Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolitionGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolition
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Some years were still to elapse before capital punishment ceased to
be the penalty for forgery, and in the interval several persons were
sentenced and suffered death for this crime. There were two notable
capital convictions for forgery in 1828. One was that of Captain
Montgomery, who assumed the aliases of Colonel Wallace and Colonel
Morgan. His offence was uttering forged notes, and there was strong
suspicion that he had long subsisted entirely by this fraud. The
act for which he was taken into custody was the payment of a forged
ten-pound note for half-a-dozen silver spoons. Montgomery was an adept
at forgery. He had gone wrong early. Although born of respectable
parents, and gazetted to a commission in the army, he soon left the
service and betook himself to dishonest ways. His first forgery was the
marvellous imitation of the signature of the Hon. Mr. Neville, M. P.,
who wrote an extremely cramped and curious hand. He was not prosecuted
for this fraud on account of the respectability of his family, and
soon after this escape he came to London, where he practised as a
professional swindler and cheat. For a long time justice did not
overtake him for any criminal offence, but he was frequently in Newgate
and in the King's Bench for debt. After three years' confinement
in the latter prison he passed himself off as his brother, Colonel
Montgomery, a distinguished officer, and would have married an heiress
had not the imposture been discovered in time. He then took to forging
bank-notes, and was arrested as I have described above. Montgomery was
duly sentenced to death, but he preferred suicide to the gallows. After
sentence his demeanour was serious yet firm. The night previous to that
fixed for his execution he wrote several letters, one of them being to
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a fellow-prisoner, and listened attentively to
the ordinary, who read him the well-known address written and delivered
by Dr. Dodd previous to his own execution for forgery. But next morning
he was found dead in his cell. In one corner after much search a phial
was found labelled "Prussic acid," which it was asserted he had been
in the habit of carrying about his person ever since he had taken to
passing forged notes, as an "antidote against disgrace." This phial
he had managed to retain in his possession in spite of the frequent
searches to which he was subjected in Newgate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account