A Cunning Art Fraud, Complete With A Goose
Oct. 4th, 2025 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritI will try and make a post again soon, but am now recovering from parental visit (due to me and the ME/CFS, not any fault of said parents). Yesterday, though, I got lucky at the BNA while searching for a newly-discovered address for an ancestor's siblings and found him accidentally involved in a plot to steal a painting by Petrus van Schendel. (London ancestors are v hard to find, especially when they have common names, but the joy of London is that every so often your relatives are briefly entangled with someone or something famous).
Anyway, the fraud was discovered, I was rewarded by a description of two rooms in a relative's house (29 St Mary-at-hill) and I thought some of you might enjoy the resulting magistrate's hearings:
THAMES. SINGULAR CHARGE OF CONSPIRACY. - A Frenchman whose names is entered on the police-sheet as Auguste Gustave Gibson, aged 27, of No. 5, Leicester-place, Leicester-square, but who was assumed the names of Westow, Wastone, Gilson, and others, was charged with conspiring with others in obtaining by false and fraudulent pretences, from St. Katharine's-wharf, parish of St. Katharine, an oil-painting, value £240, by representing the same to belong to a Lord de Hadford, with intent to defraud Monsieur von Schendell, an artist residing at Brussels. Mr. Lewis, sen., of Ely-place, conducted the prosecution. The charge was preferred by Mr. Samuel Bevan, on the part of the English Vice-Consul at Brussels.
Mr. Lewis, in opening the case, said it was one of a very peculiar description, and he intended only to lay a few of the facts before the magistrate, and call two witnesses only, and then ask for a remand. An artist of some celebrity, named Schendell, at Brussels, was known to have some valuable paintings for sale, and among others was one of considerable importance - "The General in Retirement." (A photograph of the picture was handed in.) A letter was written by the prisoner, addressed to the artist and owner of the picture. That letter was posted in London, and the prisoner there described himself as Wastone, and stated that he was commissioned by a gentleman, who was about to form a picture-gallery, to ascertain the price of any pictures Schendell had to dispose of. The prisoner also requested that Schendell would name the commission he was disposed to allow him, and paid many compliments to Schendell's abilities as an artists, and said his talent was highly spoken of by the gentleman amateur. A reply to that letter was sent to the prisoner, and that was followed up by the prisoner and his confederate sending letters to Monsieur Schendell, purporting to be signed by Mr. Hadford, then Lord de Hadford, still he could not find it in the "British Peerage," and at last the picture came to London. An excuse was made for not sending the money by a statement that bills of lading must be forwarded, and the embarkation and the delivery of the picture ascertained before my Lord de Hadford and the honourable M. de Hadford would forward their cheque or order. The youngest son of Lord de Hadford and his Lordship himself were described to be residing at No. 29, St. Mary-at-Hill, Thames-street.
The prisoner gave a reference to No. 34, Brewer-street, Golden-square, which turned out to be a small coffee-shop to which place the prisoner caused his letters to be directed, and which he described as a West-end house. The pretended Lord de Hadford or his youngest son could not at present be found, but there was very little doubt he would soon be in custody. The prisoner was apprehended by Spittle, a City detective officer, at the coffee-shop in Brewer-street, that (Saturday) morning, and upon him was found a letter which would have an important bearing upon the case. It was signed by the prisoner in the name of Gilson, addressed to the Secretary of the General Post-office, and requested that all letters addressed to Wastone, at the coffee-shop in Brewer-street, should in future be left at No. 5, Leicester-place. The handwriting of this letter was exactly similar to some signed "Wastone," forwarded to Schendell, which he should produce. On the apprehension of the prisoner he said to Spittle, "I am not Wastone. I am only a servant of his." He (the prisoner) was asked where Wastone lived; to which he replied that he lived at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill. That was all a fallacy; no Mr. Wastone lived there, and no person of that name ever did reside there. He believed the prisoner, Mr. Gilson, or Gilsone, and Wastone to be one and the same person. He (Mr. Lewis), and those by whom he was instructed, had received information which might lead to the apprehension of others, and of the noble Lord de Hadford - (a laugh) and his youngest son.
Mr. Selfe - "Has Lord de Hadford received the picture?" Mr. Lewis - "No, Sir; the picture was delivered to the hon. Mr. De Hadford, and here is a receipt acknowledging the same, and expecting two more which were ordered to come." Mr. Lewis then put in letters addressed to M. Schendell, signed De Hadford, with a coronet engraved thereon. Mr. Selfe - "Have the other two pictures been delivered?" Mr. Lewis - "No Sir, the conspiracy was discovered before the other pictures were delivered. As it is M. Schendell has been swindled of a valuable picture, valued at 6,000 £." After some preliminary evidence the prisoner was remanded till Friday next. [Weekly Dispatch Sun 1 Jan 1860 (p16)]
[Longer account of same case, younger de Hadford given as Martin Hadford, and then Mr. Samuel Bevan, clerk to his brother Wm Bevan, solicitor of 6 Old Jewry, was present at the arrest & described No. 29:] Samuel Bevan... who described Waston's counting-house at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, and said it contained a fire-place on the right-hand side, a table, and some blotting paper.
Mr. Selfe. - That was a description of a merchant's counting-house at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, but what did the room really contain when you entered it?
Witness. - A tailor's board, a goose, a lamp, and a few strips of cloth (laughter).
Mr. Selfe. - But cabbage, I hope (laughter).
