Norwich bulletin., 1914-09-16
FAMOUS TRIALS
TRIAL OF JOHN LINDSAY GRAN
 FORD.

When George Lindsay Crawford, the twenty-second earl of Crawford, dieC in 1906 he had no aehildren and hi. vast estates descended to his sister Lady Mary Crawford But the cay had not been long dead before variou claims were advanced to the peerapt one Of them being preferred by pc, son sof the name of John Crawfor6 who came from Dungannon, in tho north of Ireland. This was in Jar uary, 1909. He claimed / to be a da seendant of the Hon. James Lindsa Crawford, young son of the fafr fly, who had taken refuge in Irelar from the prosecutions of 1660-163
 The claimant was clever enough aF ter arriving at Ayr to not make h. mission known until he had secure considerable amount of information respecting the family history irror Ayr he proceeded to visit kiIbirnie ca tie. once the residence of the gree knightly family of Crawford. Here l. obtained some valuable papers .whicI he found in an outhouse, includef among them letters written by Jame' Lindsay Crawford, whose descender- he pretended to be-
 John appropriated these papers ar produced them when the opportun moment came. His story and wlla evidence he had gathered togethe made an impression on the people i' and about the village and througf promises of what he would do whe- to raise considerable money
 In due time the pretender to th' Crawford peerage instituted judicia proceedings. His advocates brough' forward some very feasible parole evi dence but they mainly rested thei- case upon the documents which ha6 been discovered in the old cabinet 9 Klbirnie. These letters, when orig inally discovered. had been written the first and third pages, but in the interim the second pages had bee filled up in an exact imitation of th old hand with matter skillfully con trived to support the pretensions c the newcomer.
 This forgery was discovered and charge was brought against the claim ant and he and his chief abettor, JaInee Bradley. were both brought to tria before the high court of justiciary ir February, 1912. and were sentence claimant was shipped off to Botany bay and arrived in New South Wales in 1913. During his residence there he contriyed to ingratiate himself with MacQuarrie. the governor of the island and was able to have part of his pun ishnent ren1itted and he returned to England in 1920.
 John immediately recommended pro- ceedings for the recovery of the Craw- ford honorsi and. as his unexpected re- turn seemed to imply that he had beer unjust1y transported. his friends took encourag gem.nt from this circumstance and again came forward with sub Scriptions q Id advances. Many noble men and gentlemen believed him to be injured and contributed literally to his support and to the cost Of the proceedings which he had begun.
 At last the case came before the lords committee of privileges. to which it had been referred by the king. Lord Broughan was counsel in the cause. and he publicly expressed his opinion that it was well founded. Many Of the clia-nant's Adherents. however, were deterred from proceeding further in the matter by the unfavorable re- port of two trustworthy commission = CTS, who mad been appointed to inves- tisate the affair in Scotia nd. On the other hand. Nueent Bell, William Kaye and Sir Frederick Pollock. with host of eminent legal atutho critics, predicted certain success.
 Thus supported, the pretender as- stunned the role of earl of Crawford and carefully voted at an election of Scotch peers at Holyrood. Unfcrtu- Eately for all parties. the claimant died either for or against him. His son, however, inheriting the fathers pre- tensions. and also apparently his fac ulty for raising money, contrived to find supporters and continued the case,
 Maintaining his fathers truthful ness, he declared that his ancestor the Hon. James Lindsay Crawford, had settled in Ireland. and that he had died there between 1765 and ITO, 1eav- ing family Of which ho was the chief representative. On the other hand | I ord Glasgow who had succeeded by this time to the estates. insisted that the scion of the family who was sup posed to have gone to Ireland, and from whom the pretender traced his
 descent, had in reality died in Lon ! don in 1745. It was finally proved
 that a record fo his death remained ir London, and the decision of the house | of lords was that from the facts now
 before us we are satisfied that any
 further inquiry is hopeless and unnec- essary.'