THE TREEVE SWINDLES.

Evening Star, Issue 3993, 11 December 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TREEVE SWINDLES.

{Sydney Evening News, Nov. 12.) The firm of Raynes, Treeve, and Co. was established about eight years ago in Pitt street, Sydney, as auctioneers and land commission agents. Towards the end of the year 1872 Josiah Richard Treeve, one of the partners, was secretary of two building societies, the Plnenix and the Alliance. !u compliance with a resolution passed at a meeting of the Phoenix Building Society, on the 20th November, 1572, tho society was wound up at a final meeting on the 19ch February, 1873, there being at tho time no genuine hills under discount ; but on the 13th December, 1873, in consequence of mining speculations, Treeve was urgently in want of money, and raised it in the following extraordinary manner. Being the secretary of both tbo Alliance and the Phoenix Build-

in" Societies, be used the one bill or prom's-sory-note book for both, and with extraordinary ingenuity he cut out the signature of the directors from one piece of paper and joined it to another piece {filled in for the amount of money he required) with the utmost nicety and accuracy, covering the joins with duty stamps. The first promissory note thus operated upon was for the large sum of L 4,950, and it consequently required a greater number of stamps, and these not only covered the back of the bill, but also a great part of the face of the note where the joining occurred, Trecve, about this time, December, 1872, came into possession of JLS,OS4 3s 7d, as secretary of the Phoenix Building Society ; and instead of paying this sum into the City Bank to the credit of the societj', he only paid in L 312 8s Id, and made up the balance with the forged promiasary note for L 4.950, which, less discount, represented a net sum of L 4,841 15s 6d, or L 8,004 3s 7d in all. But the bank passbook bad to be placed before the directors of the building society once a month, and tins would, if not tampered with, show' that a bill had been discounted, instead of cash having been paid in for a largo portion of the money. The pass-book was, however, manipulated in the item in such a way as to escape the notice of the direc-

tors who attended the winding-up meeting ; and again the erased words “bill discounted ” were restored for the satisfaction of the bank directors, and again appeared as originally written. This promissory note became due on the 6th April, 1873. Having taken one wrong step, Treeve, like a good many others in similar positions, found it necessary to go further in a downward course in order toback upwhathehad already done. He renewed this forged promissory note, for different amounts, on eight different occasions : viz. : on the 4th August, 1873 ; 4th December, 1873 ; 7th April, 1874; 7th August, 1874; on the 7th December, 1874 ; the Bth April, 1875 ; and on the 9th August, 1875, The reuewa’s ■were not exactly for the full amount, because, in order to allay suspicion and to prevent inquiry, he on each occasion reduced the amount by paying into the bank at certain percentage by cheques. Early in September, 1875, the senior partner, Mr llaynea, died, and almost simultaneously with Mr Kayues’a death Treeve announced

privately to his friends the receipt of letters informing him that he bad become, by the death of a relative, a peer of the realm, inheriting property and the title of Lord Blaney. Oa the 15th September, a fortbight after Haynes’s death, the schooner Fanny Wright, Capt. Brown, left Woolloomooloo Bay at eleven o’clock at night, luxuriously fitted up, and plentifully supplied with provisions. She cleared for Guam, having on board Treeve, now Lord Blaney. When going down the harbor, however, just off Bradley’s Head, the steamer City of Hobart, then entering from Tasmania, unfortunately came into collision with the Fanny Wright, and sank her. His lordship, however, was rescued, and had to return to Sydney. The captain of the Fanny Wright, for a breach of the Passenger Act, ?' neglecting to furnish the water police with a correct list of her passengers before proceeding to sea, was fined L 5, though ho urged that Treeve being part owner of the schooner he was bound to obey orders. Among those who heard of Lord Blaney’s extraordinary adventure were certain bank managers who held bills, promissory notes, and title deeds, in which he was interested. The manager of tho Joint Stock Bank appears to have been the first to take action. It seems that the dead partner. Haynes, had sold his landed property and residence to Treeve, and that Treeve had mortgaged it for L 2,000 to Mr Slade ; but in place of delivering the deeds to Mr Slade in the usual way, he had brought them to the Joint Stock Bank, and there obtained another L 2,000 on them, having at the same time requested as a favor that tho bank would not register the mortgage. He pointed out that they had the highest security, i. «., the deeds, and registration would only make the matter public without serving any good purpose. In a few days, however, it became known teat Mr Slade had registered his mortgage, and thus obtained a better security than that held by the bank. This disclosure led to Trceve’s arrest, and he was lodged in Darlinghurst to await the result of investigation. Meanwhile other inquiries were made, and an extensive system of fraud and forgery was unfolded. It is needless to enumerate how the Bank of New South Wales, the Joint Stock Bank, the City Bank, the Alliance Building Society, and the Phoenix Building Society, and scores of private persons had been swindled and lobbed. It transpired npon an examination that the swindling ommenced as far back as IS6B, upon a small scale. In that year at least two sums, one of LSOO and tho other L 620, were, to use a mild term, misappropriated. But the signatures to the thousands of pounds represented on paper were not all forgeries, and for a long time it was doubtful if there was a single case of forgery, its some clever lawyers remarked, the extraordinary ease in which signatures for blank bills or promissory notes could be obtained by this trusted secretary, and the confidence which was placed in the firm of Baynes Treeve, and Co., made it almost incredible that forgery should have been resorted to. There were several instances in point. A man had to make two bills for a total of about L2SO, but the exact amount was no': then known. “Oh, sign them in blank,” said the oil-banded Treeve, “and I’ll fill up the figures when we know what the precise sum isand the drawer did so. He now finds ho has to pay two bills of L 450 each, or L9OO in all. The most rascally trick, however, was played upon a poor milkman, who owed a balance of L 9 upon a purchase. The head of the firm asked for a promissory note, and his request was complied with. The man was not clever with hia pen. Twice he signed his name, but each time the piece of paper was crumpled up by Treeve, and thrown into the waste-paper basket. The signature, he said, was not legible—in fat fc, looked like that of a drunken man ; thereupon tho unsuspecting milkman essayed his skill in penmanship a third time, and a third note was filled up. This was signed satisfactorily. When the victim had departed, the pieces of crumpled pap r were taken out of the basket, smoothed out carefully, and the words “one hundred and"’ written before the word “nine.” The threo bills (for L.‘i27 in the whole), endorsed by Baynes, Treeve, and Co., were duly negotiated. An examination of Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage will show that the title of Lord Blaney is extinct, and baa been extinct for several years. This fact was pointed out by certain sceptical and illnatured people, when the announcement of Mr Treeves’s accessiou to the peerage was first made public ; but the pleasurable excitement of having a real live Jot ci in their midst was too much for the worshippers of greatness, and they laughed to scorn the warnings of the waiy. In consequence of some extraordinary rumors to the effect that Baynes was not dead, but had been smuggled out of the way, the In-spector-General of Police instituted an inquiry, and it was ascertain' d beyond all doubt that Baynes was dead, and not as asserted, that his partner Tieeve had buried a ctflin full of stones. Treeve, alias Lord Blaney, w'as breugbt up for trial at the Central Criminal Court and the extraordinary defence set up that all these misdeeds, these forgeries, were the aots of the dead partner, Kayncs ; as dead men tell no tales, it was considered a safe defence, but the handwriting was proved to be that of Treeve, and he was convicted. He was I sentenced to thirteen years’ imprisonment, t- i - ■