A very unsatisfactory inquiry ended on Monday in a son•
-twice of ten years' penal servitude. A German baker, named Stanger, living in St. Luke's, last year disappeared, leaving a wife behind him. Another German baker, named Stumm, undertook the business, held close relations with the wife, and either did or did not draw out Stanger's balance at the bank, some 2100. Suspicion was at last excited, but the police, though they suspected foul play, could find no trace of it, and Stumm was at length indicted for forgery. Mrs. Stanger in Court swore that she wrote the cheques, and that .Stumm was innocent ; but the jury disbelieved her, and found a verdict of guilty. Upon hearing the sentence, Stumm made a savage remark about "English justice ;" and we confess the whole trial leaves on our minds an uneasy suspicion that while the prisoner entirely deserved his fate, and possibly a worse one, lie was convicted of a crime which legally he did not commit. If he was prepared to get the property by forgery, why did he make so many bites at his cherry ? It looks to us as if Mrs. Stanger's story was true, and that though aware of something not yet revealed, she did, as she said, sign the cheques, under Stanger's will, which she knew, as was the fact, to be in her favour.
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