Grandson Killed by Flying Poker

A man who threw a poker at his wife when she hit him was found guilty of manslaughter and gaoled for five years after his grandson got in the way and died from the injuries. 

On the night of 29th June 1880 John Grant Murray returned to his home in Talbot Street (off Islington) somewhat worse for drink and was hit with a crutch by his wife, who was also drunk. Talbot then threw a poker at her, which instead hit his nineteen month old grandson Samuel Wright on the head as he was running across the room.

Samuel was taken to the Infirmary where he was found to have a compound fracture of the skull. He died on 13th July and an inquest before the Coroner Clarke Aspinall saw evidence given by Murray's daughter in law of what had occurred. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, but magistrates then committed him for trial on a charge of murder.

At the Liverpool assizes on 26th July the murder charge was withdrawn and Murray tried only for manslaughter. His defence counsel Mr Shand submitted that both he and his wife were drunk at the time and the occurrence was purely accidental. The judge, Mr Justice Bramwell, interjected and said that the only accident was that Murray's grandchild rather than his wife had been killed, to which Mr Shand replied that no harm had been intended.

After Murray was found guilty the judge ordered that he be stood down for a while, telling him: 'It is a most abominable offence even if no mischievous result had been occasioned. I am not sure I shall not send you to penal servitude to teach you and others not to fling pokers at their wives.'  

Murray waited on the cells whilst another prisoner James Kelly was tried for grievous bodily harm on his wife. Justice Bramwell then brought them both up to be sentenced together, saying that their conduct was 'cruel, unmanly and ruffianly.' He then sentenced both to a term of penal servitude, which in Murray's case was five years. 

Stepdaughter Killed By Poker

A woman whose stepdaughter died after she had hit her over the head with a poker following a row was sentenced to just eighteen months imprisonment.

On the evening of 24th January 1880 David Edwards and his wife Margaret returned to their home at 29 Major Street, Kirkdale, after a visit to the market. Soon after Margaret's stepmother Catherine Clements, with whom they lodged, came in and began arguing with them. David pushed Clements into her room but she came back out and resumed the argument. 

Margaret went out to try and find a policeman but wasn't able to and when she returned, Clements was stood on the step with a poker. She struck Margaret three times with it before David managed to get it from her. The injured woman went to the Stanley Hospital for treatment and arrived back home after midnight, when she was punched twice in the face by Clements, who then threatened to smash a jug over her head.

About a month later erysipelas set in and Margaret was taken to the Stanley Hospital and then the Walton Workhouse. Whilst there she entered a state of delirium, leading to her transfer to the Rainhill asylum. On 4th April Margaret died and Clements was arrested and held on remand for a week whilst medical opinions were sought. It was determined that Margaret's death was as a result of blood poisoning and Clements was committed for trial at the next assizes on a charge of manslaughter.

On 21st April Clements, who was 44 years old, appeared before Mr Justice Denman. After she was found guilty he sentenced her to eighteen months imprisonment with hard labour.

Tragic Killing of a Granddaughter

A man who took his granddaughter for a walk and killed her was detained in a lunatic asylum after he was found to be not responsible for his actions.

In 1880 retired Irish born seaman Richard Maguire lived at Howe Street in Bootle with his daughter, her husband and granddaughter Catherine, who was two months short of her second birthday. He was very fond of Catherine and used to love taking her out on walks, but it was on one of these where he had an episode that led to him causing her death.

When 62 year old Maguire got up on the morning of Saturday 3rd January that year he told his daughter and Thomas that they had better look after Catherine, as he had dreamt he was going to kill her. They took no notice of this and at midday he took her out and didn't return until the next morning.

When he got to Howe Street the next morning  he was wet and wild looking and Catherine's parents were frantic with worry. When his daughter asked where she was, Maguire replied 'IN HEAVEN I HOPE' and said that a fair haired woman had taken her off him but he would go back to try and find her. After a sleep Maguire was again challenged over Catherine's whereabouts and said he was sat on a step and his deceased wife had taken her off him, with the girl saying 'TA GRAN.'

