Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-04-24
THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

4 haHk Paper NOS NcveAty In
Amerfea. .fFf WAEE var
The recent forgery committed on the
Bank of England makes the following
sketch from the Cincinnati Times and
Chronicle of the past frauds and forgeries
timely and Of interest. The Bank
of England was founded in 1894.
| For sixty-four years after its estab-
lishment the institution enjoyed happy
immunity from forgeries, and TO Richard
Vaughn, q Stafford linen-draper, belongs
the unenviable fame of its first forge.
Richard does not appear to have been bad
sort of fellow, indeed his general chzrac-
ter was above reproaeh. ae was so unfor-
| tunate, however, as TO be in lore with a
| pretty girl who liked him much but money
more. She could not be persuaded to
marry poor man, so the devoted swain
| counterfeited, with Indifferent success,
some 81, 900 in bank notes, and deposited
them with his lady-lOge as evidence OF bis
wealth. The marriage followed shortly
thereafter, but the sdccess Of the honey
moon was somewhat marred BY tbs hang
ING OF Klcnsru !, nd even the bills were IGc.s
left for the consolation of the widow.
The example thus set was briskly
/ lOHOWtuy uoby ySAAS
| after the Bank Inspectors were
tried to their utmost to p:eveIt the eoun-
terfe.ted notes from imposing even upon
themselves. In 1TS0 the bank found itself
| in possession of large number OF forged
notes, so perfect in all their parts, even to
the supposed inVulnerable wster-mark, that
their falseness was hardly to be detected
save by the duplicate numbers. The
most skillfdl. detectives, inspired By plen-
teoGs offers of "blood money" failed in every
attempt at discovery. The bills were easily
traceable for certain distance, but in each
case brought up finally at some OF the nu-
merous lottery offices then in vogue, and
there baffled further pursuit. For many
months the bank continued victim to this
price OF counterfeiters, until at last the
merest accident led to his discovery in
one Charles Price, who, manufacturing
his own paper, tools, and inks, doing
bis own engraving, and, AIDED By his mis-
tress, his own circulating, had bafiied the
most searching investigation. The affec-
ton and watcnfulness of the partner of his
crime enabled him to avoid the first descent
of the officers, but their tools were too
close for escape, aud soon thereafter Mr..
Price played The last role Of an English
suicide in ornamenting the four corners Of
an English cross roads.
FoRGERIEs AND OBJECTIONS.
John Matheson, Scottish engraver, was
one of the next to attract particular fame
in the counterfeitiDg line, and went COM
posedly to the eallows after resping a half
million of dollars, mostly from the
Bank of England. During bis career
one of the bank clerks invented a
novel machine by which, in the twink
ling of an eye, he could pare off very
thin rim from a sovereign, leaving the edge
notched just as before. He had made sew
eral thousand pounds by the operation,
when he very unfortunately found himself,
one Monday morning, dancing in mid-air
at Tyburn. Another clerk had very mar
row escape from unmerited disgrace
just at this period (1S70). A bank
note for $500 had been stolen, and
payment stopped. A few days subsequent
| ", the note was found i'll the paying de-
partment, where it had been exchanged for
gold. 1t b apparently been certified by
one of the Oldest receiving clerks, who,
upon being shown bis signature, i'm
| mediately recognized it, but utterly
failed to remember having made it.
| The negligence was go gross that
| be was about to be discharged In disgracet
when one Of the bank officers, convinced
| that so trustworthy a clerk could not have
made so inexcusable a mistake, took the
| note TO an eminent chemist to have tie ink
| of the signature analysed. He proved con-
| clusively that the ink was not that used
by the bank, and that the certifcation
must have been forged. At the
| opening of the present century thu counter
feiting of Bank of England notes bad in
| creased in startling ratio. The cities and
larger towns were little victimiZed by 1t,
the forgeries being of very poor character;
but in the provinces, and among
the peassntry of the Continent the loss
ard consequent suffering was great.
Birmingham, was the great headquar-
| ters of the trade, and counterfeit notes
could be bought, as contemporaneous
journal says, sin quantities sufficient to
load a jackass." Thousands upon thou
sands of them were disposed of to poor and
| illiterate persons, who thought they we're
exchanging their little all for safer me-
! dunn. In 1908 the trouble was Temporal
rily met by tbs Dank authorities BY change
in the character of their notes.
AN IMMENSE FRAUD.
Early in 1914, the bank, and, in fact, the
whole Stock Exchange, were victimized by
"bulf' fraud, that rivals in its magnitude,
and certainly in its daring, the most famous
| of our Wall street corners, not excepting
even that of sBlack Friday" England was
almost exhausted by her terrible Is years.
struggle with Napoleon, and tottered on
| the verge of revolution and financial ruin.
| The successful military operations which
had checked the last grand coalition bad
| added to the deep anxiety, and depressed
| the funds to an alarming extent. OF
| sudden there was tremendous rally. Con-
| soils arose with jump, and the transfers of
/ a single day were greater than those of
months previous. The transactions
| on Change were Of such magnitude that
the nimble fingers ofthe clerks could scarce
| ly find time to record them. The cause of,
\ this excitement was this: On the 21st day
| of February, about o'clock in the morn
| ing, violent knocking was distinctly beard
at the door of the Ship Inn, at Dover.
| The intruder announced himself as
Lieutenant Colonel Duboug, aid
de-camp of Lord Cathcart. His richly en-
broidered uniform, bis stars, orders, gold
lace, etc., supported the assertion; and the
salt spray which wetted him confirmed his
story that he had bribed French smuggler
| to bring him across the Strait. His news
| was important. Napoleon bad been slain
in battle, and the allied armies were in
| Paris. The widest excitement was pro-
| duced. The news was forw -rded to Lon
don. and spread like wildfire. Stocks and
| consols rose with tremendous rapidly, and
| securities which had been bought by the
| perpetrators of the job on Saturday for some
| $1,000, 900 sold on Monday for fully $15,.
100000. The crash followed speed ly, and
| the Banks and Exchange awoke to the fact
| they had been "bulled" out of over 82,000,-
900. Investigation implicated in the fraud
some of the leading nobility, including
Lord Cochrane, one of England's most GAL
liant naval officers.
THE FAUNTLEROY FRAUD.
| Close upon this gigantic 'corner" came
| the Fauntleroy fraud, one of the most dar-
| ing and extensive of the century. It was 8
series of forgeries of powers of attorney ex
ecuted by Mr.. Henry Fauntleroy, the head
| of banking house of some standing,
| and upon which he had sold stocks TO
to the amount of many millions, involving
the Bank Of England alone to the exteDt of
| 100000. Upon bis arrest there was found
| in bis private room = book containing com
plete list Of bis forgeries, with the following