Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1878-08-17 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

FOROBSY.—At the Central Crlmimil Court, before the Common Serjeant, William Gattie, 56, and Horace Keymer, 23, were indicted for feloniously forging the signature of Mr. Edward Howley Palmer, the Governor of the Bank of England, to a receipt for Egyptian Stock cf the nominal value of £20,000, with intent to defraud. Mr. Poland , prosecuted ; Mr. Straight appeared for Gattie; and , Mr. Thorne Cole for Kerner, who pleaded guilty to the charge. The prosecutor in this care was Limit.Colonel Fielden, a retired officer from the army, and it appeared that in 1876 he employed a Mr. Byars, acting with the prisoner Keymer, to negotiate a • loan of £lO,OOO with the London and County Bank upon the eecurity of the deposit of £20,000 Egyptian Stock and other securitise. It wee alleged that thin I stock was sold by Kerner, but that subsequently the ! prosecutor was informed that a fresh loan had been ; contracted with the Bank of England, and the offence imputed to the prisoners war that they tendered a receipt for the stock mentioned, purporting to be signed by Mr. Palmer, the Governor of the Bank of England, and represented that the stock had been deposited as security for a loan, no euch traneaction having ever taken place. The primoner Gattie, it ap.. peered, had been 34 years in the service of the Bank of England, and bore a high character, and the defence net up for him was that he had been made a dupe by the other prieoner. Keymer, after the verdict of guilty had been formally recorded againet him, was called as a witnees on behalf of Mr. Gattie, and Rave eviIdence. Many highly respectable witc ones gave the prisoner Gattie an excellent character. The jury without any hesitation returned n verdict of not guilty no regarded the prisoner Gattie. The other prisoner, Keymer, WSB sentenced to Eve yenta' penal t servitude.  -131rOCKINII bitrftDEß AND StlefDE.  11 A terrible tragedy has occurred in Ben Jonson'eroad, Stepney. It appears that a man named Wood has been for some time managing the business at the Victory public-house there for a Mrs. Griffith., who i has also another public-house, the Walnut Tree, close to. Lately Wood has been very peculiar in his manner, no much so that it was found necessary a short tune back to put him under restraint. He got better and was tlibught tit to return to the management of the house. The other night, shortly after the house closed, he obtained posseesion of a double-barrelled gun that was left in the place, and fired a charge into the ceiling of one of the upstairs rooms. The following morning, about eleven, he again got the gun, and threatened to shoot the barman who assisted him in the business. The barman took refuge in a stable at the back of the premises, whither Wood followed him and fired at him as he wan getting up into a loft, The charge, however, did not take effect, but the ehot, with which the weapon was loaded, penetreted the beam in the stable close by. Later in the day the police were sent for, and Sergeant Smith, of the Beet India department, accompanied by Police-constable Lemma., 10 It &neve, proceeded to the house. They found the place in an uproar, all of the parties there appearing much terrified at the manner in which Wood had been acting. A man named Godfrey, bar. man at the other house—the Walnut Tree—had come over to the Victory to see if he could do anything towards calminr Wood, and inducing him to behave in something like a rational manner. After the police got to the house, Godfrey went into the back parlour, where Wood was sitting, end a cry was then raised by some one, "For God's sake, get out into the street if you value your lives." Almost immediately afterwares a double report was heard, and on Sergeant Smith and the constable Lainmas rushing into the room a shocking sight presented itself. Both Wood and the barman Godfrey lay on the ground quite dead. Godfrey had been shot through the heart, whilst Wood appeared to have held the gun in his mouth, and then by some means to have pulled the trigger, blowing his head half off, brains, blood, and portions of the skull being scattered about the floor, walls, and ceiling, whilst the floor itself was almost covered with blood. Dr. Corner, who lives near, was fetched as quickly es possible, but his aid was, of course, of no avail, as death in each case must have been instantaneous. Wood is said to have been about 40 or 43 years of age, Godfrey being about 25. An inquest was held on the bodies of the men Wood and Godfrey. The jury found that Wood murdered Godfrey and then committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity.