Saltley Reformatory Inmates

Thomas Dale

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Notes:

29 February 1868 There is a report of the crime in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 29 February 1868 p.6 col.6: ROBBERY OF £24 BY LADS AT STAFFORD - A BATCH OF THIEVES AND RECEIVERS. - Unusual interest was manifested this morning in the hearing of a case in which JOHN KEELING, aged 13, THOMAS EMERY, 13, WILLIAM NASH, 13, THOMAS DALE, 11, MARTIN FEATHERSTONE, 11, JOHN MALONEY, 13, GEORGE DALE, 21, THOMAS JORDAN, 13, JANE KELLY, 41, and JANE KELLY, 14, were indicted for stealing £24, the moneys of William Moss, at Stafford. In a second count, all the prisoners were charged with receiving the money, knowing it to have been stolen. - Mr BROWNE was for the prosecution; Mr MOTTERAM defended Keeling, and Mr YOUNG Nash and Jordan. - Several magistrates sat during the hearing of this case with the Assistant Chairman. The court was crowded to excess. The hearing of the case was interrupted by the wailings of the prisoners, who were almost continually calling out contradicting the witnesses or saying something either implicated themselves or their companions. The prosecutor, a builder and contractor, has a butcher's shop at Newtown, Stafford. On Saturday the 25th ult., the man in charge of the shop had £24 in a bag in the pocket of his coat, which was hung up on the wall in the shop opposite the door. During the morning the prisoners Keeling and Emery went into the shop together and one of them purchased a little meat. After they had gone the £24 was missed. During the afternoon Keeling and Emery got into the company of the other boys, who received different sums of money from them, and all were drinking and gambling together at several public houses in the town for the rest of the day. On the following day (Sunday) they were seen tossing for money together, and in the afternoon most of them were at a lodging house in Maltmill Lane, kept by the elder prisoner Kelly, and they remained there for some time drinking. Most of them were seen with silver, and two or three of them had gold. Evidence was given by lads in the house at the time that Keeling and Emery gave money to Mrs Kelly, and that Maloney said to her, "If I am caught, you must bail me out with the money I gave you." When apprehended the prisoners made statements either implicating themselves or some of their fellow prisoners. They said Keeling gave some money to each of them. Thomas Dale said he would show the police where he had hid his share of the plunder, and he pointed out a spot in Maltmill Lane where the police on turning up the soil found 17s. The Kellys denied receiving any of the money, but Emery said he gave Mrs Kelly £1 1s, and Keeling said he handed her 6s, and saw George Gale give her £5. Maloney said he gave the girl £2; she made no reply. Mrs Kelly was searched, but no money was found on her. While she was in gaol, however, £3 was found by one of the warders tied up in rag and concealed in the hair at the back of her head. - Mr MOTTERAM, in addressing the jury, forcibly commented on the sad scene which the dock presented, and said how shocking it was to see so many young people indicted for felony. He submitted that it had not been clearly shown that the lads were aware that they were doing wrong when they received the money, and they ought to be discharged. The evidence showing that Keeling was the thief was very inconclusive - Mr YOUNG also addressed the jury in similar terms, and urged that the evidence against Jordan was very weak. - Mr BROWNE replied it was, and as that was also the case as respected the evidence against the younger Kelly, he would withdraw from the prosecution as far as it affected those two. - Witnesses were called who spoke to Nash and Keeling having good characters. - Those prisoners who were not defended by counsel strongly protested their innocence with loud cries and sobbing. Some of them said Keeling and Emery told them they had found the money, and if they had not thought they were telling the truth they would not have had any of it. - The ASSISTANT CHAIRMAN told the jury that the question was who had stole the money, and whether the receivers in dealing with it knew they were doing wrong. The jury found Keeling and Emery guilty of stealing the money, and all the rest, besides Jordan and the younger Kelly, whom they discharged, guilty of receiving portions of it with a guilty knowledge. - The ASSISTANT CHAIRMAN sentenced Keeling, Emery, Thomas Dale, Featherstone, and Maloney to one month's imprisonment, and at the expiration of that time to be confined in a reformatory for five years; William Nash was ordered to be imprisoned for 21 days; George Dale, as he bore a very bad character, was sentenced to nine moth's imprisonment, and the woman Kelly, who had in the opinion of the Court, led the lads into mischief by harbouring them at her house and supplying them with drink, twelve month's imprisonment. On hearing their sentences the younger lads commenced screaming in a fearful manner, and raised their hands and rushed frantically about the dock to bid their parents "goodbye." [There is a similarly lengthy report, with some additional details of the crime, in the Wellington Journal Saturday 1 February 1868 p.8 col.6]

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