Mr. Lewis. - My client was the goose (a laugh).
Mr. Selfe—How came the goose in the room?
Mr. Lewis. - It was a tailor's goose. The room is used as a tailor's workshop. ... [Then continued with discussion of the letters sent]. [....]
Mr. Henry Taylor, of No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, said he knew nothing of the prisoner, and never saw him until that day. No person named De Hadford, or Lord de Hadford, ever occupied a room in his house. (The witness was shown some letters signed De Hadford, and he said they closely resembled the handwriting of a Frenchman, calling himself Anderson, who formerly occupied a room at No. 29, St. Mary at-hill, as a counting-house or office.
The Prisoner, having received a translation of the whole of the evidence from English into French, said he was to meet Wastone that day, at No. 24, Brewer-street, Golden-square, and that he was only acting under Wastone's directions.
Mr. Selfe. - I have no doubt Spittle will look after Mr. Wastone, and my Lord de Hadford and his son. The solicitor, Mr. Lewis, has made out a case for a remand, and I shall adjourn the case until Friday next. The prisoner was then formally remanded to Clerkenwell Prison until Friday next. [Weekly Mail Sun 1 Jan 1860 (p1)]
The second hearing, via the Morning Post Sat 7 Jan 1860 (p7): CONSPIRACY TO OBTAIN PICTURES. Yesterday, Auguste Gustave Gilson, alias Waston, alias Wastowe [sic], alias Gibson, 27, was brought up on remand, before Mr. Selfe, at the Thames Police-court; and Edward Hetford, alias De Hatford, aged 30, was placed alongside of him in the felon's dock, for the first time, charged with conspiring to defraud a Brussels artists, named Schendel, of three pictures and obtaining one of them, value 6,000 francs, by false and fraudulent pretences.
Mr. Lewis, sen., of Ely-place, solicitor, again conducted the prosecution for Messrs. Bowan and Whitting, solicitors, of No. 6, Old Jewry, who were instructed by the English Vice Consul at Brussels.
The prisoners were described as natives of Belgium.
M. Louis Prévot, a linguist, was sworn to interpret the evidence and the various documents put in as evidence, and the case was protracted to a late hour in the evening. The prisoners were undefended.
Mr. Lewis, in reopening the case, said that, owing to the very accurate report of the first examination of the prisoner Gilson which appeared in the newspapers, the picture of which the Belgian artist was defrauded had been recovered, and was now safe in the hands of the police. He felt bound to mention this as one of the many instances which had come under his knowledge of the great utility of police reports in the public journals. The noble Lord de Hatford, who patronised the artist, and ordered the picture to be sent to England, was now before the magistrate [a laugh], and his title had been so recently conferred upon him that he did not know how to sign his name, and had repeated it on paper, and practised it over and over again. The noble lord, as would be perceived by the police-sheet, had given the name of Edward Hetford, but in the letters he had addressed to the artists he called himself De Hatford, and De Hanford, and Dee Hatford. He would prove that the prisoner, who had represented himself as a rich English peer and a connoisseur in the fine arts, had gone by the name of Edouard, Anderson, Collins, and others, and that he had once an office at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, and that he had lived in Bouverie-street, and Tennison-street, Lambeth. Hetford had also cards describing himself as an importer and general merchant, of No. 163, Broadway, New York, trading under the name of Anderson and Co., a piece of information which might prove very serviceable to our friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
With regard to the charge against the two, he would show a case of complicity so obvious that he had no doubt the magistrate would have no hesitation in committing both for trial for conspiracy. In the lodgings of the prisoner Gilson a bill of lading for the picture, a letter from the artist, and a letter of advice, were found in his portmanteau.
The landlady of the house in Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, where Hatford, the soi-disant nobleman, deposited the picture, had written to all the parties concerned, and, like the characters in a farce at its termination, they all met at the same time in one place. Translations of the letters sent to the artist by the prisoners, one as Lord de Hatfort, and the other as a commission agent, and the letters written by the artist in return, had been made by Mr. Samuel Bevan, and they would be put in. The originals would also be put in. A duplicate of one letter, addressed to M. Schendel by Hetford, was found in the pocketbook of the prisoner; and pencil notes or draft of the letters, written by Gilson, and signed Wastone, were discovered in his possession. In addition, he might say of Wastone, alias August Gustave Gilson, was tried in the latter name or rather three names, at the Tribunal in Brussels, in the early part of Dec. last for forgery, and in default of appearing was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and hard labour, and six months' additional in case of non-payment of costs. It was no wonder that Gilson had adopted the name of Wastone in his correspondence with the artist of Brussels, where he was so well known.
Mr. Selfe could not understand why the case was brought to the Thames Police-court. The letters of the pretended nobleman were dated St. Mary-at-hill, which was in the city of London, and those the pretended commission agent were written in the Marlborough-street district, and Gilson was apprehended in Brewer-street, Golden-square.
Mr. Lewis said the picture was received at the St. Katherine's-wharf, in the jurisdiction of the Thames Police-court.
After a long discussion, Mr. Selfe consented to proceed with the case, and the evidence taken on Saturday last was read by Mr. Bowdler, the second clerk, and translated to the prisoners. Gilson was arrested on Friday night at a respectable coffee-house, No. 34, Brewer-street, Golden-square, where he was in the practice of calling for letters addressed to him in the name of Wastone, of No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, Thames-street, but gave a very incorrect description of the room which he said Wastone occupied there, and which turned out to be let to a tailor. Gilson also represented Wastone to be a dealer in all sorts of goods.
