Milnrow Railway Station Larcenists

Carter, John Hargreaves and a Coal Yard labourer Joseph Willd both worked in the yard at Milnrow Railway Station.

It's February 1882 and both men appear the Rochdale Borough Police Court.

Hargreaves is charged with stealing three firkins of butter, two boxes of herrings and various other items , the total value being £14, the property of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.

Wild appeared alongside his friend Hargreaves and was charged with receiving the items knowing them to be stolen, the police had found some of the goods in the cellar of Wilds house.

The railway company had been concerned about thefts for a number of months and had taken extra precautions to try and identify, and ultimately catch the culprits. 

Superintendent Tindall, of Rochdale Borough Police, told the court that since October 1st the previous year there had been almost daily reports of items going missing.

The court remanded both men to stand trial at the quarter sessions.

33 year old Joseph Wild, a married man with a young family of 2 Milnes Yard, Dale Street, appeared before Mr T. Dickens J.P. on February 27th 1882, the charge sheet contained the following items which he was accused of stealing;

3 firkins of butter
3 wooden tubs
224lbs of sugar
1 hemp bag

Found guilty by the jury, Joseph was sentenced to 12 months hard labour.

Hargreaves didn't fare any better, when he appeared before the court, he too was found guilty, it has to be assumed that he was possibly the brains behind the operation as he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment with hard labour.