HOW THE FORGERY OF £5 NOTES OF THE A.J.S.B. WAS DONE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 1761, 26 June 1877, Page 4

HOW THE FORGERY OF £5 NOTES OF THE A.J.S.B. WAS DONE.

(From the Sydney Herald.) At the Circuit Court, Mudgeo, recently, before Sir William Manning, Fred Pool ■was charged with forging £5 notes on the Australian Joint Stock Banlc. After a number of witnesses had been examined James Williams, best known hero as "Jemmy the barman," and who garo the name of -Ward, recently m Sydney, when charged with uttering some of tho forged notes referred to, deposed as follows : — I am at present committed for trial for attempting to pas« bad £5 notes m Sydney ; I know tho prisoner, who was recentl/ living with me at my brickyard at Burrandulla ; he camo to lire with mo about five days before last Christmas ; after Christmas we went to work m building a two-roomed lint, he asked me to go into Mudgee and bring him n. box of mathematical instruments at Mr Tebutt's, he said they were m tho «hop window and marked £1 ; I couldn't use such instruments myself : I can just write, and that's all ; I bought some paper such as used m drawing plans ; I bought, some indiarubber and quill pens ; I bought these things at Mr Tebntt's ; I bought some paper at tho Western Post and at Mr Dorthe'a ; I gavo the things to Pool, who said tho paper was no use for what he wanted it for ; ho went into Mudgeo himself afterwards and bought some paper like that produced ; thp next day he cut some of the paper into pieces abcut nine inches square ; he asked me to get him two new-laid eggs, which I did, ho put the white of the eggs into a basin, and steeped the pieces of paper m it ; ho afterwards hung up the sheets of paper to dry, and then put them inside sheets of blotting paper ; ho got a cheque on my account from Mr M'Lean, contractor, for bricks he had sold him ; he changed the cheque at the Australian Joint Stock Bank and got a new £5 note ; he at the same time bought a-box of paints from Mr Hall, there were several colors m the box. He first pencelldd ten of the notes from the genuine note by holding it against a pane of glass m the window towards tho sun ; there was a piece of paper between the genuine note and the one he was copying ; he was two or three days at this ; he afterwards copied the pencelling with colors from the paint box ; tho last thing he did was to put the numbers on, which he did with ink ; the ten notes were m the hut some time ; ho wanted mo to go to Gulgong with them ; he asked mo several times to go ; he afterwards told me that he had got a draft from his brother m England for £130 ; ho showed me a lot of dirty £5 notes after ho said he got a draft from his brother ; on tho Tuesday before Good Friday I took twenty-four of those £5 notes from prisoner, and proceeded to Sydney with them ; after I reached Sydney I halted, and bought two pairs of boots at a bootmaker's shop ; I paid for them with one of the £5 notes ; there ware two brothers m the shop, and I saw them whispering together ; when I saw them whispering, I got " jallied " and made off ; I bought a pair of false whiskers for prisoner, and also some more paper and paints ; I was going to get back to Mudgee as quick as I could, and was hurrying to the tram for that puroose ; on the way I run right into the arms of one of the brothers, and was afterwards given m charge to a policeman ; at the time I did not know what for, but afterwards heard for passing bad £5 notes.

Other evidence was given, which left no doubt of the prisoners'* guilt ; and the jury returned a verdict of guilty before leaving the box. As Pool has been twice previously convicted of forgery he was sentenced to seven years' hard labor. He is a well educated man, a most expert penman, and must hava evidently fallen sadly from the position he occupied m starting m life.