St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-03-12
The Crane Defalcation.


In the | =. District Court At Bur
limgt"n. Friday. the plea of moi guilty :.
which had been prryiou>ll entered h,
AnSon j. Crane. Ia Il consolidated in
dictmcnt against him for cmhczzlin.
funds and making false entries aS col
lector of internal revenue tor that dis
trict. was withdrawn. The Indictment.
were then separated and the di>tric
attorney entered ii noIie pros to tn,
Indictment for rmbczzlemcnt and Gran,
plead guilty To the one charging hin
with making false entries. Long eX.
plantations of how it all came about
were made by the counsel on both side,
and by IN affidavit presented l., Mr.
Crane. The substance of it was thai
his clerk. OF deputy. +. \. Jcwett. twin,
is also under imdictmenD had kept tn,
books and handled the funds thai
Crane knew nothing of the Declaration
until informed of il from Washington
that he never took the Sl1 900 tor which
he is in default nor Il dollar of the fund,
save what his books showed him to y,
entitled to: and that after he hccam,
aware of the deficiency. he applied,
moneys which he at that time collected
III vi Splllt lll'll l'ttH prev J.
ousll collected and not entered. in hopes
that he might he able. with more time
To make up from his own funds the new
deficiency thus created. lie plead guilty
to technical emhcZzlcment. but claimed
that under the circumstances he was
not moral, guilty. The district attor-
ney diSSented from some of these state
ments. He said that Mr.. Crane drew
III one wear some - 900 when he was
only entitled to Si.0OO: that he must
have known what he was entitled to.
and that he checked from his liShurSinu
fund mdiScrimimatclN for his own use.
In entering the noIIe pros. he did not
comcede that Crane WAS not guilty. nor
did he assert that Jcwctt was. In ISL
Crane dismissed Jcwctt: he was aware
of the deficiency and went to work to
make ii up, but never charged Jewett
with it until l-73. when the govern
mrnt had discovered it. .Jewett re-
manned in Burlington over Il wear and
vet Crane took no steps To have him
arrested. \ question then arose us to
the extent of the punishment. and the
court deferred Judgment until next
morning. His Honor added that he felt
some embarrassment in this case as he
WIS IL stranger in Vermont. and to all
parties. On the one hand were circum-
stances indicating guilty knowledge
on the part of the respondent. On the
other hand his counsel. who. of course.
desire to make ont the best for their
client. but who are also sworn officers
of the Court and honorable men. state
their convictions that there WAS no
guilty knowledge. He should do as
fairly as he could 10y the respondent
and by the government. in view of his
duty to do all in his power TO prevent
the prevailing decentralization in regard
to offences against the revenue He
would. therefore. suspend sentence for
the present till he had more fully con-
sidered the case.
The next day Judge Shipman gave
the following sentence:
In passing sentence His Honor said
that il was admitted that the respondent
was guilty of emheZZlement of the funds
in his control as Il disbursing officer of
the United States. The circumstances
of the case had been fully detailed both
by the District Attorney and the conn
sci for the accused In regard to the
amount of the deficiency of SI7 900 in
his accounts as Collector of Internal
Revenue, the court eau have no opinion
as to the respondents guilt OF limo