Murder - Crimes - History - Bootle and North Liverpool

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fatboyjoe90
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Bookseller Killed By Ex-Lodger
A callous ex-lodger who killed his former landlord and left another lodger for dead was brought to justice due to his alibi failing to stand up and a nervous twitch.

In the 1890s Edward Moyse ran a bookstall in Mann Island, which was near to his home in Redcross Street where he lived above a barbers shop with 15-year-old John Needham, a boy who did chores for him. On the night of 18-19th February 1895 Moyse was battered in his bed by his ex-lodger William Miller, who was looking for the elderly man's rumoured stash of money. After killing 53-year-old Moyse, Miller, who had just returned from sea, turned his attention's to Needham, raining blows on him with a poker.

Image
Mann Island

It was his failure to finish off the boy however that was to lead Miller to the gallows. Needham managed to crawl into the street to raise the alarm at about 6 am when he was taken to the Northern Hospital. When police searched the house they found the only money there, £8 was under Moyse's pillow.


When Needham gave a description to the police, he was able to recall a nervous twitch that Miller possessed. A woman told police that a man who only ventured out at night and fitted his description lived in Edgeware Street in Edge Hill. Miller, who was staying there with his estranged wife's mother, was arrested and a bloodstained shirt was found in his room. He tried to account for this by saying he worked in a slaughterhouse, but when he was taken there and pointed to the spot where he claimed to have killed the animals, the superintendent of the abattoir said none had been slaughtered there for months.

27-year-old Miller was then taken to the bedside of John Needham, who had already eliminated various other suspects in identity parades. This time, however, Miller started to twitch and Needham was hysterical, leading to him being charged with the murder.



The trial began on 13th May and lasted three days. Needham, who by now had almost made a full recovery, gave his evidence in an impressive manner, leading to many offers of employment. Other witnesses told how they had seen Miller acting suspiciously in the vicinity and taking a keen interest in whether one or two people were dead. Miller, whose wife gave birth to a baby while he was in gaol, was found guilty and hanged on 4th June, continuing to protest his innocence.
Cheers Joe.
john j connell
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Good stuff (if you know what i mean) keep them coming Joe. JJC.
lynne99
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I don't reply to every one, but i do read every one with interest. I don't know what we would do without your tales from the past. Isn't it funny that 53 was counted as elderly then. How times have changed.
Was Mann Island down where the Pier Head is now , perhaps by the end of the flaoting roadway?
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks, John and Lynne. :wink: :) :)
I do know what you mean John. :wink:
Lynne, the floating road was for the old landing stage when the tide was in and out, yes Mann Island is down where the Pier Head is now. :wink:
Cheers Joe.
Shelagh
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Could well have been a double murder in Redcross Street that night :shock:
Good thing, young victim was able to identify murderer by nervous twitch..what an ordeal for him!!
Newspaper photo very good..Owen Owens delivery vehicle ahead, also Threlfall's pub sign on side of pub..brewery that has been around forever!!

All interesting stuff..thanks Joe!
graham01
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Joe you could write a book about your stories.keep them coming.i always try tofind out a bit about the family through ancestry but i cant post details as i always find living relatives and i dont think it is fair on them to pass on that information.graham.
origin waterloo.present and future bootle.
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your kind comments Shelagh & Graham. :wink: :)
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Portuguese Wife Killer Reprieved.

A Portuguese man who shot his wife dead on board a British steamer was sentenced to death but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment

On 5th February 1914, newly married couple Alberto Coelho and Josephine Quelhas set sail from Lisbon bound for Rio on board the Royal Mail steamer Deseado. The voyage to South America had begun in Liverpool. Coelho was a confectioner and also a man of substance who owned a substantial amount of property in Brazil. However, Josephine had only agreed to go there with him if they were married.


