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AMONG crimes connected
with banking in Scotland, forgery of the notes of the various banks
appears to have been the favourite. So far as one can judge, however,
practice did not make perfection; for the imitations do not seem to have
been clever, and many of them must have been clumsy work, hardly
calculated to deceive any but the most ignorant people. But, perhaps, in
those days, that class of person, common enough at all times, formed a
considerable portion of the community. Forgeries began soon after the
first issue of bank notes; but the period during which the crime was
most common appears to have been the second half of the 18th century.
The first quarter of the 19th century was also, however, an active time
in this special industry. On detection, the culprits were dealt with in
the drastic fashion of the good old times. The usual penalty was
hanging; but that sentence was sometimes modified to whipping and
transportation for life. It need not be supposed that this alternative
was dictated by the "quality of mercy." There is more reason to suppose
that the physical condition of the prisoner would influence the judgment
of the court, whether he should patriotically die for or "leave his
country for his country's good" as a prospective sturdy labourer in his
Majesty's plantations. It is noticeable that the forgeries were almost,
if not entirely, confined to the small notes. While the number of
forgeries was large, it does not appear that either the banks or the
public suffered heavily by them.
We are indebted to the
writer of the Historical Account of the Bank of Scotland for the
earliest notices of forgeries. The first of the four cases he mentions
occurred about the end of February 1700. "One Thomas Macghie, who was
bred a Scholar, but poor, of a good Genius and ready Wit, of an aspiring
Temper, and desirous to make an Appearance in the World, but wanting a
Fund convenient for his Purpose, was tempted to try his Hand upon
Banknotes. . . . By artful Razing, he altered the Word Five, in the Five
Pound Note, and made it Fifty." But the "Check-book and Record" were so
carefully kept that the villany was soon discovered. The villain
himself, however, escaped to try his aspiring scholarship in foreign
countries.
"In September 1710, one
Robert Fleming, a very poor Man, who taught an English School at
Hamilton, was taken up for cheating some poor People with Twenty
Shilling's Notes, all wrote with his own Hand, and a dark Impression
made like the Seal of the Bank. He was prosecuted for the Forgery; and
on his own Confession found guilty, and condemned to Death; but, having
been reprived by Her late Majesty several Times, and at last during
Pleasure, he after Her Majesty's death obtained a Remission." What
inspired Queen Anne's great clemency on this occasion does not appear.
A new forgery of 20s.
notes appeared in January 1723; "but tho the Directors took all Pains to
discover the Author, and that they had Jealousy of some, yet they could
never fix upon any particular Person as guilty."
Another forgery of 20s.
notes was discovered about the middle of November 1726. Before
announcing the forgery, the bank got a "List of all the Engravers, and
such as keep Tailliedouce Printing-Presses in and about the City, and
obtained a Warrant from my Lord Justice-clerk for a Search." The search,
however, discovered nothing. "But on Sabbath Evening, 25th December said
year, Information being brought to the Secretary of the Bank that there
was good Ground to believe, that one John Currie, a Bookbinder, was the
Forger, at least accessory and privy thereto; and a Bit of Paper being
shown him, which Currie's servant found in his Work-house, with an
Impression on it . . . of these Words BANK OF SCOTLAND he was thereby
convinced." Further search supplied more evidence. Currie was arrested,
and eventually confessed to "having done the whole Forgery." His trial,
however, had seemingly not been concluded at the time our author wrote,
for he closes the incident by remarking, "But whether Currie will be
subjected to the Pain of Death, or an arbitrary Punishment, I cannot
say."
The absence of a special
chronicler occasions a hiatus of twenty-one years in our record; for
there is but little reason to suppose that that period was unmarked by
experiences similar to those immediately preceding and following it.
