From Knapp & Baldwin’s Newgate Calendar1
CHARLES PRICE,
APPREHENDED ON A CHARGE OF FORGERY
…Charles Price was born about the year 1730. His father lived in Monmouth Street [London], and carried on the business of dealer in old clothes: here he died, in the year 1750, of a broken heart, occasioned, as it is said, by the bad conduct of his children.
Charles began early to manifest those traits of duplicity for which he afterwards became so greatly distinguished: -one remarkable instance deserves to be mentioned as an example of juvenile hypocrisy scarcely to be paralleled. He ripped off some gold lace from a suit of old clothes which his father had bought, and, putting on his elder brother’s coat, wen tot sell it to a Jew. The Jew became a purchaser, and, in the way of trade, most unfortunately afterwards offered it to the father for sale. He instantly knew it, and insisted on the Jew’s informing him from whom he received it. The boys coming in at the same time, and the Jew recollecting the coat of the elder, immediately declared he was the person from whom he purchased it; in consequence of which he was directly flogged, notwithstanding his protestations of innocence: the father was inflexible, while the conscious depredator, with an abominable relish for hypocrisy, witnessed the suffering of his brother, and inwardly rejoiced in the castigation.
By a continued series of tricks and knaveries, practised under the eye of the father, he at length grew tired of his son, and placed him with a hosier in St. James’s Street. Here he continued but for a short time, indulging in all the vagaries of his prolific imagination, and exercising himself in all the arts and deceptions of which he eventually made himself master. He robbed his father of an elegant suit of clothes, in which having dressed himself, he went in that disguise to the hosier, and bought about ten pounds’ worth of the most fashionable and expensive silk stockings, desiring them to be sent home for him in an hour, and assuming the name of Henry Bolingbroke, Esq. The cheat was successful, for his master did not know him; but this was not enough, for in about half an hour after he appeared in the shop in his usual dress, and was desired to take the goods home, which he actually pretended to do: thus both his father and master were robbed. He was, however, soon discovered and dismissed. From this period we shall have to consider him at large in society, where he continued to practise the most outrageous acts of duplicity for many years.
Soon after this he set off for Holland, under the name of Holland. Forging a recommendation to a Dutch merchant, he became his clerk, debauched his daughter, and was offered her hand in marriage; —robbed his master, and returned to England. Upon his arrival he contrived to get himself engaged in his majesty’s small-beer brewery near Gosport [Hampshire, on the south coast]. In this situation he conducted himself so well as to gain the confidence of his employer; and was upon the point of forming a matrimonial connexion with his daughter. This match, however, was prevented by an accidental discovery: the Jew, to whom he had formerly sold the gold lace, happened to reside at Portsmouth, and by his means the character of Price was soon disclosed, his schemes frustrated, and he was again thrown upon the world.
His wits, however, were not exhausted, nor did they ever slumber long, though always employed for some deceptive end. He determined upon a trial to establish a new brewery, by obtaining a partner with money; and as a first step towards it, in the year 1775, he issued the following curious advertisement:–
Wanted,—A partner of character, probity, and extensive acquaintance, upon a plan permanent and productive. Fifty per cent, without risk, may be obtained. It is not necessary he should have any knowledge of the business, which the advertiser possesses to its fullest extent; but he must possess a capital of between five hundred and one thousand pounds to purchase materials, with which, to the knowledge of the advertiser, a large fortune must be made in a very short time. Address to P. C. Cardigan Head, Charing Cross.
P.S. None but principals, and those of liberal ideas, will be treated with.
By means of this advertisement, the famous comedian, Samuel Foote, was brought into the sphere of our hero’s depredation. Eager to seize what he conceived to be a golden opportunity, he was induced to advance five hundred pounds for a brewery. This sum did not last long; and, instead of the rapid fortune which the advertiser appeared so certain of, Foote was glad to disengage himself from the concern with the loss of his capital, and retired, wrung with the anguish of disappointment. Notwithstanding which, Price had the impudence, not long afterwards, to apply to him again, under the idea of getting him to embark in the baking trade: the witty comedian, however, by this time knew his Price, and archly replied, ‘As you have brewed, so you may bake; but I’ll be cursed if I ever you bake as you have brewed.’
Price, after this unfortunate business, assumed a new character, and appeared as a Methodist preacher, in which disguise he defrauded several persons of large sums of money. He issued advertisements, offering to procure gentlemen wives, and swindled a person of the name of Wigmore of fifty guineas: this turned out to be more serious than he expected, for Mr. Wigmore brought an indictment against him; but he found means to refund a part of the money, and effected his escape. These, and other fraudulent means, were long the objects of his ambition, though they were all the certain roads to infamy.
