A FORGER'S STORY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1718, 31 March 1888, Page 3

A FORGER'S STORY.

- JNbw Yobk, Feb". 9.—A young man who calls himself Kitcbie : , and who • eayfl he is the son of a member of the English Parliament, a graduate of Oxford and the holder of an English .. grmy commipsion, is locked up _in Torkville on a charge of stealing lOdols from his landlady. "When arraigned in court the young man modestly discussed himself and family thus: "Nearly all the males in our family hare been soldiers. Eive of my brothers died on the battlefield. My grandfather was a Colonel and killed at Waterloo. I went through the Egyptian war and cajie back a Second Lieutenant'in a company of the Life Guards. I had a hard time of it in Egypt, and haye a dozen scars from sabre cuts. I had the brightest prospects in life and my family was very proud of me, when an incident occurred which compelled me to flee to this country to avoid disgrace. I was a suitor for the hand ofXady Adelaide Cuscampse, eldest daughter of Lord Lawrence of Lawrence. The Captain of my Company, Sir Charles Lflckharfc—now a colonel of the regiment—was my rival. I was the one most farored by the lady and Sir Charles tried to avenge himself and bring me into disgrace by blackmailing my character among my friends and military companions. I learned of this and we-at to Sir Charles's headquarters in the barracks and accused him of lying about me. Hot words ensued, and at last I struck him. For that I was court-mariialled, and my father gave me £SOOO and sent me to this country. Here I met D. C. Crouche, the man whose name I forged to a cheque.. I became quite intimate with him, and I foolishly turned nearly all my cash over to him to invest for me. He gave me bonds in return, but I jlewned aoon after that he was a clever swindler, and that the boads were : bogus. I lost about £23,000. ; "My father sends me an.allowance, ! but as the last quarter's' moneys did not come I did those contemptible deeds to get enough to keep me until my allowance arrived, when I intended to square them up with big interest. I own eight shares in the London, Brighton, and South Coast Kailroad, i which are worth several thousand pounds, and I have diamonds, worth « £2OOO in pawn here in Chicago." The assumed glibness with which Ritchie rattled off names from Burke's v. «nd De Brette's staggered the, aristocractic attaches of the. court, but when the latter gained their breath they discovered that there were •everal manifest discrepancies in the glittering narrative. Ritchie ~was acv ClOjrdingly held over to be further examined. Meanwhile several other : eh«£e» have developed against him.