The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

52.   JOHN OSTERFIELD WRAY (28), and   WILLIAM ANDERSON (42), were indicted for Feloniously sending, on 26th September, to   Montague Augustus Clarke, a letter demanding money, with menaces, and without any reasonable or probable cause; Second Count, for sending on 5th October a letter to the like effect; Third Count, for demanding money with menaces.

MESSRS. METCALFE and HUME WILLIAMS conducted the Prosecution, MESSRS. BIBTON and F. H. LEWIS defended WRAY and MR. KEMP appeared for ANDERSON.

  MONTAGUE AUGUSTUS CLARKE . I am a captain in the 50th Regiment, quartered at Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight, the regiment had recently come from New Zealand—in consequence of seeing some advertisements, or some books, I went up to London to consult Dr. Henery, at 52, Dorset-street—I saw Wray there—I asked him whether he was Dr. Henery, he said, "I am"—this was in August last year, I think about the 17th—I consulted him about some disease that I was troubled with—he gave me very little advice indeed upon the subject—he said he would forward a box of medicine to me—I asked what his charge was—he said a guinea for the advice he had given me, and ten guineas for the medicine—I asked him to send me the medicine in town to the hotel where I was staying—he said it would be much better to forward it to my address where I was living habitually, or something of. that sort—I don't recollect whether I had given him my address at that time, I think not, but I am not quite sure—I gave it him on that, and the medicine was subsequently forwarded, a day or two afterwards—I paid him in cash, 11l 10s., I think it was—I took the medicine and sent for a further supply, I don't exactly know how often—I sent up a cheque each time—I sent six cheques—these are them (produced)—I paid 20l. on one occasion; altogether I paid 84l. or 85 l.—these cheques are drawn in the name of A. F. Henery; and they are all endorsed except one, which was made payable to bearer—these (produced) are the acknowledgments I received—they are generally, "Received your enclosure with thanks, A. F. Henery," one is signed, "Pro A. F. Henery, J. Wright"—after receiving this medicine and paying this money I consulted another medical man; I ceased to have anything further from Dr. Henery—I think I sent him a cheque afterwards for some money that I owed him, but I gave no further orders—I think that was about February, it may have been January or February—I neither saw or heard anything more of the parties till July this year—this letter was then put into my hands, professedly coming from Dr. Henery—I presume it is in his handwriting, it is signed "A. F. Henery."

MR. RIBTON Q. You never saw Dr. Henery write? A. No—I took very little notice of the letter when I received it—I did not intend to have anything to do with the person—if I had picked it up in the street I don't know that I should have had any belief as to its being his writing.

COURT. Q. Have you acquired a sufficient knowledge of the characters of Dr. Henery's writing, from the letters you received from him, to enable you to express an opinion upon it? A. Yes—I have received a number of letters which appear more or less in the same handwriting (Read: "Medical Institution, 52, Dorset-street, Portman-square, London, July, 1864. Consultation hours daily from 10 to 2 A. M., and from 6 to 9 P. M. Post Office

