Page:The Trial, at Large, of William Booth and his Associates.pdf/19

This page has been validated.

20

account of what was found in that trunk; he opened it when he got home at Birmingham, it was then locked, and he forced it open; he marked all the things he found in the box or trunk: the 1l, note now shewn [which was the 1ll, note, the subject of this indictment] is one of those which were in the trunk—so are the 5l, notes and the 10l, notes.

Mr. Alley here objected to this evidence; if the charge against prisoner had been for uttering this note, the other notes might have been produced to shew the quo animo, but here the charge is for forging the notes, and he (Mr. Alley) did not know of any case where on a charge of forgery evidence had been carried that length.

Sir S. Le Blanc thought Mr. Alley rather premature in his objection; there was a count in the indictment which charged the prisoner with disposing of the note, and it was too soon to call upon Mr. Jervis to make his election what count he would elect: this was intended (coupled with John Ingeley's evidence) to shew what was in the box, and the prisoner's knowledge of the contents.

Mr. Alley apologized; not having been in Court when the indictment was read, he had concluded from Mr. Jervis's opening that the charge was confined to the forgery, and not for the uttering.

Mr. Chirm proceeded, and identified in the box the following:—

The 1l. note in question 1
3 other similar notes in the possession of Mr. Kaye 3
77 other 1l. notes, similar 77
35 other 1l. notes 35
130 other 1l. notes 130
Making in the whole 246 —1l. notes,

all of which were perfect notes, signed, dated, and fully completed for issuing; there were also 13 blanks with the water mark ONE and BANK OF ENGLAND in the paper—[these 13 were from the same mould with the note in question; the following 7 were from the same mould as the singed note]—these 13 blanks had waved water-mark lines—the 7 other blanks with straight lines. 4 notes for 10l, each, signed and perfect—and 11 for 5l, each, also perfect: these were all in the trunk, together with a quantity of paper.