The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-05 00:00:00

ALLEGED FORGERY OF A DOD.

A m
arisingmadeb
oyousatt
op
fee extraordinarye an cneaassmtue
et
eooffin
John
allegeda shltau frilo
was heard a few evenings since before the Alnste,
the Rolls, after the trial of an issue directed by
off
!,
Honour, the result of which has been the institue;
t
of criminal proceedings against Highfield for th
leged forgery. Highfield, it appears, claimed tglo
a deed of gift, said to have been executed by
Joseph Ward, who formerly resided at
in Staffordshire, and who died in 1819, at tbeo
vanced age of 84. Highfield was formerly tee be
of the estate o
in question, called Bowers, which
rented of its then owner, Mr. -Ward, wbo übe
employ him to do all the work connected silt' the
farm on which he (Mr. Ward) resided. Upon
ion:
death of Mr. Ward, in 1819, several of his relatt'ate
of the name of Peake, claimed the Bower9,ereld,
under a will duly executed by Ward.
aid'
however, some time after, the death of Mr•ti of
set up a deed of gift in opposition to the 4a
e 1
the Peakes, alleging that it had been eseev:,,- vto•
Mr. Ward in September, 1818, with a viol; 1," i'jeld
vide for his (Highfield's) large family. By tit had
it appeared that Mr. Ward (notwithstandine:oo
many relatives of his own) conveyed the -9'°:ett to
estate to Highfield, who was no way re' dby
him. The validity of this deed being diSPUtele *
f
the Messrs. Pealte, who in fact declared if ttb-si
forgery, a suit was instituted in the Court of -1i;
eery. On its coming on for hearing before tile 1,01
ter of the Rolls, his Honour directed of lit,
to try the validity of the alleged deed '3l tried
Such issue was accordingly prepared, anu,
at the last Staffordshire Assizes, before Mr. ritt
Littledale and a special jury. A-deed of gift
Ward to Highfield, of the Bowers' estate, was pr'
dugwo gone
le? o
tandiam Ho igt oohnfi
eptirdhe o,s.
e,apt of
brother
thdeurell_aifegxhjefioceuhlntdi,oeuv i dte Ty esesT.a:
swore Ps,i4,
tively to the fact of his having, in September, id, of
accompanied the latter to the house of W. l'ravd
Mill-miest, with the engrossment of the dee";' ‘, the
to its having been then executed by Ward, "',OO
presence of him (William Highfield) and a Pe",,it,
of the name of Hawley, who attested it 1151 sioir
nesses. On the part of, the Messrs. Peake,
ever, it was proved that Mr. Ward had, bY ''
Eof
given the estate to them, subject to the. poretetyhree
legacies to the amount of about. 5001.; -or
persons swore that the signature to e deed,r
porting to be Hawley's, as a witness, was notfatlce,
ley's handwriting. The most important eviu'gr,
however, to invalidate the deed was that 01 tveri
Preston, as attorney of Burslem, which wasP'l
for the purpose of proving that the deed whielle
alleged to have been executed by Mr. Ward, 1i for
tember, 1818, was not, in fact, prepared until °OO
that gentleman's death, in September, 1819.
Mr. Preston's statement, it appeared that-iv I."the
tember, 1819, he had prepared a deed of gift of
Bowers' estate, to Highfield, according to 111dee'
tions furnished by him. A draught of this
oo3'
was produced on the. trial ; and upon its being ecit,
pared with the deed of gift which Highfield's
'
nesses had sworn to have been executed 19,,,Y fore
Ward in September, 1818, (a twelvemonth u`De
this draught was prepared) it was found te.cco.
verbatim copy.of the draught, even with the je-e it
racies which that paper contained. The ati,tgl9,
appeared, had been altered from SeptemberP; wbo
to September, 1818, by the desire of Hightle," tber
stated that he wanted the date to agree with OA° the
deed. From this and other evidence adcluee'efy;
jury were of opinion that the deed tvas a Mg to.
and after a trial, which lasted nearly twelve 11..°
e
they returned a verdict invalidatillg Highiinlgle;
claim. The Counsel of the Mies;os.un
diately applied to have the deed m
tor the- purpose of founding
against Highfield for the forgery ; and the r
C
made an order accordingly. Application iffy"
cently made to the Master of the Rolls for tot
trial, which was refused; and we understand peer'
C
criminal proceedings against Highfield hove
instituted. upon it a prosec_uotit:rt
Pdc'eldkien