Thrown From a Cart

A foreign sailor who was a passenger in a cart was killed after a teenager tampered with the bolts leading to him being thrown to his death.

On Friday 10th February 1826 Christian Andersen, a Norwegian seaman aboard the Sylph, drank in beerhouses around the Baltic Triangle before getting into a cart in Kitchen Street. It was owned by Mr Pye, who was a miller in Wavertree and objected to Andersen's intoxicated state. 

A row ensued and whilst the pair were arguing, an 18 year old named Ralph Clarke unfastened the bolts that connected the cart to the shafts that were around the horse's body. Several people saw this and alerted Mr Pye, who refastened the bolts. However Clarke immediately removed the bolts again, just as Mr Pye was driving his horses on. This time there was no time for him to be made aware and as the horses moved off, the cart tilted and Andersen was thrown out of it, landing head first onto some stones.

Andersen was taken  to the South Dispensary in an insensible state, where he was found to have a fracture to his skull. He never regained consciousness and died later that evening. Clarke had been taken into custody at the scene and on the Monday an inquest jury found him guilty of manslaughter. He was committed to Lancaster Assizes for trial, where he was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour.