Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

10 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

ROBBERY AT THE RAILWAY STATION.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

ROBBERY AT THE RAILWAY STATION. EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT OF JUVENILE BURGLARS! A Midnight I Meal' in a Railway Saloon. At a special Police Court on Saturday, before the Rev. Chancellor B. O. Jones (presiding) and the Mayor (Dr. J. Medwyn Hughes), five young boys were charged in custody with committing a robbery at the railway station the same morning. The accused were William Jones, twelve. Old Post Office Yard; Gabriel Roberts, ten, Crispin Yard; William Edwards, fifteen, and John Edwards, nine, both of Humphreys Yard, Llan- fwrog and William Roberts, twelve, 71, Mwrog Street,, Llanfwrog. Police Sergeant Woollam stated that the same morning, at about one o'clock, he was passing through the Ruthin station jjoods yard, and heard the sound of voices in a saloon carriage that was standing on the siding. He watched for a while, and eventually saw a boy leave the vehicle and go towards the goods shed. He ran after the lad, and, with the assistance of P.C. Bithel, he caught the other prisoners, who were in the coach. Finding a quantity of cough lozenges upon them which they could not ac- count for, he placed them under arrest, and returned to the carriage. He there found about 61bs. of tea, a number of jars of jam, and some broken bottles bearing the label of Messrs. Ellis and Son's Cymralis water. The door of the goods shed was unfastened, and several boxes had been broken open, and a cask of beer had been tampered with. The prisoners were then remanded till Mon- day in custody. On Monday, before the Rev. Chancellor B. O. Jones (presiding), Captain Cole, the Mayor (Dr. Hughes), Messrs. G. Blezard, W. T. Rouw, W. G. Rigby, and G. H. Denton, the boys were again brought up, and charged with larceny. Mr. Fenna, of Liverpool, prosecuted on be- half of the Railway Company, and the accused were undefended. The court was crowded, the extraordinary escapades of the boys having created great interest in the town and dis- I trict. Itt Opening the case, Mr. Fenna said that the charge preferred against the boys was one of charge preferred against the boys was one of larceny, and not of breaking into and entering the warehouse. The goods stolen would be enumerated by other witnesses, so that the. ? was no tte<?d for him to trouble the benph wjtL UnnefttsBsary details. He might say, however, that the articles stolen consisted of tea, various jam pots, bottles of Cymralis water, packages of lozenges, and of castor oil, valued at 25s. lOd. It was only right that he should tell the bench that a far more serious charge might have been preferred against the accused, viz., of breaking and entering the warehouse, and stealinggoods therefrom. He would not take that course, I because, if charged with breaking and entering, the court would have no right to deal with the case summarily. He was therefore dropping the most serious charge, and taking the more mer- ciful that the ease might fcs ^fe&lt with by tl-.eir worships that day. Neither him- self nor the directors or managers of the London &nd North- Western Railway would ever dream of making gaol birds of those five boys. They were too young for that, a\1d he was going to suggest later on, without for a moment at. tempting to dictate to the bench, what their punishment, ought to be The Chairman You must prove their guilt first. Mr. Fdntia said this was the reason why he intended to deter his suggestion until a 'later stage: in the case. As to their guilt, he was in no difficulty, as every one of the boys had ad- mitted the offence. It would also be proved by Sergeant Woollam and P.C. Bithel. There could be not doubt whatever about their guilt. The facts of the case were, shortly, as follows —On Friday night last, about 6.30 p.m., th^ goods warehouse was fastened, aIthough £ not so ecurely as usual, because the door was under repair at the time. It was a sliding 'door on wheels. There was a lock to one end, hub not to the other. Still it was fastened, and one would think securely fastened against boys of the strength of the accused. But there was no doubt that they got to the warehouse, and in- terfered with the packages of goods that were there, viz., packages of tea, boxes of jam, boxes of hard ware, casks of ale, boxes of sweets, and boxes of soap (laughter). There were also various other packages broken up. The boys were not seen entering the warehouse, nor breaking open the packages, but there could be no doubt that they did it with iron instruments called graps. which were to be found in the place. Having fastened the warehouse in the usual way, the officials left. About oneo clock in the morning, Sergeant Woollam, being on duty about the station, heard voices in a saloon