orders to be made payable at the Money Order Office, Duke street, Manchester-square. No. 3, private room, Bugle Hotel, Newport Dear Sir,—Experience has proved that in cases similar to what you are suffering from, a personal interview invariably leads to the advantage of the patient, I therefore have requested the bearer, a gentleman of great experience and skill, to see you as he happens to be in your neighbourhood on a professsional visit Yours truly, A. F. Henery, M. D. W. Anderson.")—I did not reply to that letter, or take any notice of it, neither did I see the man—about two months afterwards the prisoner Anderson came to the barracks—I was informed that a person wanted to see me, and I went out and found it was Anderson—he said, "I come on the part of Dr. Henery," or words to the effect—I said, "I don't wish to have anything further to do with Dr. Henery,"—he said, "Oh, but are you aware that Dr. Henery has a very heavy claim against you?"—I said, "No; I am not,"—he said, "Dr. Henery sent me down because he has a claim of 150l. against you"—I said, it was an impossibility, he could not have such a claim—he said that he had come down in a great hurry; that Dr. Henery had only told him of this claim the night before, and asked him to come down, as he had written several letters to me, and could get no answer—I said I had not received any of the letters, if he had written them—he then went with me over to my quarters—we had some conversation on the subject, and he asked me to give him a cheque for the 150l.—I declined to do so, and as I declined giving him a cheque for 150l. he reduced his demand to 100 guineas—he said, "You had better settle the thing; draw out a cheque for 100 guineas"—I declined that also—he asked me that five or six times at least, and pressed me very much, even when he was leaving, he said, "Oh, you had much better settle the matter; give a cheque for 100l., and let it be over"—I said, "Who are you? You make this claim against me, and I don't even know who you are"—he said, "Oh, it does not matter who I am!"—he declined to give me his name—just before he left, he said he had come down in a great hurry, and asked me to give him some money—I think he said, "Give me a sovereign"—I said, "What for?"—he said for his expenses—I said, "Dr. Henery sent you down; I think he is the man to pay your expenses, not me"—he said, "I came away in so much hurry that really I have very little money in my pocket;" in fact, he led me to believe that be could not get out of the island if I did not give him some money—I wanted to get his name, as he had refused to give it me, and I said, "Very well, if I give you a sovereign, you must understand, I shall demand a receipt for it," and to that he consented, and he wrote the receipt in my presence—he dated it wrong although I told him the right date (Read: "17th November. Received on account of expenses the sum of 1l from Captain Clarke. H. Wilson")—he then left after some time; I sent for a cab to take him away—three or four days afterwards I wrote this letter to Dr. Henery, and posted it in the ordinary way (Read: "19th September, 1864, Park hurst. Sir—a gentleman, describing himself as your agent, called on me last Wednesday, the 15th, and made a claim of 150l., said by him to be due to you by me. As I am quite unaware of owing you such a sum of money, I shall be obliged by your forwarding to me the particulars, that I may hand them to my legal adviser. I was when he called, under the impression that I should be in London on Wednesday or Thursday next. I am not now sure that it may not be a day or two later; to ensure my receiving your communication address to Cox and Co., where I will call for it on my arrival in town"—I forgot to mention that before Anderson left me I proposed to call

on Dr. Henery—he replied that that might be inconvenient unless he knew positively that I was coming up at a certain time—I said, "Why? Dr. Henery advertises that he is to be consulted at such and such on hour every day—he said, "Yes, so he does, but he is out of town very likely; indeed, I have some reason for believing that he is about becoming bankrupt, and he is keeping out of the way"—after writing that letter I received this, dated September 26th—I believe it to be in the same handwriting—the signature most undoubtedly is, and I think also the rest of the letter—

(Read: "Medical Institution (as before). Sir, I regret exceedingly to have to inform you that your letter did not reach me till Saturday night, otherwise it would have received my immediate attention. Nevertheless, I have to remind you that you promised the gentleman who waited upon you at Parkhurst that you would call in Dorset-street, therefore I do not understand your giving so much trouble in the matter. I have to inform you that my claim for 150l. is for medical advice and medicine, for spermatorrhoea, brought on by self-pollution. If you will satisfy my claim without further trouble I will give you a receipt in full of all demands, or sign any paper that you may choose to draw up, so that you shall not be troubled again by your obedt. servant, A. F. Henery. P. S.—I called at Cox and Co. 's this morning, and found you were there on Saturday, so therefore I hope this will reach you there"—That was the first time that such an insinuation as is contained there was made—I handed that letter to my legal adviser, and took no further notice—on 5th October, another letter was put into my hand by my servant; this is it—it is signed, H. Wilson—I believe it to be in the same handwriting as the receipt which Anderson signed—(Read: "Warburton's Hotel, Newport, Private sitting-room, No. 4, Oct 5. Sir. I am here expressly from London to see you, with a view to effect a settlement, if possible, of Dr. Henery's claim, and anticipating your refusal to see me in your quarters is the reason I have penned this, and would recommend you to do so at once, for rely upon it I do not intend journeying here for nothing. Your letter from your solicitor has been received, and I have that and some from yourself, with me. Now, supposing I was to inform you application would be made at the War Office, with an explanation of case, and if we were to do so you know what the consequence would be; or supposing I was to inform you I expected to be in your neighbourhood in Scotland next week, and that I do not intend leaving here, in the event of your still persisting in your refusal to pay, without making known in the neighbourhood for what purpose I am here. I am in no hurry, and will allow you time to reflect whether it will be better to pay Dr. Henery's legal and just claim, or submit to exposure of your filthy case. I have to inform you that I have waited upon one of the oldest solicitors in Plymouth since I saw you, with reference to a claim we had on his son; and, on explaining what we would do in the event of his not paying us, he soon saw the force of what we said, and paid us it. Now the reason I did not tell you what we intended doing in the event of your not paying when I was here before, was because you promised to call in Dorset-street, and relying upon your worked as a gentleman was the only reason I did not do so. Yours obediently, H. Wilson. P. S.—It is useless for you to pretend you are not in quarters, for I knew you to be there (and was there last night when I called) before I left London")—Some of my friends live in Scotland; my father does—I had not mentioned Scotland to either of the prisoners, but I wrote from Scotland once or twice to Dr. Henery, and one parcel of medicine was sent down

there; he knew my address—I placed this letter also in the hands of my legal advisers.

