The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-04 00:00:00

CHARGE OF FORGERY

On Wednesday last, Mr. Wm. Hartley, of Eccleshill,
cloth manufacturer, was brought up by warrant, before the
magistrates of the borough of Leeds, charged with having
uttered a forged bill of exchange, knowing it to be so. The
circumstances out of which the charge arose were rather pe-
culiar. It will be remembered that we stated last week that
Mr. Francis Buckle, of Leeds, cloth merchant, who has re-
cently had the misfortune to become a bankrupt, had been
held to bail to take his trial at the next Yorkshire Assizes on
a charge of having uttered a forged bill of exchange for £25,
to Mr. Thomas Booth, of Eccleshill, then of Shipley, in the
month of July last. It was at the instance of Mr. Buckle
that the warrant against Hartley had been issued, as he alleged
that Hartley had paid him the bill in question, in that month,
for three bags of wool and a bag of waste which he had pur-
chased. Of course he was the principal witness in the case
against Hartley, and he underwent a severe cross-examination
by Mr. Naylor, on behalf of the prisoner. The bill, in re-
spect of which the charge was made was dated in July, 1840,
was drawn at three months, by " Messrs. Smith, Brother,
and Company," and Mr. Francis Buckle stated, that when
the prisoner paid it to him he stated that he had received it
from the drawers in payment for goods, and that they were
linen or woollen-drapers, and kept a large shop in South John-
street, Liverpool. The bill had not been entered by Mr.
Buckle in any bill-book, nor did it bear the indorsement of
the accused, Hartley; but two reasons were stated why that
was not done, first, that Hartley was not in good circum-
stances at the time, and therefore his indorsement was not
likely to give the bill additional value ; and second, that
Hartley was at that time in treaty for a composition with his
creditors, and he did not wish them to know that he was ne-
gotiating bills. The bill became due in October, at which
time Mr. Buckle was in Hamburg, but soon after the period
at which he alleged he had received it he paid it away to Mr.
Thomas Booth, then of Shipley, to meet a dishonoured bill
which he held, but as the bill which had been returned to
Booth bore the indorsement of Mr. Joseph Waterhouse, of
Eccleshill, Booth would not take the bill in question in dis-
charge of Waterhouse's liability, unless it were indorsed by
Waterhouse, as well as Buckle, and Waterhouse accordingly
indorsed it when it was paid to Booth, at the Junction Inn,
in Bradford. On behalf of Hartley, Booth and Waterhouse
were called ; Booth stated that Mr. Buckle told him at the
Junction Inn that he had taken the bill for cloth, of Smith,
Brother, and Co., who kept a flash -up draper's shop at Liver-
pool; and Waterhouse confirmed that statement so far as
related to Mr. Buckle having received the bill of the
flash-up drapers, Smith, Brother, and Co., of Liverpool, but
he did not hear him say that he had sold them cloth ; and
both witnesses stated that nothing_ was said by him about
his having received the bill from Hartley, as he had
sworn he stated to them at the time. It appeared that Mr.
Buckle returned from Germany about the middle of Novem-
ber, and that he became bankrupt early in January. He
passed his final examination on the 2d March, and as his
bankruptcy protection then expired, and he had ascertained
that there was an execution out against him, he went off to
Liverpool after his examination, on that day, and remained
there incognito until he had obtained his certificate on the
19th of April. In the meantime he had heard of the warrant
for his apprehension, on a charge of uttering the bill in ques-
tion, having been issued at the instance of Waterhouse, about
the Ist of March, by the magistrates of Bradford ; and im-
mediately that he had got his certificate he directed his soli-
citor to give all the parties notice that he would appear before
the magistrates to answer the charge, and he also gave notice
to Hartley that evidence would be given to show that the bill
had been paid by him to Mr. Buckle ; but although Hartley
attended before the magistrates he was never called on.
When the notice to attend before the Bradford magistrates
was served on Hartley by a clerk of Messrs. Richardson,
solicitors, Leeds, it was read over to him, and the clerk asked
him where he had got the bill (the bill mentioned in the no-
tice), and he said lie had got it of a person in Manchester,
but he did not know who. Yet in a conversation that he had
with Mr. Brigg, police-officer, of Bradford, after Mr. Buckle
had been held to bail, Hartley expressed his surprise that he
had not been examined, and said that if he had been called he
could have put an end to the question immediately, for that
the bill he had paid to Mr. Buckle was a printed one, and
not entirely written as was the one produced. In reply to
the case on behalf of the accused, Mr. Prest called Casson,
No. 4 of the Leeds Police, who proved that iu a conversa-
tion with him, when they were together searching for Mr.
Buckle, Waterhouse said to him that he knew Mr. Buckle
was as clear of the bill as what he was, but that as Mr.
Buckle's name was to the bill they had only him to look to
for it ; and subsequently he stated that Hartley himself had
told him (Waterhouse) that he had paid the bill to Mr.
Buckle. After the bench had been occupied nearly five
hours, the mayor, who, with Justices Clapham and Lupton,
heard the case, said that they should require the evidence
given to be committed to writing next day, and then they
would give their decision. Accordingly, after the depositions
of the witnesses had been taken, the magistrates decided
upon committing Hartley to York Castle to take his trial at
the next assizes, and refused to admit him to bail. As a
curiosity we subjoin a copy of the document, which is, in
fact, only a promissory note :
" No. 189. Liverpool, July 15, 1840. £25.
• Three months after date pay to myself or order the
sum of twenty-five pounds, value received, in cloth, as ad-
vised. At SMITH, BROTHER, & CO.
Messrs. Masterman and Co.,
Bankers, London.
Indorsed ' Smith, Brother, and C 0.," Francis Buckle,'
' Joseph Hainsworth, &c.' "
—Leeds Intelligencer.