A Child's Very Suspicious Death

The body of a child was exhumed in 1839 due to her mother's suspicions she had been poisoned. However despite evidence of foul play, there was no arsenic found in the corpse.

On 16th September that year three year old Jane Nixon of White Mill Street, off Copperas Hill, died after spending the last 48 hours vomiting. The family's physician, Dr Garthside, had diagnosed cholera and Jane was buried in St John's churchyard.

A few weeks later Jane's mother Margaret made an astonishing discovery in the cupboard of a former lodger - a half full bottle of white fluid. This was something which she remembered seeing on the table on the morning of 14th September when the lodger (who was not named in news reports) had given Jane her breakfast.

Margaret had a horrible feeling that her lodger may have poisoned Jane, as she had been given notice to quit for having male visitors stay over night which was against house rules. Margaret took the bottle to a chemist, who confirmed that it was arsenic. The Coroner Philip F Curry ordered that Jane's body be exhumed from her grave. Dr Garthside and another surgeon examined the contents of the stomach but could find no trace of arsenic at all.

An inquest took place in November. In summing up, Mr Curry said it was the most suspicious case he had ever dealt with and that all the evidence regarding the lodger and bottle of arsenic pointed to murder. However the facts were that no arsenic was found in the body. He concluded by saying that the case was beset by suspicions, but the jury had to give their verdict based on the testimony heard. After then minutes deliberation, the jury returned a verdict that Jane died a natural death.

Violent Husband Not Guilty of Wife's Death

A man whose wife died within an hour of him beating her was found not guilty of manslaughter due to her having an underlying heart problem.

On the morning of Sunday 13th October 1839 a lady called Susan Bibby sought the help of Elizabeth Aspinall who lived in a court of Summers Gardens in Kirkdale. This was situated near the corner of Westminster road and Sellar Street. Susan told Elizabeth that her husband William, who worked as a labourer, had been beating her and asked to lie down. As Elizabeth was examining Susan's head the injured woman began vomiting and a doctor was sent for, but within half an hour she was dead.

A crowd had now began to gather around the Bibby household, where William was standing with his back to the wall holding a hammer. When two passing police inspectors went to see what was going on, he threw the hammer down and made no attempt to resist being apprehended.  

An inquest took place on 14th October before the coroner Mr P F Curry. A neighbour named Elizabeth Powell told how she had seen William beating Susan through a window, and that she had heard them quarrelling several times in previous weeks. Mrs Aspinall said that Susan was about 41 years of age and a sober woman who had told her prior to slipping into unconsciousness that William hit her with his fists and that she felt like she was dying. This put paid to rumours in the neighbourhood that William had used the hammer to hit his wife.

A young girl named Sarah Rustage said she had heard screams from the Bibby's house and they both came out. She described Susan as staggering and did not see William in possession of any weapon. Another man named Edward Barrow deposed that he had see William hitting Susan but he didn't intervene as the last time he tried to stop a man beating his wife they both turned on him. John Knowles was another man to scared to intervene, saying he had heard that William threw stones at anybody who tired to interfere with his domestic affairs.

The surgeon who had been sent for, Dr Bradbridge, said he carried out a postmortem and found effusions on the chest and brain, but no injuries apart from marks on the neck. Susan had spirits in her stomach and he felt that death was accelerated by the quarrelling and that a fall may have been the cause. The doctor also said that Susan had been known to him for some months due to a heart problem. To summarise, he said, death may have been hastened by violence but not caused by it. 

William, who was deaf, was given the depositions of witnesses to read but chose not to put any questions to witnesses. He instead made a statement saying that they had argued as she had broken open a box containing the rent money but denied any knowledge of doing so when he confronted her. 

In summing up, Mr Curry said it was one of the most extraordinary cases he had ever dealt with. There was no doubt that violence had been used but it was not necessarily the direct cause of death, however he said that a verdict of manslaughter or murder could still be returned if it hastened it. For murder though, the coroner said there had to be malice aforethought, which didn't appear to be the case. As such he told the jury they needed to decide if the cause of death was manslaughter or a disease of some standing. After some deliberation the jury returned a majority 12-3 verdict of manslaughter.

At the assizes the following April, William appeared before Mr Justice Coleridge. Elizabeth Powell repeated how she had seen him beating his wife, but under cross examination Dr Bradbridge admitted that he could not be sure the death had anything to do with the beating and injuries. He could only say that death might have been hastened by them, but he would not seven wear to that.

Given the evidence of Dr Bradbridge, the jury returned  a verdict of not guilty under the direction of the judge and William was freed. 

Frying Pan Killing

The 1830s came to a tragic end for one married couple when the husband was killed after his wife hit him on the head with a frying pan during a row.

At around 9pm on New Years Eve 1839 William McEvoy returned to his Fontenoy Street home to find his lodger George Booth there but not his wife, 30 year old Elizabeth. George went to get Elizabeth, who was drinking ale with a neighbour and on her return William demanded to know why his dinner was not ready. She responded by taking the boiling potatoes and throwing them behind the fire.

The couple then began scuffling and fell on to the bed, but Elizabeth managed to get up and take down a frying pan that was hanging on the wall by a nail. She then struck William on the head with this and as he staggered towards the window, she picked up a brush and hit him, causing him to fall to the floor.

