The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-08-09 00:00:00

Lord Chief Justice DENMAN.)

His Lordship took hi

,eat shortly after nine o'clock

William Saxon, labourer, of Heaton Norris, was indicted
for an offence of this description. The particulars were
unfit for publication. The proof was insufficient to convict,
and the Judge directed an acquittal. The prisoner was quite
a youth. He was defended by Mr. Wilkins. Mr. Brandt

appeared for the prosecution

:fob Valentine, 23, of Eccles, was similarly indicted. Mr.
Brandt conducted the prosecution. The jury, after a few
minutes' consideration, found the prisoner guilty. The
Judge told him that his life was forfeited, though he would
not be executed, but sent, probably, to some distant colony
for life. Death recorded.

STEALING FROM THE PEELSON

William Heaton, 23, was indicted for having indecently
assaulted an old woman, 74 years of age, at West Houghton,
and stolen from her two shifts and a pair of clogs. The
after some hesitancy, convicted him, and he was sentenced
to three months' imprisonment and hard labour, the first and
last week solitary.

'ORGING A SEAMAN'S WILL

Margaret M. Grath, 19, and Sarah Hodpkinson, 29, were
indicted on a charge of having feloniously offered and uttered
a certain forged will and testament of one Robert Wilson,
with intent to defraud the representatives of that individual.
Mr. Adolphus conducted the prosecution. Mr. Owen, clerk
in the Registrar's Office, Chester, produced the forged will,
with a certificate attached. The Rev. T. S. Bowstead, sur-
rogate, said the instrument produced was handed to him on
the Ist of February last, by a woman who called herself
M`Grath, but whom he could not identify. She was sworn
to it, and it was sent to Chestir for probate. The probate was
got from Chester, and he gave it to Mr. Maddock the clerk.

—Thomas Maddock, clerk of St. Philip's Church, was
sent, in April last, by Mr. Bowstead to Mr. Hurry, agent to
the port trustees, with the probate. M'Grath came to him,
and said Mr. Bowstead wished him to go with her to Mr.
Hurry. He went with her to that gentlemen. Mrs. Ann
Taylor was there. Mr. Hurry refused to pay the money, as
he said he thought it was not a true will. Mrs. Taylor ob-
,ed to the money being paid. Witness went again to Mr.
rry's, by request of M'Grath,, for the money. He went,
Mr. Hurry refused to pay it. He went a third time, at
request, and he still refused to pay it. He went with a
view to get the fees for the probate out of the money. The
will and probate were here read, by which the prisoner was
made sole executrix of the said Robert Wilson, at his de-
cease, and a previous will in favour of Ann Taylor, of Ray-
street, was revoked. The certificate of the prisoner M'Grath,
to the effect that she was sole heir, and sworn to by her be-
fore the Surrogate, was also read. It was dated 27th Feb.,
1842.—Ann Taylor, a lodging-house keeper, said the de-
ceased owed her upwards of £3 ter board wages. He sailed
with the ship Peru on the 28th February. 1841. The ship
returned hrime in the beginning of the present year. She
went several times to Mr. Flurry, and there saw Sarah
Hodgkinson, who asked her her name, which she told her.
She afterwards met the prisoner M'Grath and Mr. Mad-
dock. They both asked them to go into Mr. Hurry's office.
They went there. Mr. Maddock showed the probate to Mr.
Hurry, and the witness said it was false. M'Grath had a
child with her, as now, and said it was Wilson's, and he had
left the property for it. Witness inquired the date of the
will, and was told it was the Ist of March. Witness said it
was false. as Wilson had gone before it was dated. M'Grath
said she had known Wilson two or three weeks before he
went. M'Grath said he was a middling fine man, tall, and
with whiskers, all of which witness denied, as he was a very
small dark-complexioned man, without whiskers. She went
again, and found the prisoners there with Mr. Maddock.
Witness afterwards saw Ainsworth, the constable. The
prisoners had employed Mr. Davies, an attorney, in
John-street. She there saw Hodgkinson, who said
M'Grath's mistress was ill, and she could not come. Hodg-
kinson said M'Grath lived in Chapel-place, Brick-street.
She afterwards saw M'Grath, in presence of Ainsworth, and
she then said the child was not her's. Wilson could not
read nor write. He did not knosv a letter in a book. On
cross-examination by M'Grath, witness admitted that she
once said she wished the business was settled, and she agreed
to take the money owing to her by the deceased—they hav-
ing offered her £4.—Harriet Hilton, wife of a publican, said
M'Grath was in her service. Hodgkinson often came to
the house, and asked M'Grath to go out with her, which the
frequently did. M'Grath•said that she was receiving money
from her uncle, and afterwards that it was from her sweet-
heart. Before she was taken into custody, she told witness
she had done wrong, as she had signed a false will, and that
it was through Mr. and Mrs. Hodgkinson. She afterwards
said she had received some drink from them, and that was
the reason she had signed it. She had never been ill, while
the prisoner was with her. The prisoner Hodgkinson, who
had a child in her arms, said she had three children, and had
been deserted by her husband and left destitute.—Constable
Ainsworth apprehended the prisoner M'Grath at Mr.
Hilton's public-house, Henderson• street. He charged her
with having forged the will of a Robert Wilson. She said
she had not—she could not write. He asked her if she had
had a child by Wilson, and she said she never had a child.
She said she was taken to Hurry's by Burns, who had per-
suaded her to sign the certificate of the will, and to say she
had a child.—The cooper of the ship said Wilson went on
board the Peru with him, on the 28th February, 1841, with
witness. He died at Benin, on the coast of Africa, before
the return voyage.—lt was shown that Messrs. Harrison,
owners of the Peru, had paid over a sum of £l4 ss. 6d., due
to Wilson, to Mr. Hurry.—William Edmondson proved
that Wilson could not write, as he had made his mark fre-
quently in place of signing it, to advance shipping notes, &c.—

