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On the morning of Monday, February 14, Dr George Evan Jones, assisted by his partner Trefor Hughes Rhys, began the gruesome task of carrying out a post-mortem examination on the body of the shopkeeper.
Jones was a North Walian by birth though his mothers family hailed from Cheshire and it was here he spent his schooldays before undergoing medical training at Edinburgh University, where he was a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Rhys was originally from Kidwelly some 30 miles east of Garnant on the River Gwendraeth. He earned the rank of Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Great War, and seen his share of bloodshed and death in Mesopotamia in the spring of 1918 having arrived in Baghdad the previous August. After the war, Rhys came home to Wales and the fiance he had left behind. He married his childhood sweetheart Dora in Pembroke in the spring of 1920 and the young couple immediately moved to the Amman Valley and a new life where the now 30-year-old Rhys has taken up the position alongside Dr Jones.
The two men set about the examination with a grim stoicism. Both had experienced the worst of injuries, whether from the battlefield or the pit, but the mutilated body of the frail shopkeeper bore witness to a unique tragedy.
Read more: http://wp.me/p40s6y-4F
To find out more about the killing of Thomas Thomas in Garnant in 1921, visit www.murderatthestar.wordpress.com or follow @murderatthestar on Twitter.
Fabulous Cillian Press launch party (The wine! The glamour! The magic!) for Alan Bilton's stunning new novel The Known and Unknown Sea at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea - 7.00pm Thursday March 13th. Don't even think about not being there!
Nicholls was keen to visit the scene of the murder at the earliest opportunity and after finishing breakfast the four men walked the short distance to Star Stores.
The Deputy Chief Constable had arranged to travel over from Llandeilo at noon to discuss the case and both Scotland Yard detectives wished to familiarise themselves with the shop and surrounding area prior to the meeting.
Sergeant Richards was also keen to show Nicholls what, he considered, might be the only clue to have been found inside the Star and he led the men the short distance along the valley road to the shop.
Before entering however, Nicholls asked to be shown the broken, boarded window pane fixed by Thomas Thomas in the hours prior to his death.
With the detectives noting down the details in their pocket books, Richards then guided them down the darkened Coronation Arcade to the yard at the rear of the Star where, in response to the questions of his new companions, he highlighted the complete absence of any footprints which might have been linked to the crime and subsequent getaway.
Nicholls was again satisfied that the uniformed officers assessment was correct that there had been little or no chance of any impressions being left due to the heavily compacted earth and sub-zero temperature overnight on February 12.
Richards then ushered them to the cellar door through which the killer had most likely escaped and from there up into the heart of the Star.
After carrying out a minute examination of the bloodstained floor and wooden box on which the shopkeepers vital fluid had been splashed, the detectives expanded their search throughout the remainder of the shop, warehouse and cellar area.
During their examination, Nicholls marked a number of smudges and grease marks which, after viewing under his magnifying glass, he identified as fingerprints.
Nicholls, Canning and the two Carmarthenshire officers then examined each of the doors and windows of the Star and apart from the broken window pane could find nothing untoward.
There appeared no sign of forced entry anywhere on the premises.
Once the senior office was satisfied that nothing has been missed during previous searches he allowed Richards to direct his attention to the safe and the one item which the sergeant believed may have been worthy of consideration as a clue.
During his initial examination of the open safe in the hours following the discovery of the body, Richards had spotted a small piece of a broken button lodged in the lower of the two mortises inside the right-hand side of the safe.
Read More: http://wp.me/p40s6y-5p
To find out more about the killing of Thomas Thomas in Garnant in 1921, visit www.murderatthestar.wordpress.com or follow @murderatthestar on Twitter.
Tolkien, Middle Earth & The Wilderland In Wales - An Interview With Steve Ponty
By Ceri Shaw, 2014-03-05
Sheer coincidence in life brought me to the Shire, where I cracked the code of the first Map in the Lord of the Rings: and moved onwards into Wales and the Map of the Wilderland. Both are drawn back to front , in reverse, or in mirror image: all I have to do is show how!!! - Stephen Ponty
AmeriCymru speaks to Stephen Ponty about his new book:- Middle-Earth in Magic Mirror Maps... of the Wilderland in Wales... of the Shire in England
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AmeriCymru: Hi Steve and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. When did you first become interested in Tolkien and writing about him?