Still undismayed in his career, he had the astonishing impudence to set up again as a brewer, in Gray’s Inn Lane: here, however, after committing a variety of frauds, he became a bankrupt in the year 1776. With ingenuity every fruitful, he now set out for Germany, and engaged in a smuggling scheme for which he was thrown into a prison in Holland, after realizing three hundred pounds. From this confinement he had address enough, by an artful defence, to extricate himself, and immediately returned to his native country. Here he again engaged himself in a sham brewery at Lambeth, where he was married; still continuing his depredations, till at length he found it necessary to decamp:— he actually went to Copenhagen. After some time he came back to England, where he was doomed to close his days.
His brewing attempts having all failed, he was obliged to study some new mode of plundering society; and, under the pretence of charity, he obtained money, for which he was imprisoned; and, having obtained liberation, he, in the character of a clergyman, succeeded in various depredations, which eventually brought him to the King’s Bench, from the walls of which he had the dexterity to extricate himself.
His next scheme was to try his success among the schemers in the lottery, and made his efforts answer his purpose for a time; but absconding with a ticket of very considerable value, his attempts in this way were brought to a termination; indeed, his arts and his tricks were so various, that to recount them all would extend our memoir of him beyond the limits of a publication of this kind — Alas for human depravity!
We are now arrived at that period of our hero’s life when, by connecting himself with the Bank of England, he immortalized himself, by recording his name on the lists of notoriety, as one of the most artful, and, for a time, the most successful of imposters; but the result was as might be expected — the loss of his life, after practising a series of the most iniquitous devices that were ever brought to play upon mankind.
In the year 1780, memorable for the riots in London, he assumed the name of Brant, and engaged a plain, simple, honest fellow, as a servant, whom he converted into the instrument of passing his forged notes, without detection. He advertised for this servant, and conducted himself in a manner truly curious towards him. The young man, having answered the advertisement, heard nothing relative to it for about a week. One evening, however, just about dusk, a coachman was heard inquiring for him, saying there was a gentleman over the way in a coach who wanted to speak to him. On this the young fellow was called, and went to the coach, where he was desired to step in: there he found an apparently old man, affecting the foreigner, seemingly very much afflicted with the gout, as he was completely wrapped up in flannel about the legs, and wore a camlet 2surtout, buttoned over his chin, close up to his mouth; a large black patch over his left eye; and almost every part of his face so hid that the young fellow could scarcely discover a featured except his nose, his right eye, and a part of that cheek. The better to carry on this deception, Price took care to place the young man on his left side, on which the patch was; so that the old gentleman cold take a look askance at the young fellow with his right eye, and by that means discover only a portion of his face. In this disguise he appeared to be between sixty and seventy years of age; and when this man whom he engaged saw him afterwards, not much under six feet high, his surprise and astonishment were so great, that he could scarcely believe his own senses; and, in addition to the deceptive dress in which he has been described, he sometimes wore boots or shoes with heels very little less than three inches high, and appeared so buttoned up and straightened as to look quite lank. While we are thus remarking upon the expedients to which he resorted, the better to effect his shameful purposes, it may not be ill-times to give a true description of his person: he was in reality about five feet six inches high; a compact neat-made man, square shouldered, inclined to corpulency; his legs were firm and well set, but by nature his features gave him a look of more age than really belonged to him, which, at the time we are describing him, was near upon fifty, his nose was aquiline, and his eyes small and grey; his mouth stood very much inward with very thin lips; his chin pointed and prominent, with a pale complexion; but what favored in the greatest degree his disguise of speech was the loss of his teeth. His walk was exceedingly upright,and his manner active; in a word, he was something above what the world in general would term dapper made man.
The honest simplicity of the young man whom he had thus duped into his service was such that Price found no difficulty whatever in negotiating through his hands of forged bills, which were principally disposed of in the purchasing of lottery tickets and shares, at the same time taking care never fully to disclose to poor Samuel his real name, person, or history; and it must be confessed his plan was devised and executed with the utmost skill and ability. Samuel, who continued for some time the innocent and unsuspecting instrument of these nefarious practices, after passing bills to the amount of one thousand four hundred pounds, was detected, and taken into custody. Upon learning this, Price retired with his booty into the shades of the deepest obscurity, leaving poor Sam, who was terrified out of his wits at a contemplation of the consequences that might ensue from being an accomplice in such a complicated villainy, to suffer near a twelvemonth’s imprisonment.
