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He had little to offer in his defence; and, on the clearest evidence, the jury found him guilty, March the 7th, 1777.

other villains to rob public depositories, or that they were still bolder thieves by being ignorant of his robbery and punishment, certain it is that, not long afterwards, Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford, was broke open by two thieves, namely, Thomas Gerring and Miles Ward, who stole from the altar a pair of large silver candlesticks and a sil ver dish, which they carried off un

Upon argument it was found that no punishment adequate to the crime could be inflicted; and Monsieur Le Maitre paid the penalty of his offence by five years' hard labour at ballast-heaving on the river Thames. Whether the ungrateful depredation of Peter Le Maitre stimulated discovered.

DAVID BROWN DIGNUM,

CONVICTED OF PRETENDING TO SELL PLACES under goveRNMENT.

THE first public complaint which we trace to liave been made against this offender was at the police office in Bow Street by a Mr. John Clarke, who deposed that between the 18th of June and the 8th of July, 1777, he paid Dignum one hundred pounds, two shillings, and ten pence, for investing him with the office of clerk of the minutes in his majesty's customhouse in Dublin; that the above. mentioned sum was paid at different times in cash and drafts; and that the drafts were duly honored by the parties on whom they were drawn.

Mr. Clarke produced a stamped paper, bearing the signature of Lord Weymouth, and countersigned Thomas Daw,' which he deposed to have received from the prisoner as a legal warrant, appointing him to the office in question.

Mr. Daw proved that both signatures were counterfeited; and it evidently appeared that the seals had been taken from some instrument, and affixed to the pretended warrant. Dignum was charged with a similar offence by Mr. Brown, from whom he obtained one thousand pounds, under pretence of causing him to be appointed writer of the London Gazette.

Mr. Brown produced a warrant bearing the similar marks of impo

sition with those exhibited in the former charge:—this gentleman likewise produced a letter, given to him by the prisoner, ordering Mr. Harrison, the printer of the Gazette, to act under the direction of Mr. Brown; and likewise an oath of qualification taken by him in presence of the prisoner.

After a very deliberate consideration of these circumstances, the magistrates were of opinion that Dignum's offence was not within the description of the laws respecting forgery: he was therefore committed to Tothillfields' Bridewell, to take his trial for the frauds.

The prisoner, by way of defence, said that, on suspicion of his having been guilty of high treason, his papers had been seized, and were in the possession of Sir Alexander Leith; adding that some writings among them would fully exculpate him from the charges adduced against him. Sir Alexander ordered his trunk to be brought into the office, and all such papers as were not considered as matter of evidence were returned to him.

On the 5th of April, 1777, David Brown Dignum was indicted at Guildhall, Westminster, for defrauding Mr. Clarke, under pretence of appointing him clerk of the minutes

in the custom-house at Dublin, by means of a forged warrant, pretended to be signed by Lord Weymouth and Mr. Daw.

The evidence against him was in substance what we have already related; and the jury found him guilty, without leaving the court.

The magistrates hesitated a long time on the punishment whica should be inflicted on such an offender, and at length sentenced him to work five years on the river Thames.

On Wednesday, the 23d of April, 1777, Mr. Smith, governor of Tothillfields' Bridewell, requested the advice of the magistrates at Bow Street as to the disposal of Dignum. He said he had received an order for removing the prisoner to the ballast-lighter, pursuant to the sentence passed on him by the magistrates of Middlesex and Westminster at the Guildhall; but that the solicitor in a prosecution cognizable by the magistrates usually presiding at Hicks's Hall had given him no tice to detain the prisoner in custody till au habeas corpus should be procured to bring him for trial before the last-mentioned magistrates.

The Bench agreed in opinion that, as Tothillfields' Bridewell was a county gaol, the Middlesex magistrates would have been justifiable in claiming the appearance of the prisoner without the authority of an habeas corpus; and they commissioned Mr. Smith to remove Dignum on the first opportunity.

