The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-17 00:00:00

FORGERY AT THE BANK.

The discovery of a forgery on the Bank of England
for 8,0001. has been a matter of general conversation
since the event occurred ; and as the chief party im-
plicated is a clerk in the Bank of England, it naturally
turns the attention of practical men to the working of
a system by which facilities are offered to persons
connected with the Bank to effect such extensive
frauds. It would be throwing a doubt on the cha-
racter of a body of the most deserving and assiduous
men, the Bank clerks, to suppose that because in one
case such a fraud has been perpetrated that others
will follow ; but nevertheless it is quite necessary that
the Directors, in future regulations, should endeavour
to do away with the plan of identification by Bank
clerks, which, in the present case, has caused all the
mischief. The following is understood to be the
manner in which Burgess, the Bank clerk, and his
accomplice effected the fraud. The former, by his
intimate acquaintance with the Bank books, found
that a stockholder of many years standing, Mr. Wil-
liam Oxenford, of the Long Room, Custom-house,
had a large amount of money in Consols, and having
obtained leave of absence for a few days, it was during
this interval that the forgery was executed. Having
thisobtained knowledge it seems he obtained a party,
his accomplice, to represent the bonii fide holder of
the stock, and they proceeded to the Bank, and there
effected a transfer of 8,2001., Burgess identifying his
friend as a holder, and hence lulling suspicion. Directly
they obtained the stock, they sold it at the current
market price, and changed the notes they received
into gold, which in equal divisions of 4,0001. was de-
posited in a carpet bag, and taken away in aca by
the accomplice. It was not till the absence of Bur-
gess continued beyond his appointed time that a doubt
entered the mind of his fellow-clerks of the legitimacy
of the transaction, but when inquiries were made for
him and he could not be found, the matter was in-
vestigated and the result ascertained. The culprits
having had a week's start of the officers, there is every
reason for supposing that they embraced the oppor-
tunity for a Transatlantic trip, and up to the present
time no clue has been discovered of their retreat, al-
though rum ours from day to day have been circulated
on the subject. So barefaced a fraud was never before
committed, and the Slack conspiracy, notwithstanding
its organisation was of a more complicated and inge-
nious character, was nothing to compare to the
h effrontery
The Dm
not Directors twaallowfuture
clerks to identify, but strictly en-
forceson of signature, and take the word of
c oir
the broker, who will be made to suffer the loss in
case of forgery or fraud following. It is said Bur-
gess was originally introduced into the Bank by two
of the Directors, who knowing his father to be an
honest,and his family, and became sureties for the youth to
the extent
industrious
tentofl,oool. man,This amount, of course, .they
felt inclined to serve him
will have to pay. The remainder will be made up
from what is termed " the Clerks' Fund," which is
specially raised by general subscription yearly, ac-
cording to the amount of salaries paid, for the liqui-
dation of such losses.

-
';+The Countess of Iladdington has arrived at Tyn-
inghame House, Prestonkirk, N. 8., from the Admiralty
SMUGGLING ON A LARGE SCALE.—Much excite-
ment was produced at Hull on Wednesday by a startling
discovery. While the Ellen Crawford, Captain Newby,
from Hamburgh, lying in the Junction Dock was de-
livering shoddy and " devil's-dust," a quantity of tobacco
was found in one of the bales of the hold. On further
search, two other bales, in the hold and one upon the quay,
which had passed the landing-waiter's scales, were found
to be in the same condition. The discovery was made
officer,
and crew
suruveey were immediately
by a tide-waiter named Holmes, who gave information
Gleadow, by whom
immediately placed
under seizure. The quantity of tobacco found was 4
to
oe his
vessel, superior
caro gffio, n
cwt., 3 qrs., 241 b., the whole of which was, we under-
stand, manufactured, and of the finest quality. So badly
had the concealment been made, that the first bale in
which any was found actually fell to pieces in the hold.
But for that circumstance, it is probable the whole would
have escaped, as one bale had already passed the land-
ing-waiter.—Hull Packet.
RARE AvES.—TWO extraordinarily curious speci-
mens of freaks of nature amongst the feathered tribe
hare been—one captured, the other shot—in the fields
hard by this town (Louth), during the past week. They
are, although of different species, purely white. The
first, to use an Iricism, is a white blackbird ! which was
discovered by
.Mr. Paddison, shoemaker, of this town,
who, with assistance, succeeded in running down and
capturing it. It is now in Mr. P.'s possession, a young
and remarkably beautiful bird. The other, a milk-white
sparrow! which was shot by Mr. Would Elvin, of Louth
Park -buildings, in a field near the mansion of G. Hol-
land, Esq., at the Park. The shot did not take fatal
effect, and the pretty natural curiosity is now caged and
doing well in Mr. Elvin's possession. The two have
been much admired by those who have a taste bent
towards such curious matters.—Lincolnshire Chronicle.
THE GREAT BRITAIN.—It is with feelings of un-
common pleasure that we arc enabled to announce to our
readers, upon undoubted authority,
that arrangements
are in progress for the release of this magnificent vessel
from her present untoward situation, and that she may
be expected to be floated out of the harbour either in the
ensuing month of October or the early part of November.
It would be premature to state the nature of the arrange-
ments about to he made, but the above statement may be
implicitly relied on.—Bristol Mirror.
THE SEASON AND THE CROPS.--Very little of any-
thing in the shape of crops now remains to be got in in
this neighbourhood ; a few backward crops of oats or
barley may remain unhoused, but they are very few.
Second crops of grass have been cut here and there, and
also the first grass in the East-croft, which is always
late. One or two nights this week have been rather
frosty. This change is described in our locality by the
frequent exclamation, " It begins to smell Goose Fairish."
—Nottingham Review.