The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-17 00:00:00

(Left sitting.)

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world,

- -
"LICH COURT OF
Eri.t,Nß.T RC. T.I.
FORGERY AND FRAUD.
MONDAY, JAN. 13.—John Neill, a young man, a
printer, was charged with forgery, fraud, and wilful
im-
position, and with using, and uttering as genuine, forged,
fabricated, and false writings, and with forming a felo-
nious scheme to impose upon and defraud the lieges, and
to obtain money from theta by means of forged and frau-
dulent representations:—Having (Ist), on 11th March,
1844, forged and fabricated a letter addressed to Mr.
Stirling of Keir, representing himself under the signa-
ture of " Robert Stirling," as having been deputed to re-
ceive subscriptions in behalf of a ladies' association,
said to have been organised at Liverpool, Az
affording aid to the widows and families pf those
persons who perished on board the President steamer,
on her passage between this country and America,
showing a subscription-list (printed), having a
great number of names attached to it with sums
purporting to be the subscriptions of the persons therein
mentioned, in support of the funds of the said alleged
association; which list comprised, in addition to her Ma-
jesty, the names of various of the nobility, gentry, and
clergy, fur sums varying from 51. to 1001.—by which
fraudulent repi esentation Mr. Stirling was induced to
send to the prisoner, by letter of credit, 25/. 10s., as his
subscription to the said fund. (2d.) With represent-
ing himself in the neighbourhood of Largs, in Ayr-
shire, as the son of Robert Storrie, passenger on
board the Al anc'nester steamer, who was said to have
been lost in, that vessel, with property to the amount
of 1,000/., leaving a wife, son, and daughter in very
straitened circumstances, and transmitting, a subscrip-
tion-list, with forged subscriptions attached, purport-
ing to be those of Lord Murray, Bishop Terrot, &c.,
&c. The third, fourth, and succeeding charges, up to the
fifteenth, detail the several acts of fraud and imposition
which he succeeded i.i practising upon the nobility and
gentry in Ayrshire and the county of Bute, by which the
Countess of Glasgow, the Rev. John Kinross of Largs,
the Misses Robertson, &c., &c., were severally induced
to make payment of several sums of money, whereby
they were all defrauded ; with the further aggravation
of having been previously convicted of forgery, and ut-
tering false, fabricated, and forged letters, before the
Sheriff-Substitute of Forfarshire and a jury at Dundee,
on the 7th of October, 1842.
The prisoner pleaded not guilty.
Evidence having been read at great length,
Mr. Neaves addressed the jury for the Crown, and was
followed by Mr. Crawfurd in an able defence for the pri-
soner.

Lord IltroxclirEFF then summed up the evidence in an
exceedingly careful and able manner.
The jury, without retiring, consulted together for a
short time, and intimated, by their foreman, that they
unanimously found the prisoner guilty of the first charge
as libelled.

Mr. Neaves craved the court to pronounce sentence.
Lord COCKBURN said this was a very extraordinary
case, and displayed, on the part of the prisoner, a bold-
ness of conception, an ingenuity, and a total disregard of
consequences, which were perfectly appalling. He bad
carried on a scheme of forgery and imposition which,
considering the completeness of its details, and the de-
termination with which he pursued his nefarious pur-
pose of imposing upon wealthy and benevolent indi-
viduals in the upper ranks, the court, in the discharge
of its functions, could not lightly pass over. It was
not so much that a gentleman like Mr. Stirling had
been cheated out of his money-that was no doubt a
bad feature of the case, was, he might venture to say,
almost without a parallel-but that schemes of real
benevolence and charity would suffer, when liberal-
minded gentlemen and ladies were imposed upon in
this manlier ; when they thought in their simplicity
that they had been giving their money for the relief "of
suffering humanity. A much more serious punishment
than that he intended to propose, would have been in-
flicted under the statutes in force up to a recent period
had his crime been but one act of forgery-instead of
being-as it had been proved to-day-no less than seven
such acts. The smallest punishment the court could
award for this crime was transportation for seven years;
but considering the aggravated circumstances attending
the case, he could not in conscience propose to their
Lordships a less sentence than transportation for tea
years.
Lord WoOn concurred. •
Lord MoNcatErr then admonished the prisoner tut to
his future conduct, and sentenced him to ten years'
transportation. .
The following is a copy of the forged subscription
sheet for Scotland :-
Marquis of Queensbury, 50/.; William Croil, 15L;
John Cogan, 25L ; William Dunn, 50L ; Schwabe and
Gobert, 10/ 10s. ; John Neill, 51. ss. ; J. Wilson, 10/. ;
James Buchanan, la 10s. ; Andrew M‘George, 10/.;
J. Richardson and Co., 10/. 10s. ; Andrew Wingate,
20/.•' Hugh Tennant, 211.; 11. Ewing Maclae, 25Z; James
Jeffrey, 5/. ; Lord Glasgow, 50/ ,• A. Drummond, 20L;
Sir Archibald Campbell, 25/.; Lady IL Thorp, 10/. los.;
Earl of Buchan, 31L 10s. ; Sir C. D. Fergusson, 25/.;
Thomas Chalmers, 5Z ; Earl of Mar, 20/.
The following are some of the forged subscriptions
the sheet for England :-
Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, 100/. ;
his Royal Highness Prince Albert, SOL ; her Majesty the
Queen Dowager, 50/. ; the Duke of Devonshire. 100/. ;
the Duke c.f Richmond, 501.; the Marquis of Angleses,
50/ ; the Marquis of Bute, 501. ; the Marquis of North-
ampton, 501.; the Earls of Fitzwilliam, Derioy, 13a,lcarrav,
Lonsdale, Mexborough, each 50/. ; Vi count Morpeth,
201. ; Lord Sandon, 30/. ; Sir Richr:rd Sutton, Bart.,
100/. ; Baring, Brothers, 20/. ; R, Gladstone and Co.,
20/ ; Dr. Bickersteth, Si. ; irrini two Misses whose
father was lost on board the President, 101 ; from their
mother, Kl. ; workmen in Fawcett's Foundry, 71. Bs. 4d.
Subscriptions amongst the heads of five pilot boats, Noa.
3,8, 4,2, and 6, 44 75., &c. &c.