At this stage of the investigation, Mr. Bowdler, the second clerk, asked the name of the prisoner called in the police-sheet Edward Hetford, and he wrote on a slip of paper "Eugène Charles Edouard."
Mr. Henry Taylor, of No. 29, St Mary-at-hill, said he knew the person who had just given the name of Edouard, and produced and agreement signed by him. The prisoner formerly occupied a small room or office in the house, 29, St. Mary-at-hill, in the name of Edward Charles Anderson. The prisoner ceased to live in the house of the 5th of February last. Two letters addressed to Lord de Hatford were left at 29, St. Mary-at-hill, on the 24th of last month. The prisoner Edouard called for them on the 26th, and they were delivered to him. Another letter, addressed to Lord de Hatford, was previously delivered to the prisoner. They all came by the post, and were from Brussels.
Elijah Peachey, of No. 20, Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, said: My mother-in-law keeps the house. The prisoner Edouard or Hatford rented a room in that house for eighteen months, and had a latch key. I have seen the picture of the "General in Retirement," the subject of this inquiry. It was brought to my house about seven or eight months ago. I saw it in the passage. I cannot say who brought it there. The picture has since been delivered into the hands of Spittle, the detective officer, with a portmanteau, also belonging to the prisoner.
Mr. Lewis said the mother-in-law of the witness Peachey commenced reading a report in a newspaper of the first examination to Edouard, and he ran away directly.
John Spittle, a police-sergeant and detective of the City police force, said that in consequence of information he apprehended Gilson last Friday night at Carpenter's coffee-house, No. 34 Brewer-street, Golden-square. Mr. Samuel Bevan was present, and he (Spittle) suggested that some questions should be put to him in French, which was done. He first accosted the prisoner as M. Wastone, the name he had adopted in his letters to Mr. Schendel. The prisoner said "No, no." The prisoner then took him to No. 5, Leicester--place, Leicester-square, which he said was his dwelling. In a drawer in the prisoner's room he discovered several letters and papers addressed to A. G. Gilson. He also found the photograph of a picture "A Visit to the Infant Saviour," and the draft of a letter in pencil, on one sheet of paper.
Mr. Lewis: The photograph now produced is one of a picture which was ordered of M. Schendel, and was to come.
Spittle continued: I searched the prisoner at the Leman-street police-station, and found upon him a pocket-book addressed to the Secretary of the Post-office, and signed Wastone, requesting that all letters directed to the writer at Carpenter's Coffee-house should in future be left at No. 5, Leicester-place. I also found a memorandum-book in Gilson's possession. On Tuesday last I went to the house, No. 20, Bouverie-street, and there received the picture, the subject of this prosecution, from Mr. Peachey. I went into a small bed-room which Edouard had occupied, and found there a portmanteau, which contained some papers; one of them was a bill of lading of a case marked "P. V. S.," and consigned to Lord de Hatford, 29, St. Mary-at-hill. The case had contained a picture, "The General in Retirement," which was delivered to Edouard at St. Katharine's-wharf. I also found a letter in the portmanteau, signed "Louis Carleon," and dated "Ostend, Dec. 23, 1859," addressed to Lord De Hatford, 29, St. Mary-at-hill; in fact it is a letter of advice of the sending of the picture, and refers to the picture and case marked "P. V. S.," the artist's initials. The witness then put in a great many documents, including letters from M. Schendel, the artist, to Lord De Hatford; bill-heads of E. C. Anderson and Co., trading to New York; and drafts of letters written by Edouard to Schendel as Lord De Hatford. The witness also found in Edouard's room an immense quantity of letters and papers not relating to this charge, but having reference to trading concerns of E. and C. Anderson and Co., importers and general merchants, 29, St. Mary-at-hill, London.
Mr. Lewis: The prisoner Edouard being Lord de Hatford, and E. and C. H. Anderson and Co.? - Witness: Yes, sir.
Thomas Smart said: I am an officer of the City police force, No. 411. I apprehended the prisoner who has given the name of Edouard, at No. 2, Tennison-street, Yord-road, Lambeth. I asked him if his name was Anderson. He said "Yes, it is." I said I apprehended him for conspiring to defraud Von Schendel, an artist, at Brussels, of three pictures, and obtaining one of them by false pretences. He said, "Very well." I found upon him four pawnbrokers' duplicates relating to jewellery pawned in the names of Daniel, Cunningham, John Collins, and Edward Collins. I asked him if he was aware of the picture "The General in Retirement" being received. He said, "No, I do not." He asked me if I was Spittle, the detective; and I said, "No, I am not."
Pierre von Schendel, an artist of Brussels, who gave his evidence in the French language, said: I received those four letters, marked C, D, E, and F, from the prisoners. Here is another one. In consequence of the receipt of these five letters, I sent over three photographs of paintings. This [holding up a large photograph] is one, and the subject is the "Visit to the Infant Saviour." The picture which I sent to England to Lord de Harford, and for which he was to pay me 6,000f., was "The General in Retirement." Here is a photograph of that. The third photograph was a marine view. I sent over the original of "The General in Retirement" to Lord de Hatford, but I have not received 6,000f., or any part of it. If I had known Edouard was not Lord de Hatford I would not have sent the picture to England.
Mr. Lewis: You put full confidence in the noble lord? - Witness: Yes, I thought I was dealing with an honourable English gentleman.
