John Johnson

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Old Bailey Online JOHN JOHNSON. Deception; forgery. 2nd January 1834. Text type Trial account Defendants JOHN JOHNSON Offences Deception > Forgery Session Date 2nd January 1834 Reference Number t18340102-99 Verdicts Guilty > Lesser offence Punishments Transportation 283. JOHN JOHNSON , alias COVENEY , was indicted for feloniously forging a certain order for payment of money , which is as follows:- "London, 31st October, 1833 . "MESSRS. BARNETT, HOARE, & Co. "Pay Messrs. Taylor, or bearer, forty-six pounds, one shilling." RICHARD HOWELL ." with intent to defraud James Barnett and others, against the Statute. 2d COUNT, for uttering and publishing the same as true, with the like intent. 3d and 4th COUNTS, calling it a warrant for payment of money. 5th and 6th COUNTS, stating his intent to be to defraud Richard Howell . Nine other COUNTS, varying the manner of laying the charge. MESSRS. ADOLPHUS & BODKIN conducted the prosecution. GEORGE SEWELL. I am cashier in the banking-house of Messrs. Barnett, Hoare, & Co., Lombard-street - Mr. James Barnett is the senior partner - there are other partners - in October last we had a customer named Richard Howell, a linen-draper, who lives in Gracechurch-street - on the 31st of October I was in attendance at the counter, and a cheque, purporting to be drawn by Mr. Howell, was presented - this is the cheque - this hole in it was made when it was cancelled - we stamp all our paid cheques in this way - the word "pay" has been struck out by the instrument - the cheque is not on an engraved form - it appeared strange; and I hesitated about paying it, and passed it on to Mr. George Henry Barnett , not liking to rely on my own judgment; and he made no hesitation in paying it - the signature resembles the signature of Howell - it is rather a strong resemblance - I have the book in which the notes paid for it are entered by Mr. Barnett - I paid £6 7s. in cash, and Mr. Barnett paid the £40 in notes - I noticed the person who presented the cheque, having my suspicions - it was a person of the prisoner's age, and very much resembling him; but I decline swearing to his person - it was between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, as near as I can guess - he was about five minutes in the house - nothing was said to him about my suspicions. GEORGE HENRY BARNETT, Esq. I am a partner in the firm - I remember being present on the 31st of October, when this cheque was brought in for payment - it came into my hands, and I paid bank-notes for it - I have the numbers of the notes in this book taken down by myself - I paid (reads) four notes of £5, Nos. 20,891 to 20,894, dated 12th September, 1833; and two £10 notes, Nos. 4,294 and 4,295, dated 18th September, 1833 - I have no recollection of the person who presented the cheque. RICHARD HOWELL. I am a linen-draper, and live in Gracechurch-street - I had an account at Barnett's in October - no part of this cheque is in my handwriting - I did not authorize anybody to draw it for me - I know nothing of it whatever - it is like my handwriting. SAMUEL BURCHFIELD. I am a scale-maker, and live in Smithfield - I remember selling a weighing machine, on the 31st of October, at five o'clock in the evening, to the prisoner - I am positive of him - he paid me a £10 note for it - it came to £1 16s. - I gave him this bill of parcels for it -(looking at it) - I changed the note, but did not get my money for the machine - the prisoner, and a lad who was with him, carried the machine away under their arms - I gave him the whole change of the note, and he did not pay me - he gave me the name of Johnson to make out the bill, and said he lived at No. 18, Maddox-street, Regent- street - I went there the same evening, and could find no such person there - I got the note changed at Mr. Norval's house by Miss Ann Norval at the Golden Lion - I did not write on the note, nor did the prisoner - I inquired at other houses in Maddox-street, and could not find him anywhere. Prisoner. Q. I ask, whether it was not on the Friday, on market-day, that I and my son called and purchased the machine? A. I cannot swear to the day - I believe he said he was going to set his son up in business. Prisoner. I remarked, "You have made a mistake here altogether - this is the 1st of November; it is market-day; and I suppose you have been very busy, and have put the 31st of October on the bill, but this is the 1st of November" - he offered to make the alteration - I said it was of no consequence at all. Witness. I do not remember such an expression - I cannot swear whether it was market-day or not - I do not remember such a thing occurring as he