The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-11 00:00:00

INLAND BILLS OF EXCIIANGE.

Inland bills of exchange are the chitf springes lui

by the low usurers and non -brokers of the metro•
polls to catch the unwary.. From the moment a mar
. .

has " put his hand"—aa the phrase runs—to one of
these stamped slips of paper, he may, in minety-nine
esaes out of a hundred, bid farewell for ever to all

peace and independence of mind. The three ap-
pointed months run out as rapidly as the three last
days of a criminal left for execution. The morning
dawns at length when the victim of his follies or his

I necessities must make his election between renewal
on usurious terms or a suit with the certainty of
failure, and cf all the costs which can be heaped up
by the practised ingenuity of some low attorney, the
refuse and scorn of his profession. Fresh bills for
costs, renewals cif the old acceptances, warrants
cf attorney, succeed each other with dizzy ra-
pidity, until the wretched dupe, who has suffered
himself to be involved in the meshes of the money-
lender begins to perceive that the exertions of his
future life are hypothecated to his tormentors. He
cannot hope to procure for himself ultimate peace of
mind—that is out of the question. All that he can
t'xpect to accomplish is to be enabled to throw sops
from time to time in sufficient abundance to quiet the
rapacity and silence the demands of those who are
ever threatening him with publicity and ruin, but
who understand their evil trade too well to drive their
victim too 'quickly to absolute despair. We fear there
may be too many persons .who, on reading these few
lines, will recognise in them the story of their own
broken fortunes and broken hearts.
But there is a still further and more immediate
danger in meddling with inland bills of exchange
when the acceptor is ignorant of the character of
the parties with whom he is engaged. Net only does
he subject himself to the natural consequences of his
act, which are such as we have faintly indicated, but
in all probability he will never see a sixpence of the
sum in consideration of which he has signed away
honour, character, and the hopes of his future life.
Such is the state of the law—possibly the inevitable
state—in reference to this subject, that where a bill
of exchange has been fraudulently obtained, and is
once thrown into circulation, the acceptor is without
remedy. Nothing, naturally, is easier than to
place two or three endorsements on the acceptance,
which is ultimately presented for payment by a
person, who, to all appearance, is a bond fide holder,
r.nd has given valuable consideration for the bill.
Of course it may well be, and generally is, the case
that such an one is but a member of the gang of
swindlers combined for a common dishonest pur-
purpose. But this will not help the unfortunate
acceptor. If the holder of the bill be ready to per-
jure himself upon a single definite point—namely,
that he has given good consideration—all the inge-
nuity of counsel the most practised in the cross-
examination of rogues will be of little avail. Toe
peljured witness cannot be involved in a maze of
contradictions. "On such a day, to such a man, I
gave such a sufficient sum for the bill 13( fore the
Court." Let a witness but remain firm to that asses-

tion, and he is safe. Upon this basis it is that a nest
of vagabonds who infest the metropolis habitually
raise a superstructure of fraud, and almost with un-
failing success. The practice is to write, in the first
instance, a letter to some person of good connexions,
whose difficulties may have got wind, -offering to ac-
commodate him with a loan of money. If the per-
son who receives such a communication has not the
goo&sense to throw the letter in the fire, his
troubles commence. Let us suppose him to bite at
the bait, and to return an answer to the application.
He soon receives a reply ; his correspondents are ac-
commodating enough about terms. All that is re-
quired is that he shall sign and return two bills of
exchange, enclosed for his Acceptance, and on a day
named the money shall be paid in to his credit at a
particular bank. The bills are signed and returned ;
day alter day elapses beyond the time when the
money was to be forthcoming, and at length a letter
is received to the effect that the writer " regrets he
could not keep his word, but unavoidable circum-
stances over which he had no control," &c. In a
word, the money is not paid up, nor the bills re-
turned. It is needless to add that when the bills
thus fraudulently obtained arrive at maturity they
are presented for payment, upon the system we have
.Aready explained, and must be duly honoured by
the deluded and swindled acceptor.
Twp cases of this kind—and very bad cases too—
came to light the other day through proceedings
taken at the Bankruptcy Court, when the affairs of
one William Thomas Ferris were under course of in-
vestigation before Mr. Commissioner Goulburn. Of
Ferris himself, professedly a builder and carpenter,
we will say nothing. His certificate was most pro-
perly refused by the Commissioner, and he himself
driven from the court, with perpetual infamy affixed
to his name. It was the bill transactions which gave
interest to the case, and this more especially as the
dupe in one of them was the grandson of a man,
whose name can never be mentioned without re-
spect and veneration by Englishmen—the late Sir
Walter Scott. Lieutenant Scott was quartered with
his regiment at Norwich, when in the early part
of 1848 he received one of the letters we have de-
scribed, offering to accommodate him with the loan
of 1,000/. on his acceptance for six months, with an
understanding that it should be renewed at the
expiration of that time on payment of interest. The
correspondence was conducted by a person signing
himself Moreton. A short time afterwards another
of the gang wrote to Lieutenant Scott, informing
him that he had been the victim of a swindle, but
that ha would endeavour to procure back the bills for
him. The subsequent facts of the case, as they ap-
peared in our impression of Tuesday, occupy a column
and a half of close print, and might well be taken as
a ground-work for a few chapters by any novelist who
is meditating another " Pelham." Lieutenant Scott
came to town, when he found Ferris, the bankrupt,
representing himself as the bona fide holder of the
bills, and he was finally induced to sign afresh bill
of exchange for 325/., and a warrant of attorney for
a similar sum ; in return for which, and 1001., he
recovered his two original bills. Finally, we believe,
in consequence of the verdict of a jury at Bristol,
Lieutenant Scott escaped from a portion of these
but was made to suffer severely in costs.
The second case is like the first Lit is that of the