Price, with his purse well lined, having sought refuge in some lone place of retirement, was heard nothing of till the year 1782, when, having, in all probability, exhausted his former acquisitions, he again sallied forth in search of new game with the most unparalleled audacity; and, as a first step to the accomplishment of his purpose, he engaged a smart active lad, of the name of Power, from a register-office. The father of this lad was a Scots Presbyterian, and, to ingratiate himself with the old man, Price professed high pretensions of religion, talked of virtue and morality, expressing a hope that the boy was well acquainted with the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. Having thus far succeeded, he now commenced his ravages on the well-known Mr Spilsbury, of Soho Square, ordering large quantities of his drops in the name of Wilmot, and introduced himself to that gentleman as possessing all the symptoms of age and infirmity. He was wrapped up in a large camlet great coat, with a slouched hat on, the brim of which was large, and bent downward on each side of his head; a piece of red flannel covered his chin, and came upon each side of his face as high as his cheek-bones; he wore a large bush wig, and a pari of green spectacles on his nose; his legs and feet were completely enveloped in large wraps of flannel, and a green shade hung down from his hat; but upon this occasion he abandoned the black patch upon his eye, considering his features sufficiently disguised and obscured; and also that it would not be safe to resort to an old expedient. It is not a little remarkable that Mr. Spilsbury, who new Price well, was not able to detect his villainy in the character of Wilmot; and it is a fact that, sitting together, side by side, in a coffee-house, Mr. Spilsbury was complaining to his coffee-house acquaintance of the notes which Wilmot had so artfully and successfully imposed upon him. Price actually favored his own deceptions by pretending commiseration, frequently crying out ‘Lack-a-day! good God! –is it possible? –who could conceive such knavery to exist?–But it is a wicked world, sir. What! and did the Bank refuse payment, sir?’ staring through his spectacles with as much seeming surprise as an honest man would have done. ‘Oh yes,’ said Mr. Spilsbury, with some degree of acrimony; ‘for you must know that it was upon the faith of the Bank of England that I and a great many others have been induced to take them; and they were so inimitably well done, that the nicest judges could not have distinguished them; but the old scoundrel will certainly be detected.’ ‘Good God! –lack-a-day!’ continued Price, ‘he must have been an ingenious villain; and what a complete old rascal!’
Price had frequently been at the shop of a Mr. Roberts, grocer, in Oxford Street, where he now and then bought a few articles, and took many opportunities of showing his importance. Upon one occasion, he called in a hackney-coach, disguised as an old man, and bought some few articles: a day or two afterwards he repeated his visit; and, on a third day, when he knew Mr. Roberts was not in the way, went again, with his face so painted that he appeared to be diseased with the yellow jaundice. The shopman, to whom he enumerated his complaints, kindly informed him of a prescription for that disorder, by which his father had been cured of it. Price gladly accepted of the receipt, promising that, if it succeeded, he would call again, and handsomely reward him for his civility: in conformity with which he entered the shop a few days afterwards, apparently perfectly free from the complaint, and acknowledged his great obligations to the shopman; after which he expatiated freely on his affluent circumstances, the short time he had to live, and the few relations he had to leave his property to; and made him a present of a ten pound bank-note. It will naturally be conceived this was a forgery, but it had the desired effect with Price; for at the same time he said he wanted cash for another, which was a fifty pound note. This the obliging and unsuspecting shopman got change for an opposite neighbour’s. The next day, during Mr. Robert’s absence, he called again, and entreated the lad to get small notes for five other notes of fifty pounds each; the lad however, telling him his master was not at home, Price begged he would take them to his master’s bankers’ and there get them changed. This request was immediately complied with. The bankers, Messrs Burchall and Co. complied with Mr. Robert’s supposed request, immediately changed them, and small notes were that day given to Price for them.
