Taunton Courier 27 Jun 1923 Serious Leakage of Coal Arthur OATEN and William Thomas HAM

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Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser Wednesday 27 Jun 1923
Page 4 Column 5


SERIOUS LEAKAGE OF COAL.

EMPLOYERS' TRAP.

EMPLOYEES' ELABORATE SCHEME.

At the Taunton Borough Police-court on Wednesday, Arthur OATEN, of 19, Westgate-street, and William Thomas HAM, of 10, Castle-street surrendered to their bail, and were charged jointly with stealing four cwt. of coal, valued at 10s, from their employers, Messrs. William THOMAS & Co., coal merchants, Taunton.

Mr. W. T. BOOKER, of Wellington, appeared for the prosecution, and HAM was represented by Mr. F. W. WILLMOTT.

Both prisoners pleaded guilty.

Mr. BOOKER, in opening the case, said Messrs. THOMAS & Co. were coal and coke merchants, of Wellington, with a branch at Tangier, Taunton. The defendant HAM, had, for some time past, been in a responsible position in the coal yard at Taunton, having been the yardman. OATEN had also been there for some years as a carter. Messrs. THOMAS & Co. had been in the habit of taking stock in March every year, and they found in March last that a very serious leakage had been taking place during the past twelve months, and came to the conclusion that either they had been robbed by someone outside, or by some of their employees. They were driven to the conclusion, after observation, the fault lay with HAM, and it was very much to the Company's regret he had to come there that morning and tell them of the scheme by which those men stole four cwt. of coal. On Monday last, at 8 a.m., the manager of the yard, Joseph STONE, was gone to his breakfast, and it was the duty of OATEN to take out his Monday morning waggon load of coal. He took out the waggon about 8 o'clock, when the foreman was working, and if STONE had been there the whole waggon and load would have been put on the weighbridge. When Joseph STONE came back from his breakfast at 8.30 a.m., HAM went to him with the slate upon which it was his duty to put down the laden weight of waggon which OATEN had taken away. On the slate he stated that the total weight of the waggon and coal was one ton 17 cwts. and three-quarters. Those figures were absolutely false. STONE had been put on the alert, and he sent on of the Company's travellers in pursuit of OATEN, who was overtaken and came back. The waggon and load was then put on the weighbridge and weighed, and instead of weighing altogether one ton 17 cwts. and three-quarters, it weighed two tons one cwt, three-quarters and 14 lbs. That was four cwt. more than they had declared it was. Instead of there being 27 bags in the waggon there were 32. Asked what they intended to do with the extra coal, OATEN said “Ah, what did I intend to do with it.” HAM made no reply. They were then arrested, and later let out on bail. Since then they had both said something incriminating themselves. The leakage was so bad last year that Messrs. THOMAS & Co. felt bound to discover the matter. The trouble was that it was known to persons in their employ that the leakage was going on, and unless somehow or other they could tie the culprit up, suspicion was diffused among a number of innocent people. No complaint had ever been made against them before, and his instructions were that any leniency which the Bench felt it in their power to extend would have the entire concurrence of Messrs. THOMAS & Co.

Mr. WILLMOTT, on behalf of HAM, said he was a man aged 50, and nothing could be said against him apart from that particular case. He had been employed by Messrs. THOMAS & Co. for some nine years, and had borne a good character. He would call the Rev. S. W. PAYNE, who would give them some opinion about his character, and the way in which he had been regarded by him and other people in the town. It was clear that whatever leniency their worships decided to extend to one should be extended to both. He asked them not to convict them, because if they did it would lead to further trouble in the future. He thought it was a case that they might well deal with under the Probation of Offenders' Act.

The Rev. S. W. PAYNE said he had always found HAM straightforward, so far as he knew him, and he was surprised and dumbfounded when he heard that he had been arrested.

The Bench, after retiring, decided to fine prisoners £1 each.


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