AN OLD NEWSPAPER
As soon as Spargo the paper he saw what he wanted on the middle page, in two lines of big capitals. He a cigar and settled to read.
"MARKET MILCASTER QUARTER SESSIONS
"TRIAL OF JOHN MAITLAND
"The Quarter Sessions for the Borough of Market Milcaster were on Wednesday last, October 3rd, 1891, in the Town Hall, the Recorder, Henry John Campernowne, Esq., K.C., who was on the bench by the Worshipful the Mayor of Market Milcaster (Alderman Pettiford), the Vicar of Market Milcaster (the Rev. P.B. Clabberton, M.A., R.D.), Alderman Banks, J.P., Alderman Peters, J.P., Sir Gervais Racton, J.P., Colonel Fludgate, J.P., Captain Murrill, J.P., and other and gentlemen. There was a of the public in of the trial of John Maitland, ex-manager of the Market Milcaster Bank, and the of the Court were with the élite of the town and neighbourhood, a number of ladies who the in the proceedings.
"The Recorder, in the Grand Jury, said he that the very and which had been his upon the occasion of his last two official visits to Market Milcaster—he to the that on those occasions his friend the Worshipful Mayor had been able to present him with a pair of white gloves—was not to be on the present occasion. It would be their sad and to have them a fellow-townsman family had for a position in the life of the borough. That fellow-townsman was with one of the most to a nation like ours: the of the of the bank of which he had for many years been the manager, and with which he had been all his life since his days. He that the who would be put the on his trial was about to guilty, and there would be no need for him to direct the of the Grand Jury on this matter—what he had to say the and of the he would reserve. The Recorder then himself to the Grand Jury on the of two minor cases, which came the at a later period of the morning, after which they retired, and having returned a true bill against the prisoner, and a jury, from well-known of the town having been sworn.
"JOHN MAITLAND, 42, bank manager, of the Bank House, High Street, Market Milcaster, was with embezzling, on April 23rd, 1891, the of £4,875 10_s_. 6_d_., the of his employers, the Market Milcaster Banking Company Ltd., and the same to his own use. The prisoner, who appeared to his position most acutely, and who looked very and much worn, was by Mr. Charles Doolittle, the well-known of Kingshaven; Mr. Stephens, K.C., appeared on of the prosecution.
"Maitland, upon being charged, guilty.
"Mr. Stephens, K.C., the Recorder, said that without any to press upon the prisoner, who, he to think, had taken a very wise in to that particular count in the with which he charged, he bound, in the of justice, to set to the Court some particulars of the which had through the prisoner's much dishonesty. He to offer a clear and account of the matter. The prisoner, John Maitland, was the last of an old Market Milcaster family—he was, in fact, he believed, with the of his own son, the very last of the race. His father had been manager of the bank him. Maitland himself had entered the service of the bank at the age of eighteen, when he left the local Grammar School; he succeeded his father as manager at the age of thirty-two; he had therefore this position of trust for ten years. His had the in him; they on his and his honour; they gave him powers such as no bank-manager, probably, or before. In fact, he was so that he was, to all and purposes, the Market Milcaster Banking Company; in other he was allowed full over everything, and full to do what he liked. Whether the were wise in such to the most servant, it was not for him (Mr. Stephens) to say; it was some consolation, under the circumstances, to know that the would upon the directors, as they themselves nearly the whole of the shares. But he had to speak of the loss—of the which Maitland had committed. The had to the count of the indictment. But there were no less than seventeen in the indictment. He had to a of £4,875 odd. But the total amount of the defalcations, in the seventeen counts, was no less—it a most sum!—than £221,573 8_s_. 6_d_.! There was the fact—the banking company had been of over two hundred thousand by the in the a accident, the most chance, had to the that he was them at all. And the most of the whole case was that not one of this money had been, or be, recovered. He that the prisoner's learned was about to upon the Court that the himself had been and by another man, not the Court—a man, he understood, also well in Market Milcaster, who was now dead, and therefore not be called, but he was so or was no for his and of his employers. He had it necessary to put these facts—which would not be denied—before the Court, in order that it might be how the had been, and that they should be in with the prisoner.
"The Recorder asked if there was no possibility of any part of the concerned.
"Mr. Stephens that they were that there was not the chance—the money, it was said by and those acting on his behalf, had with the death of the man to he had just reference.
"Mr. Doolittle, on of the prisoner, to address a to the Court in of sentence. He thanked Mr. Stephens for the and manner in which he had the main of the case. He had no to the prisoner's guilt. But, on prisoner's behalf, he to tell the true as to how these came to be. Until as as three years the had the from the path of integrity. Unfortunately for him, and, he believed, for some others in Market Milcaster, there came to the town three years the present proceedings, a man named Chamberlayne, who in the High Street as a stock-and-share broker. A man of good address and the most manners, Chamberlayne a good many people—amongst them his client. It was of common knowledge that Chamberlayne had in Market Milcaster to enter into financial transactions with him; it was of common that those transactions had not always out well for Chamberlayne's clients. Unhappily for himself, Maitland had great in Chamberlayne. He had to have transactions with him in a large way; they had gone on and on in a large way until he was to amounts. Believing in Chamberlayne and his methods, he had him with very large of money.
"The Recorder Mr. Doolittle at this point to ask if he was to that Mr. Doolittle was to the prisoner's own money.
"Mr. Doolittle that he was the large he to were the property of the bank. But the had such in Chamberlayne that he that all would be well, and that these would be repaid, and that a profit would result from their use.
"The Recorder that he the to put the profit into his own pockets.
"Mr. Doolittle said at any the him that of the two hundred and twenty thousand which was in question, Chamberlayne had had the of at least two hundred thousand, and he, the prisoner, had not the of a as to what Chamberlayne had done with it. Unfortunately for everybody, for the bank, for some other people, and for his client, Chamberlayne died, very suddenly, just as these were instituted, and so it had been to anything of the concerned. He had died under circumstances, and there was just as much about his affairs.
"The Recorder that he was still waiting to what Mr. Doolittle had to in of any he, the Recorder, might think fit to pass.
"Mr. Doolittle said that he would trouble the Court with as as possible. All that he on of the man in the was that until three years ago he had a most character, and had a action. It had been his misfortune, his folly, to allow a man to him to these of dishonesty. That man had been called to another account, and the was left to the of his with him. It as if Chamberlayne had away with the money for his own purposes, and it might be that it would yet be recovered. He would only ask the Court to the prisoner's and his previous good conduct, and to in mind that his near might be he was, in a sense, for life.
"The Recorder, in sentence, said that he had not a single word of for Maitland's conduct. Such must be in the most fashion, and the must go to penal for ten years.
"Maitland, who the unmoved, was from the town later in the day to the at Saxchester."
Spargo read all this swiftly; then over it again, points in it. At last he up the newspaper and to the house—to see old Quarterpage to him from the library window.