Travelling in first class accommodation, they appeared happy but soon it became apparent that all was not well. At around 1230pm on 7th February, when the vessel was 170 miles west of Madeira, Josephine Coelho has sat alone in the social hall. Her husband came in and shouted 'You have made me miserable' before shooting her twice from point-blank range. A cellist named Francis Chamberlain pulled Josephine from under the table where she had fallen and found there was a bullet wound in each breast. The ship's surgeon, Dr Segar was called but he confirmed that Josephine was dead and there was no hope of recovery.
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Justice Bray.

Two brave passengers managed to restrain Coelho, who was a well-built man, on deck. He showed no resistance as he was put in irons and placed in a guard room. That evening Josephine was buried at sea in a service attended by most of the crew and passengers.

On arrival in Rio two weeks later, Coelho was handed to the British consul who wanted nothing to do with him. He was then taken to a local jail and held there until the Deseado began her return voyage to Liverpool. When the vessel arrived there on 31st March Coelho was arrested and responded through an interpreter 'I intended to kill myself but in Rio, they say that I am mad.' Respectably dressed and sporting his thick dark moustache, 32-year-old Coelho was initially remanded for a week by magistrates.

The Daily Post reported that Coelho had a dejected appearance as he stood in the dock at the police-court a week later. The court first heard that Dr Segar was offered expenses of £3 per day but refused to come from London to give evidence unless he was subpoenaed. The magistrate then gave orders for a summons to be issued. Francis Chamberlain then gave evidence as to Coelho shooting his wife from a range of about one yard. This was corroborated by a bandmaster named Harry Akers.


Image
Bernardino Machado.

On 14th April the police court proceedings resumed with Dr Segar in attendance. He claimed not to have received a message about attending court then went on to say that death was as a result of a bullet to the heart. Coelho was committed to the assizes for trial and chose to reserve his defence.

Coelho appeared before Justice Bray on 24th April. His defence counsel Mr Rigby Swift did not dispute the facts of the case. Instead, it was suggested simply that no sane man who was happy with his wife could have shot her in broad daylight in front of three or four witnesses. The prisoner's brother Carlos was called to give evidence that he had suffered delusions. He stated that Coelho had neglected his business and often walked aimlessly around Rio saying he was being followed by a large dog. Carlos said that the family were not happy with the marriage to Josephine, who he described as a woman of 'loose character.'

Dr Griffiths from Walton Gaol said that he had not found Coelho to be showing any signs of insanity. Instead, he was described as perfectly rational although he had claimed to have no recollection of the killing until he woke up in irons. After an impassioned plea by Mr Rigby Swift that Coelho was not responsible for his actions the jury retired, but after an hour found him guilty of murder.

On being told of the verdict Coelho replied that Josephine had wanted to put him in an asylum on arrival in Rio. After Justice Bray had passed the death sentence he put his head in his hands and made a remark in Portuguese, before being quickly taken down below.

News of the sentence created shockwaves in Coelho's native Portugal, where nobody had been executed since 1846. On 28th April a demonstration organised by the League of Defence for the Rights of Man in Lisbon was attended by 40,000 people who called upon Prime Minister Bernardino Machado to intervene. He issued a statement, however, saying that he could not interfere with English law.

On 11th May at the Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr Rigby Swift argued that the verdict was unreasonable in line with the evidence. He argued that doctors who had attended to Coelho whilst under guard and in Rio had not been called, but the appeal was dismissed by the Lord Chief Justice who said 'You have no evidence here that the condition of his mind was such that he could not control his actions.' However, he did go on to offer some hope, saying that the Home Secretary had the power to exercise a prerogative and that this was a case he thought fit to do so.

The comments of the Lord Chief Justice were enough to have the execution, set for 14th May, deferred. On that day Joseph Spooner was hanged at Walton Gaol for the murder of his daughter in Edge Hill, but communication was received that Coelho's sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment.
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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New Mother's Violent Death in Bootle

A Bootle man who killed his lodger who had recently given birth was jailed for twenty-one months.
On 16th September 1887, Mary McDonald gave birth to a baby at 9 Molyneux Street, a small street that ran off Derby Road next to Millers Bridge. She and her husband John lodged at the house with Daniel Madge, a twenty-eight-year-old labourer and his wife.
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Mr Justice Day

The following night Madge disturbed Mary with his singing, leading to John telling him to leave them alone as she was in a weak condition. He did so for an hour but then had an argument with his own wife before going back to their room and challenging John to a fight. Before John could even take up the offer, he had been beaten about the head with a bowl by Madge.