lion. and Rev. William Curzon. In this instance a
person signing himself Prescott first appeared when
the curtain was drawn up. When the bills had been
obtained, as in the case of Lieutenant Scott, Ferris,
the bankrupt, again came forward as the bona file
holder, who had advanced 250/. upon Mr. Curzon's
acceptance fur 5001.; and then wa extract from our
report :
" Mr. Curzon, who was staying at the United Univer-
sity Club; wibte to Ferris, stating that he had received
no consideration for the bill. Mr. Curzon then went to
Welbeck-strect, but Prescott was not to be found. He
then called upon the bankrupt, who expressed great in-
dignation at the conduct of Prescott. Re said he had
agreed to discount Mr. Curzon's bill at 20 or 25 per
cent., and had, in fulfilment of such agreement,
actually advanced to Prescott 250/. Ferris added that
he had never seen Prescott before ; that he was
ignorant of his character and pursuits ; and that ho was
never before engaged in such a transaction. Such are
the averments in Mr. Curzon's affidavit. Ferris tpld
Mr. Curzon that he knew Inspector Shackell, and would
set him to find out Prescott ; and the next day Shackell
and Ferris waited upon him and told him they had
been unable to find out Prescott. Mr. Curzon returned
to the country, but had not been there many days
before ho received letters pressing for an arrange-
ment, and threatening to put the bill into circulation.
Finally, Ferris went to Derby, and had an interview
with Mr. Curzon, who,_ believing he bad innocently ad-
' vanced the money to Prescott, gave Ferris an acceptance
for 3004 at six weeks' date, promising at the expiration
of that time to execute a warrant of attorney, payable,
with interest, at twelve months' further date; Ferns, on
his part, undertaking to cancel the 5001. bill. Ferris
again went to Derby, taking with him a warrant of at-
torney, prepared by Mr. Jones, the solicitor, who pre-
pared a similar instrument in Mr. Scott's case, which Mr.
Curzon executed."
Mr. Curzon ultimately succeeded in resisting
Ferris's demand, and finally compelled him to give up

the warrant of attorney.
Such are the brief outlines of two cases, which
should be sufficient to put the public upon their guard.
Let No one in want of I,oool.—and a good many
people in England are in that position—listen to the
syren song of an anonymous correspondent. Bills of
exchange are very fair instruments in commerce and
in the hands of men who know what they are about
and the parties with whom they are dealing, but let
all others beware how they affix their names to slips
of stamped paper, binding them to a payment of
money at the expiration of three months—even if
there should be an understanding for renewal at the
end of that time.—Times.

MOUE SAVINGS-BANKS DEFALCATIONS.—SCIU-
BOROUGU.—On Saturday last, Mr. Thomas Smur-
waite, wine and spirit merchant, who has for several
years acted as clerk to the savings' bank, was charged
before Mr. Robert Tindall (the mayor), and other bo-
rough magistrates, with having embezzled money be-
longing to the depositors, between the years 1838 and
1850, to the amount of 1,000/. Mr. Smurwaite was re-
manded in custody until Monday lost, when he wrs
again brought vp, and further remanded until Saturday
next, to allow of an investigation being made into the
affairs of the bank. Public notice has been given to the
depositors to take in their books to-day and to-morrow,
until which time it is impossible to state the amount of
the prisoner's defalcations. The event has caused much
sensation in the neighbouthood, the more so from the
prisoner haying up to the present tint° borne an irre-
proachable character. It is hoped, nod indeed expected,
that the deficiencies will net much exceed
the the shove
sum. The business of the bank i 3 ordered by direc-
tors to be suspended until the 22d inst.—Eastern Coun-
ties Herald, Jan. 10,
MR. LUMLEY.—The paragraph inserted in our
Tmsday's impression, stating that Mr. Lumley brad
broken his arm, has caused much anxiety aosoug his
friends, and many urgent iuquiriee have been mitde. We
are happy to add Mr. Lumley has only slightly injured
his left wrist, and is now almost well.