Fearful as were the horrid crimes committed by this blood-thirsty assassin, they were not without their good effect in the metropolis. The sensation produced by the murders awakened the apprehension of all persons for their own safety; and local meetings were held in the various parishes of the metropolis, at which resolutions were passed, in pursuance of which a system of police was established far more complete than that which before existed, although still infinitely inferior in point of regularity and competence to that which within the last eleven years has been adopted and carried out to the admiration of the civilised world.
WILLIAM HEBBERFIELD.
EXECUTED FOR FORGERY.
THE prosecution of this prisoner arose out of a desire on the part of the Bank of England to put a stop to the most dangerous and hurtful system of forgery which existed about this time in the city of London.
It appears that the prisoner had long been known as a dealer in forged notes; but he had contrived to elude the vigilance of the officers employed, although he rendered himself liable to punishment for the part which he took in a conspiracy for aiding the escape of General Austin, a French officer, a prisoner of war in this country, on his parole, for which he was sentenced by the Court of King’s Bench to two years’ imprisonment in Newgate. Even while in that jail, however, he continued to carry on the trade in forged notes; and this being communicated to the officers of the bank, they determined upon a plan to secure his conviction. A prisoner named Barry, who was in the House of Correction undergoing an imprisonment for passing counterfeit dollars, was selected as the agent, and on the 23d of September he was conducted in a hackney-coach to Newgate, accompanied by Mr. Weston, the principal clerk to Mr. Freshfield, the bank solicitor, and by Beckett, one of the turnkeys, by whom he was provided with 8l. in good 1l.-notes. On their arrival at the prison, Barry was shown into the prisoner’s room, where he found a number of other persons. He directly went to the prisoner, and without saying anything, gave him six of the notes which he had received, and which were all marked. The prisoner returned three, saying that he should not have enough of the other notes until the next day; but in lieu of the others, which he kept, he handed over forged notes of the nominal value of 6l. Barry immediately carried these notes to Mr. Weston, who remained outside; and Beckett, accompanied by Brown and another officer, went into the prisoner’s chamber, and asked him to produce what property he had about him. The prisoner directly took from one pocket a handful of gold, from another a pocket-book filled with bank-notes, from another a quantity of loose bank-notes, and he also produced a stocking stuffed with the like currency. Beckett, on examining these notes, and not perceiving amongst them any of the marked ones he sought for, told the prisoner he had some more, and desired him to produce them; upon which the prisoner took some other notes from his side-pocket, and laid them on the bed where he was sitting. Beckett took those up, and they proved to be the marked notes. He said these were what he wanted, and returned the prisoner the rest; upon which the prisoner, probably anticipating his purpose, snatched the notes, and thrust them into the fire. Beckett’s assistant, however, rescued them from the flames, and they were proved to be the same which Barry had paid him just before; and the notes Barry received in lieu were also proved to be forgeries.
The prisoner upon being indicted for this offence was found guilty and sentenced to death, in pursuance of which he was executed on the 2nd November 1811.
So great was the increase of these frauds upon the public, that between the year 1797 and 1811, no fewer than 471 persons were prosecuted to conviction for forging, or uttering, or possessing forged notes. The total amount of notes thus put off it is of course impossible to calculate with any certainty, but discoveries were made which showed the system to exist to an extent almost incredible.
JOHN CLAYTON AND WILLIAM JENKINS.
EXECUTED FOR BURGLARY.
THE activity, daring, and ingenuity of the London “cracksmen” is well exemplified in the following case:—