Trial and Sentence
On June 26, 1893 Smith's trial begun in the High Court of Justiciary. He was not charged with forgery but selling the forgeries under false pretences. One of the witnesses was a bookseller Bristo Brown, who had bought large number of Smith's letters and said that he had believed them to be genuine.
The jury convicted Smith but recommended leniency and he was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The exact amount of Smith's forgeries is unknown. They were widely sold in the British Isles and abroad and are still occasionally sold as real in the British Isles and the USA.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Howland Smith
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