The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-23 00:00:00

THE WILL FORGERIES_

MANSION-HOUSE.
Yesterday having been fixed for the re-examine-
' tion of the prisoners charged with the will forgeries,
the approaches to the Court were crowded as early as
halt-past ten o'clock. Shortly after that hour Mr.
Clarkson, the counsel for the prosecution,•arrived, and
he was soon after followed by Mr. Chambers, the
counsel for Barber; Mr. Ballantyne, the counsel for
Fletcher; and Mr. FloWer, the solicitor, who appeared
for Mrs. Dorey.
The interest occsoiened by this case seemed to have
not in the least diminished, and the entrances to the
Court, and the hall without, were crowded during the
whole of the proceedings. Many persons had
clambered up to the windows outside, in order to
gratify their curiosity by getting at least a peep at the
prisoners.
At ten minutes after eleven o'clock the Lord Mayor
took his seat on the bench. His Lordship was
assisted by Mr. Alderman Humphery. •
The doors of the Court were then thrown open, 'and
it was immediately filled in every part.
The prisoners, William Henry Barber, aged 36,
attorney-at-law ; Joshua Fletcher, aged 50, account-
ant ; and Georgiana Dorey, aged 31, were shortly
afterwards brought up in the custody of Forester, the
officer. The male prisoners were placed within the
dock, and Mrs. Dorey was accommodated with a
seat at the table immediately below the dock.
Mr. CLARKSON said that he had now to lay before
the Court the circumstances, of a case which would
show that his Lordship was fully justified in the
course which he had pursued, in refusing to commit
the prisoners, or to admit them to bail. The result
of the inquiries which had been instituted for the
purposes of forwarding the ends of justice, had been
to enable the prosecutors to bring forward another
and a fourth charge against Barber and the unfortu-
nate woman at the bar, as principals, and against
Fletcher, as an accessary, both before and after the
fact, of having procured a person to personate the
sister of John Stuart, deceased, for the purpose of
feloniously obtaining certain sums standing in his
name in the Bank of England. It appeared that in
the year 1826, there was standing in the books of
the Bank of England a sum of 511. Long Annuities,
in the name of John Stuart. Nothing was heard of
Stuart until the year 1840, and in the year 1836 the
sum in question had been transferred to the Commis-
sioners for reducing the National Debt. Stuart, it
appeared, had died in 1827 at Great Marlow, in
Buckinghamshire, where he had lived for some years
before in the service of Mr. Strode, of that place, as
steward and gardener. Mr. Strode had defrayed the
funeral expenses of Stuart, and out of respect to him
had caused a tablet to be erected to his memory in
the parish church of Great Marlow. A grave-stone
had likewise been erected over his grave. Nothing
had been heard of any representatives of Stuart, or of
any property of his until the month of May,lB4o, when
the prisoner Fletcher went down to Great Marlow,
to the house of a person named Hyatt, who kept an
inn there, and made inquiries of Hyatt as to the rela-
tives of Stuart. Hyatt, who had only recently come
to Marlow, took Fletcher to several old persons who
recollected Stuart, and who gave him information.
Fletcher, before he went away, told Hyatt that his
name was Jones, and that he had come down by order
of Government to make inquiries as to Stuart, and he
requested Hyatt, if he procured any additional in-
formation, to forward the same to him, addressed to
Mr. R. Jones, 24, Little Guildford-street, Russell-
square. About a month afterwards, Barber went to
Marlow to make inquiries about Stuart. He asked if
Mr. Jones had been there, and stated that they were
partners in the same concern. He stated himself to
be Clarence Peckham, Esq., 52, Nelson-square; and
told Hyatt if he came to town he should be glad
to see him to dinner. Hyatt came to town shortly
afterwards, and called at Nelson-square, where he
saw Barber, who, however, instead of asking him to
dinner, seemed most anxious to get rid of him. On
the 25th June, Hyatt received a letter from Fletcher,
signed in the name of Jones, and dated 24, Little
Guildford-street. (The letter was then read.) It
stated that the writer desired Hyatt should make
further inquiries on the subject of Stead,. on the un-
derstanding that he should be paid for his trouble.
The writer stated, that he wished to ascertain where
Stuart had lived before be came to him (Strode), and
also what place in Scotland he had come from ; facts
which he stated could be ascertained from an old
fellow-servant of Stuart's. The letter then con-
cluded as follows :—" I have been able to ascertain
that twelve years since Stuart had a sister residing
in America, and if you will take an early opportunity
of making these inquiries, 'ou will greatly oblige your
obedient servant, G. Jones.' Please to direct to me, Mr.
G. Jones, Miss Hawkes, 24, Little Guildford-street,
Russell-square). This was the preparation for intro-
ducing the supposed sister on the scene. It would appear
that Miss Hawkes was a personal friend of the female
prisoner, who had applied to her to permit certain
letters which she expected on business in the month
of June, to be addressed to Little Guildford-street.
