The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-07 00:00:00

TIIE SUN, -LONDON, TO ES OA V EVENING, MAY 7, 1867.

Great Bank Forgery.

Yesterday, at the Mansion-house, Edward
Devillers, a well-dressed man of gentlemanly
demeanour, and described as of Barnham-house,
Bromley, Kent, was brought up in custody by
detective officers Webb and Brett, and charged
before the Lord Mayor with forging and uttering a
bill of exchange for £1,120 10s., in May, 1864,
with intent to defraud, and also with forging and
uttering divers other bills with a like intent.
Mr. Poland, instructed by Messrs. Freshfield, ap-
peared as counsel for the prosecution, and Mr. Had-
deck (ef the firm of Parker, Lee, ghd paddock, of
Jr the prisoner.
stated that the
iSntq.AuiPri
ra.
yupl'aos Enuhdtu rti
ocnhc-ooypniae rnmd ine) ngacttethewen
or
u casel
in its progress,
develope one of the most gigantic frauds ever per-
petrated in this great commercial city, and he had
been so recently instructed that he was not in a
any length, but
he at
t to enable him
to e day. The charge
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poau
remand
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sufficientdttehonecaemfautlt
uerr
against the prisoner was for forging and uttering a
number of bills of exchange, and with conspiring
with one Thoia a. Edgley, who was not yet in
custody, to difa tud by means of these forged
securities. The-dills purported to be drawn by the
Maydampeck Forest Company, which professed
to be established in Servia, and was engaged in
felling timber and forwarding ittothis country, and
were signed by the prisoner and forwarded from
time to time by Edgley to the Leeds Banking Com-
pany, by whose manager, Mr. Greenland, they had
been discounted to the amount of no less than
1108,000. It would be remembered that the Leeds
Banking Company had become bankrupt, and that
the manager, Mr. Greenland, had been convicted at
the Central Criminal Court of falsifying the ac-
counts of the company, and was now undergoing his
sentence under that conviction. He should now put
in the informations oh which the Lord Mayor has
granted his warrant for The apprehension of the
prisoner, and then ask fora remand.
Detective officer Fred. C. Brett was then sworn,
and deposed that on Satirday last he received the
warrant, which bore date 15th April last, and pro-
ceeded with it to Dieppe, where he found the pri-
soner residing at No. 19, Rue de Rouen. He told
him that he was a police officer, and held a warrant
for his apprehension, and hat he should have to give
him up to the French police, to whose officer the
prisoner accompanied him, where he was told he
would be detained in prism. The prisoner then said
he would return to En 1. d
g , and was conveyed by
the French authorities onboard the steamboat, and
on arriving at Newhaven he took the prisoner into
custody, and read to him the warrant, on which the
prisoner replied that he vas innocent, but that be-
fore he went abroad he had authorised Mr. Edgley,
who was his uncle, to sigh his name for him for all
purposes.

The sworn informations on which the warrant had
been granted were then pat in. The first was that
of Mr. Geo. Chandler, clerk to Messrs. Turquand
and Co., the official liquidators appointed to wind
up the affairs of the. Leech Banking Company, and
he proved that in
going through the affairs of the
company he had found the dishonoured bills of the
Maydatnpeck Forest Company, drawn on their be-
half by the prisoner, to the amount of £lOB,OOO,
still unpaid, with the exception of about £9,650
which had been received from a bankrupt firm. The
next information was that of Mr. J. Grant, who
proved he was one of the clerks of Messrs. Link-
later, the solicitors, and had examined the books of
Thomas Edgley and Co. ; that he had been in the
service of Edgley, tvho want, in 1861, to Servia,
and on returning to this country asserted he had ob-
tained a concession of a traT,t of forest land, and ha;
established the Maydampeck Forest Company, and
had commenced felling timber. Bills then began to
be drawn in the name of the company, and were
forwarded to Greenland, tie manager of the Leeds
Banking Company, for discount. The name "E.
Devillers" was always waten at the foot of tha
bills by Edglcy, and not by the prisoner. The third
information was that of Mr. Bertram Smith. clerk
to Edgley, and who had filled iu the body of the
bills, and had been in the habit of forwarding them
to the Leeds Banking Company. No letters were
ever received from the alleged Maydampeck Forest
Company, and his only information as to its exist-
ence was from the statements made by Edglev. The
last information was that of Mr. 11. Dawson, who
proved that in November, 1861, he went to Servia
to ascertain the value of property belonging to the
alleged company, and though there was aFreach min-
ing company in operation, no such concern as the
Maydampeck Forest Company has ever had any
existence.
Detective officer Henry Webb was then sworn,
and proved that he had been engaged in making in-
quiries into this matter for some time, and that on
Barham-
the 15th
from Aes
15thAprfilhsers.
office,gentle-
man
to
house, Bromley, in Kent. The prisoner admitted
them into the house, and was shown a vast number
of the bills in question, and amongst thc;n one for
£1,120 lOs , and he was asked whether those bills
d
were signed by him. lie looked at the whole of
thatthem,
.he
eacuividial
flic afterr6,: ever
whesitating
in his
e en in
sbeervsiaai,dbt but
the signature
~
Ehandwriting.
t a
added that at
He denied
one time he was going there. At last he refused to
answer further questions, but said he would come
up to London and call on Messrs. Freshfield. Wit-
ness, who had no instructions to take the prisoner
into custody, but simply to make inquiries, saw no-
thing more of the prisoner until he arrived from
Dieppe in the custody of Brett.
Mr. Poland intimated that he was not in a condi-
tion to go further with the case to-day, and asked
for a remand.
The Lord Mayor acceded, and remanded the
prisoner to Monday next, refusing to admit him to
bail.

On
applicationof Mr. haddock,
upon duoeko, a gold watch
and chainthe prisoner
and some
money
was ordered to be given up to him, and he was then
lt he
removed from the dock.