Cross-examined by MR. RIBTON. Q. I suppose, when you came up to London to consult Dr. Henery you were, without going into details, labouring under some malady or other? A. Certainly—I was not aware of its having been for some time—when I saw him I described my symptoms to him—he put certain questions to me which I answered—the interview lasted about five minutes, I think, or somewhere about that time; I can't exactly state how long, it is so long ago—there was a form of examination gone trough; I don't think it was worth much—there was an examination—I don't think there were many questions about my mode of living, as far as I recollect—I told him I was in the army, and what regiment I was in, when he asked for my address—he entered my name in a book—the medicine as not made up then; it was sent to me two or three days afterwards—if I am not mistaken I wrote to ask the cause of the delay—I don't think I received any answer to that letter—I received the medicine, and I suppose he considered that enough—I did not receive any answer stating that there as a difficulty or delay in making it up—I paid him for it when I was there; it was a box containing twelve bottles—I have not consumed all the medicine—I don't know what has become of the rest—I gave one bottle up to the solicitor—Dr. Henery gave me general directions as to the regimen I should follow; printed directions—I have not got them, I burnt them—I ought they were of no use—I did not follow those directions further than had been following them all my life—he recommended cleanliness and exercise, and so on; all those sort of things I have been in the habit of ending to all my life—there were certain articles that he recommended me not to eat, and he recommended bathing—he said I ought to follow those directions; at the same time I was to take the medicine—I derived certain benefit from it, up to a certain point; there is no doubt of that—as I received the subsequent boxes of medicine I sent him up a cheque for them 10 one recommended me to consult my own family physician; I did it of own free will.

Cross-examined by MR. KEMP. Q. Upon any of the occasions on which I went to Dr. Henery's place, did you see Anderson? A. I did not—I was never there but once—I did not see Anderson on that occasion, no one but Henery and the boy who let me in—all the communications I had with Henery after that were in writing—I only saw Anderson once, to the best of my belief—he did not give me any letter personally—he sent me letters, but never delivered them to me—the receipt was the only occasion a which I saw him write—when I saw him he told me that Dr. Henery had a claim against me—at first, he said 150l.—I did not say, "It cannot be as much as that; I think a cheque for 20l. or 30l. would settle his bill"—nothing of the kind—I said I acknowledged owing Dr. Henery for a box of medicine, which I was perfectly prepared to pay—that was ten guineas; but I could not possibly pay anything more, and would not pay it—I told him I would communicate with Dr. Henery—I did not say that my regiment would be at Gravesend shortly—I probably said I should be going to Gravesend shortly, and that in coming back through town I would see Dr. Henery—I did not see him—I wrote to him previously, therefore I did not think it necessary—I had no written communications with Anderson—he once wrote to me—I never wrote to him.

MR. RIBTON. Q. I suppose you went to Dr. Henery in consequence of seeing some advertisement in the paper; were you, as a matter of fact,

or did you believe you were, suffering from a disease that is called spermatorrhaea? A. Yes, I believed so.

MR. METCALFE. Q. You have consulted your medical man about it since, I believe Í A. I have—I was in the Crimea, and was wounded there—I think very likely my constitution was damaged by exposure—I was very badly wounded, and I have suffered very much since—I was only wounded once; but I was very badly shot in the head.

  ALEXANDER THOMPSON . I am a clerk in the London and Westminster Bank, Holborn branch—there is an account kept there in the name of J. O. Wray—to the best of my belief the endorsements on these cheques is in the handwriting of the person keeping that account—I know Mr. Wray—it is the prisoner—these cheques were passed to his account.

  EDWARD CHARLES RYLEY . I am a gentleman, living at Letherhead—I am acquainted with the prosecutor—on 17th October last, I was in the chambers of his solicitor, Mr. Fry, in Dane's-inn—while there the prisoner Anderson entered the room—when his name was announced, I asked Mr. Fry if I should retire—he said no, I had better remain, and on that the clerk showed Anderson into the room—Mr. Fry asked him what he came there for—he said, "I called in the matter of Captain Clarke," or words to that effect, "to know why Dr. Henery's claim is not paid"—I am not quite sure that he mentioned the name of Dr. Henery; but he said, "I have come in the matter of Captain Clarke to know why the claim is not I paid"—Mr. Fry said, "I am surprised that you should make such a claim I after that threatening letter," or words to that effect; upon which Anderson I said, "Oh, I wrote the letter, and signed it in the name of Wilson, because I thought if I signed it in my own name Captain Clarke would deny himself, and not see me;" upon which Mr. Fry said, "Well, the claim will not be paid, and I think it is as well to tell you that further proceedings will be taken;" upon that Anderson withdrew.

