Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-02-23
ORLEANS COUNTY COURT.

the afternoon, man entered the Office
of the Memphremagog hotel and handed
L. Robinson letter purporting to be
from John Crawford of Newport Center,
requesting Mr.. Robinson to let his
(CraWfords) nephew, J. B. Page, have
five or six hundred dollars out of New
port National Bank, to complete paying
for cattle which he had purchased, and
that he (Crawford) Webster Porter and
Merit Macomber would sign a bank note
for that amount. Whereupon, after a
short conversation, Mr.. Robinson filled |
out a blank note and directed the CASH
Ter to discount it if it was returned
with the agreed signatures the following
day. At about nine o'clock the next
morning J. B. Page returned with the
note properly signed, and presented it
to the cashier for discount, received the
money and went away causing no suspi-
cion either on the part of Mr.. Robinson
or the cashier. After the note had be-
come due and had been protested, and
the fact of the forgery been ascertained,
it was discovered that man registering
his name as j. B. Page, had put up at
the Bellevue Hotel on the night of the
Sd, and that he hired man and team
to carry him to Barton, where ne also
registered his name as J. B. Page, and a
similarity was found in the signatures
on the note and in the hotel registers.
Efforts were then made to find the man
who had been so smart as to dupe man
of such superior business ability as l..
Robinson. The fact that Macomber
lived in Jay, and Webster Porter in
Troy caused suspicion of some one who
was acquainted in those localities; and
it appeared from the evidence that one
Brad Chase, who had been accused of
being the guilty one, first suggested that
the writing of the letter looked like A.
E. Moore's, man about 40 years of age,
who had worked in Jay for Mr.. Chamber
lin the year previous, and was we'll liked.
Webster Porter and John l.. Crawford
testified that the bank officials described
the man who got the money to them, as
being six feet or over in hight. broad
shouldered and portly, whereas Moore
is about five feet and eight inches in
hight and somewhat cadaverous. How
ever Moore was arrested and brought to
Newport and bound up in the sum of
four thousand dollars, lodged in Jail.
where he has remained since December,
1878. An Indictment was found last
September by the grand jury, with L.
Robinson, the President of the Newport
Bank, as foreman. The case showed an
extensive preparation on the part of the
State, which was much to the credit Of
the States Attorney. Expert testimony
} was introduced that the handwriting Of
the letter, note, and hotel registers was
similar and attempt was made to show
! that they were similar also to hand
r writing in Moores diary, which the
state had appropriated to its own use
and only showed it to the respondent
counsel after being ordered to do so by tn,
court. The experts all agreed that tn
degree of similarity was less between
S the diary and the various signature
above spoken of, than between the sig
, natures on the note and the writing o
e the letter. Upon being shown a piec
of paper upon which were eleven sigma
lures, all the experts agreed that the,
5 could not tell whether they were writer
by one or eleven hands. The genera
d belief was after the State had put in it
case, that the jury would disagree if n
s defense had been made. Samuel Moore
n father of the respondent, told straight
forward story, showing Arthur to hav
!. been in Boston on the Sd and 4th Q
n September, and that he slept with hir
every night between the first and Sc,
;, enth of September save the fifth. J. W
. Buffers, young man in the employ {
Rand, Avery & Co., Boston, testi6e
that he met S. Moon and Arthur on til
70 street on the Sd, between one and ha
:" past and gave incidents relating to h
own business, showing how he was alb
rs to fix upon that day. One Richards,
e. matchmaker, testified that on the Sd
1t Sept. Samuel and Arthur Moore came
II his shop for the purpose of getting
Te watch which they had left previousl
for repairs, that the watch was not dor
and that Samuel Moore left pair
:. spectacles also for repair. and that the
:, came the next day, when he delivere
= the property and received S2.75 for Il
two jobs, which were also shown by b
o. books which appeared regular and wit
e, out any ground of suspicion as to tt
). genuineness of the entries. A detecti'
Oh by the name of Hersom from Bosto
n was used as witness by the State, b
Oh his testimony was not important, ar
considering the reputation of that elias
il it tended to weaken the case on the pa
nd of the State. The trial occupied tv
lie full days, during which time the respo
he dent conducted himself well, but own