The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-29 00:00:00

Extraordinary Charge of Robbery against a

Bank Clerk.

At the Mansion-house, yesterday, James Wm.
Woods, a tall, gentlemanly-looking man, who was
stated to be only 22 years old, was brought before
Alderman Lusk, M.P., who presided in the absence
of the Lord Mayor, in custody of Michael Haydon,
the detective officer, charged with stealing a £lOO
Bank of England note, the property of Messrs.
Barnett, bare, and Co., the
.bankers, of Lombard-
street.
Mr. Mullens, the solicitor to the Bankers' Asso-
ciation, attended on behalf of the prosecution ; Mr.
Weatherhead, from the office of Mr. T. Beard, ap-
peared for the prisoner.
The case appeared to create a good deal of interest
from the circumstances connected with it, and also
from the fact that the prisoner, who had been for
some time in the service of the bank, is most respect-
ably connected, and his father, who is an extensive
itrincr in lint, has b.3e,n for many years a tenant
of Mr. Hoare, one of the partners in the firm.
It appeared that on the 14th of September a sum
of. £lB5 103. 61. was paid into the bank of Messrs.
Barnett and Co., by a firm who kept an account
with them, Messrs. Fauntleroy and Co., ivory and
hardwood merchants in Southwark, which amount
was composed of a Bank of England note for £lOO
and cheques, and in due course this note should
have been placed to the credit of Messrs. Fauntleroy
and Co., in their banking account. At the close of
the day the balance was found
.to be £lOO
short, and after an investigation had taken place
into the accounts, it was ascertained that the defi-
ciency amounted in the loss -of the £lOO note that
had been paid in by the Messrs. Fauntleroy, and
further inquiry led to the discovery that on the same
day the note had been changed for gold at the Bank
of England, and that it then bore the endorsement
George Robson, Kind's Head, Borough. The matter
was then further investigated by Mr. Mullens, who
placed the inquiry in the hands of Ilaydon, a most
experienced detective officer, and in the result the
prisoner was taken into custody, and the evidence
;that was obtained to support:the achorgp .of' having
stolen the note in questiou,w943 of lather an extra-„
ordinary character. -

Mr. Gray, one of the principal cashiers in the
bank of Barnett, Hoare, and Co., spoke to the
ordinary course of duty being, when notes were
paid in, that they were marked with the name
of the customer ' and placed in a box, and
were afterwards placed in a ledger, but this
particular £lOO note never seemed to have been so
entered. He said that in the beginning of the month
of September the prisoner asked to be permitted to
have £lO as a loan for a few days, and he produced
a letter purporting to be signed by a Mr. Farman,
residing at Paddington, and which represented that
he had sold a horse for the prisoner for £14105.,
and that he should have the money in a few days.
He allowed the prisoner to have the money, believ-
that he would be in a position to repay it when he
received the money for his horse, and at the time he
did not pay particular attention to the handwriting
of the letter, but having since examined it more
carefully, he was of opinion that it was written by
the prisoner.