Having found out a fit object to practice his deceptions upon in the person of Mr. E—, who was an eminent merchant in the city, and having traced his connexions to Amsterdam, even to the obtaining a letter which was directed to him from a merchant there, he commenced his attack on that gentleman in the following manner:— He accosted him on ‘Change in another disguised character, and told him that he had received a letter from a correspondent of theirs at Amsterdam, whose name he mentioned, informing him that a Mr. Trevors, who frequented the ‘Change, had defrauded the Dutch merchant of one thousand pounds; that the latter requested Mr. E.’s assistance in the recovery of the whole, or any part of it he could obtain. With this prelude he opened the letter, and presented it to Mr. E. who, having read it, entertained no doubt of its being the handwriting of his Amsterdam correspondent; he therefore readily offered his assistance in any plan that might be pursued to favour his Dutch friend. After thus paving the way, he began to advise Mr. E. how to act. ‘Trevors,’ said he, ‘will most likely be upon ‘Change to-morrow; he always frequents the Dutch Walk, and is dressed in a red surtout, with a white wig; he has also square-toed shoes, and very small buckles. Your best way will be to accost him, draw him into a conversation upon the mercantile affairs of Amsterdam, and, by pretending he can be of service to you, invite him home to dinner with you. You will then have a good opportunity to mention the business, show the letter, and inform him that, unless he refunds the whole or part of the money immediately, you will expose the affair to the merchants. By such a procedure you may probably procure the greater part of the property, as he is rich, and always has cash about him, and will rather comply with your demand than run the risk of exposure.’ Mr. E. highly approved of this proposal, and was much pleased with the prospect he appeared to have of rendering such essential service to his Dutch friend. The next day our hero appeared on the Dutch Walk, int he dress he had so minutely described. Mr. E. followed the advice which had been given him, and, after a little conversation, invited the supposed Trevors to dine with him which was immediately accepted by Price. —After the cloth was removed, and the family had retired from table, Mr. E. began to open to Mr. Trevors, with as much delicacy as he could, the purposes of his invitation. Our hero affected surprise at this application, but acknowledged the charge in part; assured him of his intention to settle the whole account shortly, begged it might not be mentioned on ‘Change, and, as a proof of his intention, he was willing to pay five hundred pounds down, if Mr. E. would bury the matter in oblivion. This being readily promised on Mr. E.’s part, Mr. Trevors produced a thousand pound bank-note from his pocket-book, which he said he would leave with Mr. E. if he would give him the difference. Not having sufficient cash and notes in the house, Mr. E. gave him a check on his banker for the remaining five hundred pounds, with which our hero very soon after took his leave. The next morning Mr. E. discovered that the thousand pound bank-note was a forgery, and ran to the bankers to stop the payment of his draft, but unfortunately too late; for a porter, who appeared to have been followed by a tall old woman into the banking-house, had obtained for the check four hours before Mr. E.’s application to stop payment.
Upon a variety of others in a similar way did Price exercise his deceptions; among the rest, Mr. Watt, hosier, and Mr. Reeves, a colourman, were sufferers; and such was his success, that in one days he negotiated sixty ten pound notes, changed fourteen fifty pound notes for seven one hundred pound notes; indeed, such were his tricks at this period, that it is scarcely possible to recount them.
The practices of evil-minded persons, who forget that useful and comprehensive commandment — ‘Do unto others as you would be done by’ — seldom lead to happy or truly fortunate results, nor could it be expected to be the case with our present subject; he had assumed the character of an Irish linen-factor, under the name of Palton, and employed two young men to circulate his notes, whilst he still kept himself greatly disguised, and in obscurity. The notes were detected, and, by means of a pawnbroker, Price was with great difficulty at length discovered: when apprehended, however, he most solemnly declared he was innocent, and, when taken before the magistrate conducted himself with great insolence. This took place on the 14th of January, 1786, and, notwithstanding his disguises, he was soon sworn to by more persons than one; in consequence of which, and finding there was no means of escape from his present situation, he pretended to his wife, in particular, great and serious penitence; for which, however there did not appear to be the least ground. The Bank were fully determined on prosecuting him, and there was little chance of his escaping an ignominious death by the hands of the public executioner; but even this he managed to avoid, for one evening he was found hanging against the post of his door, in the apartment allotted him in Tothillfields Bridewell; thus ridding the world of as great a monster as ever disgraced civilized society.
In this situation he was discovered by the keeper of the prison, who cut him down quite dead, and found in his bosom three letters; in one of which, addressed to the directors of the Bank, he confessed every thing relative to the forgery, and the manner of circulating the notes; another, addressed to his wife, was written in a most affecting style; and in the third, directed to the keeper, he thanked him for the very humane treatment he had experienced during his confinement.
A coroner’s jury was summoned, as usual in such cases, and returned a verdict of ‘Self-murder;’; in consequence of which his body was thrown into the ground in Tothillfields, and a stake driven through it.
