The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-08-15
THE BuRL ,SeroS PAIGE CASE.

Two Weeks ago. aSS
rested on charge of the grand larceny
Of seventeen thousand dollars from the
Vermont Central Railroad Company,
and lodged in Jail to await examination
The case came up in the city court
Tuesday, the 9th, before Judge Hassel-
ton, Hon. Henry Ballard for defend.
ant and States Attorney PecIS and
Hon. Daniel Roberts for the state.
We CLEAN from the reports in the d. uly
Free Press the following article in C.
gard to Mr.. Paige and the trial, which {,
though brief, covers the whole ground.
Mr.. Paige entered the employ of the
Central Vermont railroad as telegraph
boy, many years since, and, being
smart, capable, ambitions and popular,
he gradually rose, by successive pro-
motions, 10 the very responsible posi-
ton of chief clerk of the freight office
at Burlington. In his official as in his
private position he was generally liked.
An accomplished musician, he was for
q long time the leader of the Queen
City Band and brought that organiza-
ton to h Ugh point of excellence.
He has had recent domestic bereave-
ments of the most pitiable kind. With
in year his father took his own life
under peculiarly shocking circurnstan-
ces, and his wife died of lingering
disease, leaving little girl motherless
"a catalogue of sorrows to which the
present sad affair is dreadful end.
At the examination Tuesday, Mr..
G. L. Appleton was She principal wit
ness for the prosecution, the leading
points of whose testimony are as fol-
lows:
In 1876 and 1877 had charge of the
freight and passenger business at the
Central Vermont Railroad Company's
station at this city; the respondent
Ed. r. Paige, was chief clerk at the
freight office; his business was to look
after the subordinate clerks and to sec
that all bills were made out properly
j and the money collected and forwarded
to headquarters at st. Adams; through
freight was taken here from ESSEX
junction, dressed and then sent or
again; the money for this is called {
stop-over charge; finally the amount O.
uncollected bills reached some $21 ,00(
and the Company ordered, September
1876, that when cars were detained herr
over two weeks the through freigh
must be paid here; it was Paige's bust
uess to attend to the stop-over ant
through freight charges, and report t.
st. Adams every month; after tho or
der spoken of l intended Paige to re
port the through freight collections t.
st. Adams every day; in September
1877, in response to a telegram / me
Superintendent Mills at Essex juno
ton and he told me that he was not re
ceiving the money OH the through bills
/ on my return at once went to Paige
, he said he would attend TO the matter
as soon rs possible; in October Mr.
Leard came down from st. Adams ant
looked through the books; he mad,
out that there was deficiency in tn,
accounts of $l2, 900; Paige said in ex
PLANTATION that there were good manl
lumber bills unpaid; subsequently, Mr.
Hatch of st. Adams figured up the de
ficiency as $4,000; Paige still claim
ing that number of bills had not beer
paid, drew up list and called OH tn,
lumber dealers and found that they hat
been paid; told Paige and he said Their,
was mystery about it; he and Hatcl
went around to see if ali the bills hat
been paid and found that they had; III
to this time Paige held up to me that il
would come out all right; that there
was mistake somewhere; at this TIME
he said Hatch's figures were correct.
After all the other testimony from
both sides was in, the prisoner testified
as follow:
Said he was thirty-two years old
came to Burlington in August, 1864
entered the employment of the railroad
as telegraph boy and gradually rose t
be head clerk. He explained that tn,
collections were made by clerks; W,
used to collect the bills monthly tn,
clerks collected the money and signed
the receipts in Mr.. Appleton's Eamo;
seldom went out collecting; the clerk
initial on a receipt or my initia
wouldn't prove who collected the mon
. ey; Mr.. Appleton would ask for mon
ey and ! would sign receipt and
clerk would go out and collect it; thu
business correspondence relative to the
business of the office was done In Mr.
Appleton's name, and he received al
the mail and examined and read IL all
he dictated good many answers; thii
was so all the time was at the office
deposits of money, remittances to st
Albans and payment of money wal
made by the clerks and by MIR. Apple
ton; the safe was open in bushes.
hours and all the clerks had access to Il
and made change from It; the small
, change at the passenger Office came
from there; clerks would take it over
lie gave testimony In relation to gen
: eral conduct of the office going to show
, that there was no system or apparen
responsibility. He further said: Mr.
, Appleton and used to borrow none,
, of each other. have loaned him al
J high as %, 800 at time out of a safe Il
: pay monthly payroll; he has borrow
, ed money of me for other purposes
while was there and when / wasn't
, have never omitted or made false re
| ports that l was required to make a
} st. Adams. l have not got the GIG ,OOl
l l am charged with, nor any part of II
, l own house l bought five years ago
, l agreed to pay 81 800; ii Is mortgaget
! for S775; have no other property
my salary was S75 month at first an,
= $40 the last year. earned one year a
! leader OF the band $500; earned as higl
, as $40 a night for playing; picked up
| good deal of money that way; mad,
some money playing with other bands
have been In Burlington all the time
r practically.
On Monday last, the preliminar,
hearing was concluded and Judge Has
} seltop gave his decision, which is a
, follows:
The case, so far as tho claim for con
viction extends, covers the dates Marcel
10, 1875, to September, 1877. Othe
: testimony of events ontside those date
: of course only tends to fix the reponsi
, bility. The first question is whethe
there has been any defalcation at all
} Mr.. Hatch's thorough investigation
showed, however, beyond a doubt, tina
there was 900 collected here whicl
was never credited at st. Adams. A
q ". hn x.nax.A.atIt1skxx IL