Page:The Trial, at Large, of William Booth and his Associates.pdf/5

 distant from each other; the windows in the chamber over the parlour were equally inaccessible, being fastened similarly to that in the parlour, and with bars of equal strength; the officers were therefore obliged to place a ladder against the house, so as to ascend to the garret window, and as one of the officers was ascending the ladder he saw the prisoner in the chamber, who was then carrying small pieces of paper resembling bank notes from a bench in the middle of that room, and putting them into the fire, which was in the same chamber; he called out to the prisoner, and asked him to let him in; prisoner replied he would presently; on which the officer again called out to him, telling him he was dropping notes; the officer then ascended to the garret window, and by using a considerable degree of force got in there, and when he had obtained entrance he was soon followed by others; in the garret they found a great variety of engines, and in short every implement necessary for forging coin, in imitation of the 3s. tokens and dollars issued by the Bank; not one implement necessary for that purpose was wanting; except the dies by which the impression was made, and it could be shewn that the prisoner, fearful of a discovery, and well knowing the consequences which would inevitably attach to those dies being found in his possession, was in the habit of having them buried, or as the cant phrase was, planted, immediately after they had been used; unless the officers arrived at the very moment when he was in the act of coining, those dies could not be found on the house being searched; this was also the case with the coin itself when struck: having seen what was in the garret, the officers descended through the trap door into the chamber beneath, and they there found every implement necessary for forging bank notes, except the plates, on which the words printed on the notes were engraved, those plates (like the dies) being also planted: they found there charcoal, cokes, a coke fire, a rolling press, or copper-plate printing press, and a stamp for putting on the number of the note; they then descended into the parlour, where they found the prisoner, Elizabeth Chidlow, and James Yates, and having while in the chamber perceived that a considerable quantity of paper had been destroyed by fire, they, after securing the prisoner, re-ascended into the chamber, and having knocked in a part of