Mr. Selfe said he perceived, by the correspondence between the parties, that the picture (tableau) was to come to England at the artist's risk and expense. If the picture was lost before it came to England, at whose risk must it have been? The pretended noble lord said he would not be at any risk, and would not pay the artist until the picture arrived safely in England. The noble lord would not pay until two days after the arrival, and if damaged the noble lord would pay the expenses of freight back to Belgium.
Mr. Lewis: If the picture had been damaged on its passage from Ostend to London, the General Steam Navigation Company, in whose charge it was, would have had to make good the loss. The picture was the artist's up to the moment of sending it away.
Mr. Selfe: If that is so, there is an end of the charge of obtaining the picture by false pretences, and I can only commit for conspiracy.
Mr. Lewis said in that case he could not indict for conspiracy without leave of the superior court.
Mr. Selfe: Then you must get leave of the court.
M. Schendel said he had seen his picture in the possession of Spittle, the officer. He had been regularly swindled out of it.
Mr. Selfe: The prosecutor has told me in French he wishes to avoid all further exposure, and take his picture away, and abandon the case.
Mr. Lewis could not allow such a course to be adopted. Messrs. Bevan and Co., who were represented by Mr. Samuel Bevan, had taken action in this matter by direction of the British Ambassador; and if the prosecution was abandoned, Mr. Samuel Bevan and all other parties would be liable to actions for false imprisonment.
Mr. Selfe requested M. Prévot, the interpreter, to inform M. Schendel he might be off to Brussels that night and come back at the end of a month, but he could not have his picture until after the trial.
Mr. Samuel Bevan: It is in the possession of Spittle, the detective officer.
Mr. Selfe: The prosecutor wants to have an opportunity of exhibiting his picture to real lords and ladies.
Spittle: He can exhibit his picture to whom he thinks proper. It is in a large room at Inspector Hamilton's office.
Mr. Selfe: This examination will give "The General in Retirement" additional interest.
The original correspondence in French between Edouard, the pretended Lord De Hatford; Gilson, the pretended Wastone, commission agent, who was to receive £10 as commission; and M. Schendel, the artist, was put in and read. Mr. Samuel Bevan had translated the whole into English.
The prisoners declined asking any questions of the witnesses or making any defence, and Mr. Selfe committed them to Newgate for trial for conspiracy. The proceedings did not terminate until seven o'clock in the evening.
(The case was heard at the Old Bailey on (I think) 2 Feb 1860, and the two were allowed legal representation there, and duly found guilty, receiving 12 months imprisonment for their pains).
Anyway, the fraud was discovered, I was rewarded by a description of two rooms in a relative's house (29 St Mary-at-hill) and I thought some of you might enjoy the resulting magistrate's hearings:
THAMES. SINGULAR CHARGE OF CONSPIRACY. - A Frenchman whose names is entered on the police-sheet as Auguste Gustave Gibson, aged 27, of No. 5, Leicester-place, Leicester-square, but who was assumed the names of Westow, Wastone, Gilson, and others, was charged with conspiring with others in obtaining by false and fraudulent pretences, from St. Katharine's-wharf, parish of St. Katharine, an oil-painting, value £240, by representing the same to belong to a Lord de Hadford, with intent to defraud Monsieur von Schendell, an artist residing at Brussels. Mr. Lewis, sen., of Ely-place, conducted the prosecution. The charge was preferred by Mr. Samuel Bevan, on the part of the English Vice-Consul at Brussels.
Mr. Lewis, in opening the case, said it was one of a very peculiar description, and he intended only to lay a few of the facts before the magistrate, and call two witnesses only, and then ask for a remand. An artist of some celebrity, named Schendell, at Brussels, was known to have some valuable paintings for sale, and among others was one of considerable importance - "The General in Retirement." (A photograph of the picture was handed in.) A letter was written by the prisoner, addressed to the artist and owner of the picture. That letter was posted in London, and the prisoner there described himself as Wastone, and stated that he was commissioned by a gentleman, who was about to form a picture-gallery, to ascertain the price of any pictures Schendell had to dispose of. The prisoner also requested that Schendell would name the commission he was disposed to allow him, and paid many compliments to Schendell's abilities as an artists, and said his talent was highly spoken of by the gentleman amateur. A reply to that letter was sent to the prisoner, and that was followed up by the prisoner and his confederate sending letters to Monsieur Schendell, purporting to be signed by Mr. Hadford, then Lord de Hadford, still he could not find it in the "British Peerage," and at last the picture came to London. An excuse was made for not sending the money by a statement that bills of lading must be forwarded, and the embarkation and the delivery of the picture ascertained before my Lord de Hadford and the honourable M. de Hadford would forward their cheque or order. The youngest son of Lord de Hadford and his Lordship himself were described to be residing at No. 29, St. Mary-at-Hill, Thames-street.
