Charles L Shively And Wife, Mollie Jones - Salt Lake City, Utah

The following article was located in The Salt Lake Herald, Saturday, September 25, 1886, Page 8, Column 4:

A Sad Honeymoon

Chas. L. Shively Arrested On A Charge Of Theft And Forgery

There was a sad spectacle in Commissioner McKay's courtroom yesterday morning.  A good many people will remember Miss Mollie Jones, a pretty and dashing girl, who used to be seen a good deal on the streets of this city some months ago, and whose name lately came into prominence through the attempt of her mother to commit suicide, because it was alleged, of a marriage her daughter had made.  Yesterday, the girl and her husband, a brakeman on the D. & R. G., named Chas. L. Shively, were before Commissioner McKay, the girl as a heart-stricken spectator, the husband as an accused thief and forger.

The following are the particulars of the arrest.  Willard F. Allen, conductor of the D. & R. G. freight train No. 15, came into town Thursday evening at 6 o'clock, made his reports and was about to start fro home when he discovered that a time check for $69.25 which he had received from the company the day previous and a savings deposit book in the Deseret National Bank, showing $150 to his credit, were missing from his coat pocket.  The coat had been hanging up in the caboose all day and he at once suspected the three brakemen who ran on his train, one of whom was Shively.  Knowing something of the habits of the brakemen, he at once made the rounds of all the saloons in town, describing the missing check and warning the saloon men against chasing it.  At Auer & Murphy's he proceeded to give the information to Mr. Auer, when that gentleman pulled the identical check out of his drawer, stating that he had cashed it for a man whom he knew very well by sight, but whose name he was not acquainted with.  From the description he gave Mr. Allen was satisfied Shively was the man. He had called in some hours before, Mr. Auer said, had said it would be an accommodation to have his check cashed, and had endorsed the name of Mr. Allen, to whom it was made payable, on the back.  Mr. Allen at once went to Mrs. Jones', Shively's mother-in-law, in the Eighth Ward, and learned that Shively and his wife had just left for the White House.  There they were found registered at about 11:30 o'clock, and Captain Greenman, Deputy Rench and Officer Calder went upstairs and made the arrest.  Shively at once collapsed, and his consternation was so great that he went into a fit, from which the officers had a terrible time in restoring him.  His wife appeared to be no less thunderstruck, and bewailed her fate in the most piteous manner, upbraiding her husband, the officers stated, for his criminal conduct, and his bringing her into disgrace.  Shively was taken out to the Penitentiary, and spent the night there.  Yesterday before the Commissioner he appeared still almost prostrated, but said when asked to plead that he had drawn the money, but he was not guilty of stealing the check. He was bound over to await the action of the Grand Jury, and his bonds were placed at $1,000 which his wife spent the day in a vain attempt to secure. W. C. Hall is his attorney.

Mr. Allen says he plead with Shively "like a preacher" to make a clean breast of it, and offered to withdraw the complaint if he would hand over the bank deposit book, and several "Brotherhood" receipts it contained.  Shively however, protested that he knew nothing about the bank book.  Over $70 was found on his person, so that Mr. Auer will recover his money.  According to all accounts Shively has borne the best of character up to this time.

Another newspaper article relating to the above incident was located in The Salt Lake Herald, Friday, March 25, 1887, Page 8, Column 4:

Young Shively Discharged

The D. & R. G. Brakeman A Free Man Once More

In the Third District Court yesterday, the case against Charles L. Shively, the D. & R. G. brakeman who was indicted for forgery, was dismissed on motion of the prosecutor.  The grounds given were the previous good character of the defendant, inconclusive proof, the prosecuting witness' desire that the case be not prosecuted further and that defendant had been confined in the Penitentiary, owing to his inability to obtain bonds, ever since his arrest.  It will be remembered that Shively was charged with having stolen from the train on which he was running a check and other things belonging to one of the crew; that he subsequently endorsed the check, forging the name of the man to whom it was payable, when he presented it at the Occidental with a request that it be cashed. He had been married but a short time when the circumstance causing his arrest occurred and it was the idea of the prosecutor, that he had already received sufficient punishment when the facts presented in court were taken into account.