The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-15 00:00:00

THAMES.

DARING HIGHWAY ROBBERY—BRIGANDS IN A
PUBLIC STREET.—John Donovan, a morose and
dirty-looking ruffian, aged 17, and described as a
shoemaker of No. 81, Spring-gardens, King Edward-
street, Mile-end New-town, was charged with
being concerned, with two other thieves, not in cus-
tody, in assaulting and robbing Mr. John Laud-
ridge, of No. 10, Sackwell-street, Bethnal-green.

Mr. Laudridge stated that he was returning from
the west end along the Whitechapcl-road, at twelve
o'clock last night, with a lady on his arm, and upon
reaching a public-house called the London Hospital,

at the corner of a street, and contiguous to the east
end of the Hospital itself, three men, of whom the
prisoner was one, suddenly attacked him and
pressed upon burn. They began hustling
him, and the prisoner made a snatch
at his gold chain, to which his silver
watch was attached, and obtained posses-
sion of his watch, carrying it away with part of his
chain, which was broken in three pieces. The pri-
soner fled with the Nvatch and he attempted to fol-
low him. One of the gang stopped him, and he
threw his arm out and struck him heavily in the
fees. The fellow was thrown, and he continued his
pursuit of the prisoner and called out " Stop thief."
He missed the prisoner all at once, and was looking
about for him when n lady said there he is, and
pointed to a fore cow t in front of a house where
the prisoner was attempting to conceal himself. The
prisoner ran away agan, and he pressed him closely
until lie was stoppe !. The witness then identified
his watch and chain, wttich he valued at 8 guineas.
Henry Hughes, police sergeant, No. 30 K, said
that at 10 minutes pr st 12 last night he saw the
prisoner running at full speed and followe I him.
He lost sight of him, and a lady said here he is.
The prisoner emerged from a fore court and ran up
Charlotte-street, Whitechapel, where he overtook
him and captured him. On the way to the station-
house the prisoner said, " I'll tell you where the
watch is ; you will find it within the railings of St.
Philip's Church." He locked up the prisoner, and
returned to St. Philip's Church, at the back of the
London Hospital, which the prisoner passed in his
flight. He climbed over the railings, and found
the prosecutor's watch and chain in the church-
yard.

The prisoner made no defence, and he was re-
manded for a week. It was stated that his confe-
derates were known, and the police expected to have
them shortly in custody.

THE GREA7 FORGERIES ON THE LEEDS
BANK.

Yesterday, Mr. Thomas Edgeley, a merchant in
Sermon-lane, City, who stands charged with forg-
ing bills of exchange in the name of the Maydam-
peck Forest Company, so called, amounting to
£lOB,OOO and upwards, with intent to defraud the
Leeds Banking Company, surrendered to his recog-
nisances in £4,000 to answer the charge before the
Lord Mayor at the justice room of the Mansion-
house, and also the charge of conspiring with others
not in custody to defraud the same bank. It may
be recollected that a few days ago the defendant,
for whose apprehension a warrant had been out
since the middle of April last, voluntarily surren-
dered himself at the Bow-lane police station in the
city to answer any charge that might be made
against him, and that he underwent an examination
at the justice-room on the following day, when some
formal evidence was given, and was remanded until
yesterday.

Mr. Poland again conducted the prosecution ;
and Mr. Sleigh, as before, defended the prisoner.

Mr. Poland now stated the course he intended
to pursue, and read an agreement, dated Jan. 8,
1864, which was recently found among the papers
of Alfred Teale, lately a bankrupt, in reference to
the Maydampeck Forest Company. The agreement
purported to be made between Alfred Teale,
of Leeds, manufacturer, and Thomas Edgeley, of
the city of London, merchant. It recited that Jacob
Van Cleeff, late of Paris, and then of Maydampeck,
in Servia, stood indebted to Teale and Edgeley
and their partners in large sums of money for
goods sold and delivered, and for moneys advanced
and for interest and commission on the same, and
it was agreed that Edgeley should proceed to
Servia and obtain by way of security an assign-
ment of Van Cleeff's interest in a concession
of the forest and in a sum of £2,500 deposit money
in the hands of Messrs. Bouillon and Co. That
assignment, it was recited, was only executed on
the 27th of March, 1863, and had since been held
for the mutual benefit of Teale and Edgeley. Van
Cleef having become a bankrupt in Paris, Teale
and Edgeley had agreed to endeavour to obtain
from the Servian Government the concession direct,
and to prosecute the exploration of the forest. For
that purpose, and to continue the works without in-
terruption, it was agreed to rt.ise the necessary
funds by draughts of A. Teale and Co. on Thomas
Edgeley and Co., at six months, and to
remit the proceeds to the manager, Mr.
Dinelli, to pay for all purposes of the
business as required. Under the direction of
Thomas Edgeley ships were to be chartered to bring
the timber to this country, or to any other part which
offered greater encouragement, and it was arranged
that the proceeds, after deducting freight and all
charges and commissions, were to be paid over to
the Leeds Banking Company in a separate account,
and to be applied in the first instance to the due
payment of the draughts of Teale and Co. on Thos.
Edgeley and Co., and next to the reduction pro
rata of the debts due to Teale and Co. and Edgeley
and Co., and h
expenses connected with the
forest. The agreement,
of which that was the sub-
oter
stance, was signed " Thomas Edgeley and Co."'and
" Alfred Teale."

