Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1920-01-21
ALBANY P. M.
GETS YEARS
SENTENCE
B. &. NJ. Railroad Men Also
Sentenced for Stealing
Leather

v
oil and Il former school teacher, was
sentenced in United States court at
Burlington by Judge Halland B..
Howe to serve year and a day for
cmbezlcnlcnt while postmistress at
Albany. Another case was disposed
Of when William Folsom of Newport
Il conductor on the Boston & Maine
railroad, and two brakcmen, Frank
Stone and Harold Carter of Lyndon
vile, were sentenced to serve four
months in the Washington county
Jail for stealing a roll of leather from
a freight car. All of the respondents
pleaded guilty.
In the case of Mrs. Dow, Judge
Howe stated in pronouncing sentence
that it was one of the saddcst cases
with which he had come in contact.
Mrs. Dow came up to Albany num-
ber of years ago as a school teacher.
! She married man who has not
seemed to have the earning capacity
to take care Of even himself. They
now have two young children, one
/ two and one five years of age. Mrs.
| Dow has all alon" been the main
! support of the family. In order to
pay debts, which were incurred
through sickness and other causes,
she embezzled money from the post
Office. This money she intended to
repay, but continually got in deeper
until she had taken Il total of about
! $500 With part Of it she pur-
chased an automobile so that her
husband could earn something hack
ing. This plan did not work out we'll
and the money stolen from the gov
elnment was unpaid until recently
when Mrs. Dow succeeded in paying
back about Sl,700.
In sentencing Mrs. Dow, Judge
Howe said that he realized the temp
t;.tion under which she was, but that
she was trusted by the government
and by the public CT she would not
have had such a position. She had
betrayed the trust. He realized that
if her husband had been of her
equal this condition would never
have arisen and she would not have
yielded to temptation.
The case Of the raih,oad men arises
out Of the stealing Of a roll of lcath-
er near Morlisville last September.
Folsom, Stone and Carter composed
the entire crew, with the exception of
the engineer and fireman. They saw
the leather and threw it into one OF
their cars. 1t was harness leather,
consigned to Boston. They after
wards cut what they wanted up and
sent the rest along. The amount
stolen, together with the damage
done to the goods, was fixed at $123.
The men were discharged from the
railroad as soon as they we're dis
covered 10 be the thieves. All had
previously borne excellent reputa-
tions.
Judge Howe said that there was
altogether too much stealing on the
railroads and would not consent to a
fine in sentencing them. Attorney
Leary, in pleading their case, told OF
the standing of the men in the COM
munity previous to the discovery OF
the theft, and said that they already
had been punished severely. The
court thought that Jail sentence
should be imposed where an entire
crew united to steal from their en-
ployer These men were entrusted
with goods of an immense value and
instead of watching over them and
guarding them, were stealing. The
sentence of four months was less
than any other respondents would
receive in the future. He took into
consideration the circumstances in
imposing a light sentence.