(Vol. iv., p. 434.)
The case related by MR. GATTY is interesting, but requires sifting.
Perhaps he will be good enough to do it, or to put me on the trail. As
the energetic sister may be a reader of "N. & Q.," I do not wish to
annoy her by printing the forger's name, but I shall be glad to have the
place and date of the conviction.
About twenty years ago, the rule of hanging for forgery was broken in
the case of Fry, a school-master, who was sentenced to death without any
hope of mercy, and not reprieved till he had heard the "condemned
sermon"--I think, not till the day before that which was fixed for his
execution. He showed great fear; rolled upon the chapel floor, and
delivered to the sheriffs a well-written protest against the right to
inflict capital punishment. His being spared caused much surprise; and
between that event and the abolition of the punishment of death for
forgery, few, if any, were executed for that crime.
The sister, falling, at the feet of Baron G----, who "was notorious for
his unflinching obduracy," is a melo-dramatic event which, I think,
would have found its way to the newspapers. But the most extraordinary
thing is the conclusion:
"The forger was placed in the hulks prior to transportation; and
before this took place he had forged a pass or order from the Home
Secretary's office for his own liberation, which procured his
release, and he was never afterwards heard of."
Letters to convicts in the hulks are opened by the officers before being
delivered to the prisoners. It is not usual for the Home Secretary to
write to a convict enclosing "a pass or order." On the contrary, a
pardon is attended with a good number of formalities, and without one I
do not think that any convict would have been allowed to quit the
vessel. In that class of prisoners, leave of absence on parole, or a
"day rule," would have been something peculiar enough to make the
turnkey ask, "Where did you get this?" In short, a convict who made his
escape as described must be as extraordinary a person as the strong
American, who could sit in a basket and lift himself upon a table by the
handles.
"She returned to the city at which the assizes had been held just
as they were concluded. The two judges were in the act of
descending the cathedral nave, after partaking of the Holy
Sacrament, when," &c.
It is usual for the judges to attend divine service on the
commission-day if they arrive soon enough, or the day after if they do
not. If a Sunday occur during the sitting of the commission, they also
attend; but I never knew, and on inquiring I cannot hear, that they ever
so attended at the close of the assizes, when they are always glad to
get on to the next town, if the circuit is not concluded, and away
altogether if it is.