ABSTRACT
The frauds perpetrated by Samuel Barton took place between 1874 and 1885. when, without the knowledge of Ann Barton. who was a joint trustee under the will of one Samuel Barton of London and North Western Railway Co. stock. Barton sold portions of the holding and signed and executed transfers to the buyers. He forged the signatures of Ann Barton, and also those of the attesting witnesses. Since Barton had signed the dividend warrants and also accounted for all the dividends that were payable. the frauds remained undetected until he absconded in 1886 and new trustees were appointed. The latter brought a successful action against the company who were ordered by the court to replace the names of the trustees on the company's register as the owners of the stock. The company duly obliged. and informed the transferees under the forged transfers that their names would be removed from the register; one of them had held the stock since 1874. while "all were bonafide purchasers for value. innocent and ignorant of the fraud."l Legally. the company's action was quite correct but it caused widespread alarm, especially since railway stocks by this period carried the status of first class investments.
