Evidence Type: Newspaper Report
6 November 1843
PARRAMATTA POLICE INTELLIGENCE
NOVEMBER 1
GEORGE LUXFORD, barrack serjeant, was charged with forging the name of Mr. THOMAS BELL, late storekeeper at the Factory, to a certain bill and receipt for the sum of £31 8s. 3d., for washing, repairing bedding, &c., on account of the barrack hospital, and also for forging the name of Mr. ALEXANDER CAMERON, a clerk in the Factory, as a witness to the same.
It appeared that the prisoner, who was handed over to the Parramatta Police Authorities on Tuesday last under warrant of J. R. BRENAN, Esq., was lately stationed in this town, and acted under the orders of the barrack master.
ROBERT LYNN, barrack master, being sworn, stated—the prisoner is barrack serjeant, acting under my orders, and is stationed in Parramatta; I am in the habit of sending bills to Parramatta every quarter, which are for work done at this station, such as washing, repairing, bedding, &c., on account of the barrack hospital; the bills are made out at my office in Sydney, from documents furnished me by the barrack serjeant with blank checks for the whole amount of the bills. The bill for the quarter ending 31st March, 1843, was so sent to the prisoner, together with other bills; the bills I now produce, marked A, was payable to Mr. BELL at the Factory; the amount due by the said bill is £31 8s. 3d.; the bill (with others) was transferred to me by the prisoner signed as I now produce it, and it passed with my accounts to the Ordnance Storekeeper; I was not acquainted with Mr. BELL’s handwriting, nor did any suspicion arise in my mind as to the signature being genuine, but a few days afterwards, my attention was drawn to the signatures on the bill, and upon comparing them with a subsequent bill, I have every reason to believe the signatures attached to the former bill are not genuine, and by inquiry I have since found that the whole sum mentioned in that bill, namely, £31 8s. 3d. does not appear to have been paid by the prisoner, but, instead thereof, the sum of £26 14s. 5d., leaving a balance deficiency of £4 13s. 10d., which sum prisoner had not accounted for except by the receipt; the money due to the Government, £31 8s 3d., was for the quarter ending 31st March, 1843; the prisoner admitted to me, both verbally and by letter, that he had written Mr. BELL’s name as well as that of Mr. CAMERON, and stated in my presence yesterday that he had lost or mislaid the bills I had sent him up, and that he considered the error arose by his endeavouring to ascertain the sum from his own memorandums.
Mr. BELL stated — I was storekeeper at the Factory until the end of September last; it was my duty to sign all bills and receipts on account of washing and other work done at the Factory; the prisoner paid me money on the 31st March last; I know the prisoner has paid me money more than once; the name attached to the receipt I now produce is not my signature.
Mr. ALEXANDER CAMERON—My name is attached to the receipt as a witness, but it is not my signature.
The prisoner was committed for trial, but allowed bail.
CITATION
Female Factory Online, (femalefactoryonline.org), “Law Report of ALEXANDER CAMERON,” https://femalefactoryonline.org/law-reports/p18431106-3/, accessed [insert current date].
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