Carlisle Patriot, 11 Mar 1826 - Cumberland Lent Assizes (13)

[petra.mi...@doctors.org.uk]

Saturday 11 Mar 1826   (p. 2, col. 6 - p. 3, col. 6; and p. 4, col. 1-3)

 

CUMBERLAND LENT ASSIZES, 1926.

 

UTTERING FORGED NOTES.

 

[continued]

 

Mary BROWN then proved that the prisoner stopped at her husband's (public) house all night, had supper, &c. for which she charged 15d., and he had change gotten for a guinea Royal Bank of Scotland note, and went off towards Carlisle. Wanting some sugar, she sent the note to a shop by a girl named Jane NELSON; but afterwards obtained it of Jane WALLACE, the shopkeeper's daughter, brought it to Carlisle, and applied at the Bank as before stated. This note she subsequently gave to BARNES. She saw the prisoner on the same day at a house in Rickergate, where he was stopping. He acknowledged that he gave the note, and said he had none but good ones.

 

Cross-examined, she said she did not know he was a dealer in Irish linens; he had only a small bundle and umbrella.

 

By the Judge.—I put both notes into my purse at STEPHENSON's. I knew mine by a tear at the bottom.

 

Jane NELSON spoke to having taken the note from BROWN to the shop of Jane WALLACE, who laid it in a table-drawer.

 

Jane WALLACE proved the receipt of the note from the last witness, and, being told by her father that it was not good, carried it back instantly to Mary BROWN. It was not in the drawer five minutes.

 

John BARNES produced the note, having obtained it of BROWN. BROWN identified it by the tear and a mark put on it subsequently.

 

Margaret JACKSON.—My husband's name is James JACKSON, and he lives at Toddhills, between Gretna and Carlisle, in this county. The prisoner came to our house on the 18th of Oct.; he had his breakfast, and paid me 8d. He asked me to change a guinea note by giving him a pound note. I could not; but I sent to a neighbouring shop and got it changed, by a little girl, named Ann JACKSON. The same night I received a note from JACKSON, and afterwards gave it to BARNES the constable.

 

Ann JACKSON, daughter of the last witness, obtained the change of Mary JACKSON, the shopkeeper.

 

Mary JACKSON kept up the chain of evidence; was certain that the note returned to Margaret JACKSON was the same that she received, having kept it in her pocket.

 

Cross-examined, she said she had not another note of any kind.

 

BARNES produced the note which he obtained of Margaret JACKSON.—This witness was recalled, and said she was quite sure the note given to BARNES was the same as JACKSON gave her.

 

Maxwell M'WILLIAM.—I live in Rickergate, Carlisle. On the 18th Oct. the prisoner came to my house between eleven and twelve. He dined there, in the room that I live in: the window fronts the street. Prisoner was looking out, and observed that there was a woman in the street whom he did not wish to see; and if she called at the house, I was to say he was not there—that woman was Mary BROWN, who appeared here to-day. He was apprehended at my house, in another room, on the same floor, whither he went, in place of going out, as he pretended.

 

BARNES apprehended the prisoner in the room spoken of. On searching him, found on his person, three good notes, 19s. in silver, some copper, a watch, keys, and razor. In an ash-box, in the corner of the room, he found a bag, with 13 notes. (Produced them.)

 

M'WILLIAM, recalled, stated that the bag in which the notes were found did not belong to him. Had not seen any one else in the room after M'VEAY came to the house; but a tradesman stopped there: he could not tell his name; he worked with Mr. HETHERINGTON the tailor.

 

Mr. Archibald BONNER, clerk in the cashier's office in the Royal Bank of Scotland, proved that the notes uttered by the prisoner were forgeries. The name on it, "A. BONNER," was not his hand-writing; nor was the name, "Geo. LAING," the writing of that person, who is also in the cashier's office. These notes, and those found in Rickergate, all appear to have come from the same plate—all forged, of course.

 

Mary BROWN, re-examined by the Judge, said the prisoner produced the note which she took from a small pocket-book. STEPHENSON spoke to the same effect; the pocket-book was a very thin one.

 

 

[to be continued]