Some further evidence was then adduced, the effect
of which was to show that the prisoner received the
£lO and that he did not repay it at the time he had
promised, and he was reminded of this fact, and he
stated that he had sold a horse and would pay the
money he had borrowed when he was paid for it.
On Sept. 14, the day the note was stolen, the pri-
soner asked for leave of. absence for two or three
hours, saying that he was going up to the west end
of the town to receive the money for his horse, and
he left the bank, and it appeared that very shortly
afterwards the note was changed for gold at the
Bank of England. When the prisoner returned to
the bank he appeared to have handed the cashier
who had advanced him the £lO a post-office order
for that amount, and at the same time asked him to
change another for £4 103., representing that he had
received the two money orders as the price of his
horse. It turned out that on the day the note was
changed at the Bank of England some person had
obtained the' wo money orders in question at a post-
office in the neighbourhood of Oxford-street, in the
name of Farman, and the usual post-office form for
these money orders was filled up,in „the handwriting
of the prisoner.• It was -also proved -that_ tho Mr.
Farman referred to by him knew nothing of the pri-
soner, and there was no truth in his statement that
he had been engaged in selling a horse for. him.
Michael Haydon was then examined—He said
that in consequence of a communication he received
he went on Sept. 20 to the bank of Messrs. Barnett,
Hoare, and Co., and found the prisoner in a private
room with Mr. Mullens, the solicitor, and Mr. Bar-
nett, one of the partners. Mr. Barnett, when wit-
ness went in, addressed the prisoner, and said he
was sorry to tell himthat he was suspected of having
stolen a' £lOO note, and he added that the circum-
stances were so suspicious that the matter had been
placed in the hands of Mr. Mullens, the solicitor, in
order that he might investigate them, but no one
would feel more pleasure than he should if the pri-
soner could clear himself. Mr. Mullens then ad-
dressed the prisoner, and said the matter had been
placed in his hands, and that it was necessary he
should at once tell him that he had been assured
that he had stated that he had gone to Oxford-
street to receive the money for a horse he had sold
for £l4 10s., and that he was paid in two money-
orders, one for £lO and the other for £4 10s. The
prisoner bowed, and said "That is so." Mr. Mullens
then proceeded to state to the prisoner that he had
, procured the forms when the money-orders were
applied for, and produced them, and said it was his
duty to tell him that the filling up of those forms,
and the endorsement on the back of the £lOO note,
when it was cashed at the Bank of England, ap-
peared to be in his handwriting. The documents re-
ferred to were then shown to the prisoner, and after
looking at them he said, " If any one has be'en copy-
ing my handwriting I cannot help it. I never had
the money, and know nothing about it." Mr. Mul-
lens then said that it would be his duty to charge
him with stealing the- £lOO, and witne took him
to Bow-lane station, where the charge was read over
ss
to him, and he made no reply. The prisoner, at his
request, wrote the address of Mr. Farman in his
pocket-book, and he produced it.
The entry referred to was shown to the bench,
and the writing appeared to entirely correspond with
that relating to the alleged sale of the horse. There
was also this remarkable coinciat.nce that the word
Paddington terminated in both documents with
" don" instead of " ton."' - 't

Mr. Mullein said this was all the evidence he was
in acondition to produce •on the present occasion, Ls
the witness from the money order office could not
attend on account of illness. lie asked that the
prisoner might be remanded in order that he might
be enabled to bring forward additional testimony.
Mr. Weatherhead asked that the prisoner might
be admitted to bail,
urging that he was most respect-
and that securities to any .amount
ably connected,
could ho obtained.
Alderman Lusk remanded the prisoner for a week
and refused to accept bail.

THE WORKING MAN'S FLOWER SHOW.—A very
interesting ceremony took place last evening at the
Agricultural Hall, Islington, viz., the presentation of the
prizes awarded to the succesaful exhibitors at the flower

show, which, duting the present week, has been the great
attraction of the Industrial Exhibition. Tho members of
the executive committee having taken their seats on the
platform, at the extreme end of the lecture hall, in which
the flowers have boon so tastefully displayed, the secretary
came lorward and read the report, which stated that the
flower show had been a great success, and the floral
specimens exhibited did tho highest credit to those who had
reared them. It congratulated Mr. Broome, Mr. Gordon,
and Mr. Green 4 on the success of their honorary labours in
bringing together such an interesting and praiseworthy
collection, and it contained an award of he. ty thanks to
Messrs. Carter of Holborn, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Burley,
Messrs. Downie and Laird, and the other nurserymen who
had kindly contatbuted so many rare and beautiful plants
to back up the Exhibition. The award of prizes then took
place, Mr. Gray, the exhibitor of the beautiful st%ndard
fuschia, which occupied the place 01 honour during' the
distribution of the prizes, receiving the hearty congratula-
tions of Mr. Broome for his splendid production, which
carried of the first and highest prize. At the termination
of the proceedings, Mr. Broome, as ho loft tho platform,
was perfectly overwhelmed with the congratulations of the
1 company,