THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. I will have an answer from you on your
oath, one way or another. Isn't that your handwriting?
SMITH. I believe that it is not my handwriting, but a very clever
imitation of it.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Will you swear that it is not?
SMITH. I will.
MR BARON ALDERSON. Did you ever make such an attestation ?
SMITH. I don't recollect, my Lord.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Look at the other signature there, 'Walter
Palmer'; is that his signature?
SMITH. I believe so.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Look at the attestation and at the words 'signed, sealed and delivered'; are they in Mr Pratt's handwriting?
SMITH. They are.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did you receive that from Mr Pratt?
SMITH. I can't swear that I did. It might have been sent to William Palmer.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did you receive it from William Palmer? SMITH. I don't know; very likely I did.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. If that be the document he gave you, and if those are the signatures of Walter Palmer and of Pratt, is not the other signature yours?
SMITH. I'll tell you, Mr Attorney . . .
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Don't 'Mr Attorney' me, Sir! Answer my
question! Will you swear that it isn't your handwriting?
SMITH. I believe it is not.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did you apply to The Midland Counties Insurance Office in October, 1855, to be appointed their agent at Rugeley?
SMITH. I think I did.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did you yourself send them a proposal on
the life of Bate for ?10,000?
SMITH. I did.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did William Palmer ask you to send that proposal?
SMITH. Bate and Palmer came together to my office with a prospectus, and asked me if I would write and get appointed agent for that company in Rugeley, because Bate wanted to raise some money.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. And you did so ?
SMITH. I did.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Was Bate at that time superintending William Palmer's stud and stables at a salary of one pound a week?
SMITH. I can't tell his salary.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. After that, did you try to make the widow
of Walter Palmer give up her claim on her husband's policy?
SMITH. I did.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did you receive a document from Pratt to
lay before her at Liverpool? SMITH. William Palmer gave me one which had been directed to
him.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Did the widow refuse to sign the document? SMITH. She said she would like her solicitor to sec it. So I said: 'By
all means,' and brought it back because I had no instructions to
leave it.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Didn't she say: 'I understood from my husband that the insurance was for ?1000?'—or words to that effect?
SERJEANT SHEE objected to the question. What had passed between Walter Palmers widow and the witness could be no evidence against the prisoner.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL explained that the question was intended to affect the witness's credit, and was most important in that respect.
THE COURT ruled that it could not be put.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Don't you know that Walter Palmer obtained nothing for nuking that assignment?
SMITH. I believe that he ultimately did get something for it.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Don't you know that what he got was a bill for ?200?
SMITH. Yes; and had a house furnished for him.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Don't you know that the bill was never
paid?
SMITH. No, I do not.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. NOW, I'll refresh your memory a little with regard to those proposals
SMITH. It is.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. NOW, I ask you, were you not applied to by William Palmer in December, 1854, to attest a proposal on the life of his brother Walter for ?13,000 in The Solicitors' and General Insurance Office?
SMITH. I might have been.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Were you, or were you not, Sir? Look at that document, and say have you any doubt upon the subject?
SMITH. I have no doubt that I might have been applied to.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Do not trifle, Sir, with the Court, and with the jury and myself! Have you any doubt whatever that in January, 1855, you were called on by William Palmer to attest a further proposal for ?13,000 on his brother's life in another office? Look at the document and tell me.
SMITH. I see the paper, but I don't recall the circumstances.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. That piece of paper seems to burn your fingers?
SMITH. No, upon my honour, it does not. I might have signed it in blank.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. DO you usually sign attestations of this
nature in blank?
SMITH. I have some doubt whether I did not sign several blanks.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. On your oath, looking at that document,
don't you know that William Palmer asked you to attest that
proposal upon his brother's life for ?13,000?
SMITH. He did apply to me to attest proposals in some office. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Were they for large amounts ?
SMITH. One was for ?13,000.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. NOW the truth is coming out! Were you asked to attest another proposal for a like sum in The Universal Assurance Office?
SMITH. I might have been.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. They were made much about the same time, were they not? You did not wait for the answers to the first application before you made the second?
SMITH. I don't know that any answers came back at all.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Will you swear that you were not present when Walter Palmer executed the deed assigning the policy upon his life to the prisoner, William Palmer? Now, be careful, Mr Smith, because, depend upon it, you shall hear of this again if you are not!
SMITH. I will not swear that I was; I think I was not. I am not quite positive.
