J.W. BENSON
London
William Francis Vallat - (Assistant)
SHOW-CASE ROBBERY
Charles Richards, a labourer, with no home, but who was dressed in a canvas jacket and trowsers which are usually given to vagrants who tear up their own clothes while seeking nightly shelter in the casual wards of the unions, was placed at the bar at Guildhall, before Mr. Alderman Besley, charged with wilfully breaking a large pane of plate-glass in a show-case belonging to Mr. Benson, watchmaker and jeweller, of Ludgate-hill, and stealing therefrom a pair of plated spoons, value 12s. William Francis Vallat, assistant to Mr. Benson, said that about half-past eleven o'clock that morning he heard a smash of glass outside the shop, and went to see what damage had been done. He found that a sheet of plate-glass in the show-case, value 22s., had been smashed, and two plated spoons had been taken from the case. Shortly afterwards the police-constable same up with the missing spoons, and the prisoner in custody. The spoons produced were his employer's property, and their value was 12s. The prisoner was remanded.
Source: The Brecon County Times - 6th February 1869
Trev.