Fraudsters and Charlatans (14 page)

De Bourbel spent a great deal of time in Graham's workshop, and soon both men were satisfied that the tracing machine could turn out good facsimiles of signatures. To establish an alibi, it was important that de Bourbel should be a familiar face to Bogle Kerrich and Co., and early in March 1839 he was introduced to the firm by Allan Bogle, and opened an account. It seemed to Kerrich in hindsight that from then on de Bourbel was a regular visitor to the bank even when he had no actual business to transact.

De Bourbel also needed the cooperation of an agent to whom he could entrust his new wealth and who would not ask too many questions about a sudden acquisition of funds that coincided with a gigantic fraud. He was able to secure the loyalty of a Florentine called Freppa, stating that he anticipated receiving some money following success in some speculations, on which Freppa would, for his services, personally receive the sum of 50,000 francs.

The next step was to obtain a genuine Glyn and Co. letter of credit in order to copy the signature. These letters were not usually kept by banks but remained in the custody of the account holder, but it so happened that Robert Nicholson, who lived in Florence, had deposited his letter of credit with Bogle Kerrich and Co., where it was kept by Mr Kerrich in a tin box. This letter was signed by Mr Hallifax, one of the senior partners of the bank. When Nicholson wished to draw upon the letter, he would apply to the bank, Kerrich would take the letter from its box and hand it to Bogle, who would make the payment and then immediately return the document to Kerrich. In December 1839, therefore, it excited no comment when Allan Bogle asked Kerrich for Nicholson's letter of credit. It was in his possession for three hours before it was returned to Kerrich. At the time, Kerrich assumed that a payment had been made, and had no reason to check up on his partner. It was only later that he discovered that no payment had been made to Nicholson in that month, and suspected that Bogle had passed the letter to Graham, who had copied the signature with his tracing machine.

Satisfied with the success of the first part of the plan, de Bourbel set out for London, taking an apartment above a hairdresser's shop at 100, the Quadrant, Regent Street, the beautiful (then colonnaded) sweep of buildings just north of Piccadilly Circus. In London he encountered an old friend, the Baron Louis D'Arjuzon, ‘son of a distinguished General of the Empire and a Peer of France',
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who had an uncontrollable addiction to gambling that made him a ripe candidate for any money-making scheme. As anticipated, D'Arjuzon joined in the conspiracy with enthusiasm. It was now necessary to purchase a letter of credit from which to make the engraving, and on 7 January 1840 D'Arjuzon, given £150 by de Bourbel, deposited the funds with Glyn's and obtained a genuine letter, which, coincidentally, had also been signed by Mr Hallifax. Being of an economical turn of mind, de Bourbel later made sure that most of the outstanding sum on this letter was recovered from the bank.

If villainy is attracted to villainy, then when the Marquis de Bourbel first met the lovely Angelina he must have known that she would be a valuable member of the gang. She claimed to be a native of Jersey and to have completed her education in Boulogne. She certainly spoke fluent French. Angelina was bold, beautiful, cared only for money and was no stranger to crime. She had married Thomas Davidson Pow, a young man of fortune so addicted to drink that he regularly consumed a pint and a half of gin a day. Pow had made a will leaving all his property to his wife, but he had a strong constitution and Angelina was not prepared to wait until he drank himself to death. In 1838 the couple were living in a lodging house at 31 Queen Street, Lambeth. Both the landlady and the occupants were careful not to notice what went on around them, and in consequence the house was considered to be little better than a brothel. The only person who did observe and make a note of events was Frederick Pipe, who had known Pow for two years. Pipe claimed to be a veterinary surgeon, although he has also been described as a footman. He was owed money by Pow and was anxious to collect it. On 5 July he set out for Westminster Hospital, where he knew that Pow had been admitted, but was surprised to find that Angelina and a medical attendant, Henry Myers, had been there two days previously and abruptly removed her husband from the hospital. Pipe thought this highly inadvisable, and began to follow Angelina and Myers. On more than one occasion he saw them entering a house together and stay there for some hours. Making enquiries, he discovered that the house was a brothel. It was obvious to Pipe that Angelina (who was later described as a woman of loose morals and little better than a common prostitute) was having an affair with Myers, a married man. The two were holding Pow in a lodging house where they administered large quantities of gin and bled him to an extent which even in 1838 was deemed excessive, until he finally succumbed, at the age of 24. The inquest held on 23 July found a verdict of wilful murder against Angelina and Myers, and at a later hearing Frederick Pipe appeared in court to give evidence of his investigations and suspicions.

