The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-04 00:00:00

THURSDAY, MAnen 30.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY LARCENY
CASE.—William Caitchen was charged with having, on
the 21th of January last, stolen £596 10s., the property
of his employers, the London and North-western Railway
Company, and in another count with having applied to
his own uses a farther sum of £251 18s. 7d., also the
property of the company. The facts of the case were very
strong. The prisoner was in the responsible situation of
cashier at the Lime-street station here; and in January
last, from something that had occurred, Mr. Stewart,
one of the secretaries of the company in London, con-
sidered that an inquiry into the prisoner's accounts should
be made. He accordingly sent the inspector of station
accounts to Liverpool: and on the 28th of January that
official had an interview with the prisoner, and told him
his errand. On an examination of the railway books, the
income was stated at £17,947 7s. 94d. . Mr. Caitchen was
then asked to show the credit account, and that account
showed a total of £17,695 9s. 24d., showing a balance of
£250 17s. Bd. due to the railway company. From some-
thing further that occurred in London, Mr. Stewart, not
quite satisfied, desired the inspector of station accounts
to go down again to Liverpool, and examine the accounts,
with respect to one particular item. Mr. Chauncey, the
inspector, accordingly went down, and drew Mr.
Caitchen's attention to a sum in the credit account of
£596105., the sum referred to in the first count in the
indictment. The prisoner was asked how he explained
that sum, and he stated that the sum had been paid to
the East Lancashire Railway Company, and produced
what was called a bank transmit in proof of payment, on
which was a tick, and the word "Audit" Mr. Chauncey
for the moment thought this explanation a reasonable
one, and went and reported accordingly to the office in
Londdn. The prisoner was again, from something that
had transpired, asked to explain this entry of £596 10s.,
and he then stated that the statement made to Mr.
Chauncey was false and untrue, and that, so far from
paying the sum to the East Lancashire Company, he had
paid £250 to a person of the name of Gowland, and that
the balance of £346 10s. he had applied to his own use—
for he acknowledged he had appropriated it to himself,
and, with extraordinary coolness, said he had lent it to a
friend, who would repay it in a short time. The above
facts were borne out in evidence, and after a consultation
of about twenty minutes' duration, the jury returned a
verdict of guilty.
TRIAL OF Gok.Lsw.—Thomas Goalen was then charged
with stealing sums of £3OO, £250, and £2OO, and re-
ceiving £250 from Caitchen, knowing it to be stolen, the
money of the London and North-Western Railway Com-
pany, his masters. Goalen pleaded guilty.—His lordship,
in a feeling address, sentenced Goalen to transportation for
14 years, and Caitchen to penal servitude for 4 years.
CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD.—WiIIiam Carlyle and
William Brown were charged with conspiring to defraud
Thomas Sibson. In December last the prosecutor, Sibson,
sold for £39 a mare to Brown, who took her to Preston
fair in January. On the 3rd of that month, the prosecutor
received a letter from Brown, stating that the mare had
been examined by a veterinary surgeon, and had been
pronounced a roarer. The prosecutor then went to
Preston and saw Brown, who informed him that the mare
had been sold for £27, which the prosecutor accepted, and
gave Brown also £l, in name of expenses. The prose-
cutor afterwards ascertained that he had been imposed
upon, and that the mare had actually been sold for £32.
The jury found the prisoners guilty. On the part of
Carlyle, an arrest of judgment was moved, on the ground
that the indictment set forth no means by which the
offence could be committed.—Sentence was deferred, and
his lordship reserved the point of law.
CHARGE OP CHILD MURDER.—Mary Ann Laithwaite,
18 years of age, but looking considerably younger, was
arraigned on a coroner's inquisition for the murder of her
• new-born female infant. No evidence was offered, and the
jury, by the direction of the court, acquitted the prisoner.
SENTENCES.—George Walker, convicted of stealing a
letter of credit, was ordered to be confined in a gaol in this
county for nine months.—Michael M'Nally, for forgery,
was sentenced to imprisonment, with hard labour, for four
months.—Judgment in the case of William Walker, for an
assault on a policeman, was postponed, for the settlement
of a question of law.