Autograph Letter Signed from Polish refugee Dr Severin Wielobycki to an unnamed lady, enclosing a printed report of his brother Dionysius Wielobycki 's trial in Edinburgh for forging the will of Margaret Darling, headed 'Dr Wielobycki's Trial'.

Both items in fair condition, lightly-aged and worn. Severin Wielobycki's letter is 1p., 12mo. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. It reads: 'Dear Madam. | I am much delighted that you take interest in my brother; all friends of his are of the same opinion tat he has been treated very unjustly. I hope your influence will if not relieve him, at any rate shorten his horrible sentence. | I beg to enclose two copies of the document according to your request' (only one copy present). The report of 'Dr Wielobycki's Trial' is 1p., 4to, on grey paper, in two columns of small print. The case was a cause celebre, and centred on the forging of Margaret Darling's will by her sister Isabella Darling and Dionysius Wielobycki, the latter being sentenced to fourteen years' transportation (the sentence does not appear to have been carried out). According to the Annual Register, 'The trial and its result occasioned great sensation in Edinburgh, where the prisoner was extensively known.' The first paragraph reads: 'THIS trial, which was ended last night, has been the cause of intense excitement, and its result will fill many a home with poignant regret. Whatever the Doctor's demerits, he had fixed himself deep in the affections of a large number of friends; and however strong the evidence of his legal blame-worthiness, thousands still refuse to believe in his moral guilt, and tens of thousands will be constrained to question that substitute for moral justice known under the term "law."' An account follows of 'the case from the beginning' and of 'Dr Wielobycki's career' ('In Carnegie Street - a poor locality - he had a lodging corresponding to his means, and there, by incessant attention to the sick among the poor, earned a scanty living, but secured the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. His professional reputation rose fast and extended far, [...] The income of this "foreigner" was rising to as many hundreds as his brethren could muster tens; and, to crown his causes of offence, he followed the homoeopathic instead of the allopathic system - a crime for which the "legitimate" practitioners had no forgiveness.' In the account of the case Dionysius Wielobycki is said to have acted out of 'benevolence', 'while the woman who conceived and executed the forgery for her own behoof [Isabella Darling], and for the avowed purpose of "cheating" her nephew and nieces, has been returned unpunished to society'. The final paragraph describes the passing of the sentence and 'appearance of the prisoner in Court'. No copy of the printed document on either COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.