Cross-examined by MR. KEMP. Q. Did he make no reply to that? A. I don't think he did—I think he said, "Very well," or something of that sort, and then left—I was present during the whole of the conversation.

  EDWARD WHITE (Police-sergeant, D 16). On 22d October, I went to 52, Dorset-street—on that day the case was to be heard at the Police-court—Anderson appeared there on that day—Henery did not—in consequence of his not appearing, au officer who accompanied me received a warrant to apprehend him—I went to the second floor front room, and saw the prisoner Henery, or Wray, in bed—I said, "Now, Henery, come, get up; this warrant is for your apprehension. You must attend the Police-court directly"—he had a pocket-handkerchief to his mouth—he said, "I can't get up, I am too ill"—I said, "That is all nonsense; I saw you out yesterday, and you must get up"—he said, "But my name is not Henery, and if the summons had been made out in the name of Wray, I should have attended"—I pulled the clothes off from him, and then saw that he had got his drawers on, and a clean dress-shirt—I said, "Come, get up now; you are well enough to come to the Police-court"—with that he got out of bed—while dressing, he said, "Why don't he pay the money? he knows he owes it"—I said, repeating his words, "He owes it?"—he answered, "Yes, Captain Clarke, and I have his handwriting to prove it"—suiting the action to the word, he went to his coat pocket, and pulled out a packet of letters in an envelope, on the outside of which was written, "Captain Clarke's letters"—he laid the letters down upon a table, and said, "It is among these documents, and I have a complete answer to the charge"—while he was dressing, I was curious

enough to take up the envelope, and take out some of the papers—Henery came to me, and said, "Don't you touch my papers; put them down"—I went to a desk and opened it, and looked oyer some papers—he requested me to close the desk and not interfere with his private papers—I took him into custody—on leaving the house, Captain Clarke was outside, I then told the prisoner that was Captain Clarke—we walked on some distance, and while walking he pulled this packet of letters from his pocket, with Captain Clarke's name outside, and sorted them, and he said, "Can speak to Captain Clarke?" who-was walking behind—I said, "You may if you like"—by that time he had got a particular letter at the top—he turned short back to Captain Clarke and said, "You are Captain Clarke, I believe?"—he made no answer—Wray put his hand on the paper and said, you choose to go on with this matter you will be very sorry for it, for I have your handwriting here to prove that you acknowledge the debt, and must put up with the exposure, for I have a complete answer to the case"—shortly afterwards he said he would not forego his claim whatever's Captain Clarke might take—I have since seen some letters this morning in court which I handed to Mr. Fry—this one was the one which was nearly at bop of the packet—I believe it to be one of those I saw in that packet when ok Wray into custody—I have seen him write several times—I am tainted with his handwriting from seeing him write—to the best of my? if this document is in his handwriting, and I am almost positive it is one hose documents that he produced on that occasion—to the best of my if this other, dated 19th September, is the letter he placed his hand upon when he spoke to Captain Clarke—I saw September, but no date—I believe it to be the letter—I could not speak to this green paper—I saw a piece of writing paper of the same colour, but I could not speak to this—there was a number of them; I should say fifteen or sixteen—these are apparently copies or drafts of the letters that have been read nearly word for word.

Cross-examined by MR. RIBTON. Q. Do you say that it is in the handwriting of Wray? A. To the best of my belief it is—this morning was the first time I saw it, and I was of that opinion the first time I had it in my hand—this morning was the first time I had it in my hand—I have not the slightest doubt it was one of the papers I saw the prisoner with when I took him into custody—this morning was the first time I read it—this is the first time it has been offered in evidence—I have seen Wray write at toe police-station—I have seen him write his name, address, and profession; that was all—I have seen him do that six, seven, or eight times at the Marylebone police-station—I should say at least five times his name, address, and occupation—from that I speak to the best of my belief to his handwriting—I have one of his signatures here (producing a charge sheet)—I saw writing in his desk, and that was the same—I have looked at the charge-sheet since this paper was shown to me this morning, and I have compared several letters with it—it is not by that comparison I judge—before I compared it directly it was put into my hand I was of opinion that it was his writing—that was not from comparing it with the handwriting in the charge-sheet—he has a peculiar way of holding his pen, and directly this was put into my hand I believed it was his handwriting—he writes a very free hand, and that is the way he writes—I judge from the way of holding his pen and the free-ness of the writing altogether, combined with seeing his signature—I have not founded my belief entirely on comparing it with his signature—I saw a lot of his writing in his room when I apprehended him, and I have also seen him write at the station; never anywhere else—I said I did not want the

assistance of the charge sheet to enable me to form an opinion about it—I do not found my opinion on that, but on his style of writing, and also from the documents I saw in his room that morning—I read several of them—I did not take possession of them—they were in his desk—I could tell you what was written on some of them.

