294 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



which they twice went to the 

 bankers to pay money for their 

 master. The first time, they paid 

 in 37^. the payment of which was 

 allowed by the defendants. The 

 second time, they counted over the 

 sum of 82/. 105. in the presence of 

 Mr. Peacock, a baker, in Bishops- 

 gate-street, who had called to pay 

 their master money. It was 

 Linde's first time of being in a 

 banker's shop, and he took notice 

 of the quantity of dollars which 

 one of the clerks was counting ; 

 and observed to his companion, 

 that the two which composed the 

 10*. they had to pay in would 

 make two more. They took with 

 them their master's pass-book ; 

 and the clerk, whom Payne after- 

 wards singled out from the rest to 

 be a gentleman of the name of 

 Kent, wrote in it, and returned it 

 to the boys. Mr. Peacock was 

 present when the lads returned, 

 and asked the plaintiff how he 

 could trust them to pay so much 

 money. The plaintiff' replied, that 

 he was in the habit of doing so, 

 and showed Peacock the entry in 

 the pass-book, to convince him 

 that he had not unworthily re- 

 posed his confidence in them. Mr. 

 Peacock confirmed the testimony 

 of the boys, and added, that he 

 paid 76/. to the plainlifi" on the 

 2ith, the day in question ; but it 

 did not appear whether any of this 

 money formed a part of the 82/. 

 On the contrary, some notes in- 

 dorsed " Peacock," in his brother's 

 handwriting, were produced by 

 the defendants, as forming part of 

 a subsequent payment of 28/. Is. 

 made by the phiintift" to them on 

 the 26th following. Strong in 

 favour of an actual payment to the 

 defendants by the plaintiff" as was 



this evidence, yet Lord Ellenbo- 

 rough observed, that if from docu- 

 ments in the defendants' business 

 it could be proved to be impossible 

 to be true, the jury would be com- 

 pelled to disregard it, and to find 

 their verdict for the defendants. 

 On their part were called Mr. Kent, 

 and all the clerks implicated, who 

 swore they never received the sura 

 in question from the boys, although 

 the fact of their paying the fir^t 

 sum of 37/. was recollected and 

 admitted ; and it appeared by the 

 pass-book which Mr. Peacock 

 swore to have seen on the 24th, 

 that the entry was not made till 

 the 26th, on which day it was 

 dated ; and the defendants' clerks 

 swore that the plaintiff''s name 

 had been given to them by their 

 principals, as having overdrawn 

 his account, and was written down 

 by them to be kept in mind. Being 

 thus impressed upon their memory 

 when a cheque for 82/. lOs. was 

 on the 26th paid into the account 

 of another customer (Mr. Shen- 

 stone), they by mistake attributed 

 it to the plaintiff", and thus it 

 found its way from their waste 

 book into the plaintiff"s pass-book, 

 and their ledger. It was proved 

 how Mr. Shenstone had re- 

 ceived and paid the cheque just 

 mentioned ; and the error was not 

 rectified till he found that it ha'd 

 been omitted in his account. The 

 same sum could not have been also 

 paid by the plaintiff", and purloined 

 by any of the bankers' clerks, 

 except he had made three diff'erent 

 thefts : one of the large notes from 

 one drawer, another of the small 

 notes from one partition of another 

 drawer, and a third of the cash 

 from the other partition : and it 

 was proved, that there was no error 



in 



