The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

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PRICE SD.

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---;:;. 'ci i"`. -,- Mr. HumplifT—cannot tell what
ship's mind. (Several letters were p hoed by i Tr. Dunn
' to the witness, which he declared not to be in Mils . Burdet4
Coutts's handwriting.)
Mr. Miller produced the schedule filed by the defend:limn, 'in
Air
i cLi& in the Court of Bankruptcy, in which there was. no
• • -- .„ him from Miss COUttS.

cyr
Mr. Humphe—Klnot tell what , iis
_Jrd-
ship's mind. (Several letters were produced by 36 Dunn
to the witness, which he declared not to be in Miss . Burdet4
Coutts's handwriting.)
Mr. Miller produced the schedule filed by the defeaclant, 'in
1845, in the Court of Bankruptcy, in which there we& -no
statement of any debt due to him from Miss Coats.
Mr. Jarman, clerk to Mr. Humphreys, stated, that on the
20th of March, 1846, he delivered to Mr. .Dunn Mr. Re fn
phreys's reply to his letter of the 19th. Mr. Dunn tore
seofSt Messrs.rrt.tton
pieces, and said, "D— the letter, that is no answer."' The
witness picked up the pieces, and having put them tog* ther
he now produced the letter in court.
The affidavits referred to in Sir F. Thesiger's speech lav-
ing been handed in,
Miss Angela Burdett Coutts was sworn, on the bench., and
gavere t e, the
Piccadilly,
fol g
Cow ts and Co. 1 received the letters now put into my bectids,
and dated the 13th and 23d of January, 1846, from that. Ter-
st and evidence
ain
son (Mr. Dunn). a partner ner residein tahte hNoou. 1,
Sir F. THESIGER—Did you ever give an authority to the
defendant to draw on your banking-house? Miss Burdett
Coutts—Certainly not. Nor am I indebted to him in any
way.
Sir. F. THESIGER (handing to Miss Coutts the doggrel
verses upon which the defendant rested his authority to
Miss
irrs.
B. Dunn—Didrlu,rudtei
tolsu
(addressingo ebvjeecrt rteocetihvi
herself
eltriinveoel letters
fotfo etxh ae
draw on the bank)—Did von ever write that ? Miss Bur-
t
dett Coutts—l did not. never wrote any letter to this
person.
which these are copies?
protest against your putting in copies of letters.
Mr. Dunn—l want to show that Miss Coutts received mjfuroinrniyat)ilone.
re-
ceived let-
ters from me, of which these are copies.
a great many letters from this person.
Mr. Dunn—Did you receive two letters from me, when you
were staying at the Queen's .Hotel, Harrogate? Miss Bur-
dett Coutts—l received two letters from a stranger, signed
with this person's name.
Mr. Dunn—What did you do with them?
Miss Burdett Coutts—l tore them up, and threw them
away amongst other waste paper.—(Great laughter.)
Mr. Dunn—Did you make any communication to Mr.
Marjoribanks about me ?
Miss Burdett Coutts—l consulted him as a friend, and re-
quested him to rid me from the annoyance I was under from
this person's conduct.
Lord DENMAN—How do you mean to apply this evidence?
Mr. Dunn—l mean to show that the two letters to which I
have referred were in existence when I wrote to Mr. Mar-
joribauks, requesting that they might be returned, and that
Miss Coutts refused to give them up. If I prove that, do I
not raise the question that I had a right to presume they
were retained from regard to the writer?—(Great laughter.)
I may be laughed at by the Court, but I think this is a just
assumption.
Lord DENMAN—I don't see how what took place at Harro-
gate can apply to this case.
Mr. Dunn (to the witness)—Will you have any objection
to write the authority for me that I have shown you?—(Loud
laughter, which lasted for some time, and at the close of
which Mr. Dunn most composedly repeated his request, to
