The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-06-11 00:00:00

EXTENSIVE FORGERIES IN SCOTLAND.

Considerable sensation was excited amongst the bankers
in Stranraer, on the afternoon of Thursday, the 23d, from a
discovery that three forged bills for £5O each had been that
day passed at the several branches, in the town, of the Bri-
tish Linen Company, Glasgow Union, and Southern Banks,
and that a fourth for £6O had been tendered to Mr. C. Kerr,
accountant of the British Linen Company's branch here.
Mr. Kerr, suspecting one of the signatures of the bill, refused
to discount it, and immediately communicated his suspicions
to Mr. M'Neel, the agent, which led to the detection of the
forgeries. The four bills were all of the same tenor and date,
and purported to be drawn by Mr. Ross, parochial teacher
of Glenluce, and accepted by the Rev. Mr. M`Douall, minis-
ter of the parish, with the endorsement of Alex. M'Cracken,
Esq., of Glenluce. The bills were brought to the banks by
two different boys, each bill being enclosed in a letter, also
purporting to be from Mr. Ross, stating, that having to pur-
chase some additional furniture, and to incur other expenses
fui 6Lc ucry beh..ol-livu. ,vhiun was buUdiug fur LIIL, 1m Lea
procured the enclosed acceptance, the amount of which, he
requested, might be returned in a parcel by the bearer. Mr.
M'Neel, on discovering the forgery, instantly proceeded to
Glenluce, where he had an interview with Mr. Ross, and
was soon convinced that that gentleman had no knowledge
whatever of the transaction. It was also ascertained, that the
boys had not come from Glenluce, and from this, and some
other circumstances, and the positive fact that the boys were
known to be boarders at the school of Mr. AP Ghee, parochial
teacher and session-clerk of Leswalt parish, suspfcion of
course fell on that gentleman, although his name no way ap-
peared in the transaction. It was late in the evening before
Mr. M'Neel could return, and make inquiries at the resi-
dence of Mr. M`Ghee, when it was found that he had been
absent from home all day. Police-officers were immediately
sent out in every direction, when 'lie was traced, to the old
Portpatrick road, where Mr. M'Neel and Mr. M`Dougall,
inspector of police, spent a great part of the night in a fruit-
less search for him • though we are informed they were once
or twice at but a short distance from him, and once had him
actually in sight. Towards morning, Mr. M'Dongall was
sent on to Portpatrick, to prevent his escape by the packet.
Mr. M' Ghee, we learn, spent part of the day at the half-way
house on the old Portpatrick road, where he had appointed
the boys to meet him with the money. On receiving it he
struck across the moors, and came down to the back of Les-
walt, returning to his own house, which he entered by one
of the windows, a little before daylight on Friday morning.
On the chance that he might return, and be lurking in the
neighbourhood of his residence, Mr. Caird, procurator fiscal,
Mr.. M`William, writer, and Telford and Brown, police con-
stables, proceeded there at an early hour in the morning;
and, at four o'clock, the unfortunate man was apprehended
in his house, and brought in custody to Stranraer. On a
search being made, the whole of the notes he had received
that day, with the exception of six pounds, were found con-
cealed beneath a chaff bed. During the forenoon of Friday,
Mr. M`Ghee underwent an examination before Mr. Caird,
procurator fiscal, and some of the magistrates ; the boys who
had been his agents in the transaction being also, under de-
tention and examined, when sufficient transpired to warrant
his committal to jail. Besides the forgeries already men-
tioned, it was discovered that other forged bills to a consider-
able amount (between £4OO and £500) had been negotiated
by the prisoner within the last two or three months, and the
whole of them managed with the greatest dexterity, so as to
secure the object without his name appearing in any of the
transactions. Of these forgeries we learn the Southern Bank
has between £2OO and £3OO, and it is probable that the full
extent to which the system has been carried has not yet been
discovered. It is supposed that Mr. M`Ghee inedidated
flight, had he not been apprehended when he was i there ap-
pears, notwithstanding, an extraordinary infatuation in his
remaining at home on the Friday morning, though he had
learned that Mr. M'Neel had been there making inquiry
about him. It is melancholy to reflect on the fatb of a man
so highly respected as Mr. M`Ghee at one time wit 4 ; bearing,
as he did, the character of being one of the first Leachers in
this, or, perhaps, any other country.—Galloway register.