Steve: I read Tolkien''s works in Grammar (High ) School and remember even now puzzling , all of 40 years ago , over how the Maps might have been devised. Sheer coincidence in life brought me to the Shire, where I cracked the code of the first Map in the Lord of the Rings: and moved onwards into Wales and the Map of the Wilderland. Both are drawn back to front , in reverse, or in mirror image: all I have to do is show how!!!
AmeriCymru: Your new book is a fresh look at the Maps of the Wilderland in The Hobbit. Can you explain the Welsh connection?
Steve: I believe I can show how the map of the Wilderland is modelled on the map of Wales, but in mirror image; but also how many place-names are derived of Welsh: the names in Wales ( Dol Guldur/Esgaroth/Gundabad) need much research , but Welsh speakers might like to get their tongue around RHUDAUR, CARDOLAN and ERIADOR of The Shire; yet each of which requires some knowledge of how the Welsh language works, including its mutations/ lenitations.
The irony is that Professor J.R.R .Tolkien has said so, time and time again, in The Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter, which I have studied closely.
AmeriCymru: In your book the focal point of The Hobbit, The Lonely Mountain, is identified as Cadair Idris. How did you come to this conclusion?
Steve: Because of its position in relation to other places, such as Esgaroth ( Tregaron); because of its six-spur shape ( and we identify each of the six spurs of the Cadair Idris range) and because , eventually, we find Smaug''s lair by easy reference to a cave once the crib of Welsh folklore hero, Owain Glyndwr.
We can detect where Ravenhill is supposed to be.
My comment reflects the six-spur shape of The Lonely Mountain on Thror''s Map.
AmeriCymru: Are there any other locations in The Hobbit or other of works by Tolkien that can be pinpointed in Wales?
Steve: They are beyond count in The Hobbit, such as the Old Ford, the Carrock, the Long Lake of Esgaroth, Mount Gundabad onwards to The Withered Heath.
The Shire discloses innumerable locations in England ( in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire) : I believe I have found The Shire on Mother-earth!
AmeriCymru: We learn from the product description that:- "The work is divided into nine parts, with three site groupings". Care to tell us a little more about the structure of the book?
Steve: The number Nine (and Three) has much significance in Celtic folklore: the pattern of triplicity fits nicely the three areas of Wales we look at: East of the Misty Mountains and East and North of the Mirkwood, by which Professor Tolkien associates the vast forests which spread across central Wales following the last Ice-Age. Given a generality, we understand the Professor''s rationale for Flies and Spiders, Barrels Out of Bond and where the Elvenking Halls might be . . .
You will hear what the black Butterflies in the Mirkwood are made of, and also hear from the Song Thrush so central to The Hobbit story . . . but I‘ m not giving it all away at this early stage as you will hopefully understand .
AmeriCymru: In general terms, how much did his knowledge of Wales influence Tolkiens'' writing?
Steve: Principally, wholly and fundamentally in terms of detail: in The Hobbit for which Professor Tolkien is on record, as in The Letters .
Marginally less so in The Lord of the Rings, but we see linguistic patterns transcend Welsh into places in England: such as Frogmorton, Whitfurrows, and Brockenborings .
Tolkien followers in the USA might like to think about ''Yale '' on the Shire Map?
Also think about the village shown on the map of Mother-earth named Churchill?
AmeriCymru: When will the book be available and where can readers go to purchase it online?
Steve: Available now via Amazon, but I am printing 5000 hardback as soon as possible, target end April 2014.
I prefer to stay in solid book form for the moment:.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Steve: Calon Lan I Chi Gyd.
Inspector Nicholls and Sergeant Canning welcomed the bacon and eggs that awaited them as warmly as they in turn were greeted by the residents of Garnant police station.
While housing the village station on the ground floor with an office, a reception area and a cell, the building was also the home of Sergeant Richards, his wife Mary, PC Thomas, his wife Annie and their respective families.
It came as little surprise to the men from Scotland Yard when they found themselves the centre of attention for prying young eyes which peered around door jambs before being shooed away by their mothers who scurried from kitchen to dining room with second helpings and cups of hot, sweet tea.