ject
Hui
but
her

Mr. Hurry, receiver of dead-,money for the port trustees,
said he received, on the Ist of February last, £l4 ss. 6d.,
due to the late Robert Wilson. Both the prisoners fre-
quently called for the money.—The learned Judge summed
up, and the jury found both prisoners guilty, and they were
put down to wait the result of the other similar cases.

ANOTHER WILL FORGERY.
Ann Bevan, 44, and Catharine Williams, 30, were indicted
for having forged a will, purporting to be that of John Kenny,
of Liverpool, mariner, with intent to defraud the represen-
tatives of the said John Kenny.
Mr. ADOLPHUS appeared for the prosecution. The pri-
soners were undefended.
Mr. ADOLPUL S stated the facts, which were briefly as

follow :—John Kenny, a seaman on board the Superb, for
Port Adelaide, New Holland, sailed on the 21st of July,
1840, and died during the return voyage in August, 1811.
Messrs. Claypole were the owners, and had a balance of
wages due to him in their hands. On the 18th of February,
1842, the prisoner, Bevan, went to tae Rev. John Hermann
Stafford and, produced a will made in favour of Margaret
Dawson, swearing that she was that person, and received
probate as executrix. On the 26th of March the prisoner,
Williams, took the probate to Mr. Charles Hesketh
clerk to Mr. Clare, Solicitor, Liverpool, and represented her-
self to be Margaret Dawson. She then went to Mr. Charles
Townley Pover, clerk to Messrs. Claypole, for the money,
and was told that it had been paid to Mr. John Gardon, the
uncle of deceased. Mr. Gardon, ou hearing of the applica-
tion, went to the alleged residence of Margaret Dawson, No.
2, Jones's-buildings, Birkett-street, where he saw Williams,
who represented herself to be that person, and said the child
she had in her arms was his nephew's, that it was eight
months old, had been born on the 16th July, that she had
known him two years and that he was a Scotsman, when he
was never in Liverpo6 :until June last, and remained only
till the 21st July, ands a native of Harwich. Williams,
when before the magi Sates, stated that the will had been
brought to her by Mrs. Burns, who had instructed her what
to say and do. George Kewley, mate of the Superb on the
return voyage, proved the death of the deceased. Mr.
the magistrates' clerk, proved the depositions. The pri-
soner, Williams, received an excellent character.

The jury found the prisoner guilty.
ANOTHER FORGERY OF A SEAXI AN'S WILL

Thomas Burns, 45, was indicted for having, aiLiverpool,
feloniously forged, and in another count feloniously offered
and uttered a certain forged will and testament, purporting
to be the last will and testament of one George Dunn, with
intent to defraud the representatives of the said George
Dunn.
Mr. ADOLPHUS was also engaged for this prosecution.
The case was very similar to the two former. Dunn was
a seaman on board the ship Emma, the owners of which
were Messrs. Edward Halton and others, and sailed on the
Ist of August, 1840, for the coast of Africa. He died on
the sth of January, 1841, on the return voyage, and on the
vessel arriving the prisoner went to the Rev. Mr. Stafford,
as the executor, and obtained probate in the name of Thos.
Jones. He was not, however, successful in obtaining the
money, as it had been previously paid to Ellen Dunn, the
mother of the deceased. The names of the witnesses to the
forged will were John Burns and George Williams.
The prisoner said he had done it in order to get the sum
of twenty-eight shillings owingF to him by the deceased; and
that during twenty-four years residence in Liverpool he had
borne an excellent character, having served Mr. Rathbone,
Sir Joshua Walmsley, and the first men in the town, and
never having defrauded any body of a sixpence.
The jury immediately found him guilty.
All the prisoners were then placed at the bar for judgment.
His LORDSHIP observed that he hoped these -inquiries
would be of some service. The frauds which weak-minded
persons were led to commit by others of greater cunning
were easily proved, and almost impossible of success. Burns
appeared to be connected with all the transactions. He had
been convicted of forgery, and had admitted that he did it
to get money that was owing to him, but if he had done so
this would have been a fraud upon the mother of Dunn,
who was entitled to the property. The offence was of the
most serious character, and it was necessary that he should
be made a public example. The sentence of the court was
that he should be transported beyond the seas for the period
of fifteen years. With respect to the females he did not
mean to pass a severe sentence upon them ; it was through
their weakness they had been led to commit these mean and
wretched frauds which were committed by the aid of perjury.
The sentence upon each of them was that they be impri-
soned and kept to hard labour for six calendar months.