mentions. Prisoner. I never said I resided in Maddox-street - I said it was where I was going to reside; but I was going to take the machine in a cab to Vauxhall. Witness. He said he was either going to open a shop in Maddox-street, or that he lived in Maddox-street - I asked him for his address, and he gave me No. 18, Maddox-street - I believe he said he had bought a cart and horse, or something to that purpose - I am sure he gave me that direction, in answer to my asking his address - he said,"The name of Johnson, No. 18, Maddox-street, Regent-street" - I understood him to mean he was then living there. MR. ADOLPHUS. Q. Did he say a word about Vauxhall, or the neighbourhood? A. Not at all - the invoice was dated the 31st of October - I have no reason to think that was not the date - only I have no date in my book - I thought that was the date at the time I wrote it, and he said nothing to me about it being the 1st of November. ANN NORVAL. I am the sister of Mr. Norval, who keeps the Golden Lion, Smithfield - I know Mr. Burchfield - I remember receiving a £10 note from him - I do not remember the day of the month - I put no mark on the note myself - I put the note into the cash-box, which nobody had access to besides me and my brother - there was no other £10 note in the box; I looked to ascertain that - it was within two months of this time, within three months certainly - I received no other £10 note from Mr. Burchfield before my brother paid it away - I have not received another from him for the last three months. THOMAS NORVAL . I keep the Golden Lion, Smithfield - I remember getting into my cash-box a £10 note - I think it was on Saturday, the 2nd of November, that my sister received it - I did not see it until the 6th or 7th - there was no other £10 note in the box - I keep one key of the box, and my sister keeps the other - I had not taken any other £10 note out - I paid the note to Mr. Wills, on the 6th or 7th of November. ISAAC WILLS . I keep the Duke of York public-house, Temple-bar - this note has my handwriting on it - I know I received it from Thomas Norval, on the 7th of November- I wrote his name and my own on the back of it, as soon as I got home - it is No. 4295, £10, dated September 18th, 1833 - I only received one note from him - I received no other from him - I know this to be the note, because I put my name and his on the back of it, when I returned home. THOMAS NORVAL re-examined. I know what was in my cash-box between the 1st of November and the 7th - I went to it occasionally - there was only that one £10 note in it. CHARLOTTE EMERY. I live at No. 18, Maddox-street, Regent-street - I do not let out any part of my house - I do not know the prisoner - he never took apartments or a shop of me at any time - I keep the house. CHARLES DODDEMEADE . I am a tailor, and live at No. 16, Newington-causeway - I cannot exactly swear to the prisoner; but I think he is the person who came to my shop, and purchased a suit of clothes for a youth, on the 9th of November - they came to 2l. 10s. - he paid me a £10 note, and I gave him the change - I marked the note (looking at one) - this is it - it is No. 4294, dated the 18th September, 1833 - he gave me the name of Johnson, Bolingbroke-row, Walworth - (looking at a suit of green clothes produced by Forrester) - this is the suit I sold for that £10 note. EDWARD WINKWORTH. I am shopman to Mr. Jones, grocer and tea-dealer, Walworth - I saw the prisoner at Mr. Jones's shop between two and three months ago - he changed a £5 note with us - I did not write on it, but Mr. Jones did, in my presence - the prisoner gave the name of Jones, No. 11, Canterbury-place, Walworth; and he got the change - he bought some tea and sugar. COURT. Q. Are you able to swear it was the prisoner? A. I have not a doubt about him - I was present the whole time, and recollect his person - he had a surtout coat and drab trousers. Prisoner. Q. What quantity of sugar and tea was bought? A. One lb. of black, 1lb. of green, and, I believe, 6lbs. of lump sugar - I am certain you gave the name of Jones, and not Johnson - I noticed it because master's name is Jones, and I noticed you gave the same name - I cannot swear to the colour of your coat, because it was by gas light; but it was a dark coat. WILLIAM JONES. I am a grocer, and keep the shop in which Winkworth serves - my handwriting is on this £5 note - I have written, "Mr. Jones, 11, Canterbury-place," which is the name the person gave me - I don't remember his person distinctly - I don't recollect the circumstance of changing the note, but I have not a doubt the person changing it gave me that name - it must have been the name he gave - I don't recollect the fact of his changing the