the great amazement of Miss Coutts and every one who
heard him.)
Sir F. THEElGErt—Really this is a most novel request.
Mr. Dunn—l only wish the lady to do so for the satisfac-
tion of the jury relative to her handwriting.
Miss Burdett Coutts—l have no objection to do so, if the
-jury or his Lordship wish it.
The jury unanimously replied—No, no.
Sir 'f RESIGER—I am your counsel, Miss Coutts, and I
must beg )ou will not do so.
Mr. Dunn—What did you do with the letters you received
from me?
Miss Burdett Coutts—l sent them all to my solicitor; he
had general instructions to take the necessary steps to rid
me of the annoyance which I was receiving from this per-
son. I did not read all the letters which I received from
this person; for, when I ascertained them to be from him, I
forwarded them to Mr. Humphreys, unopened:
Mr. Dunn repeated several times the following question :
Did you tell Mr. Humphreys to repudiate the authority
which I said I had received from you to draw on your bank?
—I cannot say that I did. I repeat, that I gave him general
instructions to take the necessary steps.
Mr. Dunn—Don't you think now, as a lady, that my let-
ter to Mr. Marjoribanks was one that required an answer?
Sir F. THESIGEE—That depends very much upon the per-
son who wrote it.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Dunn—l think you bad better get into the witness-
box at once, Sir Frederick.—(Afuch laughter.). [To the
witness]—How long did you wait before giving Mr.
Humphreys instructions to prosecute me? Miss Burdett
Coutts—l gave no instructions respecting an indictment; my
instructions were general.
Mr. Dunn then asked Miss Coutts her opinion as to the
handwriting of several persons in letters which he produced;
and among these was one from her late father, Sir Francis
Burdett, the handwriting of which he asked her to speak to.
At this last question, which was put by the defendant in
the most unfeeling manner, and amidst the disgust of the
whole court, Miss Coutts became much agitated, and, after
struggling for a minute or two to conceal her emotion, drew
down her veil to conceal her tears.
Lord DEN MAN turned with great indignation of manner
towards the defendant, and said to him, " Your conduct,
Sir, is extremely improper."
Mr. Dunn thereupon gave up his cross-examination, and
sat down.
Edward Marjoribanks was then called, and said—l am
one of the partners in Coutts's bank. I received a letter by
the post from Mr. Dunn on the 13th of January, 1846, stating
that he had authority from Miss Coutts to draw on the bank
for such a sum as should be a compensation to him for the
injuries he had received from her. Mr. Dunn afterwards
called on me. He produced several papers. I said Miss
Coutts's order was the paper alone I wished to see. He then
produced some doggrel lines. I expressed some surprise he
should produce such a document, but said I could assure him
it was not Miss Coutts's handwriting, and I called in Mr.,
Robinson, who stated the same fact. On the 20th of March
1846, another letter came from Mr. Dunn, stating that he
should place the matter under the bankrupt laws, and asking
Miss Coutts's address.
Mr. Dunn wished to put in a letter, dated in 1838, Urging
that if it. led to show that lie had been deluded, he had a
right to put it in.
Lord DENMAN considered it could not be read.
Mr. Dunn—What do you do if forged cheques are ptef-
sented. Witness—l can tell you what we do not do; `rove do.
It - "chi& alma
was no authority, I should ask the party to leave Vans
as soon as he could. I should not give him into custody.
Mr. Dunn was putting a great many irrelevant questions,
when