carnage close by. He waited and watched, and one of the boys-William Jones—came out of the saloon, and went towards the warehouse. Woollam caught him, and then the other boys tried to scamper away. P.C. Bithel came to the assistance of the Sergeant, and all the boys were secured. In the police station the boys were locked up. Afterwards, the saloon and warehouse were inspected, and their depreda- tions were found. The damage to the saloon was very great indeed. It was a first class sleeping carr.age, and the seats were all over messed with jam. The long curtains were fas- tened and knotted together, and used by the boys as swings (laughter). The towels in the lavatory had been messed considerably, and the damage to the saloon could not be valued at less than 92. The offence was a very des- perate one, and he could not understand how boys so young could do such damage. They must have been there for a considerable time. Although the accused were very young, some- thing would have to be done to stop similar depredations. He did not want to labour the case in the least, and if the charge was proved to the satisfaction of the bench, he would sug- gest that the boys be birched, and that the number of strokes be varied according to their ages. He hoped the bench would take this suggestion in the spirit in which it was made. This course was adopted in other places throughout the country, and was found to assist justice materially in the case of very young offenders. David Roberts, porter at the goods yard, was the first witness called. He stated that the warehouse door had been closed at 6.15 p.m. on Friday night. It was a sliding door fastened by a lock at one end and a hook at the other. The former was locked, but not the latter, as it was under repair. The lads had pushed open this door, having previously pushed up the hook. One of the lads here shouted No, I didn't; the door was open.' Witness, proceeding, said he went into the warehouse next morning and found a firkin of beer had been tampered with, the cork. which was sealed, having been driven in and another ftork put there instead. A hamper, belonging to Messrs. Ellis and Son, was opened, and a bottle of Cymralis water was open outside the hamper. He also found a box broken open containing cough lozenges and castor oil; also one which contained tea, and boxes containing jam, which had been forced open, with the jam all about the place. The cough lozenges were scattered all over the warehouse. Sergeant Woollam said that on Saturday morntng, about one o'clock, he was walking about the goods warehouse, when he heard the sound of broken glass. He went towards the sound, and then heard voices in the saloon. He stayed there for a yhile, and two bottles were thrown out of the window. The bottles dropped into some metal, and were broken. He then saw William Jones leave the saloon, crossing the line; and going towards the warehouse. William Jones: No; the policeman caught me before I got to the warehouse (laughter). Witness, continuing, said he caught Jones, and as this lad cried, the other lads got out of carriage and ran away. P.C. Bithel and another young man that was with hhn caught them. The boys were all very wet, and had evidently been out in the rain for hours. In the pockets of Edwards and Jones he found a large quantity of cough lozenges. When asked, Jones told him that he got them in a box of rubbish outside of Mr. J. E. Jones' shop. Ed- wards said that he stole his from Mr. Hughes, the Stores. The boys, when placed together, confessed that they stole them from a tranship van at the station. Witness then described the articles and the condition of the saloon, saying that the lads had evidently wiped their feet on the towels, and messed the seats all over with jam. They had wiped their feet also on the cushions. They had knotted the blinds together, and the saloon and warehouse were in disorder. When they were locked up together, they con- fessed the offence. William Roberts said Wil- liam Jones helped me to break the box open.' Jones replied, 'Yes, but you broke one box open yourself.' Then they all began to accuse each other. William Jones here said that Gabriel Roberts first got in by pushing himself between the door and the wall. P.C. Bithel proved the arrest of the other four boys, and corroborated the evidence of the ¡ Sergeant. Thomas Williams, tailor, who was with Bithel, said he had caught two of the defend- ants, and there could be no doubt about their identity. The bench, having considered the case, or. dered William Jones to receive twelve strokes with the birch rod, William Roberts and Wil- liam Edwards, six strokes each. The charge against Gabriel Roberts and John Edwards was dismissed.

. POLICE COURT.

I. I COUNTY COURT.

A LLANARMON WILL CASE.

DISPUTE ABOUT BARLEY.

COLWYN BAY.

-----CAERWYS

IBODFARY.

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