Mexborough and Swinton Times September 26, 1925

Cadeby Treasurer Sentenced.
Theft From Check Weigh Fund.

For having stolen £38 17s. 1d. from the Cadeby Main check weigh fund, Joseph Brannon, miner, and treasurer of the fund, was committed to prison for three months, at Doncaster, on Thursday.

Brannon was originally charged with having embezzled £130, but Mr. Spencer Baker, prosecuting, said there might be difficulty in proving that Brannon had received the whole of that amount, and therefore it had been agreed to alter the charge.

On July 15, said Mr. Baker, Brannon obtained the signature of the trustee for a cheque for £60, explaining that he was not in good health, and it would save him the trouble of walking on the hill to get them to sign another cheque. Although they thought it a loss of money at the time, they agreed, and the money was drawn and handed to him. He later paid out £21 2s. 11d. and afterwards absconded.

Harry Stevenson, Checkweigh man, of 47, Ivanhoe Road, Conisborough, said he was one of the trustees. Brannon was elected treasurer in July 1924. and started his duties in the following month. It was his duty to pay wages of the clock weighmen and other incidental expenses. The fund was made by a levy from the coal getters and fillers at the rate of 3s. 4d. for every hundred tonnes of coal.

Charles, Bashfourh, 29 Ivanhoe Road, Conisborough another trustee, and Walter Edwards Saxton, secretary of the fund, also gave evidence.

Saxton said that when Brandon was called before the committee he said that there was about £100 in the bank. He was told that he would be required to submit his book for audit on the following Thursday, but when they went to see him, he had gone away.

Stevenson recalled, said that he did not know anything about Brannon’s character he was elected by a general meeting.

It was stated that Brannon had done good work and was well respected. He had been in poor health and had maintained his mother. He was a widow. His salary for acting as treasurer was £20 a year. Brannon said that he had to leave the pit owing to ill-health. He had no explanation to offer for what had happened. He admitted having spent the money. He was a married man but had been separated from his wife for eight years, and he did not maintain her.