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Lord PENMAN told him he was wasting a great deal of
time in putting questions which had nothing to do with the
matter.
Witness—l recollect seeing you a second time, when Sir
Edmond Antrobus was present. I never saw your bill.
Mr. Robinson, one of the clerks in Cuutts's bank, said—l
was present when the defendant had the conversation with Mr.
Marjoribanks. I told him the lines were not in Miss Coutts'a
handwriting.
Cross-examined—l do not think you said that you be-
lieved the authority to be genuine, and that you should act
upon it. Miss. Coutts has not a private clerk in the bank.
Sir Edmond Antrobus—l saw Mr. Dunn when he came
with an order for money. He produced a draft for 100,0001.,
drawn by himself on the account of Miss Coutts, and which
was as follows :

" London, March 4, 1846.
" Gcntlemen,--Pay myself, or order, the sum of one hun-
dred thousand pounds.

" RICHARD DUNN,
" By the authority of Miss Coutts.
" Messrs. Coutts and Co., 59, Strand."
I told him we had no authority. He then produced some
lines, which I told him were not in the handwriting of Miss
Ccutts, and therefore could be no authority. Mr. Ingleback
confirmed what I bad stated. _

Cross-examined—This is not the order you presented to

us.
Mr. Dunn—By the living God I had no other.
Witness—The draft you presented was on a small strip of
paper, and not, as this is, on a sheet of letter-paper.
I did not say, " Get Miss Coutts's cheque and we will
pay it." Miss Coutts has no private clerk in the bank. If
you had signed Miss Coutts's name we should have pro-
ceeded against you. You ought to know best whether it is
a fraud to sign by the authority of another. I suppose en-
deavouring to obtain money by false pretences is a crime.
Mr. Dunn—Why did you not send me to Bow-street?
Witness—Because we were too lenient with you.
Edward Ingleback—l am a clerk in the bank. The de-
fendant asked me if I attended to Miss Coutts's business.
1 asked him what it was about. He said he bad a draft
to present for payment. Knowing him, I took him into a
private room, and he presented a draft for 100,000/. I took
it to Sir Edmond Antrobus, who told him that was no
authority to pay money upon. The defendant said he had
an authority, and produced something," and the defendant
was told that it was not in the writing of Miss Coutts. A
little altercation took place, and Mr. Marjoribanks came into
the room and told him he had had an answer to his applica-
tion, and desired him to leave the house.

Cross-examined—This certainly is not the draft you pro-
duced at that time. It was th© same in substance; bat it is
not on the same paper. You told him something to the
effect that you wished to take further proceedings upon it.
You pressed Sir Edmond Antrobus to mark the dishonour on
the face of the bill, but he refused to do so.

This closed the case for the prosecution.
Mr. Dunn then addressed the jury—They had been told
that he was placed in a most painful position; he admitted,
to the fullest extent, most of the observations the Learned
Counsel had made, and he thanked him for not denying to
him what God Almighty had given him—a sound intelli-
gence. Whatever he had done, he was; ready to stand or
fall by it, pleading no excuse, either from the want of suffi-
ciency of judgment or of intellect. If he could have had his
choice he should hare been defended by some learned counsel,
whose calm discretion would have been exerted in this pain-
ful task, but it was unnecessary for him to tell them the cir-
cumstances that compelled him to defend himself before the
God whom he called to witness his oath, and before His de-
puty, the judge who now presided, and before the jury, to
vindicate and justify, to the best of bis belief, the step that
he had taken. They had now heard the evidence in support
of the prosecution, and to constitute perjury the oath must
be fake to the knowledge of the party making it; it must
be done with a fraudulent and wicked intention—it was
only upon their being satisfied, not merely that the docu-
ment was not the lady's handwriting, but that he knew it to
be a fabricated instrument, that they could come to the con-
clusion that he was guilty of the crime laid to his charge.
If a man made a mistake it was not perjury. He might
have mistaken the handwriting of the authority, and mistakes
even of greater matters had occurred, and would occur to
the end of time, between menofassoundanjdudgitmwenitsassigenveedr
sat upon that bench. The
authorityuponmwihghicthbhee
inter-
cepted acted
LiAm.eSt.oc,, ng
himc.tnhsrioduegrihthe post-office,
that his letters
or refused, he had taken the precaution of getting
Captain Sutherland to write the direction
.upon the answer
he returned to it. Every singleletterad mated the receipt
of
a letter
of int roe prl
by r fromon 'Throne
beforei n .
Could
hich he.,
he must we r were
oneha
day kneeling
appear, at
n thee foot
entertain any doubt, any reasonablheidisolubt , that those letters
thes Ilpuorsclt eltite
cpaonsite,
andf romb
yM i Mips Couttsr:cei‘• e repliesettteorstb‘Ne-mere. putn „i%in,asthae
hard thing to assert that Miss Coutts would practise such a
diabolical fraud upon him. He would not go the length of
saying that she had done so, but he would prove that he
knew, directly nor indirectly, Miss Coutts's hand-
writing, nor did he knuw that those letters came from any
other party than the one to whom lie had written in reply.
He would ask, then, would any man amongst them, if
he received a letter from a party and answered it,
and got another letter beck, and so on for four
letters—would they, as rational men, doubt that they were
genuine letters? The conduct of this lady was such as to
lead his mind to the conclusion that she was under restraint,
and Mr. Marjoribanks was the party who stood between him
and this most unhappy lady—for unhappy she was in every
way, so far as he could learn.—(Shouts of laughter.) They
might laagh, but it was no laughing matter for him ; it was
a serious and grave imputation—that of having beers. wickedly
led into making an affidavit, which he had done, supposing
the authority to be genuine. He had shown the authority
to several persons, and they had all Old him thagAbey be-
.. _

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'44,;