'Chaloner's Case'. A history of Chaloner's crimes since 1690, largely summarising the confessions of other coiners

Chaloner's Case

[1]1. About seven years ago Chaloner was a poor man, a Iapanner in cloaths thredbare ragged & daubed wth colours, & then got stamps made by Taylor left of his trade turned coyner & in a short time put on ye habit of a Gentleman took a great house at Kinghtsbridge & bought some plate.

[2]2 He was originally taught to coyn by Coffee & Grosvener & learnt all his art of theim & Grosvener & at that time (wch was seven years ago) put in a stock wth Coffee for French Pistols wch were conveyed into France by a Gentleman to put into ye Kings treasury & also bought by Blackford Coppinger Peck Holloway Iones Carter & many others here & continued this trade wth Coffee till about 5$\frac{\mathrm{1}}{\mathrm{2}}$ years ago.

[3]23. He was arrested by Taylor an Engraver in Grays Inn Lane in making a pair of French Pistol Dyes 1690 & another pair 1691 & a pair of Guinea Dyes of K. Ch. II 1692 & tried the Dyes before Taylor & raised himself by coyning 17000 Pistols & a great number of Guineas all of silver guilt. [4]Tho. Holloway hath had at least a 1000 of Chaloners French Pistols & paid him & his Mrs for them He hath also seen myany 100ds of his Guineas & had almost an hundred in a day. He paid Chaloner 11s for a Guinea or Pistol & sometimes but 10s or 9s, & hath heard Chaloner own that he struck some of them & boast his workmanship & hath seen ye Guinea Dyes in Chaloners hands

[5]4 About 5$\frac{\mathrm{1}}{\mathrm{2}}$ years ago Blackford being condemned for putting off Chaloners Guineas informed {illeg}agt Chaloner for making many thousand Guineas & French Pistols & was reprieved for some months, & Chaloner withdrew till Blackford was executed & while Blackford was in prison carried to Tho. Holloways house in the Friars a pair of K. Iames Guinea stamps & materials & cut out blancks for Guineas but being in danger to be apprehended by one {illeg} Tuccar fled & within 2 or 3 days he & Carter coyned in Westminster sixty Guineas.

[6]6 Chaloner coyned Guineas about 3 years ago & continued to coyn them for the Holloways till about May or Iune was two years.

[7]About March or April last he & Clark who keeps ye Flask Tavern had a Press a Chiswick for coyning them & imployed an Alehouse keeper of Westminster to coyn there. Mrs Labree hath seen some of their work & saith that the Dyes were very fine ones of Chaloner's making.

[8]5 Soon after the execution of Blackford a great number of K. Iames's Declarations were scattered about ye streets & Chaloner to secure himself as a person serviceable to ye Governmt, perswaded Butler & Newbolt (at ye expence of several treats & some money) to print him 40 of those Declarations pretending that they were not to be dispersed but sent to a private Gentleman in the Country as soon as he had got ye papers he went to Secretary Trenchard & informed him that he had discovered & taken the Printer of King Iames's Declarations wth their Press & receiving (as he gives out) a reward of a 1000℔ has since braggd that he fun'd (that is trick't) the King of a 1000℔.[9]

[10]7 A little before May was two years, about a week he & some others clipt & filed old hammered money at Mr Sampsons in a little Alley in Drury Lane leading into Wild street. And about the same time Gravener & his wife & Carter by the consent of Chaloner coyned at Gravener's house about 60 pounds in half crowns wth a pair of stamps made by Chaloner, & Chaloner sent Tho Holloway thither to see them work & learn the art & take away the stamps. And then Holloway coynd for Chaloner & Gravener who found materials & got ye silver flatted & shared the profit. [11]These stamps Eliz. Holloway hath seen in Chaloners hands in Gra Gillinghams house & heard him say that he made them himself & commend then for fine things & received of her husband & he of Chaloners $\frac{\mathrm{1}}{\mathrm{2}}$ crowns made wth those stamps, as she knew by the form. And after her husbands hands she hath heard him rally at her husband for them & ask to have them again. [12]And about 1$\frac{\mathrm{1}}{\mathrm{2}}$ year ago Iohn Holloway (who hath also heard Chaloner commend them) hid them in Essex in Mr Sammonds Warren at Kilden Hatch.

[13]About May was two years Chaloner was accused face to face by Coppinger before the then Lord Mayor Sr Tho. Stamp & sent to Newgate but saved himself by getting Coppinger hangd out of the way.