With their breakfast plates cleared and despite the fatigue of their overnight journey, the two detectives were keen to be brought up to date on all developments since Nicholls had spoken with the chief constable via the telephone the previous afternoon.
The four officers, two uniformed and two in their London suits, sat around the kitchen table sipping tea from the finest china cups the ladies of the station had available as PS Richards and PC Thomas gave what information they could and answered whatever questions the men from Scotland Yard put to them.
Nicholls was impressed. He had come to Garnant doubtful of the efficiency of these local Welsh Bobbies and fearful that their inadequacies might well impede the investigation rather that progress it.
Instead, he had found two men who despite the limitations of the equipment and training available to them appeared conscientious and professional. Sergeant Richards in particular left Nicholls confident that no obvious clue had been missed nor ruined by clumsy fingers or over enthusiasm.
Richards produced the boning knife and broom hand retrieved from the brook for inspection. Two nail heads protruded from the end of the broom handle and it seemed safe to assume that these had previously secured it to the broomhead.
Satisfied that the evidence as it was had been kept secure and untouched in the station strongbox, Nicholls asked what over leads might have come to the fore.
The only fresh line of enquiry to have emerged since his conversation with the Chief Constable had arrived late on Monday afternoon when a gentleman from Ammanford had presented himself at the station.
He was interviewed by Sergeant Richards who ascertained that the man had attended the same concert as Phoebe Jones on Saturday night.
The gentleman had then set out on his homeward journey in his motorcar but had stopped a short distance from the Star Stores to pick up a lone hitchhiker who was walking along the valley road in the direction of Ammanford. The time had been approximately 2am.
The motorist had happily given the man a lift for the night had been cold with a damp mist settling along the valley.
The two had chatted amiably enough during the short journey before the passenger was dropped as requested - at Tirydail Square in Ammanford a short time later.
The walker had claimed that he too had attended the concert, though the driver had no recollection of seeing him at the event.
Nor did the driver recognise the man as a resident of Ammanford though he had aroused no suspicion as the motorist was at that stage completely unaware of the events which had occurred earlier in the evening at the Star.
The two men had shared little more than idle chatter and had not exchanged names or any other information which might further identify the pedestrian, their conversation centring solely on the weather, driving conditions and the motorists car.
The fact that this man had remained in Garnant for some three hours after the dance had come to an end at 11pm was a cause of some suspicion for Sergeant Richards and Nicholls agreed it was imperative that he be traced as soon as possible.
To follow the investigation into the murder of Thomas Thomas at the Garnant branch of Star Stores in Carmarthenshire on February 12, 1921, visit murderatthestar.wordpress.com or follow @murderatthestar on Twitter.
March 1st marks the celebration of the patron Saint of Wales - Happy St David's Day to everyone, especially our Welsh customers and friends.
To celebrate this occasion we are running a unique type sale for the coming week which will end March 10th 2014 .
Depending on the amount of your order, we will send free products equal to 25% of your total dollar amount spent! Doesn't that sound great? Example - place an order for $200.00 and specify in the comments box what $50.00 worth of products you would like us to send you FREE OF CHARGE thus receiving your 25% discount (this sale does not include the purchase of Easter Eggs).
Spring is coming and with it the desire to get outside and begin to enjoy the long absent sunshine for us Northerners. To help you celebrate the outdoors we have stocked up on many different flavors of Walker's, Tayto, KP Hula Hoops and other brands of crisps (chips).
We have also re-stocked our shelves with all your favorite chocolates, candies and food products - not forgetting that Easter products will be arriving mid-March so please place your Easter Egg order early to save disappointment (see our Easter 2014 Category).
I invite you to continue to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and to be kind enough to recommend our company to your friends, families and acquaintances and become an informed customer by joining our Email list on our website.
Your friendly Wise Choice Staffers,
Harry, Greg, Susan and webmaster Chris James.
UK Google The UK Google site has a large Welsh dragon serving tea to a small round Welsh lady on its home page
CLICK HERE TO BOOKMARK OR SEND THIS CARD
Check out our full range of St David's Day Ecards here . New images added daily between now and March 1st. Check back to see new designs
The Moelwyns - Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus / Happy St David's Day by Graeme Pettit http://www.graemesdesigns.com/