Mrs. Dorey, who was then Miss Richards, at that
time kept a stall in the Pantheon for the sale of
china, and resided with her mother in Rathbone-place.
In June 1840 the stall was given up and they left
Rathbone-place, and no account could be obtained as
to their place of residence until the month of November
following. In the month of July 1840, Fletcher
took lodgings at 1, Southampton-terrace, Camberwell,
for an old lady named Elizabeth Stuart, and there was
every reason to believe that the supposed Elizabeth Stuart
was the mother of the female prisoner. Mrs. Dorey
frequently visited the supposed Elizabeth Stuart, as
did Fletcher, his wife, and his daughter. She re-
mained there three months, during the whole of
which time she appeared to be labouring under great
anxiety and depression of spirits. In June 1840, a
woman between 40 and 50 years of age went to the
office of Mr. Pott, a proctor, carrying on business in
Godliman-street, Doctor's-commons. She was ac-
companied by some one else, and stated that she
wished to procure letters of administration to the per-
sonal estate of her brother, John Stuart, deceased.
He asked who had recommended her, and she said
Mr. Fletcher. Mr. Pott knew a gentleman named
Fletcher, hut was unacquainted with the prisoner ;
and believing it to be that Mr. Fletcher he took the
transaction into his office. Finding that on account
of the length of time which had elapsed the registrar
was likely to oppose the granting of letters of ad-
ministration, an affidavit was made by Elizabeth
Stuart and Thomas Griffin. The affidavit of Eliza.
beth Stuart, of 4, Duke-street, Grosvenor-square,
he would read. Griffin he might state had
been apprehended, and ,would be produced. (The
affidavit was then read). It set forth that Elizabeth
Stuart had, in 1836, met her with John at the Bank
of England, when he informed her that he had in-
vested certain moneys in the stocks, but he did not
state what ; that at his disease Stuart had left a chest
in the care of the Vicar of Marlow, to whom applica-
tion had been made, and who stated that
he had never heard anything of any will ;
that at the last interview the deceased had told
her that he intended to sell his property, and go and
join her in America ; that she had gone to America
expecting him to follow, but that she had never seen
or heard anything from him, although she had written
frequently to him, and that on her return to England
in May, 1840, she had first received information of
her brother's decease from a friend of her aunt, a
gentleman named Jones, who had come over from
New York with her, and had gone down to Great
Marlow to make inquiries, when he learned that he
had died in 1827, and had left property to the amount
of 700/. The affidavit of Griffin corroborated the
account given by Elizabeth Stuart of the last inter-
view between her brother and herself. On the 28th
Aug., 1840, letters of administration were applied for
and the application was accompanied by affidavits of
the marriage of Robert and Janet Stuart at Callender,
in 1756, of the baptism of John, the son of Robert
and Janet Stuart, born in 1761, and of Elizabeth
Stuart, the daughter of Robert and Jane Stuart. The
Court would observe the discrepancy between Janet
aad Jane, which, as no suspicion was excited at the
Prerogative Office, did not attract attention. He
should observe that these documents had been en-
`grossed in Pitt's office; it is to be presumed
that they had been prepared by Barber, who
had gone to Marlow the month of June preceding,
These certificates had been prepared most adroitly.
Immediately after this Barber had gone to the Bank,
accompanied by a woman apparently about forty years
of age, who, therefore, could not possibly have been
the. deceased, supposed, as she must have been, up-
wards of eighty. Mr. Barber was identified by a
gentleman named Hill, and the woman received 7001.
back dividends. The stock was then sold out by Mr.
Hills who gave a cheque on Sir John Lubbock for
the amount, which cheque was immediately changed
into gold ; and so quickly had this been done, that
when Mr. Hill sent to have a small error cor-
rected,. almost immediately afterwards, he dis-
covered that the cheque had been changed for gold.
That was the evidence as far he should produce it
to-day ; but he had every reason to expect that on a
future occasion he should be able to show that
Stuart never had a sister, and that there was every
reason tQ believe, that Stuart was stating the truth,
when he:had said to many of the witnesses that he
had not a relative in the world except a brother
ean!
that he did not know whether he was living orii
n
lie thought that these discoveries proved,
. thatrertho.
l
Lordship had exercisedercised a judicious discretion
.professional
aindvigstoerfant the request of the prisoners
Mr. CH A MBERS doubted the competency
of the
ro n
He thought it was not
competent mker of
an
or any public .body to open
charges .aP
d.aat aorapiete them. If such proceedings
present pyr io„ice.ide a ins
were allowed, he thought it was high time that the
Legislature should interfere. Mr. Barber might be
ruined by these proceedings without any charge being
pro7el.l again Ft him. He asked the Lord Mayor to