[14]Soon after to regain the favour of ye Governmt he discoved the plot of cheating the Bank by Orphans Bills cut out of the check book of tilles in ye Chamber of London, & carried recd of ye Bank 200℔ for a reward

[15]And that winter, a litle before ye recoynage of ye money he clipt old hammered money.

[16]And soon after was in trouble again on account of a K. W. & Q. M. Did taken out of the Tower

[17]And the summer following recommended to ye Warden that he might have a spy upon the Warden of the Mint for his own safety recommended to him his intimate friend & fellow coyner J. H. as a person that could do the Governmt the greatest service by taking up clippers & coyners.

[18]And till tilabout{illeg} Feb or March following had he & Clark who keeps the Flask Tavern by Charing Cross who had a Press at Chiswick for coyning Guineas & other Gold moneys & imployed an Alehousekeeper of Kings-street Westminster to coyn there. Mrs Labree hath seen their work & saith it holds touch & weight & that ye Dies are very fine ones of Chaloners makings.

About the same time he shewed before a Committee of Parliamt some expts of diminishing & counterfeiting milled money to convince them how easy it was to be done & how ye money should be gr{illeg}ooved & coyned high to prevent those abuses, but amongst his confidents talkt[19] slaightily of funning ye Parliamt & in conclusion represented all the Mint very unskilfull in comparison of himself that he might be made their supervisor, & told T. Holloway that he {illeg} would then supply him wth coyning tools out oth' Tower & teach him how{illeg} to to d coyn wth blanks hereafter mentioned wch being soft would easily rise.

[20]But In the mean time vizt about ye 10th or 11th of March last he desired H. Ha      to cast him a stamp for a shilling, for his money grew short & if ye Parliamt did not give him encouragemt., he must go to coyningwork again.

[21]After the end of that Sessions of Parliamt when Mr Chaloner found himself disappointed of preferment he advised Tho. Holloway to take a convenient house for coyning & agreed with him that he & his brother Iohn Holloway should coyn together there & Chaloner should teach them a new way wch {illeg} quick & profitable & supply them wthfind materials & receive their work & they three should share the profit & accordingly Holloway did take a house about 20 miles off at Egham in Surrey, & did make some progress in teaching the brothers & particularly Tho. Holloway the Art

[22]For Chaloner ordered him to get two brasses cast by a wooden pattern whaeich he received of Chaloner & shewed me & he did get two brasses cast accordingly & gave ym to Chaloner & Chaloner to Hicks to get Peers to file them[23] & Gravener seeing them in the hands of Hicks said I know what those are for those are for the casting of blanks. And Hicks telling this to Chaloner, he replied, Ay, Let Gravener find out that if he can. And the brasses were filed by Peers & returned to Chaloner & Chaloner confessed[24] to ye Warden of ye M. that they were for casting of blanks & were thicker at one end then in other places to make room for the gates or gutter where the mettle was to run in & described the use of them to ye Warden & G{illeg} but excused the matter by saying that they were cast three years ago & yt he sent them to be filed only to see if Peers was so good an Artist as he was pretended to be. The way of using these brasses was also described to me by Tho. Holloway[25] so far as he had learnt it of Chaloner. And when Hanwell was newly taken up (viz. Sept 276) he described it to me exactly & said that Chaloner taught it him ye winter before with intention yt he should work at Holloways house & Chaloner find money, & spake of this way as the most profitable.[26]

[27]Chaloner also to com shewed described to the Holloways or to one of them theat way of making the stamps should be but little ones no broader then a shillingno broader then a shilling so that they might be hidden any where, & produced a brass ring of that size & shewed how with whiting to make a mold of it for casting of stamps & how to use that mould. But before they had stamps, Tho. Holloway was cast into ye Kings Bench Prison for debt & this was towards ye end of April & put a stop to the designe.

[28]Then Peers & his wife being taken up by Morris for other things then coyning & carried before Mr Negus {illeg} confest several things May 18th & something Peers confest of Chaloner & Gravener, & was bailed & about not long after went to Tho Holloway in Prison & {illeg}to{illeg}ld him that he could cast after Chaloners way between two pieces of lead & was taught by Gravener & then went to Egham by Holloways consent & cast 18 shillings there after that way,[29] & Chaloner being told that Peers could cast this way called Gravener a Rogue for teaching him. <502v> Peers {illeg}told Holloway also that he could cast stamps & that he had made two trialls & failed.

[30]In Iuly Mr Chaloner was upon a designe wth Price of taking out the summ in an Excheqr Bill & inserting a larger summ but desisted because Price discovered it by Randal to Fitz Gerald, & Fitz Gerald sent to Chaloner about it