The Sun.
London, England, 1820-04-10 00:00:00

GOD S.I‘'ETHE. KING.

INCREASE OF DUTY PAID BY THE DIFFERENT FIR%
OFFICES IN LoNDoN IN THE YEAR 1819.
County 42421 13 4
Globe ... l5Bl 4 0
Atlas l3BB 0 3

Union
Royal Exchange 923 18 9
Hope .
Hand in Hand
Imperial
Albion

Governor FARQuirAa embarked on Wediresdai:
at Portsmouth, in the Luckingharnshirei
sailed (or the illauritiAs,

1

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AND.

MARS,

FORGERY.

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9.

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£SCAPE of CAPTAIN DAVIS front PRISON.

Our Readers may probably recollect, that about
51 month back a good deal was said respecting the
apprehension of a young Gentleman, very highly
conneLted, upon a charge of forgery to a very
great extent, upon the respecti,We banliing-house
of Messrs. Drunnuond,• of Chating-Cross. -The

person thus alluded to ‘se are now tinder the
painful necessity of announcing is Mr. John
Henry Da‘i*, son of the late Sir John Davi,, an
hithVithlat at the highest honour and integrity.
ti ho was closely connected with many families of
distinction in this country. It appears that the
unfortunate young man, to whose melancholy
toe. we. ate about to allude, formerly held the
rank of Captain in his iNlajesty's Life Guards,
and subsequently, as well as at the time of his
arrest, the situation of Lieutenant of the Yeomen
of the Guards. It is needless to say, /bat u:;der
such circumstances he moved in the highest cir-
cles 'of society. He «as .Vely generally known,
and partook of all those fashionable amusements
1.11 which VOllllg men of his age anti rank hot too
trtmenily indulge. Among these,.gambling was
uith him a favourite passion. He was the eon-
Slat.( frequenter of all those houses at the IVest
end of the town, where play may justly be said
to be carried to a criminal excess. The conse-

