THE ROUPELL FORGERY CASE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 269, 30 October 1862, Page 5

THE ROUPELL FORGERY CASE.

(From the Times.) SUMMER' 'ASSIZES.' Home Circuit. -Guildsobd, Aug. 18. The day was specially fixed last week for the trial oftheextraoramarycaseof « Roupell and others v Warte," which in all its circumstances is, perW one of the most remarkable that ever append i? a court otjusico It is, indeed, one of those ca-es which ac-qmre the character of ciuses cSUbres, nuiSSn^Z* a |Stoly aS Btrikin& and "^idents as stuuige as ever have occurred in the ni<«t startHnfiction, and involving:, indeed, charges of wholesale forgeries and frauds on the part of a person moving in ne most respectable position in society, and at one lime holding a seat a Parliament, which, probaSy no writer ol fiction has ever ventured to imWiuo and vbich cm only be parallelled in the history of'men hke I-auntleroy and Sadleir. The history of tbi* extraordinary case is so long, and the details of the evidence are:so extensive ih«t it may be convenient to offtjr a brief outline of it in order to explain tie nature o :it,aru render the report Yore easily uitrthg.ble. The late Mr hie-hard Palme? Koupcll of lloupel-park. o t.te, Strcaltam, ™c iai.hr of William Houpell, E,q., late member for Lambeth, and who died in September, 1856 noVsessed «t enormous pioperty, had lived with i lidv whom he afterwards married some years before' he married her, and \\ ilhan,, the late member, wrs the eldest, but illejritjm te, son. His eld. st estimate sm was Richard Roupell iho younger the p- m cipal plawufl m this ca.se, as his faiLrt lur-at-law. During the life of the tcsjtatoy aive»s of las estates, among others. i ™**f* . a.fc ~^'ngston, i!i this county and ! vvarJeigh, in fcssex. were said and-conveyta to divers f persons, and th* Kingston estate to the present dej fondant Ihe testator died in 1856, possessed of i property to an enormous amount, probably eciual ?n i value to the sum of L 200,000. This pr.^orly it was supposed he had disposed of by a will in 1850 (conj tinned in August, 1850.) in favour of his children \ iwill however was set up by v r William Roupeil, f the late M.P., under which he was executor and i i which was proved by him iv the Court of Probate i but which ltwds alleged was for»cd by him. As 4 much of th" interest of the case turns on the Genuineness of this will, and as it wa.^ proved and rtcarde.l in •obe Court oi Pros-ate lon«- before this ens ■, it may b« convenient to set it out at once, to render th" tAo<l tf tins case r-.iore inlelli-ihle: and it is a.-cordi>Wiv printed verbatim from a ph «togrn P h/ac simile of" die wiil as refjisttred m tiie l'robati! Court :— " This is the last will mid testament of me Richard Palmer Koupfll, oflO. Cross-stwef, Blackfriars-road and A?pen tlousi, Slr.-a!liam Hill, Surrey, ff'ntienun. Firstly, I desire that ail my just dcofs, fm.eml and testamentary expenses be"].jiid and satisfied by my executrix and executor hereinafter named as soon as conveniently may be after my decease -'and secondly, I give, devise, and b queatii all an)'every my household furniture, lineu, woarinL' apoarel, bouks, plate, pictures, china, hdrses, carriages, carts! and also .-ill ami c-very sum and sum;; of money which may be due to me at the time of my decease, and also all other my uuneya invested in stocks, funds shves and sccuriiies fur'money, book debts, money on bonds' bills, not.»s, or orhor securities, and all and every other my freehold, leasehold, and c'jpvhold esfatpsand effects whatsoever a-:d wher.-soevi.-r, both real and personal" whether- in possefesion, r,,ver.-i-n, rcm,i;ndcr, or expectancy, unto my dear wifa, Sarah Houpell, to and for her own use and bc.Mfcfit absolutely, and I nominate. consLitire, and appoint my said wife to be executrix, and my sou Wi!!i;mi Koupeil, of Aspen llous*, Hill, to b« the executor of this my Will; and hereby revoking all former or other Wills by me at atiy^tiu-e heretofore made. I declare this to bo my lust Will and testament. In witness whereof I, the said Richard Palmer Koupeil, have to this my last Will and testament set my hn:;d the second day of September, in the year of our L:>rd one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.

,o. i, , ' "R- p- Boupell. " Signed by the testator, Richard Palmer Roupell in the presence of us, present at the same time, who have hereunto subscribed our r.aoics as witnesses in the presence of the said testator and of each other " YV. RnuPELL, Aspen House, Streatham Hill. "John Muguekidge, Kensington Cross." This Will, it Avill be observed, purported to have been executed on the 2nd of September, 185Q although on the 31st of August in that year—only two days before—a codicil had been executed by him in favour of two other of his legitimate children After the death of the testator, William R'oupell. who posseted the utmost inlluence over his' mother, launched into extravagance, and disposed iri her name, of most of the landci property Me became also -a member for Lambeth, and as his brother, the plaintiff, wax a boy at school at the time of his father's death, had virtually the entire control of the testator's property. Ultimately he became hopelessly embarrassed, and in March, 1862, left the country. It had previously been discovered that the deeds of conveyance un-ler which the defendant and other persons claimed the various estates were disputed, and that, in fact all these documents were alleged to have been the forgeries of William Roupell, the late member. Hence the present action, brought by the heir-at-law, to recover the Kingston estate, worth about L 15,000, from the defendant, the person who had purchased it in 1855. The result of the action would, of course, go far to decide the validity of all the transfers and dispositions of property effected by or through the agency of the late member, and therefore deeply interested all the parties who had taken any portion of the property under such transfers or dispositions. Now, the circumstances of the casa were so extraordinary, and had so far gained publicity, that there was a very wide and deep interest in the issue of- the trial, the more especially since a rumor had circulated that Williura Roupell, the lats member, had actually come forward as a witness, either to prove or disprove the genuineness of the deeds and instruments purporting to have been executed by his father. It is not surniisiog, therefore, that many persons of the best position in society came to witness the trial, and listened to it with the deepest interest. It was under these circumstances that the case now came on to be tried, the trial taking place in the Crown Court, in order to afford more ample accommodation to the crowded audience.