Clothes swiped from the stores

Employees stole from Ordnance Depot

A crackdown on thieving from the Government Stores in Forthside continued 100 years ago with more employees appearing at the Stirling Sheriff Court.

Alexander Lucas, 55 Wallace Street, Stirling, was charged with taking over a period of around 12 months from the Ordnance Depot : 19 pairs of drawers, 19 semmets, two shirts, 11 cardigan jackets, 22 pairs of socks, seven pairs of pyjama drawers, nine pyjama jackets, four sweaters, five caps, two pairs of gloves, pair of mittens, four towels, 28 aprons, 11 mufflers, two handkerchiefs, two pairs of armguards, waterproof coat, two waterproof capes, a pair of overalls, two pairs of boots, two pairs of leather soles and eight pieces of leather. A value of more than £32 was placed on the items. Lucas pleaded guilty and was jailed for three months.

Labourer Martin Harkin, Broad Street, Stirling, was before the court in connection with the theft from the Ordnance Stores of clothing valued at £2 14 shillings and 10 pence.

He admitted the theft and jailed for a month.

Another labourer, Robert Richardson, 44 Baker Street, Stirling, faced charges of contact with the spores of the bacteria, which are often from infectious animal products.

*** A case of drunkenness stealing three ounces of naphthalene, a chemical made from oil or coal tar and used in the production of insecticide and pest repellent.

He was also found in possession of boots and a cardigan jacket belonging to the War Department .

Richardson pleaded guilty and was fined £3. He said he took the chemical from the place where he was working and bought the clothing from a soldier on the street. was the only crime recorded in Fintry in 1917, the Observer reported. There had only been one recorded case in the preceding 12 months.