quence was such as might have been anticipated,
a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, lent to him
by his father, soon vanished, and he was reduced
to comparative distress. lie proceeded to the
Continent, where at Versailles and Paris he
plunged again into the vortex of dissipation :
be was again foremost amongst the most desperate
Players. For a time fortuee•favotired Isis pursuit,
and he began to retrieve the losses which be had
sustained at home ; unhappily, however; he' bad
1101 the prudence to stop in time. Elated by suc-
cess, he dashed forwent, and was &sally ruined.—
lie lost all he had gained, and returned to Eng-
land almost penny less. We now come to t!iat
aCt of his life which reflects indetible ,itsgrace On
himseif aed his connexioes : having exhausted the
meens of renewing his visits to the gambling table,
he had recourse to the dread:ill expedient of forg-
ing the acceptance of Mr. Henry Drumm: old to a
bill drawn by himself on the titan of Drummond
and Co. for 60001. It is more than probable
that his intehtion„ at the titne of committing this
act, was to have prevented the presentaiion of
this bill, by himself paying the amount betore it
becarnd tine ; hut, cidcMisstances led
to the detection of the forgery before even the
fi:nita of the scheme reached his bands. it appears
that a few weeks back he went to Mr. Newbold,
Ilia attorney, and told him that be was about to
get a bill upon Messrs. Drummond for 60001. dis-
enamel!, and that he was to pay, by way of
die-
rtaint, the sum of 4001. The hill having been
drawn at 12 months ,Mr. New land ithfue4iattlY ob-
served that it was quite au unnecessary sacrifice, for
that if the bill had been'accepted by Messrs. Drill-11.-
41.nd, he bad no doubt he could get it discount-
ed at the ordinary rate of five per. cent. In
consegnence of this representation, Mr. Davis
procured the bill from the hands of the person with
whom it bads been placed. To this bill, in conse-
quence of its having been dated upon an erasure,
mere was sonic objection, but this was obviated
by Mr. Davis procuring another bill for the stone
*Mount and of the S:sme date, to which no such
objection existed, and this was accepted for the
firm in the name of Henry Drummond; and Mr.
Newland lost no time in carrying the bill to a bill
broker of the name of Smith, in the city, who said
there could be no ,difficulty in procuring the cash.
The bill was then left with him, when some sus-
Picions arose in his mind as to whether it really
Was the acceptance of Mr. Drummond or not.—
Not from any doubt which he had of the hand-
Writing, but from his belief that Messrs. Drum-
blond would not accept a bill at so long a date,
He knew the respectability of their firm, and was
%Ware, that it was seldom or never their practice
to. accept any bills drawn in town. With feelings
thus excited, be went to the house of Smith,
Payne, and Smith, and sheaving the bill to one
°f their principal clerks, asked whether the ac-
teptance was that of Mr. Henry Drummond : he
*4l immediately answered in the affirmative.—
lieh was the accuracy with which the imitation
Was executed : he was still not satisfied, and re-
laested to see one of the principals. At last,
through- the medium of another banking house,
134 Wish was gratified, and the bill was actually
taken down to Messrs. Drummond for inspection.
The moment it was presented there, it was pro-
to:linseed a forgery.
Mr. Clarke, of the firm of Finmore and Clarke,
Solicitors to Messrs. Drummond, was then sent
for, The City Marshal accompanied! a Gentleman
to his cbamberi, and there found Mr. Davis, who
Was taken into custody; and on being searched,
two other bills, which proved to be forgeries;
Were discovered. The execution of these, as well
as of that which had been uttered, was inimitable.
air: Davis subsequently underwent a private exa-
mination before the Lord Mayor, and was cow-
bitted to qiltspur-street Compter for a further
'Caring. In the interito his family became ac-
tl"ainted with his situation, and it is scarcely
ecessary, to state how deeply their feelings
"ere shocked. it was now considered desirable
!;) dispose of the situation which he held as
;•Lieutenant of the Yeomen of the Guards, and
4"r which his fattier had given 5,0001. For this
I)2lrpose application was made, bat permission
was refused. 'flue prisoner was to have under-
Viae his second examination on Thursday, but
olope still existing that means would be found
c_
Mprevail on his Majesty to permit the sale of the
B°tnission, it was postponed to Saturday. The
~e_,e"T)d application, however, proved alike unstic-
nsful with the first : and we understand the
7thice has actually been conferred upon a gentle-
Z.b of considerable fame in dramatic literature.
bether this intelligence had reached Mr. Davis
L.)
, • w not ; but it appears that he did not
'Mc it prudent to await the result of a second
led Ititnatton, tra which it WAS expected would have
trial' On
his final commitment to Newmtle for
On FridaY, he effected his escape- from
thea_k; Mpter in the following manner lt seems
xit,t_e(ever since his apprehension be .
has been
I by a lady who witS known as Airs. Par-
"l'l 43 well as by that lady's sister. His ser-

Vaut Man too was in the habit of going to him
vice a day to administer to his Wants, and to :tiring
him those necessaries of which he stood -in need.
Among other things he occasionally carried him
a bag of clothes. For the last two or three days,
this r:►an, who More a blue frock lis:ery coat,
striped waistcoat a►ed gaiters, came to the prison
with his jaws wrapped up in a black silk hand-
kerchief, as it he were affected with the tooth-
ache. The circumstance was noticed
,by Frost,
the Turnkey, who happened to he hiwselt afflicted
with rhenta►atic pains at the time, but nothitt,„; par-
ticular passed. On Friday morning, the servant
came as usual with his bag .ot,' clothes, and with
his jaw still wrapped in the black silk handker-
chief. Ile went up stairs to his' master's room,
where be temained some time ; and at half-past
one was supposed to have come clown -again, and
was pet witted without the slightest suspicion to
dep,rt by Frost. Thus matters tesied fur nearly
an hour, when the sister of. Mr. Davis arrived and
was' allowed to go to Mr. D•ivis's room ; she
looked however in vain for him, and asked the
wife of one of the turnkeys if she-knew where be
teas ? An inquiry followed, and it was discovered
hat he had escaped, amid that his servant still re-
ma next in the gaol. In tact, it turned out that
the servant had brought in his bag a complete
suit of livery cmilar to his own, in which he
dressed his mister ; and then covering his face with
a black silk handkerchief, and placing the bag, filled
with other apprel, on his shoulder, together with
his own hat on his head, sent him down stairs.
The disguise was so effectual that i' answered the
desired end. Frost was thrown off his,goard, and
the prisoner got clear off

111r.Teagne, tbL Keeper of the Comprer, at this
time was ;mewling his duty at the A.lansion
I-loose, but h:2;ng appriird of what hac occoired,
he lost no time in sending to every place where
he thoitght it wis likely the fugitive mi'ht be
concealed, hut all in vain. H.• also applied to
Lord Sidnionth, awl nuclei his. Lordship's permis-
sion directions 'vere sent to the different outports
to prevent escape that way,
Ali. 'feitgne disocirenlated a placard offering one
Hundred tinineas reYrard.