note: but it must have been the name given to me - the note is No. 20,891, dated the 12th of September, 1833. EDWIN EVAN LEECH . I live at No. 11, Canterbury-place, Lambeth, and have lived there a number of years - in October last the prisoner did not live there - I had no lodgers - I do not know him. SAMUEL BELCHER . I am a hatter, and live at No. 4, Borough - the prisoner purchased two hats of me on the 9th of November - one was a silk hat, and the other a hat for a lad (looking at two hats) - these are them - they are in boxes in which they went out of my shop - he paid me by this £5 note (looking at it) - my handwriting is on it, made at the time - I have written, " William Cooper , 9, Queen's-row, Walworth," which was the address he gave me, and he has been to my shop before, and given the same address- I gave him the change - he took away the hats - the note is No. 20,894, dated the 12th of September, 1833. Prisoner. Q. How many hats did I buy when I paid the £5 note? A. Two, it might be three - I have dealt with him before, and he had then given me that address; and when he paid me the £5 note, I asked his address - he said, "Oh, you must recollect me, I have been here before; I live at No. 5, Queen's-row, Walworth;" which I then recollected was the last address he gave me, and I put that address down. Prisoner. He never sent hats to my house, nor did I give him that address - I and the boy put the hats on, and left our old ones to be put in order on the former occasion. Witness. I don't recollect that - I think I put the address on the box of the first hat he bought. DANIEL FORRESTER. I am an officer of the City. In December last I went to No. 6, Vauxhall-walk, to look for the prisoner - a boy answered the door - I asked him if his father was up, supposing him to be the prisoner's son - he closed the door upon me, I being inside, and said he was not at home - I think it was about twenty minutes after eight in the morning - another lad came into the passage at the same time - I laid hold of them both - they made a sort of noise - I then opened the front door, having two or three other persons with me, to let them in - I let go of the boys, opened the front door, and one of the lads ran up stairs - I followed him up directly afterwards, and some person was in the act of pushing the back room door to - I put my foot to it and forced it open - as I went into the room I observed a door in the left hand corner just closed to - it was a very small door - if I had not seen it close I should have thought it was a cupboard-door - there was a woman in the room, who the prisoner said was his wife - I called out to my companions to look out behind, thinking somebody had gone through the door - I afterwards found the door led to a little room, which room led down into a washhouse by a pair of steps into the back yard - when I called out, "Look out behind," the woman said, "He is not here" - but in about a minute the prisoner came into the room from the little door with only his shirt on - I said,"What is your name?" he said, "Johnson" - I said, "Is that woman your wife?" he said, "Yes" - I asked her where she got the £5 note she had changed with Mr. Burlton, the pawnbroker in the Walworth-road, on the 2nd of November - the prisoner answered, "From a person of the name of Hadley" - at the same moment the woman said, "He is a gambler" - I then left him in the room, and went and brought out two hat boxes, and a blue suit of clothes - the hats were in the boxes, and I found a green suit of clothes in the room below - I found this paper in a front parlour, in the table-drawer - it is the bill for the machine - I then asked him where he got the £5 note he had passed with Mr. Belcher for the two hats - I had not told him what he was charged with, and did not give him any caution that he need not answer - (I was instructed to trace the notes, and had asked other people about them before, and if his answer was satisfactory, I should have traced them to other persons) - he said he had taken that note of the same person. I found a boy's green suit of clothes, and I asked him where he got the £10 note he passed at Mr. Doddemead's, on the 9th of November. COURT. Q. Are you not aware it is not usual to question a person charged with felony without cautioning him that he need not answer? A. My Lord, I had no direct proof he was the man - I wanted to trace the notes - he told me he had taken it of the same person - he said he himself dealt in unredeemed pledges, and that he had sold him guns and watches to the amount of £50 or £60 - I won't be sure which - he said Hadley lived in Kennington-lane - I have since inquired diligently for such a person in Kennington-lane, but