The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-03-29
DETAILS OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND
FORGERY.

| London papers Of the third and fourth
are at hand with the following details
Of the great forgeries on tho Bank Of
! England:
1t was discovered on Saturday that
| bills to an enormous amount had been
forged upon all the principal houses in
! the city of London, and that these bills
| had been discounted at tho West End
| branch of the Bank of England in Bur-
lington Gardens, which does an entirely
different kind of business from the
! patent establishment in tho city. It is
| intended for convenience OF gentlemen
and ladies and West End tradcsmen
who might find it inconvcnient to jour-
ney to tho city in order to transact their
occasional business. 1t is not, therefore,
ordinarily concerned with large bill
transactions Of tho city commission,
and in consequence Ia less bound by
strict regulations in dealing with any
business Of that nature which might
accidentally be brought toi it.
Tho conspirators must havc been
aware of this, and they laid their plans
for approaching the Bank of England
by this weaker portion of it's defences.
Warren, an American, who managed
the plot, was in no hurry and took care
to gain good feeling before he ventured
on his ultimate enterprise. He behaved
for sonc time past like an ordinary
customer OF good resources. He drew
upon his balance and ncncwed it, but
always at y good figure. After a while
he deposited some bills; they were good
and genuine bills; still he was careful
not to be hasty, and he continued his
transactions with the bank until he
had acquired n reputation of II person
engaged in Il legitimate commerce and
thoroughly trustworthy.
AT length the moment came for the
presentation of forged bills. They were
discounted without hesitation, and the
authors Of the fraud had to ali appear
ances succeeded safely in pocl<ctng about
100000. All these arrangements were
masterpieces of ingenuity and patience,
but the bills themselves must have re-
quircd the greatest amount of labor.
IN tho first place, many large firms,
upon whom the bills purportcd to
be drawn, are in tho habit Of using n
peculiar kind of paper, with certain
water marks and printed matter. All
this would have to be initiated, and rs
the bills were drawn on moro than one
firm, there must have been several such
limitations. There remained the draw
ing OF bills and tho atfixing. of sigma
lures, and each bill must have required
a series of fcats in successful forging.
Some bills were backed by several ac-
ceptors, SO that there might easily be
as many as ha1fa dozen single bills;
yet the bills were so perfect that not
one OF them was questioned on tho
ground OF tho acceptance not appearing
genuine.
But the men who had cXerted Il skill,
foresight and perseverance sufficient to
insure unhesitating acceptance of forged
bills could not escape on Il trivial blum
der which revealed the plot. They
presented two bills on which tho date
of acceptance had been omitted In
quiry was of course made of tho firm
whose acceptance was thus undated
1t was dicOvcrcd that the bill was not
genuine, and the whole series were
then found to be forgcrics. How much
further the plot would have been car
ricd it is impossible to say. ADVERTISE
ments published caution bankers, bro
kers and all other persons against deal
ing in Il number of United States five
twenty, tcn-forty and funded loan bonds
amounting to S237 600, they, it is alleged,
having been acquired out of tho profits
of the forgery. The loss of the bank of
England is stated at .CSD,OO0. The
Rothschilds is mentioned as ono Of the
firms on which forged drafts were
drawn, but no other names are given
RESISTANCE TO TAXATION BY THE