The next case of which we
have details is that of Archibald Currie, a wright, who was tried, in
1747, by the Court of Session for forging notes of the Royal Bank, and,
being remitted to the Justiciary Court, was, on his own petition, with
consent of the Lord Advocate, ordered to be banished to the plantations,
with certification that, if he return, he shall be whipped monthly till
retransported. Three years later, John Young, who had been "a serjeant
in Col. Rich's foot " (as he is concisely designated), was executed in
the Grassmarket, Edinburgh, for "forging and fabricating" notes of the
same bank, and "uttering them as true." Some months afterwards a fellow
soldier and accomplice was allowed to elect banishment to New England,
with the usual notice of the welcome which would await him should he
give way to home-sickness. He loved his country, however, not wisely but
too well; for we find that he was again apprehended in Edinburgh and
duly whipped through that city.
There is record, without
particulars, of "a precognition at Banff, in 1765, about a vitiate Note
of the Dundee Bank." An advertisement regarding a forged note of the
British Linen Company appeared that same year; during which also there
was a prosecution of a James Baillie, in Dundee, who was pilloried and
transported for forging bank notes. The Thistle Bank notes appear to
have been repeatedly forged ; for, in 1768, what is described as
"another forgery " was discovered, for which offence Wm. Herries, Ayr,
was taken up on suspicion, tried and hanged. Mr. Boase states that he
had issued 452 £1 notes, and had in his possession 9677 more,
which were burned after his trial. In 1774 both the Bank of Scotland and
the British Linen Company advertised forgeries of their notes, and
offered £100 rewards for discovery of the offenders. The subjects were
the guinea and £1 plates respectively. Next year there was a curious
case in London, when Thomas Bell was charged with intending to forge
notes of the Bank of Scotland. It is said that he got paper made with
the bank's watermark, and asked an engraver to print the notes. The
latter, however, being as canny as the Scot, made a preliminary inquiry
which stopped the game. The prisoner was, however, acquitted.
The Royal Bank guinea
notes were forged in 1776; and, a few years later, the same denomination
of the Bank of Scotland was similarly treated. For the latter crime,
David Reid, merchant in Manchester, was arrested, and, after a prolonged
trial in the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary, in
Edinburgh, found guilty. The execution took place in the Grass-market,
13th September 1780, on which occasion he made a full confession,
delivered a long and solemn warning to the crowd, and generally
conducted himself in a manner which is stated to have been "decent and
becoming in a very uncommon degree," concluding with particularly
appropriate devotions. [Caledonian Mercury, 24th June to 13th September
1780.] Next year another forgery of the same bank's guinea notes was
dealt with at the trial of a journeyman watchmaker from Falkirk, John
Brown. The jury found it proven that he engraved the " brass plate," but
not proven that he adhibited the subscriptions to, or issued any of the
three notes produced. The judges "animadverted very severely on the
verdict, but," pursues the recorder, [Caledonian.3fercury, 10th, 12th,
and 14th March 1781.] "the jury bore it with truly Christian patience."
We now come to a case in
which one is apt to feel that the prisoner got more justice than mercy.
The culprit, John Macafee, was an ignorant soldier of the 77th regiment,
then quartered in Ireland, and appears to have become the tool of some
Irish blackguards. He was apprehended at Campbeltown, in 1782, for
passing four forged notes in imitation of a British Linen £1 plate of
13th May 1774, the date being altered to 1776. He confessed that he was
employed by people in Ireland who professed to have successfully
committed forgeries on several of the other banks in Scotland. What is
specified as "a bundle" of the forged notes, which he had got a boy to
secrete, was found. The paper was coarse and ill-coloured. "We have seen
one of them," says the narrator, [Ibid., 6th July 1782.] "and do not
think the Public run any risque of being deceived by them." Macafee was
tried at the circuit court at Inveraray, before Lord Gardenstone. The
jury, by a majority, found him guilty of the forgery or being accessory
to it (the former proposition was quite improbable) and, unanimously, of
issuing the four notes; which verdict the judge reported to the High
Court at Edinburgh. After a careful consideration of his case, he was
sentenced to be hanged; and, six months after his capture, was executed
in the Grass-market, in a spirit of contrition and resignation.
