Consider, if you will, some news from the Welsh courts in April 1893
In Cardiff there may have been some serious crimes indeed, but I want to talk about Catherine Holland, who was sent to gaol for a month, with hard labour, for stealing three glasses from the Charing Cross Hotel on Bute Street. She was seen taking them but once she was outside, apparently ‘fearing detection,’ she threw them on the ground where they smashed. Let’s be honest, in the annals of all the pointless crimes which litter 1893, this one is a medal contender. But soon the Cardiff press was far more excited by news of a different kind of glasses in Dublin, where a medical student stole a pair of spectacles from Mr Louis Tussaud’s waxworks exhibition. And not any old glasses either, I might add. These were the actual ones worn by the notorious Neill Cream, otherwise known as ‘The Lambeth Poisoner,’ on the day of his execution. The student, Richard Wilkinson, who had taken them from a model of the man, was drunk and had handed them back when challenged. He was fined 10 shillings.
It is interesting to note that Cream has been identified by some enthusiasts as the true Jack the Ripper. This is something to do with the fact that his last words, as the trapdoor sprang open, were allegedly ‘I am Jack the ….’. Certainly persuasive for some, though quite a few are not at all convinced, since on the dates of the murders he was in prison in Illinois.
But back in Cardiff, it seems like there was a proper crime wave. Two members of the Volunteer Battalion of the Welsh Regiment were prosecuted for stealing rifles from the armoury. It was soon clear that such theft was common place and, even then, the army took a dim view of anyone selling government property for a profit that wasn’t theirs. What I like about this story is that one of the accused was Bugler John W. Paradise who lived at 103 Constellation Street. I think I would like to live on Constellation Street. Paradise had hidden the rifle under a pile of railways sleepers at Roath Basin signal box, in case you are interested.
Whilst this was going on, Albina Villis stole a leg of mutton and Charles Davies stole a chicken. It would seem that the people of Cardiff were, perhaps wilfully, misunderstanding this new and tricky concept of takeaways.
I must also tell you that James Thompson was charged with stealing a pair of boots from the shoe shop of William John. Thompson had an argument with John in the shop and tried to hit him. So John ran away, which as a strategy to reduce shoplifting needs some re-thinking in my opinion, and Thompson left with the pair of boots. He was sent to gaol for fourteen days. In fact, boots appear to have been quite vulnerable. Things were no better in Penarth where John Thirfall, a marine fireman, appeared in court, charged with stealing a pair which were hanging outside Daniel Evans’ boot shop.
There was a great deal of excitement in Pontypridd in this month, so no change there. Richard Martin stole a shovel and sold it for a shilling to John Morgan, the landlord of the Rose and Crown Inn. He was fined 10s and George Roberts was charged by P.C. Charles Thomas with damaging a hedge. But being a police constable in Pontypridd wasn’t all fun. We are told that in this ‘modern Babylon,’ four notorious prostitutes, Emily Jones, Maggie Jones, Margaret Jones and Elizabeth Jones were ‘caught by P.S. Lewis and P.C. Davies carrying on their nefarious practices on the Graig mountain’. They were each sentenced to a fortnight’s imprisonment. The Pontypridd Chronicle and Workman’s News however showed admirable understanding. ‘It is only fair to mention that some of the girls were intoxicated.’
Sadly in Rhyl, news was so slow that the Rhyl Record reported the theft of a purse in London.
We will end our little time-hop back to 1893 in Swansea. And this is the sort of thing I just can’t make up, no matter what people might think.
It appears that Mr Lavey left his cart unattended for a moment on Uplands Crescent and when he returned he found that some items were missing – specifically a whip and two bottles of stout. He chased after the thieves and apprehended them – three boys, David Clement, Morgan John and Alfred Beaton. Clement had one bottle of stout and Beaton, who was six years old, was drinking from the other. So in a public spirited sort of way, he put the boys into his cart and took them to the police station. Contemporary youth would not perhaps be so obliging I fear.
Anyway, the boys were charged at the magistrates’ court where they were ordered to be birched – apart, of course, from six year Beaton, who was too young to be beaten.