The prisoner gave a reference to No. 34, Brewer-street, Golden-square, which turned out to be a small coffee-shop to which place the prisoner caused his letters to be directed, and which he described as a West-end house. The pretended Lord de Hadford or his youngest son could not at present be found, but there was very little doubt he would soon be in custody. The prisoner was apprehended by Spittle, a City detective officer, at the coffee-shop in Brewer-street, that (Saturday) morning, and upon him was found a letter which would have an important bearing upon the case. It was signed by the prisoner in the name of Gilson, addressed to the Secretary of the General Post-office, and requested that all letters addressed to Wastone, at the coffee-shop in Brewer-street, should in future be left at No. 5, Leicester-place. The handwriting of this letter was exactly similar to some signed "Wastone," forwarded to Schendell, which he should produce. On the apprehension of the prisoner he said to Spittle, "I am not Wastone. I am only a servant of his." He (the prisoner) was asked where Wastone lived; to which he replied that he lived at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill. That was all a fallacy; no Mr. Wastone lived there, and no person of that name ever did reside there. He believed the prisoner, Mr. Gilson, or Gilsone, and Wastone to be one and the same person. He (Mr. Lewis), and those by whom he was instructed, had received information which might lead to the apprehension of others, and of the noble Lord de Hadford - (a laugh) and his youngest son.
Mr. Selfe - "Has Lord de Hadford received the picture?" Mr. Lewis - "No, Sir; the picture was delivered to the hon. Mr. De Hadford, and here is a receipt acknowledging the same, and expecting two more which were ordered to come." Mr. Lewis then put in letters addressed to M. Schendell, signed De Hadford, with a coronet engraved thereon. Mr. Selfe - "Have the other two pictures been delivered?" Mr. Lewis - "No Sir, the conspiracy was discovered before the other pictures were delivered. As it is M. Schendell has been swindled of a valuable picture, valued at 6,000 £." After some preliminary evidence the prisoner was remanded till Friday next. [Weekly Dispatch Sun 1 Jan 1860 (p16)]
[Longer account of same case, younger de Hadford given as Martin Hadford, and then Mr. Samuel Bevan, clerk to his brother Wm Bevan, solicitor of 6 Old Jewry, was present at the arrest & described No. 29:] Samuel Bevan... who described Waston's counting-house at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, and said it contained a fire-place on the right-hand side, a table, and some blotting paper.
Mr. Selfe. - That was a description of a merchant's counting-house at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, but what did the room really contain when you entered it?
Witness. - A tailor's board, a goose, a lamp, and a few strips of cloth (laughter).
Mr. Selfe. - But cabbage, I hope (laughter).
Mr. Lewis. - My client was the goose (a laugh).
Mr. Selfe—How came the goose in the room?
Mr. Lewis. - It was a tailor's goose. The room is used as a tailor's workshop. ... [Then continued with discussion of the letters sent]. [....]
Mr. Henry Taylor, of No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, said he knew nothing of the prisoner, and never saw him until that day. No person named De Hadford, or Lord de Hadford, ever occupied a room in his house. (The witness was shown some letters signed De Hadford, and he said they closely resembled the handwriting of a Frenchman, calling himself Anderson, who formerly occupied a room at No. 29, St. Mary at-hill, as a counting-house or office.
The Prisoner, having received a translation of the whole of the evidence from English into French, said he was to meet Wastone that day, at No. 24, Brewer-street, Golden-square, and that he was only acting under Wastone's directions.
Mr. Selfe. - I have no doubt Spittle will look after Mr. Wastone, and my Lord de Hadford and his son. The solicitor, Mr. Lewis, has made out a case for a remand, and I shall adjourn the case until Friday next. The prisoner was then formally remanded to Clerkenwell Prison until Friday next. [Weekly Mail Sun 1 Jan 1860 (p1)]
The second hearing, via the Morning Post Sat 7 Jan 1860 (p7): CONSPIRACY TO OBTAIN PICTURES. Yesterday, Auguste Gustave Gilson, alias Waston, alias Wastowe [sic], alias Gibson, 27, was brought up on remand, before Mr. Selfe, at the Thames Police-court; and Edward Hetford, alias De Hatford, aged 30, was placed alongside of him in the felon's dock, for the first time, charged with conspiring to defraud a Brussels artists, named Schendel, of three pictures and obtaining one of them, value 6,000 francs, by false and fraudulent pretences.
Mr. Lewis, sen., of Ely-place, solicitor, again conducted the prosecution for Messrs. Bowan and Whitting, solicitors, of No. 6, Old Jewry, who were instructed by the English Vice Consul at Brussels.
The prisoners were described as natives of Belgium.
M. Louis Prévot, a linguist, was sworn to interpret the evidence and the various documents put in as evidence, and the case was protracted to a late hour in the evening. The prisoners were undefended.
Mr. Lewis, in reopening the case, said that, owing to the very accurate report of the first examination of the prisoner Gilson which appeared in the newspapers, the picture of which the Belgian artist was defrauded had been recovered, and was now safe in the hands of the police. He felt bound to mention this as one of the many instances which had come under his knowledge of the great utility of police reports in the public journals. The noble Lord de Hatford, who patronised the artist, and ordered the picture to be sent to England, was now before the magistrate [a laugh], and his title had been so recently conferred upon him that he did not know how to sign his name, and had repeated it on paper, and practised it over and over again. The noble lord, as would be perceived by the police-sheet, had given the name of Edward Hetford, but in the letters he had addressed to the artists he called himself De Hatford, and De Hanford, and Dee Hatford. He would prove that the prisoner, who had represented himself as a rich English peer and a connoisseur in the fine arts, had gone by the name of Edouard, Anderson, Collins, and others, and that he had once an office at No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, and that he had lived in Bouverie-street, and Tennison-street, Lambeth. Hetford had also cards describing himself as an importer and general merchant, of No. 163, Broadway, New York, trading under the name of Anderson and Co., a piece of information which might prove very serviceable to our friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
With regard to the charge against the two, he would show a case of complicity so obvious that he had no doubt the magistrate would have no hesitation in committing both for trial for conspiracy. In the lodgings of the prisoner Gilson a bill of lading for the picture, a letter from the artist, and a letter of advice, were found in his portmanteau.
