Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1842-06-17
TRIAL OF MoNaoe EDWARDS.
,y,s. r..r. em.as. TO ru. ,v.,.

fOTfed-
'rhe hr.t charges him with fc'gins the letter OF tn
IOth OF August, and that the forgery was perpe
trated at N. Orleans The second charges M"
viii forging the same letter IN New YORK, snu IN
third charges hm with utterng that letter KNOW
iny IL TO be forged IN New otk. IL - oafev pos
s,hi. mai the letter was forged IN New Orleans
but there - no evidence whatever as 10 'ne, enu
consider IL most prudent TO discard 'ns' PI, -
the indictment entirely. The points me" ~ W
the forging and uuerinz IN New 800 go
Kent here read the law under which this inu'0'"ent
h.;n ~, foryerv in the third degree, - iouno, oe
fo,ng ali the legal acceptaiion oil the term uuctlnS
adding that ii the Jury should arrive a. ,ne
SION that the prisoner uttered the leuiet s"o""s
80 n. f,,sed The crime was the same and the same
,r.,.,,rs of nuni,hmen, should be dealt out as Tor
forgery. .,. dominant On IN,
evidence adduced, which he said he woulu 90 as
briefly as possible, with justice 70 al pa.ues con cor,
cerned. The prisoner was arrested on 20 =. ~
IN Ph;l,delohi,. on a charge Of having deiraudea
R,own Rro,hers & Co. out Of $4,000, AND fece'v,
ing that amount Of money hauuu'enuy ss,'..
from them That the letter purpotuns !" eo.ne
from Manusel, White \ 60. 'oIgeu o,hsr facts
I've .nv doubt. There were however otnet .ae.s'
shI xere 10 10 considered, as the inference 10 oe
dedpced from them would draw their aNenuon "
the prisoner The evidence u was "1e ~as e". -
ly eireumstantal and II was Tor the 'u'y W sy
The circumstances were strong 10 thet 'nie'eNees
,hs, ,h.,, had no reasonable doubt as TO who was
Nh. Guilty pcrson. On the 9th July, lsii, letter
il scat 10 the firm iu New Orleans, anu on tna, @t
Edwards was at Jones' Hotel IN fnuaoe'
letter tells them, he with his oro'netI ~ p 'oP
or large estate in Arkansas and It win oe neees
s.,n 20 Rave the usual articles for paniauoa, oet
reonr,rc no advances and asking the name VI shel'
CORES pondent here. The answer s'es '"e -
the SIGNATURE Of Mannsel, White o 20. aug 'lie
names OF their friends IN New to'A, 80, m
tbers & Co The next is the leuer OIL ausus' w.
;n,rodueins MIR Caldwell TO Brown, protnets =
Co as one who amid the wreck there, as n tue
few remaining solvent, and that nc mas SroS -
of cotton in their hands, on which ne rs no ~ W
y.I,e n, them for not more than SSV,VvV. Inc
sa.uo % oS his letter induces MessTs. Brown to
believe il is written by Southern planter ana an
the minu,ia into which he enters she"S ,n,' tie
forcer wns acquainted with LOUISIANA w,'n NL;,.
as with plantations, and with the Sou'e'. naoi'.
generality He appears TO know the mooe OF uahS
sc,;ns business at the North He mentions not on
lv the number ofthe bales OF cotton ou' tne ~e'sn'
IN mounds and uses technical term 10 eNp'esS .e
oualitv. All these shew the mastetmihu Nhien
animated the whole plot. p.,
blinded bv IL and they write 10 their irenjs IN ne"
Orleans nccsdipg to their proposal ana manning e"'
for Introducing Caldwell. CaluWeu "eNN sS'uS WI
the bills of exchange and the order LOT tue
The money is sent as he requested, anu Ine man.
vho.vrr he is, pockets the proceeds of his fraud
Bot he has the dangerous gift OF checks drawn 10 or
der and has 10 encounter the Argus eyes VI oauA
presidents, cashiers and brokers' stranger ap
pears at the places upon which theu.ai's arg uA"
but they cannot be paid, as they Know MIN not
He meets this objection with easy assurance goes
10 MIR Geo. Brown, brings him TO saus'y the "SnA
ers and carries the whole of with an elegant non
chalance completely deceiyng every person, ne
does the same at Richmond, and be se's SE',ooO'
and then the plot is nearly complete. ln'etenees
gentlemen point TO the individual who has commit
ted this extraordinary operation. , Nh.