Cross-examined by MR. KEMP. Q. How long have you known Henery as living at this place? A. I have known him for the last eight years; I should say he has lived at No. 52 Dorset-street seven years—the first time I saw Anderson with Henery was somewhere about eight or ten months since—that was not in the shop; outside in Baker-street—I have never seen him in the shop, but I have seen him with Henery more or less for the last three mouths—between those periods I was in the habit of frequently seeing Henery—I have seen Anderson with him more than once, but not so much as the last three months—eight or nine months ago was the first time I saw Anderson with him, but for the last three months I have seen him with him him more frequently than before.

MR. METCALFE. Q. Have you seen Anderson at the place in Dorset-street? A. Not there; I have seen him come from there, and I have seen them in company—eight or nine months ago I saw him coming from the shop, but not in the shop—(This paper being read, contained drafts of the three letters read)—I received that paper this morning in Court from the clerk to Mr. Herring, Wray's former solicitor; also the two letters of Captain Clarke's dated 19th September and 20th August—when Wray was first taken into custody Mr. Herring appeared for him, and in the police-court he handed over to Mr. Herring the parcel of documents that I had seen in his possession—Mr. Herring afterwards ceased to act for him.

MR. RIBTON. Q. Were you at the police-court on the first occasion? A. No; I was there on the Saturday when the case was gone into—Mr. Herring, first of all, appeared for Anderson, and when I brought Wray to the Court, Mr. Herring said, "I now appear for Wray, sir; we will call him Wray?"—I understood that he did not intend to appear for Anderson—on the next occasion you appeared for Wray, instructed by Mr. Lewis—Mr. Herring then appeared for Anderson.

MR. RIBTON (for Wray) submitted that with respect to the letter charged in the first Count of the indictment, it did not contain anything that amounted to a menace or threat within the meaning of the Statute, and as to the one charged in the second Count, sent by Anderson, it was clearly sent and delivered in the county of Hampshire, and, therefore, out of the jurisdiction of this Court.

MR. LEWIS (on the same side) with respect to the question of venue, urged that even if the Jury should be of opinion that the draft which had been produced was in Wray's writing, that would not bring him within the jurisdiction of this Court; the utmost it would shorn, would be an agreement within the jurisdiction that an offence should be committed by another person out of it; he further urged that a menace must imply a threat of some personal violence.

MR. METCALFE, as to the first objection, contended that coupling the demand of the 150l. with the alleged disgraceful cause of illness, and the subsequent conduct of the prisoners, a menace was clearly intended, and as to the second point, he drew attention to the fact, that the draft-letter was found in London; the strong inference would therefore arise, that the letter written by Anderson was copied from it also in London; at all events, there roas evidence for the Jury to that effect.

MR. RIBTON in reply submitted that if the offence consisted in the writing of the

letter, there might be tome force in the argument, but the offence was the sending and delivering and there was no evidence to show that the letter sent by Anderson was ever in the possession of Wray.

  MR. BARON BRAMWELL , I do not think the first letter comes within the Statute; it contains no menace or threat. A case has been shown me which occurred before my brother Talfourd (see Reg. v. Prescott, Sessions Paper, Vol. 39, p. 82), in which the objection was taken that a menace must imply a threat of personal violence, and it was ruled that need not be so. "(The learned Judge having retired to consult the Recorder, proceeded), "It is unnecessary for me to express any opinion whether this is a menace within the Statute; I think it is very doubtful. I should, if necessary, rule that it was, because it has been so held before; but I cannot see any evidence here against these prisoners that they have committed any offence within the jurisdiction of this Court; that it, that they have, within this jurisdiction, sent, delivered, and uttered this letter. The important letter that was actually sent, delivered, and uttered, is that of 5th October, which was, in point of fact, sent, delivered, and uttered in Hampshire. If it had been sent by the guilty party through an innocent agent, there might have been a sending within the jurisdiction, if for instance, it had been tent by post from London; but in this case the delivery, in my opinion, was in Hampshire, therefore on this indictment the prisoners must be acquitted.

NOT GUILTY .