The case came to trial in September, but it was felt that there were insufficient grounds for the charge, and both were acquitted. In all probability, the persistent Frederick Pipe, having failed to secure the conviction of the woman he thought had murdered his friend, now began to pursue Angelina for payment of his debts. What followed was not perhaps entirely inexplicable: Angelina Pow was young, attractive and wealthy; in January 1839 she and Frederick Pipe were married.

A year later, Frederick Pipe met de Bourbel though his connection with some of the gambling houses at the Quadrant, and introduced him to Edward Gullan, an engraver of Windmill Street, Haymarket. Having engaged Gullan to make the copper plate from which to print the forgeries, de Bourbel became concerned that if Gullan were presented with a complete letter of credit as the basis for his task he might suspect that he was being asked to participate in a serious crime. To conceal the nature of the document he cut it into a number of slips – Gullan later estimated there were twelve to eighteen – which were handed to him individually over a period of two months. Gullan never saw more than one slip at a time, and the pieces, apart from the one he was working on, were always kept locked up at de Bourbel's apartments. It was a curious way of proceeding and Gullan, who later claimed that he had never seen a letter of credit, did become suspicious, especially as he was advised by de Bourbel to do his work without asking any questions. He was well paid, however, and probably took the view that he would be able to plead ignorance if necessary. Initially, Gullan worked at his own premises, but de Bourbel became unhappy about other visitors to the shop seeing what was being done and insisted that Gullan come to his apartments and complete the work there. The stamp with the initials of Glyn and Co. was an easier proposition, and de Bourbel employed a man called Palmer to produce one. It was Frederick Pipe who approached Morbey and Co., the manufacturers of the paper on which the Glyn and Co. letters were printed, to obtain a supply.

The printing was carried out by a friend of Edward Gullan who was sufficiently impoverished not to ask any questions. Thomas Perry, also known as Ireland, was 30 and lived with his wife, Anne, and four children at 5 Upper Rupert Street, Haymarket. His business was run from 88 Oxford Street. In February he printed over 200 of the letters of credit, some of the work being carried out at Pipe's house in Lisson Grove and some at the Quadrant. The copies were then transmitted to Graham in Florence, who was delighted with them, and used his tracing machine to add Mr Hallifax's signature.

While all this was happening de Bourbel was assembling a gang of agents, since he had no intention of presenting any of the forged documents himself. The agents included D'Arjuzon, who would travel under the name of Castel, and his mistress, Marie Rosalie Desjardins, who obtained a passport as the Countess de Vandec. Frederick Pipe travelled as Dr Coulson, which was thought to be the name of a former employer, and Angelina adopted the name of Lenoi. Alexander Graham took the name of Robert Nicholson, the man whose letter of credit Bogle had borrowed. Although Alexander had been assigned an important role in the operation, his debaucheries soon caught up with him and he was ultimately too ill to take much part.

Little is known about Charles Gerard de Pindray (sometimes spelt Praindry), another member of the gang. He claimed to be a count, but his title does not appear in the dictionary of French noble houses; he may have been an adventurer who travelled under assumed titles looking for ways of making money without the tedious necessity of work. Thomas Perry the engraver was also admitted to the gang, although he spoke no French and it was decided he should travel with Angelina Pipe. These agents were to receive 20 per cent of any sums they obtained from the banks. Quite what Graham and Bogle were to get was never discovered, but Perry overheard Graham tell Bogle that he would earn his share very easily as he had so little to do.

