Volume IV
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1763, for Forgery ceeded his father in business as a stockbroker in Spital Square, and was so successful that his profits were estimated at twelve hundred pounds a year. Unhappily for himself, he lived in too gay a manner, having a country house at Finchley, an elegant town house in John Street, near Gray's Inn, and keeping a coach, chaise, chariot, and several livery-servants : yet still it is probable that he might have supported his credit, but that, flushed with success, he wished to grow still richer than he was, which led him on to that species of gaming called speculating in the stocks, by which he suffered so greatly at different times that he was said to be a loser to the amount of sixty thousand pounds. In the vain hope of recovering his circumstances he was tempted to the commission of forgery. Among others of his clients was Mrs Ann Pierce, a Yorkshire lady, who had a very considerable property in South Sea stock; and, in her name, Rice was rash enough to forge letters of attorney, by which he received upwards of nineteen thousand, nine hundred pounds. Mrs Pierce having occasion to come to town soon after these transactions, Rice, hearing of the intended journey, thought it necessary to consult his safety in flight. There- upon he took a post-chaise for Dover, and embarked in the packet-boat for Calais, where he soon landed. Thence he travelled to Cambrai, a city in French Flanders, and the seat of an archbishop, which he had been taught to consider as a privileged place, where he could remain un- molested. It appears, however, that this was not the case, for the Archbishop of Cambrai, though a Prince of the Empire, was subject to the Parliament of Tournai, and had therefore no power to protect a criminal fugitive. Whether Mrs Rice knew of her husband's design previous to his departure, or by letter from him, is uncertain, but she determined to follow him, and taking a post-chaise reached Harwich, where she embarked in the packet for Holland, designing to travel thence to Cambrai, But the wind proving contrary, the vessel was obliged to put back to Harwich, whence Mrs Rice returned to London , proposing to re-embark on a future occasion. It is probable that Mrs Rice now apprehended herself in security; but she had no sooner arrived in London than she was taken into custody, and, being carried before the Lord Mayor, bank-notes to the amount of four thousand, seven hundred pounds were found sewn up in her stays. On her examination she acknowledged whither her husband had retired; and the crime with which he was charged being thought to affect public credit, our Ministry dispatched a messenger to the English ambassador at Paris, desiring he would use his interest with the people in power in France to have the culprit delivered up to the justice of the laws of his native country. This requisition was instantly complied with; and orders being sent to Cambrai to secure Mr Rice, notice was transmitted to London that he was in custody; on which one of the clerks of the bank and another of the South Sea House went over with one of the King's Messengers, to bring the unhappy man to England. On their arrival at the prison of Cambrai they found the presumed culprit in a state of great dejection. They were proceeding to handcuff him, but he fell on his knees and, in tears, implored that they would dispense with this disgraceful circumstance. They generously com- plied; and Rice was placed in one post-chaise, with the Messenger, the gentlemen preceding them in another. Having embarked for Dover, they landed, and proceeded immediately towards London. The newspapers having mentioned what had happened respecting Mr Rice, the public curiosity was so much excited that crowds of people attended at every place where they stopped to take a view of the unfortunate prisoner. On his arrival in London he was carried before the Lord Mayor, who, remarking the utmost candour, even to generosity, in his answers to the questions that were pro- posed to him, committed him to the Poultry Compter instead of sending him to Newgate, presuming that his situation might be rendered less disagreeable in the former prison than in the latter. On his way from the compter to the Old Bailey he fainted several times, and when brought to the bar he sank down, without any signs of life; and it was a considerable time before he could be recovered. He was brought to the inner bar, and being languid, pale and trembling was indulged with a chair ; but even then it was not without assistance that he was kept up while arraigned. He forged four letters of attorney, but was tried on only one, empowering, him to sell five thousand pounds, and for fraudulently selling five hundred pounds, part of that sum, to Thomas Brooksbank, His general appearance and extreme distress touched all present on the awful occasion with compassion. A fatal verdict was, however, pronounced. After conviction, as well as before, Mr Rice gave every sign of the most sincere contrition. At Tyburn, the place of execution, he attended alone to prayers, where he expressed himself with ardour and fervency, suffering the pains of death with a placid hope of a happy immortality. The mother of Mr Rice was living at the time his misfortunes commenced; and her friends, anxious to alleviate her distress, told her that her son was taken ill at Cambrai. They then added that his life was despaired of, and at length said that he was dead. The old lady lived at Stoke Newington ; and when, on the day after execution, the criers of dying speeches made their perambulations, the inhabitants of Newington, with a generosity that will ever do them honour, gave the poor people money not to cry the speeches near the houses. |