Feb. 29, 1849, _Central Criminal Court_.—Robert Duncan, aged 47,
staymaker, Mary Duncan, his wife, who surrendered to take her trial, and
Pierce Wall O’Brien, aged 30, printer, were indicted for conspiring
together to obtain money from the London and North-Western Railway
Company by false pretences.
From the statement of Mr. Clarkson and the evidence, it appeared that the
charges made against the prisoners involved a most impudent attempt at
fraud. It appears that on the 5th of September last year an accident
occurred to the up mail train from York, near the Leighton Buzzard
station, but, although some injury was occasioned to the train, it seemed
that none of the passengers received any personal injury. On the 26th of
October following, however, the company received a communication from Mr.
Harrison, requiring compensation on behalf of defendant, Robert Duncan,
for an injury alleged to have been sustained by his wife upon the
occasion of the collision referred to, it being represented, also, that
her brother, the defendant O’Brien, who was travelling with her at the
time from York, had likewise received serious injury by the same
accident. The company immediately sent a medical gentleman to the place
described as the residence of these persons, No. 59, George Street,
Southwark, and he there saw the man Robert Duncan, who represented that
his wife was dangerously ill, and that the result of the accident on the
railway was a premature confinement, and that her life was in danger.
Mr. Porter was then introduced to the female defendant, whom he found in
bed, apparently in great pain, and she confirmed her husband’s statement.
In the same house the prisoner O’Brien was found in bed, and he also told
the same story about the accident on the railway. It appeared that some
suspicion was entertained by the company of the general character of the
transaction, and they had been instituting inquiries. On the 2nd of
November they received another letter from the prisoner Robert Duncan, in
which he made an offer to accept £60 for the injury his wife had
received, and also stating that Mr. O’Brien was willing to accept a
similar amount for the damage he had sustained. At this it appeared Mr.
Harrison resolved not to have anything further to do with the matter,
unless he received satisfactory proof of the truth of the story told by
the parties; and another solicitor was employed by the defendants, who
brought an action against the company for damages for the alleged injury,
and he proceeded so far as to give notice of trial. The case, however,
never went before a jury in that shape, and by this time it was
discovered that there was no truth in the story told by the defendants.
It was proved at the period when the accident was alleged to have
occurred to the female defendant, she was residing with her husband, and
was in her usual health. With regard to O’Brien, there was no evidence
to show that he was upon the train at the time the accident happened,
but, according to the testimony of a witness named Darke, during the
period when the negotiation was going on with the company, O’Brien
requested him to write a letter to Mr. Harrison to the effect that he was
riding in the same carriage with Mrs. Duncan and her brother at the time
of the accident, and he was aware of her having been injured, and gave
him a written statement to that effect, which he copied. This witness,
in cross-examination, admitted that at the time he wrote the statement he
was perfectly well aware it was false, and he also said that
notwithstanding this, he made no difficulty in doing what O’Brien
requested, and also that he should have been ready to make a solemn
declaration of the truth of the statement if he had been required to do
so.
A verdict of “Not Guilty” was taken as to the female prisoner, on the
ground that she was acting under the control of her husband. The jury
returned a verdict of “Guilty” against the two male defendants.
Mr. Clarkson said he was instructed to state that, at the period of the
catastrophe on board the Cricket steam-boat, the prisoners obtained a sum
of £70 from the company to which that vessel belonged, by the false
pretence that they had received injury upon the occasion.
The Recorder sentenced Duncan to be imprisoned for twelve, and O’Brien
for six months.
_Annual Register_.