Mr. Smith said, on the same even ing, or the next morning, he would endeavour to get rid of so troublesome

a guest, who had suggested a variety of stratagems to obtain his liberty adding that, on the Saturday morning preceding, he had offered to bribe an attendant in the prison with a bank-note of ten pounds, to favour his escape in a large chest.

No time was now lost in conveying Dignum on board the ballastlighter. Being possessed of plenty of money, and having high notions of gentility, he went to Woolwich in a post-chaise, with his negro servant behind, expecting that his money would procure every indulgence in his favour, and that his servant would be still admitted to attend him: but in this he was egregiously mistaken; the keepers of the lighter would not permit him to come on board, and Dignum was immediately put to the duty of the wheelbarrow.

On Monday, the 5th of May, Dignum sent a forged draft for five hundred pounds for acceptance to Mr. Drummond, banker, at Charing Cross, who, discovering the imposition, carried the publishers before Sir John Fielding: but they were discharged; and it was intended to procure an habeas corpus to remove Dignum to London for examination.

This plan, however, was soon seen through; for, on consideration, it seemed evident that Dignum, by sending the forged draft from on board the lighter, preferred death to his situation; so that no farther steps were taken in the affair, and he remained for the period to which he was sentenced by the equitable laws of his country.

JOHN HARRISON, CONVICTED OF FORGERY.

MR. HARRISON was accountant to the London Assurance Corporation; and it was his peculiar misfortune to be acquainted with a Mr.

Angus Mackey, a merchant in the city, in an extensive way of trade, who, by urgent solicitations, prevailed upon the unsuspecting and

good-natured man to lend him several sums belonging to the company, solemnly promising to return the money before he would have occasion to make up his accounts.

When the time appointed for the first payment arrived, instead of returning what he had already got into his possession, Mackey urged Harrison for a further supply, assuring him that he was in daily expectation of remittances, on the receipt of which he would return the whole sum that Harrison was deficient in his account with the

company; adding that, if he met with a refusal, he must inevitably stop payment, which would necessarily occasion an exposure of Harrison's violation of the trust reposed in him by the company.

In this manner was the unfortunate man amused for several months, during which time he supplied Mackey with different sums, amounting in the whole to seven thousand, five hundred, and fifty pounds; and, to prevent detection, he inserted figures in the book containing the account between the Bank of England and the London Assurance Company, so that the Bank appeared to be debtor for seven thousand, five hundred, and fifty pounds more than had been paid there.

He sent a clerk with two hundred and ten pounds to the Bank; and, when the book was returned to him, he put a figure of 3 before the 2, which made the sum appear three thousand pounds more than was really paid; and similar alterations were made in other parts of the book.

A committee of the company being appointed to meet on Wed-, nesday, the 9th of July, 1777, Mr. Harrisou mentioned the circumstance to Mackey, and told him that he must be utterly ruined unless the deficiency in the company's cash

was made good before that day: but, notwithstanding the life and reputation of his generous and imprudent friend were at stake, he neglected to return the money.

About eleven in the forenoon of the day on which the committee was to be held Harrison placed several account-books on the table of the committee-room, and had some conversation with Alexander Aubert, Esq. the deputy-governor. When the committee was about to be opened Harrison absconded; and, in about ten minutes after, the following letter was received by Mr. George Hall, secretary to the company:

DEAR SIR,-I am distressed beyond expression, having forfeited every thing that is dear to me by an act of kindness to a friend who has deceived me. Enclosed is a state of my account with the company, which it tortures my very soul to think of. I know the treasury will not forgive me, therefore don't care what becomes of me, as I dare not see them any more. God Almighty knows what will become of me, or where I shall fly for succour: indeed, Mr. Hall, I am one of the most miserable wretches living; but I have betrayed my trust, for which I never can forgive myself. When I parted with the money it was but for a few days, or I would sooner have died than have parted with it; but, alas! I shall now severely pay by suffering myself to be drawn in to serve a friend, who knew it was not my own, and saw the distress of mind it cost me when I did it. Please to present my humble duty to the gentlemen; tell them I can meet any death after this, sooner than I can see them again, and am determined not to survive the shame. I am, dear sir, a lost unhappy being; I am so bewildered that I scarce know what I

am doing, but believe the enclosed account is right, as I don't recollect that I am any way short of cash; but in truth I am not myself.

