Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-04-12
The Bank Of England FOrgerles.

The discovery OF the frauds pract sed
On the Bank of England by Americans
was purely accidental, so an English
correspondent says. The parent estab-
lishment in Threadneedle street habitu-
ally exercises great caution in discount
ing bills but, as the forgers were evil
IDENTIFY well aware, this caution was re-
laxed at the branch office in the West
End. Some months ago "Mr. War
ren," of whom the police are in search,
opened deposit account there, keep
ing always a balance in his favor.
Then he deposited genuine bills with
his cash, and afterwards presented the
forged bills, which were readily dis
counted many of them purported to
be drawn on firms which use peculiar
paper with certain water marks and
printed matter signatures had then to
be made and so accurately were all
peculiarities initiated that it is probable
the forgers would have fully succeeded
in their plans had they not made the
one blunder of presenting two bills in
which t.e date of acceptance had been
omitted inquiry was made of the firm
whose acceptance was thus undated,
and the bills were then, of course,
found to be forgeries. AS yet, unfortu-
nately, not the slightest clue to the
principal actor in this gigantic swindle
has been discovered. His clerk, Mr..
Edward Noyes, was examined before
the Lord Mayor, the charge against
him being that he had obtained by
fraud and forgery from the Governor
and Company of the Bank of England
the sum of H4,500," but his examina-
ton ELECTED no important facts, except
as to render it highly probable that
one Horton" who had transacted
business with the Western branch of
the Bank, was identical with the
Frederick Albert Warren" who was
the principal in the whole fraudulent
business. He wrote most of his letters
to the Bank from Birmingham, and
made them very friendly and conf
Dental. In them he spoke of being i'll
and unable to attend to business in
person it is singular how he wormed
himself into the confidence of the au-
thorities of the Bank, and the mystery
yet remains apparently inexplicable.
The detective force does nothing in the
matter, and it is thought by some per-
sons that there has been too much
money fraudulently obtained to make
it worth their while to do anything-in
other words that they have been "seen. y
1t is said that that eminent person, Mr..
! Warren, remained at hotel i'll London
for several days after his plans were
discovered, and that this was known to
a number of the Metropolitan force who
declined to do anything in the case be-
cause it was in the hands of the city de-
tectives. There is reason to believe
that Warren had other aliases, and
transacted business under the name OF
Bidwell. 1t may be remembered that q
woman named Ellen Vernon was ar.
rested while about to leave London
with 60, 700 in bag such as BidwelP
! bought, as is now shown, shortly be-
fore. 1t is believed that she was War
ren's mistress, and that she knew of
the business in which her lover was en-
gagged. Her cross-examination makes
this highly probable, but throws not
the slightest light upon the where
abouts of the principal in these ne
farious transactions. Among the in
Vulnerable rumors concerning the af-
fair it is said that some months ago the
London representative of New York
journal received letter frem &C. K.
Horton" dated Alexandria, stating that
the writer had been contributor to the
paper when in America, and that as he
mad, while travelling, suddenly found
himself in want of funds, he thought
that perhaps the London representative
would cash bill for him. The offer
was respectfully declined. When the
city forgeries were discovered and the
writing compared it appeared that G.
K. Horton and Warren were one and
the same individual. The total loss to
the Bank amounts to EFT, 900.