JOHN MINTER HART.
TRANSPORTED FOR FORGERY.
The name of this person was long notorious in London, antecedent to the period of his conviction. He was well known as an advertising moneylender; and the schemes to which he resorted for the purpose of preying upon the unwary were as ingenious as they were iniquitous.
The offence of which Minter Hart was convicted was that of forgery. He was indicted at the Central Criminal Court on Thursday, the 16th of December, 1836, for feloniously forging and counterfeiting a bill of exchange for 500l., with intent to defraud the Rev. Charles Herbert Jenner.
It appeared that, in the previous month of July, the Rev. Charles Herbert Jenner, of Wenvoe, near Cardiff, Glamorganshire, saw an advertisement in the “Morning Post,” offering to lend money, with a reference to Mr. Blake, 44, Haymarket. Wanting money, he directed a letter to Mr. Blake, and had an interview with the prisoner, who met him at Chislehurst, in Kent, where he was residing. He told him he wanted 200l., on personal security, for twelve months. The prisoner agreed to let him have it at five per cent. on his bill. He met him the next day at the house of his father (Sir Herbert Jenner), in Chesterfield-street, when the prisoner produced a stamp, at the same time showing what appeared to him to be a Bank-of-England check. The prisoner asked Mr. Jenner to write across the stamp, “Accepted—Charles Jenner;” but before he signed it, he saw the prisoner write something at the left-hand corner; he did not notice what, but subsequently saw it was figures denoting 200l. The prisoner then took away the stamp, and said he would return with the money in half an hour. By desire of the prisoner, he made the bill payable at the Bank of England. On the bill being now produced, the figures 500l. appeared to have been substituted for those of 200l. He did not again see the prisoner, nor get any money, although he received several letters.—A Mr. John William Edwards proved that he had received the bill in question from the prisoner, having agreed to purchase it at 5s. in the pound. It was then only a blank acceptance, but there was a stain at the corner. The prisoner said it was as he had received it. He said it had been obtained from Mr. Jenner by a person named Elliott, and that he had offered it for sale to a Mr. Pook, who would only give 100l. for it. If the bill was paid, he, Edwards, was to give 50l. additional. The bargain was finally settled at a public-house at the corner of a court in Jermyn-street, and witness received the blank acceptance, and kept it in his possession for a week, when it was given to the prisoner to be drawn and endorsed. He returned it regularly drawn and endorsed with the name of “C. Taylor.”
Other witnesses proved a fact which exhibited the boldness and ingenuity with which the prisoner had effected his object. It appeared, upon a chemical examination of the paper on which the bill was drawn, that that part of it on which, according to Mr. Jenner’s statement, the figures “200l.” had been written, had been subjected to the action of a strong acid, the effect of which had been to remove all trace of the ink. The new figures, “500l.,” had then been written in their stead, and the bill had been put in circulation as a security for that amount.
An objection was taken to the indictment on the ground that the facts proved did not show that any forgery had been committed, although it was admitted that there had been a fraud; but the learned judge gave it as his opinion, that the indictment was sustained, and the prisoner was found “Guilty.”
His case subsequently formed the subject of discussion before the fifteen judges in the Court of Exchequer Chamber, when the conviction was declared to be good, and on Tuesday, the 7th of February, 1837, Hart was sentenced to be transported for life.
The prisoner, as we have already stated, had been long known in London as a successful cheat. The instance above referred to is not the only one in which, by his acts, he got himself into a situation of difficulty.
On the 14th of October, 1833, a coadjutor and agent of his, named Henry Palmer, was indicted at the Middlesex Sessions, charged with receiving ten bills of exchange for 500l. each, accepted by D. Astley, Esq., well knowing them to have been stolen. Mr. Adolphus stated the circumstances as follows:—
Mr. Dugdale Astley was the prosecutor; he was the eldest son of Sir J. Astley, M.P. for Wiltshire, and married the daughter of Sir T. Lethbridge, by whom he would be entitled, at some future day, to a large fortune; he was also the heir to an extensive property in his own person. Mr. Astley, the previous July, saw an advertisement in the “Morning Post,” stating that a gentleman retiring from business had a sum of 20,000l. to lend at four-and-a-half per cent. interest to gentlemen of known property, or on bills of exchange at a short date. Application to be made to Mr. T. Morton, 35, University-street, St. Pancras. He (Mr. Adolphus) should have thought that this was almost too vulgar to attract notice, but it caught the attention of Mr. Astley; and he being in want of a temporary advance of money, applied for the loan of 5000l., at the same time describing his own and his wife’s family connexions. Mr. Astley, at the time of making this application, was at his country house, Basing Park, Wiltshire, and shortly afterwards he received a letter, signed “J. Morton,” but by a person whose real name would turn out to be Minter Hart, stating that he (Morton) would visit Mr. A. in the country, which he had accordingly done. A great deal of discussion ensued between them as to the terms on which the money was to be advanced; it was ultimately arranged that Mr. Astley should give his acceptance at short dates, which were to be renewed from time to time on the payment of six per cent interest. Hart, calculating on the success of the plot, had provided himself with ten six-shilling stamps, which he requested Mr. Astley to accept for 500l. each. This he simply and foolishly acceded to, and wrote across them—“Accepted; payable at Messrs. Praed and Co., bankers, 195, Fleet-street.” Hart, overjoyed at his success, put the bills into his pocket, and immediately started, assuring the prosecutor that the money would be forthcoming in a few days. When he (Hart) had got home, he found that the prosecutor had not signed his name to the bills. He accordingly wrote him a letter, requesting a second interview, as there was an irregularity. This was granted, and day after day passed away, but no money was forthcoming. Nothing was heard of Mr. Hart or the bills. At length a letter was received, stating that the business could not be completed for a short time. Some days after this a letter was received from the prisoner (which first introduced him into the transaction), dated Hertford-street, May Fair, Aug. 16, and was to the following effect:—