'J. H.' When Mr. Harrison absconded he left upwards of nineteen hundred pounds in his desk, and among his papers were found securities on behalf of the company to a great amount, besides a bond given to him by Mackey for seven thousand, five hundred, and fifty pounds.

Notice being given at the office that Harrison was at a friend's house at Wapping, Mr. Aubert went there in the evening, and found him in a state of mind little short of distraction. Mackey's bond was produced by Mr. Aubert, aud Harrison assigned it over to him as a security on behalf of the company. He accompanied Mr. Aubert to the office, where two persons were ordered to attend him, and prevent his putting an end to his life, which there was sufficient reason to suppose he would attempt: and the next morning he was taken before Sir John Fielding, who committed him to Tothillfields' Bridewell. He was re-examined the following Wednesday, and committed to Newgate, in preparation for

his trial.

Harrison was tried at the Old Bailey, in the September sessions, 1777, on an indictment for forgery, consisting of twenty-four counts, on twelve of which the jury pronounced him guilty. The prisoner's counsel objected to judgment being passed, on account of a supposed inaccuracy in the indictment, and the matter was left to be argued by the judges. Hig remained in Newgate

memhs after his trial, Mr. pentioned for the judges to meet, and that he might be heard by counsel. He was advised by an illustrious personage to wave the plea on which his petition was

founded, and in consequence thereof the petition was immediately withdrawn. In a few days a messenger came to Newgate, and delivered Mr. Harrison the agreeable news that his majesty had been graciously pleased to grant him an unconditional pardon; and the same evening an order was delivered to Mr. Akerman for his immediate enlargement.

Mr. Harrison was brought up in a merchant's counting-house, and soon after the expiration of his apprenticeship he began business on his own account, and had a lime and a coal wharf at Limehouse, where he carried on an extensive trade; but, failing in that business, he engaged himself as a clerk to Mr. Smithen, previous to that gentleman's undertaking to construct the Eddystone Light-house, and was intrusted with the care and management of all the money employed in that important work. His conduct under Mr. Smithen was in every respect unexceptionable; and that gentleman and many other respectable persons used their interest to procure him the office of accountant to the London Assurance Company, in whose service he would in all probability have continued till his death but for his unhappy connexion with Mackey.

Harrison had been accountant to the London Assurance Company nineteen years and a half when it was discovered that he had betrayed the confidence reposed in him; and till that period his character was without a blemish, and he was held in the highest esteem by all his acquaintance.

May the case of this man prove a warning to others who are employed in offices of trust! Let them remember that in such men as can be guilty of persuading them to violate the confidence reposed in

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Hill setting Fire to the Rope-House in Portsmouth Dock Yard.

JAMES HILL, COMMONLY CALLED JOHN THE PAINTER, EXECUTED FOR SETTING FIRE TO PORTSMOUTH DOCK-YARD. So dangerous an individual to the kingdom as this man perhaps never existed, and whose confession and repentance can hardly soften the abhorrence felt on the contemplation of the extent of his crimes.

James Hill, that universally detested character, during the progress of his public ruin and desolation, had gone by several names-a plan generally adopted in a long course of villajuy.

He was once a journeyman to Mr. Golden, a painter, at Titchfield, whence he procured the familiar title of John the Painter.' During a

residence of some years in America he imbibed principles destructive to the interests of this country. Transported with party zeal, he formed the desperate resolution of committing a most atrocious crime, which he, in some degree, effected. About four o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th of December, 1776, a fire broke out in the round-house of Portsmouth dock, which entirely consumed that building. The fire was wholly attribured to accident; but on the 5th of January three men who were employed in the hemphouse found a tin machine, some.

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