Maguire was taken into custody and told the police they would never find her. However she was found lying face down in a ditch on the morning of 6th January. A post mortem found that she had been suffocated. When Maguire was charged with murder he tried to put his head in a water closet as he was returning to his cell.

At the inquest at the Crosby Hotel on 8th January Maguire's son in law Thomas Kiernan explained that they had always had good relations and he was trusting of Maguire with Catherine. This was despite him having spent three months at the Haydock asylum before Christmas, with Kiernan believing Maguire was a bit weak minded but nothing else. When Maguire was asked if he had questions, he could only reply that he loved Catherine as if she was his daughter.

Other witnesses gave accounts of Maguire's movements on the fateful day, which had been quite extensive. One man had seen him in Sefton and Catherine was crying, Maguire replying that her mother's head was burnt. A man who had seen them in Crosby Village at 6pm asked how Catherine was so wet and Maguire replied that she had fallen into the canal. By 8pm Maguire seemed to be heading in the direction of Bootle but was alone and acting very erratically, telling a coachman that he had been conducting a christening but an unknown female had taken the child away.

A verdict of wilful murder was returned and Maguire was committed for trial at the next Liverpool assizes,
appearing before Lord Chief Justice Coleridge on 10th February. Dr Barr of Kirkdale gaol said he was of the opinion that Maguire was of unsound mind and when further historical details were given the judge stopped the case. The jury was ordered to find Maguire of unsound mind and he was sent to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.

Youth Kills After Being Thrown Out of Pub

A 17 year old who stabbed one of his neighbours in a fight after he was thrown out of a pub near Wapping Dock was found guilty of manslaughter and sent to gaol for ten years.

On Saturday 13th November 1880 William Spears went on a drinking spree with his friend James Humphreys, ending up at Hammond & Mills public house on the corner of Hurst and Grayson Street, opposite Wapping Dock. At about 645pm Humphreys tried to order two pints of ale but was told by the barman that they had had enough. 

When the two males refused to leave two police officers were sent for to remove them and Stephen Burns, who was stood at the bar and had once lived in the same court as Spears, asked them not to be rough with him as Humphreys was far worse. Within minutes though the youths had entered the pub via another door and were again refused service, this time being forcibly ejected by James Patterson, a drinking companion of Burns.

Burns then joined the three males on the street and an argument broke out, leading to blows being exchanged. Spears then took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed Burns in the chest and ran off, while his victim crossed the road to the dock gate, where a policeman helped him into a cart to be taken to the Royal Southern Hospital. Humphreys was arrested at the scene for being drunk and riotous, while Burns died just ten minutes after arrival at the hospital.

Burns had been able to give all details to the officer of the man who stabbed him and Spears was soon arrested at his court dwelling in Grayson Street. He was in bed when the police arrived but he didn't deny what had happened, saying that he was drunk and did not know what had made him do it. The following Thursday Spears was committed for trial at the Assizes, with Patterson being severely rebuked by the Stipendiary Magistrate during the hearing. He said he was struggling to remember what had happened because he had been to a two night wake for Burns, with Mr Raffles responding that the Roman Catholic clergy condemned such practices.

Spears was tried on 8th February 1881 at the Liverpool Assizes. Patterson described how he had ejected Spears and Humphreys from the pub and a fight broke out, but the key witness was customs officer Arthur Hope, who had been by the dock gates. He told the court that Burns had punched and head butted Spears before the knife was taken out. This led to the judge directing to the jury that they could not possibly return a guilty verdict on the murder charge. However they did find Spears guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to 10 years penal servitude.

Locals Ignore Desperate Woman's Plight

A Danish seaman who killed a prostitute in Upper Frederick Street was sentenced to life imprisonment for manslaughter following an incident in which locals showed shocking indifference to the victim.

19 year old Matthew Dedone spent the evening of 6th September 1880 drinking in Cottam's public house, on the corner of Frederick Street and Forrest Street. His drinking companion was Humphrey Murphy and Dedone produced a knife saying that if anybody tried to hurt his friend then he was prepared to use it on them.

