The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-16 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

;hat a stockholder of many years standing, Mr. Wi

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
obtained this knowledge it seems he obtained a party,
his accomplice, to represent the bond 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 a cab 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 rumours 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
effrontery with which this forgery was carried out.
The Directors of the Bank, it is understood, will in
future not allow clerks to identify, but strictly en-
force comparison of signature, and take the word of
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, industrious man, felt inclined to serve him
and his family, and became sureties for the youth to
the extent of 1,0001. This amount, of course, they
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.

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 ono upon the quay,
which had passed the landing-waiter's scales, were found
to be in the same condition. The discovery was made
by a tide-waiter named Holmes, who gave information
to his superior officer, Tide-surveyor Gleadow, by whom
ihe vessel, cargo, and crew were immediately placed
under seizure. The quantity of tobacco found was 4
cwt., 3 qrs., e4lb., 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.

PARE AYES.—TWO extraordinarily curious speci-
mens of freaks of nature amongst the feathered tribe
have 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 Iricisin, 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 Leuth
Park .buildings, in a field near the mansion of G. Hol-
land, E,q., at the Park. The shot did not tike 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.
BRISTOL SUGAR MARKET, SEPT. 13.—Our market
continues steady, but not'active ; about 350 hhds. and
tierces West-India have been disposed of since our last
report, at very full prices—.sss. and 68s. may be consi-
dered as the extremes of the market. In Bengals and
Mauritius the transactions are unimportant. Refined
goods have advanced ls. per cwt.—Bristol Mercury.
THE GREAT BRITAIN.—It is with feeling of un
common pleasure that we are 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 be made, but the above statement may be
implicitly relied on.—Bristol Mirror.
THE LARGEST STATUE IN EUROPE.—The summit
of Danvraggie, in Sutherlandshire, is crowned by the
c°lossnl monument erected by the Sutherland tenantry
to the memory of the late Duke. A str.tue thirty feet
high, aad containing eighty tons of stone, stands on a
pedestal seventy-five feet' in height. The figure, we be-
sliteaTvtetii,emiinssArseEllent likeness, and forms the largest
TN;:°TIIEIaCitOPS.—Very little of any-
thing in the shape of crops now remains to be got in in
b thisarioy neighbourhoodmay rimain;
tianhfeoveusebda,ekbwuatrdthec3rro
arepa '
there
very
oatsrr3e
a few.no:ri
Second crops of grass have been cut here 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 1s described. in our locality by the
frequent exclamation,. "It begins to smell Goose Fairish.' II
—ll °Wuhan? Betwe,