De Bourbel planned that the operation would commence on 21 April, simultaneously in Belgium, the Rhinelands and Italy. At the end of March he, Perry and Mrs Pipe travelled to Calais, arriving on 28 March, and from there went to Ostend, which they reached the following day, taking rooms in the Hotel d'Allemagne. There they met up with D'Arjuzon and his mistress, who were travelling together with a little girl, and Frederick Pipe. On 1 April this party, apart from de Bourbel and Pipe, travelled in a splendid carriage with two servants to Aix-la-Chapelle, where Alexander Graham was waiting for them. The travellers took rooms at the Hotel Bellevue and remained there, living in style, until 19 April. D'Arjuzon took the opportunity of further lining his pockets by visiting a jeweller and taking away a pair of diamond earrings, saying he would show them to an Italian princess who would pay 3,600 francs for them. He did not return.

On their way to Italy de Bourbel and Pipe stopped at Nice, where by prior arrangement they met Graham on 14 April. De Bourbel was concerned that by associating with villains he was in danger of being robbed by his own agents, and had attempted to reduce the chances of this happening by putting men he trusted in charge of those sections of the operation he could not personally supervise. Graham was to accompany Frederick Pipe as one of the supervisors and D'Arjuzon would travel with Perry as another, but it was not possible to control the whole gang, and great anxiety remained about subsidiary agents who were acting alone. De Bourbel wrote to D'Arjuzon from Nice. His letters are a mixture of detailed instructions, confidence-boosting, flattery and pathetic appeals for loyalty. ‘The banker at Florence says he is certain that all will go on perfectly well. . . . Everything at this moment appears to me
couleur de rose.
' He assured D'Arjuzon that he was the only man he could really trust, denouncing de Pindray as ‘an infamous scoundrel', adding that ‘without you . . . I should despair for I am afraid of being robbed by Alexander', and ending with the last plea of the confirmed trickster: ‘Adieu dear Louis, I write to you no more. On my knees I implore you to take care of me and my children.'
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Cunninghame-Graham wrote to his son on the same day, and clearly there were some concerns about Alexander's ability to play his part: ‘you must pay the greatest attention to the orders which are given to you . . . especially avoid drink during business time, or you are sure to spoil all, for I am convinced that unless you are under the influence of wine you will act suitably in all this affair.'
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De Bourbel also wrote to Alexander: ‘Bogle and your father are convinced that all will go on well . . .'.
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He then listed the dates and places on which Alexander was to present his forged letters of credit, up to and including 29 April, since he was aware that the information would not reach the London bankers until the following day.

De Bourbel proceeded to Florence, arriving on 18 April. He was present at the bank of Bogle Kerrich and Co. two days later, where he drew a small amount on a cheque through Bogle, who completed the paperwork in a tremulous hand. De Bourbel did not, it was later established, arrive with the cheque and neither did anyone else bring one on his behalf, an incident which Bogle left unexplained. De Bourbel returned to the bank on the following day for a very curious appointment. This was the day on which the operation was to commence, and, anxious to have a good alibi, he was happy to draw attention to himself.

Bogle had a private room at the bank that contained cash and securities. It was divided by a glass partition, in which there was a hole through which money could be passed to customers and placed on a marble slab when required. Normally the public had no access to the part of the room where the money was kept. At 10 a.m. on 21 April Mr Kerrich arrived at the bank and saw de Bourbel in the open part of Bogle's room, transacting business with Bogle. Kerrich went to his own room but half an hour later saw that de Bourbel was still with Bogle but in the private section. Kerrich decided to investigate, but on trying the door handle found that the room was locked. He was able to see de Bourbel and Bogle clearly through the glass, so left them there and returned to his own room, coming back later to find, much to his astonishment and concern, that the door was still locked. In all, de Bourbel was closeted with Bogle for two or three hours. What they discussed during that time has never been revealed.

Shortly after de Bourbel's departure, the ‘Count de Pindray' appeared at Bogle Kerrich and Co. and presented his forged letter of credit; although the letter was good for £2,000, he asked only for £200. As was usual, when a new letter was received it was examined by Mr Kerrich, who was satisfied that it was genuine. De Pindray received £200 in gold. No doubt the modest plundering of Bogle's own firm was designed to remove suspicion of any involvement.

On the same day, Frederick Pipe, who was in Genoa with Graham, obtained £1,500 from the bank of Gibbs and Co., saying that he needed the funds to purchase works of art. He received the money in gold without any difficulty, and Graham took charge of it.