332 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



contained in the paper now pro- 

 pounded; the total absence of 

 any thing like suspicious impor- 

 tunity on the part of Mrs. 

 Sutcliffe ; the proposal to make 

 this will having proceeded from 

 another person; and the clearness 

 of the depositions ; — all these 

 were circumstances so established 

 and so concurrent, that exercising 

 all necessary vigilance and pre- 

 caution, he must pronounce for 

 the instructions as containing the 

 true last will of the deceased. 

 As for the interlined bequests of 

 additional suras of 5001. and 

 500/., they proved, at any rate, 

 Mrs. Sutclift'e's disinterestedness, 

 having been afterwards inserted 

 by her desire ; and as forming a 

 part of the paper, he should also 

 consider them as part of the 

 testator's intentions, and pro- 

 nounce for them accordingly. 



OLD BAILEY, MONDAY, DEC. 14?. 



Prosecutions hi the Bank of 

 England. 



Considerable interest was ex- 

 cited this morning, in consequence 

 of its being very generally under- 

 stood, that the prisoners, who 

 had been indicted by the Bank of 

 England for having forged notes 

 in their possession, and who had 

 pleaded guilty to those indict- 

 ments, had petitioned to withdraw 

 those pleas, and take their trials. 

 A petition, it appears, had been 

 prepared and signed by nine 

 persons to this effect, and Mr. 

 Baron Wood and Mr. Justice 

 Holroydcame down at ten o'clock, 

 not alone to decide upon the 

 prayer of the petition, but to 

 preside at the subsequent pro- 

 ceedings. It is, perhaps, unne- 



cessary to remark that the course 

 adopted by the prisoners was 

 suggested by the acquittals of 

 the men prosecuted by the Bank 

 for the capital offence of uttering 

 forged notes, during the preceding 

 sittings of the Court. The pri- 

 soners having been brought into 

 Court, the following jury was 

 sworn : — Edward Wilkinson, 

 George Goold, Robert Newman, 

 Benjamin Bright, Robert Hough- 

 ton, J. E. Miller, William Abbott, 

 James Winders, James Alderman, 

 Jeremiah Blount, John Lynch, 

 John Williams. 



Richard Broderick, one of the 

 prisoners who had pleaded guilty 

 to the minor offence of having 

 forged notes in his possession, 

 knowing them to be forged, was 

 put to the bar. 



Mr. Sergeant Bosanquet im- 

 mediately rose, and addressed the 

 Court as follows : — My Lord, 

 before the prisoner who stands at 

 the bar is charged with the indict- 

 ment which has been preferred 

 against him, I think it necessary 

 to address a few observations to 

 your Lordship. According to 

 the course which has prevailed 

 for several years, in cases where 

 persons have been prosecuted at 

 the instance of the Bank of 

 England, for uttering forged 

 notes, two indictments have been 

 preferred; one of these indict- 

 ments charging the prisoner with 

 the capital oflence of uttering 

 forged and counterfeit Bank- 

 notes, knowing them to be forged, 

 and the other for having had 

 forged Bank-notes in his posses- 

 sion, without lawful excuse, and 

 also knowing them to be forged. 

 With one of these offences the 

 present prisoner stood charged, 



and 