The landlady of the house in Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, where Hatford, the soi-disant nobleman, deposited the picture, had written to all the parties concerned, and, like the characters in a farce at its termination, they all met at the same time in one place. Translations of the letters sent to the artist by the prisoners, one as Lord de Hatfort, and the other as a commission agent, and the letters written by the artist in return, had been made by Mr. Samuel Bevan, and they would be put in. The originals would also be put in. A duplicate of one letter, addressed to M. Schendel by Hetford, was found in the pocketbook of the prisoner; and pencil notes or draft of the letters, written by Gilson, and signed Wastone, were discovered in his possession. In addition, he might say of Wastone, alias August Gustave Gilson, was tried in the latter name or rather three names, at the Tribunal in Brussels, in the early part of Dec. last for forgery, and in default of appearing was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and hard labour, and six months' additional in case of non-payment of costs. It was no wonder that Gilson had adopted the name of Wastone in his correspondence with the artist of Brussels, where he was so well known.
Mr. Selfe could not understand why the case was brought to the Thames Police-court. The letters of the pretended nobleman were dated St. Mary-at-hill, which was in the city of London, and those the pretended commission agent were written in the Marlborough-street district, and Gilson was apprehended in Brewer-street, Golden-square.
Mr. Lewis said the picture was received at the St. Katherine's-wharf, in the jurisdiction of the Thames Police-court.
After a long discussion, Mr. Selfe consented to proceed with the case, and the evidence taken on Saturday last was read by Mr. Bowdler, the second clerk, and translated to the prisoners. Gilson was arrested on Friday night at a respectable coffee-house, No. 34, Brewer-street, Golden-square, where he was in the practice of calling for letters addressed to him in the name of Wastone, of No. 29, St. Mary-at-hill, Thames-street, but gave a very incorrect description of the room which he said Wastone occupied there, and which turned out to be let to a tailor. Gilson also represented Wastone to be a dealer in all sorts of goods.
At this stage of the investigation, Mr. Bowdler, the second clerk, asked the name of the prisoner called in the police-sheet Edward Hetford, and he wrote on a slip of paper "Eugène Charles Edouard."
Mr. Henry Taylor, of No. 29, St Mary-at-hill, said he knew the person who had just given the name of Edouard, and produced and agreement signed by him. The prisoner formerly occupied a small room or office in the house, 29, St. Mary-at-hill, in the name of Edward Charles Anderson. The prisoner ceased to live in the house of the 5th of February last. Two letters addressed to Lord de Hatford were left at 29, St. Mary-at-hill, on the 24th of last month. The prisoner Edouard called for them on the 26th, and they were delivered to him. Another letter, addressed to Lord de Hatford, was previously delivered to the prisoner. They all came by the post, and were from Brussels.
Elijah Peachey, of No. 20, Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, said: My mother-in-law keeps the house. The prisoner Edouard or Hatford rented a room in that house for eighteen months, and had a latch key. I have seen the picture of the "General in Retirement," the subject of this inquiry. It was brought to my house about seven or eight months ago. I saw it in the passage. I cannot say who brought it there. The picture has since been delivered into the hands of Spittle, the detective officer, with a portmanteau, also belonging to the prisoner.
Mr. Lewis said the mother-in-law of the witness Peachey commenced reading a report in a newspaper of the first examination to Edouard, and he ran away directly.
John Spittle, a police-sergeant and detective of the City police force, said that in consequence of information he apprehended Gilson last Friday night at Carpenter's coffee-house, No. 34 Brewer-street, Golden-square. Mr. Samuel Bevan was present, and he (Spittle) suggested that some questions should be put to him in French, which was done. He first accosted the prisoner as M. Wastone, the name he had adopted in his letters to Mr. Schendel. The prisoner said "No, no." The prisoner then took him to No. 5, Leicester--place, Leicester-square, which he said was his dwelling. In a drawer in the prisoner's room he discovered several letters and papers addressed to A. G. Gilson. He also found the photograph of a picture "A Visit to the Infant Saviour," and the draft of a letter in pencil, on one sheet of paper.
Mr. Lewis: The photograph now produced is one of a picture which was ordered of M. Schendel, and was to come.
Spittle continued: I searched the prisoner at the Leman-street police-station, and found upon him a pocket-book addressed to the Secretary of the Post-office, and signed Wastone, requesting that all letters directed to the writer at Carpenter's Coffee-house should in future be left at No. 5, Leicester-place. I also found a memorandum-book in Gilson's possession. On Tuesday last I went to the house, No. 20, Bouverie-street, and there received the picture, the subject of this prosecution, from Mr. Peachey. I went into a small bed-room which Edouard had occupied, and found there a portmanteau, which contained some papers; one of them was a bill of lading of a case marked "P. V. S.," and consigned to Lord de Hatford, 29, St. Mary-at-hill. The case had contained a picture, "The General in Retirement," which was delivered to Edouard at St. Katharine's-wharf. I also found a letter in the portmanteau, signed "Louis Carleon," and dated "Ostend, Dec. 23, 1859," addressed to Lord De Hatford, 29, St. Mary-at-hill; in fact it is a letter of advice of the sending of the picture, and refers to the picture and case marked "P. V. S.," the artist's initials. The witness then put in a great many documents, including letters from M. Schendel, the artist, to Lord De Hatford; bill-heads of E. C. Anderson and Co., trading to New York; and drafts of letters written by Edouard to Schendel as Lord De Hatford. The witness also found in Edouard's room an immense quantity of letters and papers not relating to this charge, but having reference to trading concerns of E. and C. Anderson and Co., importers and general merchants, 29, St. Mary-at-hill, London.
