Joseph MARSHALL

My first cousin, three times removed.

MONEY ON THE CEILING

SMETHWICK MEN DENY A CHARGE OF THEFT

Mr F Chapman prosecuted at Smethwick Police Court to-day in a case in which three men – Joseph Marshall (40), 83, Mornington Road; John Cotterill (37), 195, Rolfe Street; and James Smith (34), 8, Alexandra Terrace, Dibble Road – were charged with what he described as a particularly paltry and contemptible theft.

The prosecutrix was Mrs Clara Haines, of the Cock Inn, Brasshouse Lane, and evidence was given that on the 7th inst, the defendants went into the bar of the house, on the ceiling of which there were several packets containing money thrown up in the cause of charity. The landlady’s daughter saw Marshall, lifted up by Smith, take three packets from the ceiling, and Cotterill was seen to open one of the packets and throw the paper into the firegrate.

Smith denied that they took the money from the ceiling, but said the packets fell down. There was a penny and two halfpennies in them. He offered them to Miss Haines, but she would not take them, and he put the money in his pocket.

Alderman Adams said the magistrates thought there was a doubt about the case, though Smith had acted unwisely in putting the money in his pocket. The prosecutrix did not wish to press the case, and they were quite willing to dismiss it if the defendants were willing to pay the costs.

Smith: But what about our characters?

Alderman Adams: There will be no conviction against you, and no stain on your character.

The Birmingham Daily Mail, 11 May 1914