The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-29
LET OFF WITH SIX MONTHS.
THE LAW AND THE JURY BOTH
LENT AID TO WM. SCHROEDER.

vannah, Florida and Western
Railway on Trial in the Superior
Court for the Larceny of Goods OF
the Value of $425 From His En-
pIoyer-Law Required That Goods
of the Value of $50 BE stolen Mt
One Time to Make the Crime n Eel
ony and This Could Not BE Proved.
Recommendation of the Jury
Lightened the Sentence.
In the case of William Schroeder, on
trial in the Superior Court yesterday for
larceny from the house. the jury returned
a verdict of guilty of larceny of property
under the value of $50, and recommended
the defendant TO the mercy of the court.
Judge Falligant gave him his choice be-
tween the payment of fine of 500 and
costs or six months in the county Jail.
Schroeder was charged with the theft
of $500 pounds of brass, of the value of
$500. one lot of tools, of the value of
500, and one locomotive headlight of the
value of 49, from the Savannah, Florida
and Western Railway, by which corpora
ton he had been long employed at the
time of his arrest Schroeders arrest re-
! called to the minds of many of his fellow
employees a very large number of suspi-
cious circumstances, and it is firmly be-
leved by the officers of the company
whose duty has led them to an investiga-
| ton of the theft, that the articles found
| In Shroeders possession made Up but
| very small part of those he had obtained
either through his own exertions or from
others who had come into wrongful Gus
tody of the property of the ro4d
Patrolman Godbod of the city force.
was the principal witness against
| Schroeder al the trial Godbold stated that
at the time of the arrest he had been de-
! tailed on special duty in the investigation
of series of thefts of wire from the street
railway company. He learned by chance
| that Schroeder had a large quantity of
various kinds of junk stored in the yard
| OF his dwelling. The officer secured
search warrant and searched the prem
| ises, finding concealed there the property,
| the theft of which was charged against
| Schroeder in the indictment The brass
had been packed in barrels as if for ship
ment Most of the brass could not be
| recognized as belonging to any particular
| individual or corporation, but some of it
| contained the marks of the Savannah.
! Florida and Western Railway When ask
ed how the brass came into his possession
| Schroeder told the witness he had bought
| II nom negroes, who brought il to his
| home under dover of darkness. The ar
rest of the defendant had followed this
| somewhat unsatisfactory explanation of
his possession of the property of the road.
| Frank Anthony, master mechanic of the
shops of the company at Savannah, testi-
| ned that the nature of Schroeder's EN-,
| ployment with the road gave him ample
| opportunity for the theft of old brasses,
and that a habit of the defendant, in
| sending a wagon TO the shops each day
for the purpose of getting load of saw
Gust, gave him equal opportunity TO get
away with what he had stolen. Mr. An
| thony had made an inspection of the brass
found on Schroeder's premises and stated
that he could positively identify some part
of it as the property of the road. AS 1t
| had not been either sold or given away
| he knew it had been stolen.
| F. w. Storer, storeke per of the railway
| company, gave evidence TO the same ef-
| feet. Mr.. Storer stated that all property
of the kind the defendant was charged
with having stolen passed through his
hands, and that no brass had been sold.
| That part of the brass which could be
| identified by the marks as the property
of the road had been stolen, said Mr.. Stor-
| er, from the compauys shops. 1t could not
have been obtained in any other way
Schroeder's statement was the only evil
N'CANo AhNiOuuN6u Oil b6iIdli Ol the ue-
Tense. In the most positive terms he de-
MED every having stolen anything, pro-
| Testing his perfect innocence of the crime
| with which he is charged. He stated that
the brass and other property had been
| bought by him from negroes. The defend
| ant stated that for years he had been in
the habit of purchasing all sorts of second
hand articles and selling them at a profit
| The brasses and other property of the
railway company, if it had belonged to
| the company, of which fact he disclaim-
| ed all knowledge, had come into his pos
session by purchase, and not by theft.
Solicitor General Osborne, in his argu-
ment to the jury, made many caustic al
lusions to the statement of the defendant
| contending that even according to the
showing that Schroeder himself had made
he was guilty either of larceny from the
house or receiving stolen goods. 1t was
impossible for anyone to believe that
Schroeder, who had worked so long for
the road and must have been thoroughly
familiar with its marks could have pur-
chased brasses, bearing these marks, from
irreSpons BILE negroes without being
aware that the brasses had been wrong
fully Obtained.
The only real question at issue, said the
solicitor general was whether or not
Schroeder had stolen at any one time
brasseS or other articles of The value Of
$50. Under the law the larceny nom the
house of goods of the value of $50 or more
is felony, punishable by imprisonment
in the penitentiary. while the larceny of
goods of less value than $50 is a INSIDE
meanor, punishable by fine or Smprson-
ment in Jail or on the chain-gang.
OF this state of the law, Mr.. r. l. Cold
ing, who represented the defendant. took
instant advantage. He contended in the
first place that it was far more reasonable
to believe that the defendant had bought
the property from others than that he had
stolen ii himself If the jury believed this
they could not find him guilty, as he was
being tried for larceny and not for receiv-
ing stolen goods. If the jury should be-
lieve, on the other hand, that Schroeder
had been the thief, il must find that he
| had never stolen at one time property of
| the value of $50. Under the valuation
| placed upon brass in the indictment, about
ten cents pound, the jury must find thai
| Schroeder had carried away at a single
| attempt more than 400 pounds of brass in
order to find him guilty of felony. That
| he should have been able TO do this, Mr..
Colding argued, was scarcely capable OF
| belief.
The jury evidently felt the weight of
this argument for after some dellbefation
il found the defendant guilty of the lar
ceny of goods under the value of $50
and further recommended him to the
mercy of the court. Why this latter rec
ommendation was added scarcely APP