A forgery of the 20s.
note (2nd May 1781) of the Aberdeen Banking Company was discovered in
1783, the notes being uttered in Paisley. In the following May a man
named Steven, and his two sons, were tried at Glasgow for the crime.
They escaped, however, owing to "a principal evidence" not having come
from Ireland, while they were "running their letters" (the Scottish form
of habeas corpus), which ran out the day after the trial. The father and
the eldest son were, however, recommitted for theft. [Caledonian
Mercury, 17th May 1784.] The sequel to this incident is striking. The
"principal evidence" was an accomplice, Thomas Moreton, who had
decamped. He appears to have been murdered a year or two later, and one
of the younger Stevens, Thomas, was hanged at Glasgow, in 1785, as the
culprit. He persisted to the last in denying the crime. He walked to the
place of execution dressed in black clothes, with "weepers" and a crape
hat-band; and his body was delivered to Professor Hamilton for
dissection. This was the ninth execution in Glasgow within twelve
months.
The guinea note of the
Bank of Scotland was again the subject of forgery in 1784. It was dated
1st March 1780, and appears to have been a good imitation. But the paper
was common, and there were several small differences from the original.
The Bank offered a reward of one hundred guineas. Either thesame or
another forgery of this note appeared the next year.
At this time there seems
to have been much counterfeit copper in circulation, which occasioned a
prevalent refusal of halfpence, to the great inconvenience of the poor.
By an advertisement, [Caledonian Mercury, 23rd February 1785. For
further particulars see Scots Magazine, 1789, pp. 202 and 256.] thirty
Edinburgh merchants intimated their intention to accept all genuine
halfpence, but no larger payment than 5-d. in copper at a time. Along
with this appeared a supporting notice by the magistrates. The
Procurator Fiscal at the same time warned persons refusing "halfpence of
his present Majesty's [George III.] coin" that they are bound to receive
such in payments up to the amount stated in the statutes, and that they
will be prosecuted for refusal. "Similar action was taken by the
shop-keepers of Leith, who had at first resolved to accept only the Old
Scots halfpence, King William's, and those of Kings George I. and II.
Notwithstanding all exertions, however, the poorer people were so
alarmed that they refused George III. halfpence in payments or in
change, and penalties had to be repeatedly inflicted before the
erroneous notion that all these were bad could be removed.
In this year (1785) Neil
M`Lean was executed at Glasgow, in the Castle Yard, for uttering forged
notes of the Glasgow Arms Bank. We are told that "he appeared penitent,
and went to the place of execution with great composure, but laboured
under a misconception of the nature of his crime." What the
misconception was we are tantalisingly not informed; but if, as seems
probable, M'Lean was an illiterate Highlander, he might not understand
the sassenach's metaphysical distinction between good and spurious
pieces of printed paper; and perhaps felt that a less severe penalty
might have sufficed.
Another imitation of the
British Linen Company's £1 note, dated 2nd August 1781, and another of
their guinea note dated 1st August 1683 [sic, but presumably meant for
178 3], appeared later in the year. "They were both wholly done with a
pen, and written on common paper, whereas the real notes, except the
number and names, are all copper-plate impressions printed on the
Company's own paper bearing the water-mark British Linen Co. on the £ 1
notes, and B. Linen Co. on the guinea note." The usual reward, one
hundred guineas, was offered, but we hear of no result.
A somewhat serious
forgery of another kind was discovered about this time in Edinburgh.
Thomas Mercer, a writer, got three bills of £200 each discounted, one at
the Bank of Scotland, another at the Royal Bank, and the third at
Forbes' Bank; all of which were subsequently found to have been forged
by Mercer.
Hunters & Co., Ayr,
advertised a forgery of their guinea note in 1789. "The note is dated
1st August 1781, the written figures in the date and number were very
ill done, the features of the impression of the king's head are very
unlike the original; it is printed on thinner and coarser paper, of a
bluish colour, and without any water-mark, by which it is easily
distinguished from the real notes of the Company." [Caledonian Mercury,
19th January 1789.] The usual reward seems to have failed to discover
the authors.