In a box belonging to Price were found, after his death, two artificial noses, very curiously executed, in imitation of nature. These, it is obvious, he occasionally wore as a part of the various disguises by which he had enabled so long to elude the hand of Justice. The counterfeit plates were found buried in a field near Tottenham Court Road, the turf being replaced on the spot. His wife, who had been confined with him as an accomplice, was discharged after making a full confession of all she knew concerning his affairs; and the rolling-press, plates, and other materials, were destroyed by order of Sir Sampson Wright, the then presiding magistrate.
It has been calculated that the depredations of this artful villain on society amounted to upwards of one hundred thousand pounds! and yet, after his apprehension, he had the audacity to write a letter to a gentleman whom he had defrauded of more than two thousand pounds, recommending his wife and eight children to his protection.
Price’s expenditure must have been great, or the imprudence of his female coadjutor excessive; for at her lodgings were fixed all the apparatus for manufacturing the paper and printing the bank-notes; the plates for which were also engraved by this ingenious culprit. Being thus paper-maker, engraver, printer, and circulator, it is not altogether surprising that he contrived to prolong his existence to the age of fifty-five; six years of which were passed in hostilities against the bank directors, whose emoluments by fire, shipwreck and other casualties, Price conceived were much too enormous.
It must appear extraordinary to the reader that his depraved imposter was so long able to escape discovery. But it should be added, such was the inventive ingenuity of his mind, that, in order to avoid detection, he took especial care, as well as by the multifarious disguises of his person and voice, to study the art of prevention, combining the whole of the proceedings necessary for the accomplishment of his designs within his own power; seeing clearly that, if he had permitted a partner in his concerns, he could not have expected to remain so wholly unsuspected, at least, if not detected. He therefore became his own engraver, made his own paper, with the water-marks, and never suffered his negotiator to know him; nay, such was the secrecy with which he carried on his business, that Mrs. Price, his wife, had not hte least knowledge or suspicion of his proceedings. Having by practice made himself master of engraving, he made his own ink to prove his own works; he then purchased implements, and manufactured water-marks; he then set about to counterfeit handwritings, and in this he so far succeeded as to puzzle a part of the first body of men in the world; thus proving himself a most accomplished and wary adept in the art of deception. The abilities of the unhappy Ryland3 were exerted in his profession, and therefore the imposition was less to be wondered at; but in Price we find a novice in the art, capable of equal ingenuity in every department of the dangerous undertaking, from the engraving down to the publication.
An attentive perusal of this narrative must awaken in the breast of the reader a series of important and useful reflections, calculated to leave impressions that should excite a determination to resist every temptation that chance or opportunity may afford to indulge in a vice that eventually led to the destruction of this depraved man, who from youth upwards appears to have had no object in view, but that of preying upon the credulity of his fellow men.
That such talents should be appropriated to such an use must be deeply regretted; but that any individual should thus throughout life act the part of a wolf among his fellow-creatures deserves the utmost detestation. Society in general may also learn lessons of caution and vigilance from the contemplation of the extraordinary character here described. Vice appears in its most features — that of meditated imposition upon the honest and industrious part of the community: mark, however, its serpentine progress, and wretched termination. Price has emphatically been termed the social monster; and it is sincerely hoped that a recital of his atrocities will have the effect of guarding the younger classes of our readers against the first inroads of deception. The Spartans used to teach young persons sobriety by placing them before a drunken man; and the contemplation of such a character as Price must tend to verify the assertion of a celebrated poet, that
An honest man’s the noblest work of God
- Newgate Calendar, comprising Interesting Memoirs of the Most Notorious Characters who have Been Convicted of Outrages on the Laws of England Since the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century, with Occasional Anecdotes and Observations, Speeches, Confessions, and the Last Exclamations of Sufferers. Vols III & IV. London, J. Robins and Co., 1828. The content is based on the so-called Memoirs of a Social Monster; or The History of Charles Price, Otherwise Bolingbroke, otherwise Johnson, otherwise Parks, otherwise Wigmore, otherwise Brank, otherwise Wilmott, otherwise Williams, otherwise Schutz, otherwise Trevors, otherwise Polton, otherwise Taylor, otherwise Powel, etc etc etc and commonly called Old Patch… London, G. Kearsley at Johnston’s Head, in Fleet Street, 1786.
- Also, camelot. Camel-hair cloth from the east, much imitated using combinations of cotton and wool.
- William Wynne Ryland, copperplate printer, pioneer of stipple engraving and forger, executed in August 1783.
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