Mr. Lewis: The prisoner Edouard being Lord de Hatford, and E. and C. H. Anderson and Co.? - Witness: Yes, sir.
Thomas Smart said: I am an officer of the City police force, No. 411. I apprehended the prisoner who has given the name of Edouard, at No. 2, Tennison-street, Yord-road, Lambeth. I asked him if his name was Anderson. He said "Yes, it is." I said I apprehended him for conspiring to defraud Von Schendel, an artist, at Brussels, of three pictures, and obtaining one of them by false pretences. He said, "Very well." I found upon him four pawnbrokers' duplicates relating to jewellery pawned in the names of Daniel, Cunningham, John Collins, and Edward Collins. I asked him if he was aware of the picture "The General in Retirement" being received. He said, "No, I do not." He asked me if I was Spittle, the detective; and I said, "No, I am not."
Pierre von Schendel, an artist of Brussels, who gave his evidence in the French language, said: I received those four letters, marked C, D, E, and F, from the prisoners. Here is another one. In consequence of the receipt of these five letters, I sent over three photographs of paintings. This [holding up a large photograph] is one, and the subject is the "Visit to the Infant Saviour." The picture which I sent to England to Lord de Harford, and for which he was to pay me 6,000f., was "The General in Retirement." Here is a photograph of that. The third photograph was a marine view. I sent over the original of "The General in Retirement" to Lord de Hatford, but I have not received 6,000f., or any part of it. If I had known Edouard was not Lord de Hatford I would not have sent the picture to England.
Mr. Lewis: You put full confidence in the noble lord? - Witness: Yes, I thought I was dealing with an honourable English gentleman.
Mr. Selfe said he perceived, by the correspondence between the parties, that the picture (tableau) was to come to England at the artist's risk and expense. If the picture was lost before it came to England, at whose risk must it have been? The pretended noble lord said he would not be at any risk, and would not pay the artist until the picture arrived safely in England. The noble lord would not pay until two days after the arrival, and if damaged the noble lord would pay the expenses of freight back to Belgium.
Mr. Lewis: If the picture had been damaged on its passage from Ostend to London, the General Steam Navigation Company, in whose charge it was, would have had to make good the loss. The picture was the artist's up to the moment of sending it away.
Mr. Selfe: If that is so, there is an end of the charge of obtaining the picture by false pretences, and I can only commit for conspiracy.
Mr. Lewis said in that case he could not indict for conspiracy without leave of the superior court.
Mr. Selfe: Then you must get leave of the court.
M. Schendel said he had seen his picture in the possession of Spittle, the officer. He had been regularly swindled out of it.
Mr. Selfe: The prosecutor has told me in French he wishes to avoid all further exposure, and take his picture away, and abandon the case.
Mr. Lewis could not allow such a course to be adopted. Messrs. Bevan and Co., who were represented by Mr. Samuel Bevan, had taken action in this matter by direction of the British Ambassador; and if the prosecution was abandoned, Mr. Samuel Bevan and all other parties would be liable to actions for false imprisonment.
Mr. Selfe requested M. Prévot, the interpreter, to inform M. Schendel he might be off to Brussels that night and come back at the end of a month, but he could not have his picture until after the trial.
Mr. Samuel Bevan: It is in the possession of Spittle, the detective officer.
Mr. Selfe: The prosecutor wants to have an opportunity of exhibiting his picture to real lords and ladies.
Spittle: He can exhibit his picture to whom he thinks proper. It is in a large room at Inspector Hamilton's office.
Mr. Selfe: This examination will give "The General in Retirement" additional interest.
The original correspondence in French between Edouard, the pretended Lord De Hatford; Gilson, the pretended Wastone, commission agent, who was to receive £10 as commission; and M. Schendel, the artist, was put in and read. Mr. Samuel Bevan had translated the whole into English.
The prisoners declined asking any questions of the witnesses or making any defence, and Mr. Selfe committed them to Newgate for trial for conspiracy. The proceedings did not terminate until seven o'clock in the evening.
(The case was heard at the Old Bailey on (I think) 2 Feb 1860, and the two were allowed legal representation there, and duly found guilty, receiving 12 months imprisonment for their pains).
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Date: 2025-10-04 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-04 07:59 pm (UTC)I'm writing about an (Elemental-related) art forgery right now, so this story about your ancestor was especially entertaining! XD
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Date: 2025-10-04 08:06 pm (UTC)Ha, how cool! Although now, I have to ask: does it have a goose in it? Could it have a goose? XD XD XD
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Date: 2025-10-04 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-04 08:08 pm (UTC)HOLD MY BEER
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Date: 2025-10-04 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-04 08:25 pm (UTC)I mean, he wasn't wrong. There was a goose.
(New layout, who this?)
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Date: 2025-10-04 08:30 pm (UTC)Frankly, they're hard to locate in the London records even when they don't have common names. My family name isn't very common and my great-great-great-grandfather's first name was Lancelot and he still wasn't very easy to find!
