The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1813-08-24
Domestic.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. IS.
LAW REPORT.
1-<, m n Il -
FORGERY.


Pierre Longchamp, alias Louis Csutier.
Paul Bonnet, alias Mills, and Louis hiliez,
alias Sigira, ShaA MiRola, at the last session
OF the Mayors Court were tried for forg
ing the check of the S. sriff of this county,
signed Johnson and Renshaw. for 5 SOC dol
lars The extent to which forgery has Of
late been carried, and the system which
was formed for that purpose, in this case,
make It's circumstance interesting. From
the testimony, it appeared that the prison
ers, toge thor with otts- persons, entered
into a ge,srrsl consr iacv to forge. and
that they had severa meetings in the
| city and county E fx upon their plan OF
peration. 1t wa a. last Gcterm ined tina,
some ofthenl shco procure Information as
to persons who's cnecks il would be proper
to furge; eshers ere to enter, by mean
| or saise keys. in.n their. Counting houses,
taSe the balances from their check books.
end procure other nform lticn Others were
ocompleys the torgeries and others were
to pre- sent the forged paper at the Banks for
payment.
In case the person presenting the check
Should be unprecedented, arrangements were
then to be adfp;td to procure bail, and his
acquittal--and fhe Should be convicted, the
signatures o. e'Inspectors of the prison
were to be frSed, recomme nding the con-
vicr for q pardon.
After this general arrangement, the first
check they thought proper to begin with,
was that Of tie Sheriff, +. Johnston, ESQ
usually signed Johnston and Renshaw. BY
means OF false keys, they entered the She .
rlff'S oince al night, and after several visits,
they succeeded in opening by false keys
MS private desks they calculated the ba-
lance he had in the Bank, which was about
7oCC dollars,-carried away some blank
checks, upon the margin of which the She
Trn' : name was printed, and a genuine check
for 1900 dollars, which had been PAID and
returped by the Bank. With this booty
they prepared TO forge check for some
thousand dollars but they then found that
the genuine check they had taken, ana from
which they were TO copy, did not contain
he word chousan d. A night or two after
wards they returned to the Sheliff's ollice,
when by means of their false keys, they
gain opened his desks, made another calcu
lation of his balance in nix, which The
kund was upwards of 5000 dollarS, and the
number OF the last check, 649. They then
forged a check for 5000 dollars. nurabe i 2
1t 65l which was presented TO he Farmer,'
and Mechanics B4nk, and paid. Lcng
ch mp was then deputed 10 Sc TO Baltimore
and geF 3of the 1000 dollar notes received
from the Bank, changed, which he did the
next day.
As soon S. the Bank discovered the forge
ry, the cashier wrote to Baltimore and other
places. to have the persons who might pre-
sent these notes arrested particularly de-
scrlbing the person of Longchamp, who,
from his vety bad character, they suspected
had something to do with it. Longchamp
arrived at Baltimore the next day, with
three notes of 1000 dollars each. He went
to the Union Bank, and received change for
one OF the uotes.--He then went to the Me-
chahics' Rank, and presented one other to
be changed while the teller was in the
act OF paying the money, the cashier was
reading letter, which he had Just receiv-
ed from Philadelphia, apprizing him Of the
forgery, and giving description of Long
champ. SEEING Longchamp answer the des
cription, he was arrested, and giving
very unsatisfactory account OF the money,
was committed, aud afterwards sent TO this
CITY.
They were all convicted, and sentenced
each to pay a fine Of 1000 dollars, and be
imprisoned at hard labor for seven years.
&c.
Kittcra, Frazer and Rrowne. for the pro
secuihn.--o. lew, j. X. ingersoll end Phil.
fps for tie priso0ers.