ABSTRACT
In consequence of the exposure in the newspapers a few days since, of the system of fraud which has been so extensively carried on throughout the country, by means of forged passes, purporting to be regularly authorized documents sometimes given to soldiers’ wives and widows at the War-office, letters have been received at this office from overseers and churchwardens of parishes in almost all parts of England, detailing the frauds which have been practised upon them in this way. In most of these letters, the advice of the magistrates was asked as to the surest mode of guarding against such frauds in future, and in answer, a genuine copy of the authorized War-office pass has been transmitted, together with instructions for the future guidance of parish-officers with respect to such matters. The publicity given to the former investigation at this office has also been productive of another good—several gangs of the dealers in forged passes having in consequence been apprehended in the country. At Maidstone, six persons have been committed to prison who had obtained 40l. in a day or two: at Tewkesbury, another gang has been apprehended, consisting of eight or nine; and at two parishes in Norfolk, similar captions have been made. Evidence has also been obtained, through the same channel, against three of the persons who were apprehended in St. Giles’s by the officers of this establishment, on last Thursday se’nnight. They were yesterday brought up for final examination, before Mr. Halls. Their names are—John Henry Meyer, Sarah Meyer, Mary Dowling, and Mary Wade, alias Fitzgerald.
