When a man died after an altercation with his landlord in 1892, an inquest determined he had died from natural causes. This led to the coroner telling the man detained in connection with the death that he had a narrow escape.
On Friday 5th February that year John Dalzell had tea at his lodgings in Fairy Street (off Netherfield Road North in Everton) then went out drinking. On his return his brother James made a joke that he didn't like, leading to the two fighting. John was getting the upper hand and their landlord John Glendenning intervened on James' side, leading to his wife Ann going out to find a policeman. The officer she found however said he could not intervene as the fight was taking place inside a house.
When Ann returned she saw John Dalzell lying on the kitchen floor and found that James and her husband had gone to bed. When she went back into the kitchen she realised that John was dead and went back out to find the policeman, who called in a doctor to confirm that life was extinct.
John Glendenning was taken into custody and at the inquest the following Monday evidence was heard from Ann and Dr Parry, who had carried out the postmortem. He confirmed that the only injury on the body was a black eye but that the stomach was distended from too much food and there was a problem with a heart valve. This led to a verdict being returned that excitement and drink had accelerated death and Glendenning was discharged. Before leaving however he was censured by the coroner, who said that he had had a very narrow escape.
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