At this time it was customary for certain privileged persons to frank letters by merely signing their names upon them and adding the word "free." In this case the forged promissory note bore the words "for myself and partners" followed by the signature, and the Attorney-General pointed out in his speech for the prosecution that this had been done by erasing the two "e's" of "free," inserting an "o" between the "f" and "r," and then adding the additional words. It was also alleged that the ink in the stroke of the beginning of the letter "m" in the word "my" was in an older kind of ink, and probably originally formed part of one of the "e's" in the word "free." The old creases in the paper were also such as might have been produced by the folding of the cover of a letter. Philip Booth denied the authenticity of the handwriting, and was then questioned further:-- "Are they in the same ink?" To which he replied, "I take them to be of a different ink." The prisoner was found guilty and condemned to stand thrice in the pillory, to pay a heavy fine, and to suffer five years' imprisonment. He died the same year in Newgate. Two celebrated trials for forgery in which evidence as to the authenticity of handwriting was given, took place in 1775, and the justice of the verdicts was hotly discussed for long afterwards. In the first of these trials Robert and Daniel Perreau, twin brothers, were accused of a series of frauds by means of false bonds, while in the second trial Caroline Rudd, who had given evidence for the Crown against the Perreaus in the first trial, was indicted for the same offence. According to the contemporary accounts Robert Perreau was an "apothecary of great practice," while his brother "lived in the _stile_ of a gentleman." The evidence went to prove that Robert Perreau asked Drummond, the banker, to lend him £5,000 upon the security of a bond for £7,500 which, he alleged, had been given to his brother Daniel Perreau by a Mr. William Adair. Mr. Drummond questioned the authenticity of the signature upon the bond, which he therefore retained for further examination, promising to return it the next day or to advance the money for the loan. In the meantime he showed it to the Secretary of the Admiralty, who at once agreed that the signature was a forgery. The next day Perreau willingly accompanied Drummond to Mr. William Adair who promptly denied all knowledge of the bond. The Perreaus and Mrs. Rudd now attempted to escape in a coach, but were arrested and charged with forgery before Sir John Fielding at the Westminster Guildhall. Similar charges of obtaining money from other persons by means of bonds, all of which had been signed with the name of William Adair, were brought, and after Mrs. Rudd had given evidence that she had forged the signatures at their instigation, the two brothers were committed for trial at the Old Bailey.