The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1867-10-11
THE FORGED CHECK.

to be married. That might or might
not have been the reason why refused
to believe him guilty of the crime Of
forgery, of which he stood accused, and
for the commission of which he was
lying in prison, awaiting trial. l did
not believe in his guilt, but l seemed
the only one to have doubted, and ]
was but poor sewing girl with neither
money or influence; so it was likely to
Igo hard with Charley Stanford. l was
so poor that could not spare day
from labor to grieve, or to comfort him
! managed to get him word that~l
believed in his innocence; it was all
that l could do, and l then went to Mr..
Lamont's to fulfill an engagement fol
sewing. I went out by the day or the
week, and Mrs. Lamont, though a rich
llady, was not above the economy Of
Eemploying me. j
| l don't know that it would have
made any difference to her if she had
known that l was engaged to Charley
| stanford, but she did not know it, and
it was her husbands name which my
unfortunate lover was accused Of forg
ing.
Mrs. Lamont had never heard o.
irue ;sbut | had heard of her, when she
was not the grand lady she was now
She was a Miss Ryerson before hel
marriage; the daughter of a boarding
house keeper, and Mr.. Lamont and
Charley boarded with her mother. Mr.
Lamont, though wealthy merchant,
was a plain man, and did not scorn the
fare that was good enough for his clerk.
l may as well explain here, that
Charley was the son of an old friend Of
Mr.. Lamont's, and that the rich
merchant had a fancy to him, which
was likely to be of great advantage tc
him, when this unlucky charge was
made, it seemed more than probable
would shipwreck name, fame and pros
Ipects.
often heard Charley mention Miss
Ryerson, who was a snowy, handsome
girl, but he never spoke as though he
liked her, and l more than guessed il
was not her fault if he did not.
/ Charley was very fine lOoking-what
we women call splendid looking fel-
How, and though be never said as much
to me, (he was too honorable and
IdeIicate) l think that in those days Miss
Ryerson liked the merchants handsome
clerk great deal better than he liked
lher.
Mr.. Lamont, on the contrary con-
ceived a violent passion for Miss Ryer-
son, and she married him, for the sake
of his money, of course.
! After marriage, Mr.. Lamont insisted
upon Charley's coming to live with
them, and threw vague hints Of adopt
ing him at some future day, making him
a partner, or do something as great fol
| him. tai.a ."
| Thus much of Charley's relations
with the Lannon'S. He could have no.
thing to gain in committing such
Icrime-nothing, that is, compared to
what he run the risk of losing through
discovery. Yet the. evidence against
him was powerful enough to convince
of his guilt man who would naturally
be reluctant to believe such thing O
him, and unless some unlocked fol
event occurred to disproye the evidence,
lit must convict him in a court of just
ice. ia"
| The forged cheek had been present
ed at the bank and cashed just before
banking hours were over, and the tel
Ter could tellnothing as to who present
ed it. beyond general impression that
it was a young man, with heavy black
whiskers and mustache like Charley.
In short being accustomed to cash Mr..
Lamonts drafts through Charley, he
had not observed but that it was he
who presented this one; but could not
swear either way, He had a 'cotifused
recollection, too, about a pair of epau-
liets; but upon some one insinuating
that he must have had an early dram
that day, he concluded that the epaulets
must have belonged to another party
entirely -d' q
The forgery bore about as strong a
Resemblance to Charley's hand as to
lMr. Lsmont's, when you looked q
second time; and Mrs. Lamont pro.
duoed something the house-mRid had
found in Charley's room, some torn
sheets of paper, scrawled over ana oyeI
with Mr.. Lamont's name written on it
just as it was found on the forged check.
They found more such specimens in
Charley's trunk, and a roll of bank
uOtos - LieL Charley denied all knowl-
edge Of as well as the sheets OF PnP-.
with Mr.. Lamont's name, on them. L
had plenty to think of while l sat there
| in Mrs. Lamont'sl back parlor,' sewing,
and sometimes of an evening Mr.. La
mont came in and talking over Char
| lley's case with his wife, 30 unconscious
of me, and my nearness to Charley,
that could scarcely besrit. L noticed
in these talks that Mr.. Lamont leaned
toward Charley with some kindness still,
and would have explained the things
against him if he could; but his wife
took an entirely opposite view Of the
matter, and 1 could see influenced her
husband by her representations. She
laughed scornfully at the supposltion
that Charley was, after all, innocent.
She told her husband he had been
shamefulIy deceived and imposed upon
by my brave, upright lover, that she
had suspected all along that he was
bestowing his confidence and kindness
on one who knew not how to appreciate
it. q 4 ~ ff''s
OF course the poor seamsEess was
not allowed to be any hindrance to
these talks, and Mrs. Lamont had a
fancy to overlook my sewing herself.
1 suspected that her husband kept her
on far shorter allowance of pocket
money than she expected when she
married him, and that was why she
kept such narrow watch upon me- and
saw that l diligently improved all the
time she paid for.
could not help noticing that Mrs
Lamont displayed singular rancor to-
ward poor Charley, and | could not
help feeling she would prefer having
him condemned than acquitted.
One day Mrs. Lamont sent me to hel