John Grant, who had been a clerk and then a
partner of the defendant at one time, was
Called and proved that the agreement was signed
by the defendant and by Alfred 'Peale. It
was in witness's handwriting, with the exception of
a trifling alteration by Edgeley, and witness made
several copies of it. After that agreement was signed
witness opened an account in the ledger of Edgeley
and Co. It was headed " Maydampeck Forest Com-
pany. Joint Account. T. Edgeley and Co. and A.
Teale and C 0.," and witness kept the account. The
first entry, which bore date the same day as tLe
agreement, referred to an acceptance done July 11,
of £966 45., and it represented a bill drawn by A.
Teale.and Co., on either Edgeley and Co. or Watts
and Co. There were various other entries down to
Aug. 24, when a Renewal Joint Account was begun
and extended from July 4 to Aug. 24. That had re-
ference to bills drawn to take up acceptance on the
original transactions. There were on the other side
various entries of cash received from Teale. That
was, in fact, a joint account of transactions between
Edgeley and Co. and Teale and Co., and ought to
have been kept privately. The gross amount re-
ceived by way of discount on those bills was over
£30,000 in round numbers on the two accoants.
The sums forwarded to Servia were stated in a se-
parate ledger. They were remitted to a banker
there. To the best of his belief, over £ll,OOO was
sent to one Frolich, a banker in Servia, as the pro-
duce, of bills discounted for the Forest Company by
the Leeds Bank. Witness heard of Van Cleeff's
bankruptcy. That was in 1863, to the best of his
' somo of them being endorsed
belief Edgeley and Co. were in the habit of receiving
by
yillEs fdrgoemiej'aannd Co.,
Cleeff
Watts and Co., and Teale and
Co., and the times of their becoming due were
entered in the bill book. There was an account
with e k
goods,
knew
w and crediting
kepthim
with
debiting ng Van C
certain Van Cleeff's
handwriting. Edgeley and Co. were in the habit
of taking up Van Cleeff's bills, to which they or
Watts and Co. were liable. He could not say what
amount of Van Cleeff 's bills was taken up after the
bills.
i .
latter became bankrupt. He took them up at various
notaries, and went early in the morning to avoid
protesting, if possible. Before they were presented
they were taken up. As certain bills became due
others of the MaydamPeck Forest Company were sub-
stituted in their place, signed in the first instance by
the then manager of the Forest, and in the
next by Devilliers, who succeeded him. Mr. Edge-
ley kept letter-books taken by a press, and witness
last saw them in October last. Those books could
not now be found. There was a ledger with a lock
to it, which was also now missing. The signature
of Devillers to the Maydampeck Forest bills was an
imitation by the defendant of the handwriting of
Devillers. On one occasion he saw the defendant
write the name " E. Devillers" to one of the May-
dampeck bills; that was some time in 1864. Wit-
ness afterwards reminded him of that, and the de-
fendant said "It's all right. Grant, keep your own
counsel."

By Mr. Sleigh, for the defence.--It was a com-
mon thing for the defendant to sign Deviller's name
to the bills, and he did not think it out of course,
knowing the closeintimacy that existed between. the

defendant and Mr. Greenland, the manager of the
Leeds Bank: The renewals and the original trans-
actions amounted together to about £30,000. When
witness copied the agreement of January, 1864, he
was clerk to Edgeley and Co., not a partner. Wit-
ness had heard a great deal of Van Cleeff as a man
of repute, but of his own knowledge he knew no-
thing. At that time the agreement was drawn up Mr.
Edgeley was much dissatisfied with Van Cleeff, whom
The believed to have been robbing him, and he was
anxious of obtaining a concession from Van Cleeff.
Witness copied the agreement by Edgeley's direc-
tions, but had no knowledge of Van Cleeff up to
that tune—namely, January, 1861. Witness first
became connected with Edgeley in February, 1862.
The ledger of Edgeley and Co. was then kept by one
Green, who had since gone to Canada. (A. laugh.) In
a casual way witness had conversations with Mr.
E Igeley and with Mr. Watts before Jan., 1861. When
he copied the recital in the agreement about an
assignment of a concession of the Forest by Van
Cleeff to Edgeley and Co., he believed that to
be the truth, and that Van Cleeff had become
bankrupt. He believed at that time that Mr.
Edgeley wanted to obtain an assignment of the
concession. Soon after the agreement was come to
Edgeley went to Servia, and was absent five or six
weeks. On his return witness saw on his desk a
document relating to the Maydampeck Forest,
and he heard Edgeley tell Watts that he had bad
great difficulty in getting it from Van Cleef, who
was a stubborn fellow. He understood Edgeley to be
then referring to an assignment of the concession.
lie heard Edgeley talk on several occasions after-
wards to Watts about the documents he had got
from Van Cleeff. Besides the book containing the
entries of about £ll,OOO represented to have been
sent to Servia, a locked ledger was also misssng.
Mr. George Brown, residing at Lydden-terrace,
Leeds, repeated the evidence he gave on the exami-
nation of Devillers, to the effect that he was a clerk
in the Leeds Bank from 1859 to 1864 ; that after
the suspqnsion of the bank in September, 1861, he
examined the securities of the bank and did not find
any concession of the Maydampeck Forest Com-
pany froth Van Cleeff to Edgeley, or any security
in the name of Edgeley, except a mortgage on pro-
perty at Bromley-le-Bow for £2,000.
At this -point, to suit the convenience of the
counsel for the defence, the hearing was adjourned
until Saturday, the 21st inst., and the defendant
was again admitted to bail in the meantime—him-
self in £2,000, and two sureties in £l,OOO each.