The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-26 00:00:00

2RIAL FOR FORGING A WILL.

A trial that has excited great interest commenced
at Liverpool on Wednesday, before Mr. Baron Wa-
tson, when Richard Hardy, John Hope, Joseph
Berry, and Ruth Berry, were indicted for forging a
will at Salford on the 23d of April last, and with
uttering the same knowing it to he forged.
Mr. Attorney-General Bliss, Mr. Ellis, Q.C.,
(Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster), and
Mr. Holkar, appeared for the prosecution, and Mr.
Pope defended the prisoners.
It appeared from the opening statement of Mr.
Bliss, that the deceased, Ann Dean, whose will
was alleged to be forged, kept a small shop
in a cellar at Pendleton, in Salford. She
was an illegitimate daughter of Sarah Dean,
and by habits of penury and care for many
years had amassed a considerable sum of money,
and had in her banker's hands nearly £6OO.
She was unmarried, and her nearest relation
(though, from her being illegitimate herself, he was
not her lawful relation) was Isaac Dean, who kept
a draper's shop in Salford. The deceased became
seriously ill in April last, and fancying that the
cellar in which she lived did not agree with her,
she took lodgings at the prisoner Hardy's, who kept
a beer-house, where she went on the 13th of April,
and died that night. She had expressed her inten-
tion to leave her property to Isaac Dean, but on her
death Hardy and his daughter, Ruth Berry, and
her husband, Joseph Berry, set up a will purporting
to be made by the deceased and attested by Luke
Hardman, as one of the attesting witnesses. For
the prosecution it was stated that two wills were
forged by the prisoners, one in substitution for an-
other, the first not suiting their purpose, and that
these wills were made by the prisoner, Hope, who
is an attorney, and whose narne has been struck off
the roll. Up to the time of the removal of the deceased
to Hardy's house, it was said on the part of the
prosecution the deceased had made no will, and from
the time of her arrival there to her death she was
too ill to make one, and never did make one. The
will alleged to be forged was drawn by the pri-
soner Hope and copied by Luke Hardman, and to
this will the deceased was said to have affixed her
mark. She could write very well. Luke Hard-
man was admitted to give evidence as approver. A
caveat was entered against the proof of the w:11,
which was allowed to expire, and the will was
proved by the prisoners, after an attempt to settle
matters with Isaac Dean, and the will so proved
was the forgery charged in the indictment.
After hearing the evidence the case was ad-
journed.

Yesterday the three prisoners, Hardy, Hope, and
Berry, were placed in the dock at nine o'clock.
His Lordship commenced the summing up of the
case, and expressed his regret that he had nut been
able to conclude it last night, when it was all
fresh in their memory, but that was impossible, to
do it justice, after having sat for 10 hours. There
were, he said, originally four prisoners charged
with this offence, but the female was discharged,
for when a husband and wife are present in the
committal of an offence, the law presumes the wife
is acting under the coercion of her husband, and,
therefore, is not herself criminal. But with regard
to the three remaining prisoners : Hardy is a beer-
house keeper, Hope is a sort of a lawyer, and Berry
is a carter. These men are charged with forging
the will of Ann Dean, who was no doubt a very
penurious person, for she- commenced life with- a
capital of ls. 51d., and at her death had between
five and six hundred pounds in the bank, some other
property, and it was supposed there was a policy of
insurance upon her life. On the part of the prosecu
tion the theory set up was, that the will was forged
on the 18th of April ; for the prisoners, it was sug-
gested that it was made by the deceased before her
death. If they
if believed that, then there was no for-
gery ; they believed the contrary, then there could
be no doubt a forgery had been committed, and, if so,
by whom. There was abundant proof, if it was a
forgery, that the three prisoners; were acting to-
gether at the time the alleged offence was com-
mitted. The will was admitted to be in the hand-
writing of Berry, and it was attested by Hardy ;
and there was the most abundant evidence that at
this time Hope, who acted as a sort of a lawyer,
wasinstructing them. But the whole case would
rest on the evidence of the witness Hardman, who
was an accomplice. Such evidence was always
looked upon with suspicion, but it was allowed by
the law, if it was corroborated, and unless they be-
lieved that his evidence was corroborated, he should
advise them to reject it. His lordship then read
through the whole of the evidence, pointing out
the parts in which Hardman's statement had been
confirmed, and said the only question for considera-
tion was, in fact, was the will made on the 13th of
April by the deceased p If it was not, it was a
for-
gery. In commenting upon the papers found in
Hope's possession, he particularly alluded to the
bill of costs, the last item in that bill being on the
18th of June, and amounting to £75, fees beyond
all' bound and most extortionate, and closely fol-
lowing was a copy of an indictment for forgery
that he could suggest was that he had s
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the Hardy,
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to the original will of the deceased's mother, and
the one said to be a copy of it made for the de-
ceased, pointing out the discrepancies, which
clearly showed that the latter must have been made
at the suggestion of some person not unacquainted