At around 10pm Dedone and Murphy left the pub and headed their separate ways. Shortly afterwards a local 30 year old prostitute called Cecilia Rigby did so as well. What happened over the next hour was never fully established but at 11.10pm Dedone was seen walking along Pitt Street with a knife, then dragging a woman screaming into an entry and then back out again whilst repeatedly punching and kicking her.

Nobody tried to intervene in this episode and Dedone then asked his former landlady Ann King, who was sat on her step, if she would take in Cecilia as a lodger and offered some money. She refused and Dedone apologised for his actions and went away, with Ann continuing to sit on her step talking to her friend Mary Nolan.

It was not until after midnight that anybody offered assistance to Cecilia when dock labourer Francis Kehoe was returning home and walked past Ann and Mary who were still talking. A few yards later he saw Cecilia lying on the ground in Upper Frederick Street and found that she was dead. A police constable was called and the body was removed to the Royal Southern Hospital, where a post mortem found she had died after being stabbed in the lung and heart. Dedone, who had now disposed of the weapon, was apprehended soon afterwards at his lodgings in nearby Greetham Street.

Dedone was charged with murder and appeared before Mr Justice Mellor at Liverpool Assizes on 13th November. Witnesses told how they had seen him and Cecilia arguing around 11pm with Dedone demanding the return of his shilling, before he went on to carry out the brutal assault. Dedone's defence was a simple one, that he was not there at that time but had instead gone home at 10.30pm and stayed there, so the witnesses must be mistaken in identifying him. This was contradicted by the evidence of his boarding house keeper though, who said he had returned at 11.45pm.

In summing up, Justice Mellor said that the jury had to be satisfied that Dedone was the killer and needed to ask themselves if there had been any provocation that could reduce the verdict to manslaughter. After forty minutes deliberation, a verdict of manslaughter was returned. Before sentencing, Dedone reiterated his innocence, insisting that he was in his home at 10.30pm and went straight to bed. Justice Mellor said that both he and the jury were satisfied that Dedone was responsible for the killing and that given a knife was used in the killing, the verdict was a very lenient one. He then sentenced Dedone to penal servitude for life.

Orange Day Killing

In 1880 a killing with possible Sectarian undertones took place in Everton when a Protestant was stabbed by a Catholic.

On 12th July 1880, the traditional day for Orange Lodge parades, Matthew Foulkes and his wife took a wagonette to Hale where an Orange parade was taking place, although they did not join in this. After stopping for drinks at Garston on the way back, they arrived in Beresford Street at 8pm when their wagonette came under attack from bricks that were being thrown from 29 Beresford Street, the home of a 29 year old Catholic seaman named Ezra Male. His house was directly opposite number 30, where Mr and Mrs Foulkes lodged.

A squabble took place between Mrs Foulkes and Mrs Male, while a large crowd also gathered as three youths were taken away by police. Ezra Male then came running out of the house with a knife and slashed Mrs Foulkes down the arm, cutting her from the shoulder to elbow. Matthew Foulkes then went at Male and was stabbed in the stomach. He was taken to the Royal Infirmary, while Male was arrested initially for wounding. Matthew was able to give a statement the next day prior to dying from his injuries, his bowel having been protruded.

Male was charged with murder and appeared before the Liverpool Assizes on 30th July, when Mrs Foulkes was still in hospital recovering from her injuries and a miscarriage. Several witnesses said they had seen the two women arguing and that Foulkes had initially appeared to go at Male. With respect to whether the killing was motivated by religion, there is no doubt that Foulkes was wearing an orange lilly and that bricks were thrown from Male's house. However the two men had previously never spoken to each other and it is quite possible that it took place as a result of the two wives having had a disagreement a few days earlier.

In summing up the judge said that if Male was acting in self defence then it was manslaughter, but if he had come out of his property holding a knife it was murder. The jury deliberated for 35 minutes and found Male guilty of manslaughter, leading to the judge to tell him that the case was 'very near murder.' Male, who maintained just before sentencing that he had not been in possession of  a knife that day, was sentenced to twenty years penal servitude.