Sheffield Independent – Friday 30 August 1929
Shop Thefts “Confession.”
Watch Clue to Year-Old Doncaster Mystery.
Stated to have been traced by a gold wristlet watch which he was alleged to have pawned, George Mason, miner, Sprotborough street, Denaby, was at Doncaster, yesterday, committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions on charges of breaking and entering the shop of Margaret Pollock, Printing Office street, and stealing clothing valued at £l9 17s. 7d.; breaking and entering the Cleveland street branch of the Co-operative Society and stealing goods valued at £C Bs. Gd.; and breaking and entering a shop in Station road and stealing articles to the value of £22.
Mason, who asked that six other similar charges should be taken into consideration, expressed his intention of pleading guilty to the three charges which he was committed. The evidence was that a number of shop robberies had been carried out Doncaster during a period of over year, the alleged perpetrator eventually being discovered by gold wristlet watch which bore a peculiar inscription.
Elsie Oliver, of Urban road, Doncaster, the manageress of the shop in Printing Office street, explained that she left the premises secure on the evening of 21 October, and the following morning found the shop in a state of disorder.
Glass had been removed from two large windows and articles mentioned in the charge were missing, later she identified articles shown to her the police.
Peculiar Inscription.
Evidence in. regard to the second charge was given by Thomas Hempsall, chief counter hand at the Cleveland street branch of the Co-operative Society, who said a large pane of glass in the roof had been removed. The value of the goods recovered by the police was 12s. 9d.
In respect of the third charge, Ethel Lamb, Elmfield road, Doncaster, partner in the firm of Frost and Lamb, trunk dealers, of Station road, said the shop was broken into on the night of August, after being left secure. It was discovered that a window in the lavatory had been broken and an inner door forced open.
Among the articles stolen was a wristlet watch bearing an inscription.
P.-c.- Bowden, of Denaby, said he had occasion to visit a pawnshop at Denaby, where he recovered a gold wristlet watch which answered the description of the one stolen, and he then saw prisoner at his home.
“I Pinched ’Em.”
He told him he was making inquiries about a robbery, showed him the watch, and told him where he had recovered it, and prisoner replied, “ Yes, I pledged it.”
On searching the house the officer found a number articles which had been stolen. After taking possession of the goods, he took prisoner into custody.
The manager of the pawnshop, John William Barr, also gave evidence, and Detective-Sergeant Wells said that when he produced the articles before prisoner replied: “Yes. I have broken into shops and pinched ’em.”
Mason told the magistrates that his War service had been responsible. He had served five years in France and had been gassed and wounded, and had undergone 24 operations. When he touched drink it immediately went to his head.