But the plot was not yet all completed. lie mao
got notes from the banks IN Baltimore ana NHeinia'
-. i kaHf al
and these could not be negotiated ABROAD ahu was
essential 10 him TO get rid OF these large ollls ano
convert them into small ones, which he couu Trans
NIT from hand TO hand without danger OF ueteeuon:
This person then had another part 10 perform, ahu
he had acted thus far with dexterty and ingenul-
ty exciting, in spite of ourselves, our aomrauon-
He must then get rid OF these bills and THIS perhaps
accounts for the delay in Philadelphia or New ork
The proof Of the hand writing !: almost POSITIVE,
such proof be, nothing can be more oncu''
TO prove than the commission oil forgery Inc
letters, all TO indicate one pervadlng master
mind and that one person directed the whole ma
chine. The person who had the presence oil mind
TO consummae this fraud, whose nerve was never
wanting on any OCCASION will not be found wanting
when before tribunal on his trial. That person Is
capable Of making a defence corresponding TO the
talent and ingenuity which marked the commission
Of the cri
Lewis Tapnan and Recorder Vaux speak posi-
lively as to the handwriting and believe the forged
hand. Onthe other hand, mir Ellis does not believe
either Of the letters to be in Edwards writing; out
the popularity Of the spelling of the word teio IS 10
be considered 10y the Jury. That word, spelled beio,
occurs only in the forged letters, but IN the LETT
tiers written by him to his friends. When person
spells wrong, and spells in a peculiar way, and
when a word peculiar TO the person Is found IN the
forged we'll the genuine letters II is subject
worthy Of consideration.
Judge Kent then read from an English work on
crcumsta ntal evidence, recently published, the case
being that of man transported by the discovery
Of his bad spelling. The whole, however, was for
the Jury TO decide upon.
On the I'd Of October Edwards is arrested, and in
his trunk is found a very large sum OF money
SIC 900. He had then been in possession OF the
money, as is alleged, one month. In September
Caldwell received $50. 900, and in October Edwards
has in his trunk the sum of S43 500. The notes,
however, have never been identified, but we have
indications TO say whether that affords any lnier-
ence correcting Edwards with Caldwell. IL the
inference is Just the person would wish TO get of
TO evade detection, and find that some change
had occurred in this money since II passed TO Chd
wells hands; but there is general correspondence
with the money drawn out in Baltimore and Rich
mond.
II this money is not accounted for, is it not q
strong corroborative circumstance against the pr
sonof7 Circumstance nfiording on inference
against prisoner is strengthened when other evil
dence is adduced couoborating the inference; and
II you find this man with $4,000 in his pocket
answering the Inference drawn against him, how does
he account for the possession Of this money!
His story is this. The Court here went over the
agreement entered into between Johnson and Ed
wards, as alleged on the 81 OF August, 1871. Ir
looking over these papers, ] am impressed with th'
idea that there speculation on iooi on The
part of Edwards, and the question TO be answered
was, was the speculation spoken Of really under
taken at the Eutaw House and at the time alleged
and was Charles +. Johnson a junior partner II
that speculation or was he an nccomplice. Was :
executed on the I'd OF August, as It was alleged.
respectable gentleman sweaTs he saw the instru
ment executed, but he cannot swear as 10 the TIM
when il was done, but thinks il was al the close o
the summer. On the 4th Of Sept. II was materia
for Caldwell 10 account for the money IN his pos
session and the scheme in the West Indies nigh
afford plausible account for the possession OF thu
money. and this the cause for executing IN pa
per. which IL is for You TO say was fiction or not
Judge Kent then referred TO the letter sent by
Edwards TO his friend Winired, dated Pnilade lphia
25lh July, 10 which he says he Is going north Il
enter into great speculation. In January we hnt
him in London in absolute want, so that he applie
TO O friend for a very small sum OF money. How
heis IN July in Philadelphia you may sec from thi'
letter. from which you may judge whether he ha'
any idea whatever Of entering into hny speculation
He there mentions that he would assist his friend
he had any funds, but as he had none he woul
have to apply 10 his friends IN the Old Domin
ION for money 10 get home with. II shows, that o
that time he he'd no idea whatever Of entering int
speculation Of The nature afterwards urged in hi
defence.
Judge Kent then referred 10 the letter 70 Wild, a