LAW
and
ORDER
29 January 1921 Alleged Burglary at Penybank: Merthyr Police Court At Merthyr Police Court on Friday, Thomas Morgan Davies and Thomas James, defended by Mr. W. J. Canton, were charged with burglary at Penybank Hotel, Penybank, on the night of the 14th, and stealing from there money and spirits to the value of £28-11-0. Thomas Lloyd Roberts, the landlord, said that at 10:15p.m. he locked the premises and went to Troedrhiwfuwch; his father had died, and he went to his house. He was with a man called John Jones, and they passed the defendant Davies and another. Next morning he went to the hotel about 10.30a.m. and discovered the burglary. At once he went to the police station, and two officers accompanied him to the hotel. He made a search and missed from the bar £9-10-0 in Treasury notes, £13 in silver, one sovereign, one half-sovereign, one 5s. piece, one 4s piece, three quart bottles of rum and two bottles of whisky - total value £28-11-0. His wife was not in the house that night: the premises were left unguarded. They went away on account of the death of his father. There had been about a dozen customers in the house that night; it was a big house, but he did only a moderate trade. The money taken included £11 which he placed in the draw for change. From the upstairs, he missed a box containing three-penny pieces and old coins.
William M. Davies, haulier, Penybank, a cousin of Thomas Martin Davies, defendant, deposed that on the night in question they were together for some time after 10 o'clock. Defendant lived at Pentwyn, 800 yards from Penybank. Defendant accompanied him going towards his home. The defendant was intoxicated; witness was not. They met Thomas Lloyd Roberts and John Jones, and he wished Jones good night. Witness went home and went to bed. About one o'clock in the morning, someone knocked at his front door. He went to the window, and found it was his cousin, one of the defendants. He admitted him to the house. He had bottles in his pocket. Witness asked him what he had been doing. He replied, "Shut up, I am well away; I've been up there in the hotel." He placed four bottles on the table, three of rum and one of whisky. He pulled out a fistful of small silver from one of his pockets and said "I had these, but there were no notes there, or I would have had them." He tried to persuade defendant to take them back to the hotel, but he refused to do so. Defendant remained in the house for about a quarter of an hour, and the witness then told him to clear and take the things with him. He went but left bottles and a fistful of three-penny bits. His wife put the property in the pantry, and later they were handed them to the Serjeant. Defendant was "three parts drunk."
P.S. Edwards said that at 12 noon on the Saturday, from information received, and with P.S. Clinch and Williams and Thomas Lloyd Roberts, he went to the hotel. He found footmarks as though someone had climbed over the wall and dropped on to the stone steps. The pantry window was broken, and it looked as though someone had entered the house that away. He found the house had been burgled as the landlord had described. He made inquiries, and with P. S. Williams he went to No. 10 Chapel Houses, Penybank, where William M. Davies lived. He found a bottle of rum and one of whisky, and 55 three penny pieces, and other money, including one foreign coin. They were all in the pantry on the stone, as stated by the witness. He went to the hotel, and found Thomas M. Davies in custody with P. S. Clinch. Defendant replied, "O well, I see I am in it. I was drunk. Thomas James was there with me, and we shared." He searched Davies and found £2-15-0 in him. He went to see James, told him what Davies had said, and arrested him. He said, "It's a lie; I wasn't near the hotel." He took James to face Davies. The latter said, "Give the money up; it would be easier for us." James said, "I only had 13s. 9d." They took the accused to Pontlottyn Police Station. James said, "I want to make a clean breast of it. As he turned coward, so will I. I was drawn into it. There was not £9 there, and no paper money. I got £5 of it. It is in silver, and you will find it in the box in my bedroom window." He went to prisoner James's house at Penybank, and found in the box £4-6-6. On the 16 th he charged the defendants. James replied, "I plead not guilty to breaking. The door was open when I got there. I've handed over all the money. I wasn't in the house when Tom Davies fetched me, and we went up together. He had been there before me. He brought two bottles of rum, and money to my house." Davies replied, "I don't think all that money was there. I handed over all the money I had. We went there together; me and Tom James." He found a bottle of rum in James's house under a washing board in the passage. £8-3-3½ was found on the defendants. The defendants were committed for trial. Mr. Canton applied for their release on bail. He said that James was an old soldier. He joined up in 1914, and served in France to 1917. His father lived in Dowlais, and would become surety. Davies was also respectably connected. Bail was allowed.