could hear of no such person - I went to a great many public-houses and bakers'-shops, and to the tax-gatherer, and could find no such person. Prisoner. When Mr. Forrester entered the room, my wife was in bed and I with her - she was very poorly overnight, and our infant child was with us - the only obstruction the boy made was from the indecent manner in which Forrester and three other officers entered the room, and would not go out while she put on her clothes. D. FORRESTER. She was not in bed when I entered - she was in her chemise - I believe she asked us to withdraw from the room - she was the nearest person I found to the door when I entered - I had felt somebody pushing the door. Prisoner. They having entered the room at that hour without producing any authority, I made to the little room, to know where the robbers were coming in. Witness. It was on a Sunday morning, about twenty minutes after eight o'clock - I was requested to withdraw while his wife dressed, but there were only two of us in the room at the time. Prisoner. There were no steps to go down from the little room. Witness. There were steps leading down stairs from the little room - I went up the next day without moving them - they stood under a sort of trap-door leading into this little room. Prisoner. When Mr. Forrester asked me where I got the notes, I made no hesitation in saying I took them from Hadley - I was then taken away by two officers to a public-house at the corner of Vauxhall-bridge, and from there was driven about to two or three tradesmen, the hatter and tailor, and then we were driven to the Mansion-house (without their stating the charge or showing me any authority) with my wife and child; and my wife and child were locked up all the night in the Compter. Witness. The child was locked up with you at your own request; your wife had changed one of the notes. MR. BODKIN. Q. You had no directions to apprehend him, but was employed in tracing the notes through the different hands of the persons who had possessed them? A. Yes. COURT. Q. Did not you go there with a full intention of bringing him away in custody if you found him? A. Yes; and I put the questions to him with a view of using them against him afterwards. JOSEPH WEAVER . I am in the employ of Mr. Burlton, pawnbroker, of Bedford-row, Walworth - I know the prisoner's wife - she paid me this £5 note on Saturday, the 2nd of November - the prisoner was not present - it is No. 20,893, dated the 12th of September, 1833. HENRY HUDSON. I am a coffee-house-keeper, and live in Charles-street, Covent Garden - I have known the prisoner ten or twelve years - his name is John Coveney - I knew him keeping a tavern in London by that name, and I knew his family; it is the name they all go by - I have seen him write (looking at the cheque) - it is ten years since I saw him write - he used to write some such hand as that - I cannot safely form a belief whose handwriting it is - if I was asked if I thought it like his handwriting, I should say yes, but I cannot swear it - I think the letters like it - I think it such a kind of hand as he used to write - I have a faint belief that it is like his handwriting. Q. Do you believe it to be his handwriting or not? A. I should think it is not his handwriting then - I cannot say it is his. COURT. Q. You think it is not? A. I think it is not. ROBERT YORSTON . I am a law stationer, and live in Chancery-lane - I have known the prisoner about nineteen years - his name is John Coveney - I have not seen him write these nine or ten years - before that I have seen him write a great deal - I have seen the cheque; the words"Barnett" and "London" have a strong resemblance to his handwriting - if the cheque was put into my hand unaccompanied by any observation, it would not strike me as his writing - looking at it apart from this transaction, I should not have formed a belief that it was his; but my attention has been drawn to it, and I have looked at it particularly - I trace his character of handwriting about it - it is evidently a disguised hand. COURT. Q. You were well acquainted with his writing nine or ten years ago? A. Yes; I have letters of his by me which he wrote then - my memory has been refreshed by having letters of his before me within the last three days - I trace his character of handwriting - I cannot swear it is his - I should say the words "Barnett" and "London" are much like it. Q. If you took the paper up and was asked whose it was, without this circumstance being known, should you have said it was his? A.Perhaps I should - I don't think the signature is his handwriting; taking it altogether, I am more inclined to believe it is his handwriting than that it is not, from the character of handwriting - handwriting varies - sometimes persons writing in the same room from practice will write the same character; but we in the trade know how to distinguish them.