this bill is drawn, is all paid."
Mr. Debenham recalled :
Mr. Wontner—You stated that you only pay upon
these letters of credit when you have received advice
from Messrs. Duncan, Shearman, and Co.
Witness—Yes.
Mr. Wontner—Not till you have received advice.
Witness--We should not dishonour their signature
although we had not received advice.
Mr. Wontner—But supposing a letter of credit had
been issued apparently by Messrs. Duncan, Shearman,
and Co, and you had received no advice when it was
presented, should you not defer until you had received
advice ?

Witness—That would be a case for our discretion ; it
would not be in the ordinary course of business ; but
such a case has never occurred.

Mr. Wontner—You have never paid any of Messrs.
Duncan, F Shearman, and Co.'s letters of credit till you
have received advice from them ?
Witness - -No.
Mr, Wontner—Supposing a bill of exchange to be
drawn by a third person against a letter of credit which
had not been advised, I presume under no circumstances
would you pay it.
Witness—Decidedly not.
Mr. Wontner—You remember the first occasion of
the prisoner coming, when he received of you a portion
of the 100/.
Witness—Yes.
Mr. Wontner—He showed you the letter of credit?
Witness—Yes.
Mr. Wontner—Did you tell him that you would look
to your correspondence to see whether you had any
advice upon it ?
Witness—l do that always.
Mr. Wontner—Did you not say to him, "I will look
to our correspondence and see whether we are advised
upon it • s. -
Witness—l may have made that remark—it is natural
enough. I generally say I will look to the advices.
Mr. Wontner—Would you take the letter of credit
away with you, or would you in his presence look to the
advices ?
Witness—lt is all public, whether I take it away or
not ; there is no screen. I should, in his presence, look
for my letter of advice, and if I found it inspect it.
Mr.. Alderman Wire—Always in the presence of the
party presenting it ?
Witness—Yes ' • I may say always.
Mr. Alderman Wire—No question seems to arise upon
that, because the prisoner had not exhausted his letter
of credit.

Mr. Edward Merewether--I am proprietor of the
Albion Hotel, 3 Bridge-street, Blackfriars. On the Bth
March the prisoner came to stay at my hotel. He di
not give me any name. On the 11th, he said he should
probably dine there. He returned between three and
and four o'clock in the afternoon, and in a hasty manner
ordered his bill, and went away in a cab in a great
hurry.
Charlas Thane (the officer)—l was at the shop of
Messrs. Moses and Son on the afternoon of the 11th
March, with Mr. Debenham ; the prisoner left there in
a cab. I followed him in another cab to the corner of
Bridge-street. I there lost sight of him ; that was as
near as possible half-past 2. I have seen the driver of
the cab in which the prisoner went away from Mr.
Merewether's hotel.
Mr. Rudolph Prommel—l am manager of Messrs.
Monteaux's money-changing office, in the Haymarket.
On the morning of the sth March, the prisoner came to
our office and brought about 6701. in Fredericks d'or,
Louis d'or, Napoleons, and florins, for which I paid him
the sum of 6741. by cheque on Messrs. Ransom and Co.,
our bankers. I asked him his name ; he replied Louis
Oriel, and I wrote it down. He told me that he lived
in Commercial-road East. On' giving him the cheque,
he said he had also about 100 Russian half-imperials
which he brought on the same afternoon, about half-
past three o'clock, and for which I gave him another
cheque on Messrs. Ransom and Co. for 8141. I accom-
panied him to the bank, and saw him receive cash for
the cheques, amounting to 1,4881.
Mrs. Susannah Abbott—l reside at 53, Cambridge-
street, Edgeware-road. The prisoner lived in ray house
from the 15th to the 29th April. He said his name was
Permentel.
Mr. Mullens—That is the case upon the bill of ex-
change given by the prisoner to Messrs. Shickler. On
a future occasion I shall be prepared, on the arriv-al of
Mr. Wilson, who has been sent for from St. Petersborg,
to go into the case of bills amounting to 3,8001., also in
pursuance of this supposed letter of credit, No. 41.
Mr. Alderman Wire—How do you shape your charge,
Mr. Mullens ?
Mr. Mullens—The charge I make against the prisoner
is that of attempting, by false pretences, to obtain the
sum of 5001. from the Union Bank of London, and I
ground that charge in this way—the prisoner goes to
the banking house of Messrs. Shickler at Berlin, and
there makes a statement to them, either verbally or in
writing, I do not care which, but which is
ds
reduced into writing, and signederbe_dityh, isTnilsoe.h;lt,haftrot
pursuance of a certain letter of
o
Messrs. Duncan,
to demand
emand from
He puts that into writing, and signs it. It is a
thSelle Unionarm an B and
dk
c ofo he has
the sum of has authority
.Le
bill of exchange ; it may be a letter or anything, but it
is addressed to the Union Bank of London. According
to the facts which have come out to-day upon the evi-
dence of Mr. Debenham, I will take it to be sufficiently
proved--for the present at all events—that that pretence
is wholly without foundation, and that the prisoner at
that time had no authority to draw upon the Union
Bank of London for 5001.
Mr. Alderman Wire—lt is not pretended that he had
any authority except that which he derived from letter
ofcredit
Precisely so ; and we have proved that
fei‘r.
m o No.uns 41.
the Union Bank had no authority to pay,
friend ids
therefore
contendis that at
pretence this
not
pretence was made at
mßeyrlfirni e,
diction of the tribunals of this
will say, that whatever the withinlths suppose
)jpu ; juris-
diction country. I presumeteh _
at Berlin ; that the fraud wasP intendedsoner did was completed
upon the bankers there, and to be c.omußliankd.
not upon the Union
Mr. Wontn er, in the course of a very able argument,
and at considerable length, contended that the prisoner
had not been proved to have committed any offence
rendering him amenable to the laws of this country,
however much he might have transgressed the laws at
Berlin.
Mr. Alderman Wire—This is a case of so much im-
portance both to the commercial world and to the pri-
soner himself, that I shall remand it in order that I may
have time to consider the law as applicable to the case,
whether or not I have authority to send him to trial;
because I would not subject him, a foreigner, to the
ignominy of a trial unless I thought a conviction
would
follow. Therefore I shall remand the case foraweek,ias not
which will enable Mr. Wontner, who says
*bel better
I had time to look into the cases, to make himself
acquainted with the state of the
law, so asto shake, if
the prisoner
he can, the impression that I have, that
mug be committed for trial.
nd d for a week.
The prisoner was then renia e