On 25 July 1823, two Paris newspapers ran short items on the same day. In a town on the northern coast, they said, a man called Madeleine had revived the trade in black beads and risen to be mayor. The police had found that his real name was Jean Valjean, a former convict sentenced for theft in 1796.
The second paper went into a little more detail. After his arrest he had got out of prison, but within three or four days he was caught again in Paris itself. He was climbing into one of the small coaches that ran out to a village called Montfermeil. In those few days he had drawn a large sum from the Laffitte bank and buried it somewhere, and no one had managed to find the place.
The court tried him again, on a different charge. According to the paper it was highway robbery with a weapon, and the victim was one of the wandering Savoyard boys who sweep chimneys. He did not defend himself. He was sentenced to death, and the king reduced it to hard labour for life. He was sent back to the prison at Toulon.