(The cheque was here put in and read.) Prisoner's Defence (written)."I reside at No. 6, Vauxhall-walk, Lambeth - I am a decorative painter by trade, and also a purchaser of pawnbrokers' tickets or duplicates, and unredeemed pledges. On Thursday, the 31st of October last, I sold to a person, by the name of William Hadley , the under-mentioned articles: - Eight watches, two gold seals, three double-barrelled percussion guns, three brace of pistols and cases, two large navy-blue cloaks (lined with white), one ditto military (lined with red), a barometer, &c. The whole lot amounted to £61. He paid me three £10 notes, five £5 notes, and six sovereigns. He had more notes and gold, and wished to make a further purchase, but the articles did not suit him. He desired a bill for what he had purchased, which he made out himself, my being unable to write by a severe wound I had received by a cut on my middle finger, right hand. On my asking where he might be met with, provided he did not go to sea immediately, he wrote two or three addresses on a slip of paper; also gave me a card - ' William Hadley , third mate, H. C. S. Marquis of Camden, or Hastings,' I cannot say which, the card being either mislaid or destroyed by my little daughter. Hadley sent my son for a coach, and put the goods in, and drove off towards the City. On that day, my son and myself were at Battersea and Chelsea, from ten in the morning till we arrived home at five o'clock, where Hadley was waiting to see me: he appeared in a great hurry, and I produced the articles he wished; he looked them over and made the purchase. On that evening I went with my two sons to Walworth, about a house I was then taking; I was there till nine o'clock, and then returned home, after making a few purchases, and did not go out again. The next evening, Friday, the 1st of November, being then about to place my son in the fish trade, we proceeded to Smithfield, to a Mr. Burchfield, a scale-maker, to whom I was recommended, and purchased a weighing machine, fish-knives, weights, &c. I tendered him for payment a £10 note: he gave me the change; but sent the note out for that purpose: he gave me a bill of parcels, and dated it the 31st of October. I made a remark immediately, and said, "You have made a mistake of a day; this is the 1st of November;" but I said it was of no consequence, and put the bill in my pocket-book: he found his mistake: we took the goods with us - my son being with me at the time of the purchase. I gave my wife 20l. to pay bills and make purchases. About two years or more,(nearly three years ago,) I purchased a great number of tickets of a person by name Cooper, which pledges were principally at Mr. Burlton's. My wife was known by the name of Cooper: it was for no felonious intent that the names were given on the notes, but only by the address that Hadley gave me. It was not likely I should give or pay notes away in a neighbourhood where I was so well known, having removed from there only a few months ago, and was on the point of going back again. DANIEL FORRESTER re-examined. Q. Where did you apprehend the prisoner? A. At No. 6, Vauxhall-walk, Lambeth - I think it is in Surrey - he was committed from the Mansion-house to Newgate, for the City of London - he was in custody at the Mansion-house - I did not see him in custody at Newgate. MR. WILLIAM WADHAM COPE (Governor of Newgate). The prisoner was committed from the Mansion-house as a London prisoner. MR. BARNETT. Our banking-house is in the parish of St. Edmund the King and Martyr. MR. HUDSON. Up to the time I knew the prisoner, which was ten years ago, he bore a good character - I had known him many years before. JURY to RICHARD HOWELL. Q. Are you in the habit of writing cheques in this manner? A. No; I write on printed cheques only - I certainly have allowed other persons to fill up my cheques for me - I never sent a plain cheque - I occasionally allow persons to fill up cheques- they were always printed, and always signed by myself. JURY to GEORGE SEWELL. Q. On the cheque being presented, did you take sufficient notice to identify the prisoner? A. I looked at the cheque, having a doubt of it, and then looked attentively at the man, who appeared to me a sort of tradesman - I thought him incapable of forging a cheque, and handed it to Mr. Barnett - I decline to swear to the prisoner - I have no doubt at all of his being the person - I believe him to be the man - I am satisfied of it myself, but decline to swear it. GUILTY of uttering only . Aged 53. - Transported for Life