Procès

1800 · Best.-Nr. AQ35203 — Dublin: Published by John Rea 1800. 48pp. Disbound. Inked ownership inscription to head of title. Later bookseller's ticket of Wildy & Sons Ltd. of London to foot of title. Light scattered staining and spotting throughout. The sole edition of a witness account of the scandalous trial of Assistant Deputy Post-Master and apothecary Arthur Wallace of Carlow Ireland indicted under the charges that 'on the 1st March in the 40th year of the King at Carlow he feloniously did secrete and embezzle a packet directed to Henry Loftus Tottenham at Ross which packet was sent by the post'. Despite the severity of the charges Wallace received countless recorded testimonies of good character being described by his own prosecution as 'a man of honour and integrity'. As such convicting Wallace of defrauding the mail required definitive evidence which was collected with the assistance of one Mr. De Joncourt described as a man 'of considerable sagacity’ and a ‘gentleman of considerable trust in the Department of the General Post Office'. In an almost-cartoonish fashion Joncourt's interrogation of the 'honest sober and industrious' Wallace revealed a great deal of repossessed banknotes in 'an inside concealed pocket' which were promptly identified as those missing from Tottenham's package. Wallace was accused of subsequently forging numerous counterfeit bills to replace those stolen and circulating them across the county; he was sentenced to death with execution ordered for the 16th of August 1800. . First edition. 8vo. Published by John Rea unknown