An unsatisfactory case
also occurred in this year. At a fair in Kilmarnock a countryman sold
his horse, and when he was to receive payment he objected to the most
part of the notes offered. The purchaser, thus challenged, stept to the
door, and did not return. The notes, which purported to be the guinea
issue of the Paisley Bank, proved to be forgeries. John Brown, a farmer
in Ayrshire, being suspected of the offence, was committed to jail; but
there seems to have been some doubt of his identity with the impostor.
He was, however, sentenced to be hanged at Glasgow, which fate he met
with great firmness and devout behaviour. [Ibid. 19th November 1789.
Courant, 3rd May 1790.]
Early in 1790, William
Robertson was tried for forgery, or uttering knowingly a guinea note of
the Bank of Scotland, and attempting to utter another. He pleaded
guilty, and, as a mitigated punishment, owing to his confession, was
sentenced to be "banished beyond the seas for fourteen years, and to
suffer death without benefit of clergy, in case of his returning before
the lapse of that time." Whether the sentence was carried out or not is
uncertain, for it appears that he had to be sent to the Royal Infirmary,
where the death with which he was threatened may have overtaken him, in
which case let us hope that he was afforded all the consolations that
man can permit or withhold.
Forged guinea notes of
the Glasgow Arms Bank appeared about this time. They were dated 1st
April 1784. The paper was of a coarser quality than the genuine, of
softer texture, with a bluish cast in the colour. The ink was brownish,
and there were other defects. For this crime Wm. Carsewell was tried. In
1798, a number of notes purporting to be guinea notes of "The Company of
the Bank of Aberdeen," a company which had no existence, were in
circulation. By this artifice the accusation of forgery was avoided;
but, of course, it was a case of wilful imposition. As, however, the
ingenious culprits were clever enough to preserve their incognito, the
courts had no opportunity of discussing the interesting questions
connected with their action.
A rather absurd case is
recorded by Mr. Boase. "On 25th August 1800, a forgery of the 5s. notes
of the Dundee Commercial Bank, all executed with a pen, by one James
Martin, was discovered. On the bank applying to the Procurator-Fiscal to
prosecute him, the answer was that the prosecution of such offenders was
always left to the banks themselves. This the bank declined, on the
ground that only eight notes had appeared, and these so badly done, that
no person familiar with the genuine notes could be deceived by them."
The annoyance caused by so many forgeries led to "an agreement being
entered into by the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank that if
forgeries were attempted upon the notes of either of them, the trials
should be carried on at the joint-expense of both these banks, and it is
said they determined to let no offender pass against whom they could
bring proof." [Scots Magazine, 1800, p. 574.] Forgeries of the guinea
notes of both the Renfrewshire Bank and the Commercial Bank appeared in
1822; and the Dundee Union Bank's £1 notes were forged in 1824; but no
particulars are supplied regarding these cases.
A specimen in the
author's possession shows a well-executed forgery of the Royal Bank £1
issue dated 1st December 1823. The heavy engraving is fairly good, but
the lighter work is imperfect. The bank's seal is represented with
considerable minuteness; and the signatures, written date, and numbers
are good and natural. The paper, however, is hard, unlike what is used
for bank-notes, and does not show a watermark. This must have been a
dangerous fraud, likely to impose readily on the public. Perhaps owing
to this incident, we find a genuine note of 9th May 1832 of a totally
different design; while one of 9th November of that year again shows a
change to what, in general aspect, is similar to the current issues; the
principal differences being that the custom of stating the amount in the
body as "Twenty Shillings " was still continued, and the printing had
not yet been changed to colour.
There were many other
forgeries, some of which were audacious and well executed, during the
19th century; but we must rest content meantime with having dealt thus
fully with what may be called the mediĉval period of Scottish banking. |
