Killing Follows an Orgy

An orgy in the Scotland Road area at the beginning of the 20th Century ended in one of the participants being killed and a man being sentenced to fifteen years in gaol for manslaughter.

On the evening of 22nd December 1900 Margaret Roxburgh did some shopping then attended an illicit gathering in Raymond Street, which descended into some drunken chaos and led to her threatening James Maloney with an ashpan. Both then left and the arguing continued in the street, the issue seeming to be that Maloney had not followed his brother to South Africa to fight in the Boer War. 

Maloney followed Margaret into her house where they struggled on the floor. Neighbours were alerted by Margaret's screams and entered to find Maloney with a knife in his hand and Margaret bleeding from the stomach. Maloney's father was quickly called and he managed to get the knife from his son and usher him out of the house. Margaret, whose bowels were protruding, was taken to hospital but she died on Christmas Day after peritonitis set in.

Margaret had been able to give a deposition stating that Maloney had been about to strike his father when she intervened, and that she had had no previous bad relations with him. She described him as being very drunk but said that she had only had three glasses of beer and a small brandy during a four hour period.

When Maloney appeared before Mr Justice Bigham at the Liverpool assizes on 18th February 1901, the Lancashire General Advertiser described him as 'a labourer of imperfect education'. He pleaded not guilty to murder and often burst into tears as the evidence was being given. After his defence submitted that there had been an element of provocation, he was found guilty of manslaughter and then sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.