The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-03-13 00:00:00

WILTSHIRE ASSIZES—Mascn 11.

Wni, Ansel, aged 54, was charged with having', on or
Aunt the 11th day of Jan. IS2O, feloniously forged the
. aa.me of " W. Green" to a bill of exchange to the amount
o` 871. 14s. CA.
. 31r. ADAM expressed his regret at seeing a man of the
years and respectability of the prisoner stand at the bar.
'rho prisoner had for many vears extensively exercised
dise business of a tanner, at Wantage, and as far back as
lal7, be bad been in the habit of getting his bills dis-
'United at the house of Messrs. King and Co., the prose-
staters in this cast, who were the proprietors of the Old
Narlborough Bank. On the 11th of July.lB2o, amongst
. other transactions, the prisoner got one bill paid of 871.
•drawri by the prisoner upon Mr. Lee, and purporting to
be accepted by Wm. Green, of Vantage, timber-iner-
•ebant. 'phis bill was returned dishonoured; and remained
•in the hands of the prosecutors. The prisoner became
blnkrupt, and several transactions took place, and the bill
continued in theliands of the prosecutors for a canticle-
•rahle time, without their suspecting that it was a forgery.
or any steps being taken respecting it. In Ib2l, however
•Ir,e became exceedingly anxious re get this particular bill
'net of the hands of the prosecutors from amongst others.
was so very anxious and unceasing in his application
to obtain that bill, by giving other securities for it, that
the prosecaters began trisuspect th aCsomething was wrong
and set an inquiry on foot. The result of that inquiry went
-to convince the prosecutors, that the acceptance was a for-
, • gory. It was learnt in short, that the acceptance was not
that of Green, but that of the prisoner; thatOreen was not ,
a timber merchant, but poor carpenter, whose transac-1
lions with the prisoner,conststed in lending hint money and
'receiving bills of exchange in return. The defence'
which would be set up on the other side would, perhaps,
be that the consent of Green to accept the 11111 in his name
had been given to the prisoner ; or at least, that Green
lead not declined a request to that effect. The fact, how-
ever, would really appeat to be this, that, when the pri-
soner asked Green to accept a bill for him, Green most
-positively Rinsed, saying be would do no such thing as
• accept a hill for the prisoner. The prisoner then asked
' Given fir leave to put his name to the hill, to which
Green replied, " what you do I cannot help ; that will he
net harm to me?" Supposing this could be considered
as an implied consent on the part of Green, it could only
be considered as consent that the prisoner should act by
procuration as his agent ; but did the prisoner represent
.111Mar.lf as actink by procuration of Green ? No, he re-
presented his own hand-writing', as the band-writing of
Green. and it would be found, that he had represented
that Green was a timber merchant, when in fact he was
it mere ordinary carpenter. It would we found, that
when the bill became due, a letter respecting it was for-
• *arded to Green, to whom the prisoner expecting this
letter, requested he would not open it, but bring it to
hint, and the postage should be paid. Green did this sc-
. corilingly.. It would be shown too, that the prisoner,
ascertaining'on the time the prosecutors sent down their
:••ponfidential clerk to make inquiries, as soon as he leardt
she fact, which was one day Arcep the clerk went down
:there, by means ail* stm, lent Green to sign a paper;
purporting that he had given his consent to the-prisoner
accepting the bill in Me helmet. • Bat it would be shown
that Green, in fact, did sine the paper, without being
aware of its nature, or contents, anti that he had also been
iodated to accept another hill, upon a representation
made, that it would perhaps be the means of inducing
the Marlborough Bank to set up. the prisoner again in
"stnners, and that he would then pay shun (Green) the
money which he (the prisoner) owed him. The Jury
svpilla tee tli« hedaviour of Go en in the hoe, mid would
*judge whether or oot.the was a man poor and ignorant,,
, .and likely to be,erocked upon by s man of, the prisoner's
.superior mind and education. It would ie• for heJury to
judge why there w.as ail this anxiety on the part of time
„pilsoreer, if his conscience was clear, to get back the pat-
• .tierrar bill, and why, it he were innocent, all the pre-
Stations which he had availed himself of, were cited.—
. All that the prosecutors wished in. this case was, that
the prisoner shotiltirlear himself towards the public.
Theliest ivitness called was S. Bredlef, clerk to Messrs.
*icing end Co. the old bankers at Marlborough, and also
at :flungerford.)—The prisoner, William Anrell, ever
.sine.- 1817, had been in the habit of discounting bills at
house. Witness produced a bill which he said he
saw on tho.l2th af • Januaey, . .Witness pro-
feed an entry of the bill, which entry was wade by

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