The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-07 00:00:00

THAMES.

EXTENSIVE EMBEZZLEMENT BY A CONFIDENTIAL
SERVANT.—George Hill, aged 33, late foreman and super-
intendent in the service of Messrs. Walton and Gowland,
coal merchants, ship-owners, and wharfingers, of Keepin
Wharf, Broad-street, Ratcliff, was brought before Mr.
Yardley charged with stealing five tons of coals the pro-
perty of his employers.

Mr. Fearnly, solicitor, conducted the prosecution ; Mr.
Gomm, from the office of Mr. Young, solicitor, defended

the prisoner.

The prosecutors carry on a very large business at Keepin-
wharf. The prisoner had been in their employ ten years,
and had been gradually raised from a subordinate to a very
important position, with a liberal salary and a resi-
dence on the wharf. The charge against him on the
police-sheet was for stealing five tons of coals,
but ho had in reality carried on his peculation
for some years, and Messrs. Walton and Gowland
had set down their losses by the prisoner's frauds, at least,
£2,000, and had no doubt he was in collusion with others to
cheat them, and that one of the principals in the nefarious
scheme died about three months ago. On Saturday week,
the 27th ult., the prosecutors discovered that the prisoner
had sold five tons of coals to a dealer, had received money
for the same, and appropriated it to his own use. Messrs.
Walton and Gowland then believing that that was the
only irregular transaction of which the prisoner
had been guilty, dismissed him, and did net take
any proceedings against him or give him into cus-
tody until they discovered there was an overwhelming
mass of cases. The prosecutors have several classes of
customers, householders who pay for the coals ordered on
delivery, and .other householders to whom credit is given,
dealers who are supplied direct _by the firm, and dealers
who are (supplied by the firm through the instruction
of others. As regards the householders the prisoner was
unable to commit any frauds, but vast quantities of coals
were supplied to dealers and their agents, customers of
Messrs. Walton and Gowland, for which the prisoner re-
ceived payment and never accounted for the same. Between
the end of June and the 10th of July 57 tons of coals had
been delivered to a *man named Brooks, through a Mrs.
Forward, a widow, whose husband formerly carted for
Walton and Gowland, and only 22 tons had been accounted
for by the prisoner, who had put into his pocket, through
MrsL Forward's transactions only, about £4O in six weeks.
Numerous witnesses were examined to prove the deli-
very of coals by the prisoner, his not accounting to his em-
ployers for the-money he received, and his dispensing with
tickets from the counting-house, in accordance with the
regulations of the firm, before he permitted coals to leave
Kupin wharf.

Mr. Pyn, the chief clerk, having completed the volu-
minous depositions, the prisoner was committed for trial at
the sessions.
The court was crowded to excess.

A SNOW STORM IN THE DOG-DAYS.--04 Satur-
day afternoon a very severe thunderstorm passed over
Melton and district, ending in a shower of snow and hail
of fully a quarter of an hour's duration. The ground in
the Derweitt valley and to the coast was quite white, and
on the Wolds it is said the snow was fully two inches deep
in some places. In the neighbourhood of Sherburn, hail-
stones as large as nuts fell in vast quantities, and it is said
the pea and turnip crops are very greatly damaged. On
the Wolds several lambs were killed by lightning. A
second storm of snow and hail occurred on Sunday.—. Da-
rlington Tinto.