14 Year Old Killed by Bottle

A fourteen year old boy was killed in 1885 by a flying bottle that had been targeted at somebody else.

On 11th September 1885 Francis Beagan, a fourteen year old who lived with his widowed mother in Cockspur Street, was walking down Hopwood Street in Vauxhall. A woman ran passed him being chased by a man, who threw a bottle which missed her and hit Francis on the head.  

Francis was taken to the Stanley Hospital where he died three days later. The man concerned was 33 year old labourer Thomas Cavanagh, who was initially charged with wounding but had this changed to manslaughter. At the Liverpool assizes on 20th November he was found guilty and sentenced to six months imprisonment.