The servant, upon being interrogated, stated,
dial his name was Smnuel Coding, that lie had
long lived with. Mr. Davis. lie said be was the
best of masters, and be admitted !hat he h►►d been
asked whether he would assist in his es..ape soon
atter he was apprehended ? fie willingly agreed,
but did not know the time fixed upon till lately,
lie, did not know where his master was gone—he
took no place in Any coach for him, nor did he
engage any post-chaise on his account. The man
then candidly described the manner in which his
master had been disguised ; the clothes in which
he went were exactly similar to those worn by
himself.

The. matter on Saturday underwent an exami-
nation bcfore the Lord Mayor, and the servant
was put to the bar upon the charge of aiding the
escape of his master. Mr. Drummond, attended
by his Solici.or, Mr. Clarke, was present, as were
MrJ Bpilaud, the Counsel, and Mr. Palmer, the
Solicitor tor Mr. Davis, whose escape was to
them a matter of surprise, as they were of opinion
the evidence against him was not sufficient to
Warrant his final commitment.

The LORD MAYOR was distinctly of opinion that
the persons of the servant and the master were by
no means alike. The former was taller and much
thinner than the latter. He therefore thought
great blame was imputable to the turnkey, Frost.
Mr. Teague said, that Frost had been 10 years
a turnkey, and never made a mistake before. He
bad every confidence in his integrity. He was
,himself particularly anxious about Mr. Davis, be;
cause be knew the great interest that was making in.
his behalf, and was glad that the day had so nearly
arrived when he should be relieved from what he
considered to be so serious a a:age. He had
cautioned all his men to be upon their guard, and
reminded them of the case of Lavalette, appre-
hending as be did, that his prisoner might attempt
to escape in female attire.
Ebenezer Siininel Frost, the iurnti.y, who was
deceived, was then examined. Hie*eseribed the
arrival of the servant, and hit, s4posed depar-
ture, and said, that the slightes('snspicion never
,entered into. his ,mind of the' (rick which had
been played upon him. Mr. Day4o.-1. when he went
out, carried tne bag on his Prionlder, held his
head down, and hadbis hat slduched so that he
did not see his features.—This man ,has been sus-
pended.
The LORD MAYOR said, that the servant should
be prOsecoted at the expence of the city, and di-
rected that he should be remanded till Tuesday
next.

Tug THEATRE.—The second representation of
Artaxerxes on Saturday last, at Drury-lane \The-
atre, was more successful than on the previous
performance, and was-received with much greater
applause. The Opera was followed by the revival
of a piece very popular in its day, entitled liar-
lequin's intasion, but now called Shakespeare ver-
sus Harlequin. The purpose was to ridicule the
taste for pantomime, which was so prevalent at
that period, and to draw attention to the works
,of our great dtamatic Bard. The piece had ori-
ginally the support of KING, one of the chief
comic actors of the titite, and then in the full
strength of his powers, who was the Speaking
Harlequin. Moony, PARSONS, Miss Pope, ,and
other excellent Performers, also exerted them-
selves in support of the piece, which was written
by GARRICK. The plot was light and fanciful,
the ditilogue was humorous, and a variety of
characters gave spirit and humour to the general
effect. It was revived on Saturday with a due
all.)tmeot of the characters, all of %hie!) were
well supported, particulatly that of Mercury by
T. COOKE, OXBERRY 10 the Clown, NIUNDEN in
Snip, KNIGET is Abraham, and DowToN as Cor-
poral Bounce. Nils§ Povey as Sukey Chinerlin,
and Madame VEs-rats as Dolly Snip, deserve a
commendatory notice. It is creditable to the
Manager to have so well revived a piece written
by GARRICK, and to the 'Performers who so well
exerted themselves in support of it. Some new
music, the joint production of Messrs. T. CooKe.
"id REBye, does credit to both. The scenery is
beanttfid and pic,uresque. The piece altogether
was too long, and when properly retrenched will
probably be attractive. '