THE MONEY COINERS. 1 29 



the other two, four months each. These latter 

 laid all the blame on their companion ; they 

 both said that he had sent them into shops to 

 buy small-priced things, such as an ounce of 

 tobacco, and had given them these half crowns 

 to pay with, they not knowing that the money 

 was bad. They were all three strangers to each 

 other, so they said, and on the tramp in search 

 of work. The pilot-coated man said that he 

 was a journeyman-blacksmith on his way to 

 London, that he fell in with the horse dealer 

 and his van, and that they then made an agree- 

 ment whereby the former was to assist him 

 with his van and horses, the horse dealer, in 

 return, providing board and lodging, free of 

 cost. He knew nothing of the bad money, but, 

 in cross-examination, admitted having sus- 

 picions about it, because of the changing it at 

 so many places. 



I was in court the whole time, and paid strict 

 attention to the evidence, and at first, I thought 

 that there was just a possibility that these two 

 men had been taken in by the horse dealer. 

 But undoubtedly they found him out after 