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Date: 2025-10-04 08:58 pm (UTC)Gibson/Weston/Wilson/etc: And I would’ve gotten away with it too! Curse you, Detective Spittle, and your Dickensian surname!
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Date: 2025-10-05 05:02 am (UTC)Wow, the story about your ancestor is very interesting!
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Date: 2025-10-05 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 08:14 am (UTC)I hope the CFS treats you better.
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Date: 2025-10-05 01:33 pm (UTC)Lots of goosing around, lol.
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Date: 2025-10-05 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 01:43 pm (UTC)The goose could have attacked Detective Spittle while they got away with it! And, yeah, I was trying to think why a tailor would have a goose (and imagining some super hazardous walking pincushion arrangement maybe?) but I guessed it must, sadly, not be a real one. XD
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Date: 2025-10-05 01:47 pm (UTC)Yes, it's definitely all too easy to lose people in London! The good thing about the ones with the more uncommon names is it is at least reasonably easy to know when you have found them. I've been poking at a branch full of people called Forster and Taylor with first names like William (many Williams), Mary, Eliza & John, and I'm just: ??? Could be???? Maybe? Probably not?
At least Henry has the middle name Nathan and actually uses it from time to time, which enabled me to finally pin him down a little bit more - and got art crime as a reward!!
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Date: 2025-10-05 01:58 pm (UTC)I looked up tailor's goose this morning, because I suspected it would not, in fact, be a real goose, and I wanted to keep my quaint illusion of some sort of standard goose-tailor arrangement going on in Victorian London for few hours more last night, but it's a special iron with a handle like a goose neck.
(New layout, who this?)
I don't know! I haven't made up my mind about it yet. I'm liking it mostly, but it has that weird Dreamwidth thing with some of the layouts where the comment functions aren't anything like as clear as they should be, so I'm swithering and might see if I like something else better. (I changed it rather wildly on the 30th after imgur decided to geoblock the UK and my journal banner turned into a large bright purple "Content Not Available in Your Region" box & this is better than the first one I opted for).
What to do about image hosting is a whole other thing, but I'll see if imgur keeps this up and then see what other sites are left now. (It's not a big deal in other ways, because it's at least the 3rd image hosting site to just stop or whatever, so I always back up my icons and any other graphics that matter. But with this one, you can see my icon posts currently should you wish to, but I can't!)
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Date: 2025-10-05 02:00 pm (UTC)My Victorian London ancestors are absolutely dedicated to being as Dickensian as possible, or, Dickens, waaaaay more realistic than I had supposed, lol. Anyway, I appreciate their efforts. Detective Spittle is amazing, as names go. He should be in a novel! XD
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Date: 2025-10-05 02:01 pm (UTC)*hangs onto the pint wildly*
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Date: 2025-10-05 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 02:59 pm (UTC)I was trying to think of a way to add a tailor's goose to the story... but then I thought of something sillier! >:) You'll see!
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Date: 2025-10-05 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 07:03 pm (UTC)Ha, I shall look forward to it!!
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Date: 2025-10-05 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-05 08:07 pm (UTC)I also figured it was a piece of equipment, but it's still entertaining to read.
(I changed it rather wildly on the 30th after imgur decided to geoblock the UK and my journal banner turned into a large bright purple "Content Not Available in Your Region" box & this is better than the first one I opted for).
What the hell, imgur! I mean, I am always glad to see your icon posts, but as they are yours you should also get a crack at them!
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Date: 2025-10-05 10:00 pm (UTC)Clearly he believed that using aliases that sound/look similar would help with plausible deniability.
Rereading the case, if I understand correctly this wasn’t art forgery, but using forgery to steal genuine art? And that Gibson was using his former office address as the shipping location for the art? Was the tailor even involved, or just the current tenant who knew nothing of the matter?
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Date: 2025-10-06 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-06 09:13 am (UTC)Yes, that's right - conspiracy to gain art by fraudulent practices! They used a few different addresses, the former 29 St Mary-at-hill office was solely for the passing on of some of the letters. And the tailor was just the current tenant and not involved, either. Henry Taylor was the man who owned or was the chief tenant of the house and my relative. If the tailors are the same ones from the 1861 census over a year later, they were three German-born people whose surnames I can't quite make out because the enumerator's handwriting is messy enough that I had to do a street search in order to find Henry, who had been indexed as Gaytor.
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Date: 2025-10-06 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-06 07:23 pm (UTC)I can't see a lot of other people's as well. As far as I can gather, they gave no reason, but although people are speculating it's the OSA, others seem to think that imgur were being investigated by Ofcom for the handling of some child images and resorted to blocking the UK rather than pay the fine. :-/
Anyway, in more cheerful news, some very likely rumours are going around that Film is Fabulous are negotiating with several film collectors to share the episodes of missing TV they have. It's all very vague at the moment, but they are indicating that we should have some lost Doctor Who returned! I'll not hold my breath until we see it, but they aren't an outfit that would be likely to be putting out tweets of this nature without some substance to them. Cross everything!!
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Date: 2025-10-06 07:29 pm (UTC)Luck and unburnination!
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Date: 2025-10-06 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-07 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-13 09:05 pm (UTC)Thanks. Your honor, I want a new lawyer.
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Date: 2025-10-15 08:14 am (UTC)The quality of comedy in court is not what it used to be! XD