William vomited a few times that night and by 4th January he was in a feverish condition so a doctor was called by Elizabeth, who had been very tender in trying to bring him back to health.  When asked about the mark on his head William said a man he did not know had done it. The following day, William was shaking and suffering hallucinations so the same doctor was called again. He was deteriorating fast and died the day after, a post mortem concluding that extravasation of the muscles, caused by external violence was the cause.

Elizabeth was committed to trial at the next assizes and appeared before Judge Coleridge on 27th March 1840. He was angered when Dr McLellan from the Dispensary asked for a fee to give evidence, telling the surgeon that he should be ashamed not to say a few words without pay when a woman was on such a serious charge.'

After Elizabeth was found guilty the judge told her she had sworn to cherish and obey her husband, but she had been convicted of killing him. She was sentenced to one years imprisonment, with the last week of it to be in solitary confinement.

Stabbing of a Policeman

A row over whether or not a candle should be lit led to a woman having her throat cut, a policeman being killed and a man being transported for life.

On the night of Monday 15th April 1839 Daniel Cole, a 30 year old porter originally from Ireland, returned to his lodgings off College Lane at around 10pm . He found his wife was sat down talking with another lodger named Alice Murphy and a Mrs Moran, keeper of the house.

Alice lit a candle which Mrs Cole immediately put out. She lit it again and when Mrs Cole again went to put it out Daniel shouted to her 'Is this the way, what's your humour now.' Mrs Cole got up and stumbled, being worse the wear for drink, before going into the kitchen. Daniel then followed her and cut her neck from behind, but his wife managed to get away and out into the street to shout 'murder'.

A policeman immediately arrived on the scene, accompanied by a mariner named Robert Rigg who he had ordered to assist. Rigg was left holding he door shut while the officer sought further help, but Cole managed to batter it down and escape, punching Rigg in the face as he made off. He only got as far as the corner with Hanover Street, where he was stopped by Constable David Bailey, but as the two men struggled and fell down together a knife was plunged into the officers neck.

Bailey managed to get up and knock his stick on the floor three times, while a passer by called William Selsby managed to get the knife which had fell out of a dazed Cole's hand. Thomas Fletcher, a coachmaker, stood over him until other officers arrived on the scene to secure his arrest. Whilst this was happening Bailey fell down and was carried into Atherton's public house and laid out on a kitchen table. Within two minutes he was dead, witnesses having said that blood was coming out of his neck like 'water from a pipe.'

Two surgeons were sent for and they quickly established that a main artery had been severed. Cole was taken to the Hotham Street bridewell and placed in the cells, while a the bloodied knife and hat belonging to Bailey, which had been cut, were also handed in there. Mrs Cole attended a surgery, where a doctor examined her and concluded that the inch wide wound, which was a third of an inch deep, was not endangering her.

The Coroner's inquest into Bailey's death took place the following day and after the doctors gave evidence to the effect that stabbing was the cause of death a verdict of wilful murder was returned. Cole taken to Kirkdale Gaol to a await his trial at the next South Lancashire Assizes in Liverpool's Chapel Street.

Cole's trial took place on 20th August and he was describe by the Liverpool Mercury as 'a well made broad set man, dark complexioned, with large black whiskers; his eyes are fiery and indicated a degree of wildness.' His landlady Mrs Moran told the court that he had posed no problems at all and was a hard working industrious man, but his wide was prone to drunkenness. Most witnesses could only testify that they saw a struggle followed by Bailey staggering away, but Joseph Mantler said that he had seen Cole thrust his right hand, which he assumed to have carried the knife, towards the officer's neck. Dr Callan, who examined the body afterwards, was of the opinion that the blow was a severe one, the knife only being stopped when it struck the jaw, and that death was immediate due to the severing of arteries.

The situation looked bleak for Cole but evidence was presented by the defence that he had spent several weeks in an infirmary in Ireland a decade earlier after receiving a head injury whilst blasting coal. His brother Michael explained that he believed he had never been in sound mind since and often wore tight bandages around his head to keep him stable. When he had fits of anger, he would smash up furniture and two or three people were needed to restrain him, after which he would remember nothing of the episode. In cross examination Dr Callan admitted that this could cause temporary derangement during periods of excitement. His colleague Dr McIntyre also said that just a small amount of alcohol could have brought about temporary insanity.

The jury also heard evidence that Cole was a trusted employee in a warehouse and had worked there for eight years in a job that required him to carry a knife. Fellow employees also told how he was often concerned about his wife's drinking habits, which sometimes involved her selling furniture and taking his wages then disappearing for two or three days at a time.

The defence counsel put forward a passionate defence in the trial's closing stages, painting the picture of a man returning from work to find his wife hopelessly drunk, stabbing her then finding himself surrounded by a baying crowd as he officers stopped him. It was submitted that the act was carried out in self defence after the officer struck him, although this was not what the witnesses had said. When summing up, the judge pointed out that the jury had to consider if Cole knew it was an officer he was grappling with, and also the fact that he had carried the knife without its sheath for a considerable distance.

After deliberating for 45 minutes the jury found Cole guilty of 'a very aggravated case of manslaughter.' In sentencing, the judge said that aggravated manslaughter is only in the slightest degree distinguishable from murder and as such that 'It is my duty to pronounce on you that you be transported to a place beyond the seas to such place as Her Majesty, by the advice of her Privy Council may determine, for the period of your natural life.' Eleven months later Cole and 270 other convicts sailed on the Eden bound for New South Wales, where he eventually arrived on 8th July 1841.