When Mary placed her hand on Madge to calm him down, he pulled her out of the bed and then threw her out the door into the street. She lay there for several hours due to her husband being unconscious inside the house.

When Mary found a neighbour she was taken to the Bootle Borough Hospital where she died six days later of peritonitis brought on by violence and exposure. Madge had already been charged and remanded in custody for cutting and wounding John and now faced an indictment of manslaughter.

When Madge appeared before Mr Justice Day on 11th November his defence counsel argued that the peritonitis had been brought on by Mary having insufficient clothing to cover her following her confinement. This argument was rejected and Madge was found guilty of manslaughter then jailed for twenty-one months.
Cheers Joe.
graham01
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Seems a very light sentance joe.
origin waterloo.present and future bootle.
Shelagh
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The Bootle murderer got off very lightly indeed..seems the defence council was blaming the victim for her own death!
To say that Mary brought peritonitis on herself due to inadequate clothing is a disgrace :shock:
The women was in bed when the murderer dragged her out, she’d obviously be dressed in night clothes..
What a stupid defence and an even more stupid doddery old Judge!!
lynne99
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Thanks again Joe. 16th September, might have been a bit cool, but it was not winter so she would not be wearing much in bed. I hope the baby was Ok.
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fatboyjoe90
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The Maybrick Case
The Maybrick case, or The Aigburth Mystery as it was first known by the Liverpool press, has fascinated criminologists for over a century.
Liverpool cotton broker James Maybrick Image a hypochondriac who was known to take arsenic as a stimulant, died on 11th May 1889 at Battlecrease House in Riversdale Road, Aigburth, after being ill with a stomach upset. The doctor refused to sign a death certificate and referred the case to the coroner. His American wife Florence (below left), 14 years his junior, was arrested on suspicion of murder three days later.

Gossip had started against Florence when it became apparent that she was having an affair with another cotton broker, Alfred Brierley, who lived at 60 Huskisson Street Image When a maid who had been asked to post a letter to Mr Brierly opened it, she found that Florence had written that James was near to death. A search of the house by Maybricks brothers found quantities of arsenic and police decided to act.

The initial post mortem showed no traces of poison and the body of James Maybrick was exhumed on 30th May for analysis of samples from the heart, lungs and kidneys. Although these showed very little traces of arsenic Florence was found guilty of wilful murder by the coroner's court, meaning she was committed to stand trial at Liverpool Assizes.

The August trial at St. Georges Hall lasted 7 days and the jury took just 35 minutes to find Florence guilty of murder. This was a surprising verdict, as the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Maybrick had indeed died from arsenic poisoning. The judge in the case, who was committed to a lunatic asylum two years later, had spent the first day of summing up stressing the importance of establishing the exact cause of death but switched track the next day to a vitriolic attack on Florence's private life. Florence was sentenced to death leading to an outcry on both sides of the Atlantic.

Just four days before she was due to hang, the Home Secretary overturned the guilty verdict on the grounds that it was not conclusive that James Maybrick had indeed died from arsenic poisoning. However, Florence was still sentenced to life imprisonment for 'attempting to administer arsenic to her husband with intent to murder'. This was a crime for which she had not been tried in court, yet she still faced a lifetime behind bars.

Despite numerous appeals, Florence stayed in jail for 15 years. Queen Victoria had made it known at the time that she believed Florence to be guilty and felt that the life sentence should never be commuted. It was not until after her death in 1901 that moves could begin towards release. Just six months after Victoria's death, 1904 was fixed as the release date.


After her release (when the picture was taken) ImageFlorence returned to America where she wrote a book, My Fifteen Lost Years. She lived her last years as a recluse in Connecticut where she died in 1941.



Maybrick is buried in Anfield cemetery but his grave, pictured below, has been vandalised in recent years.
Image
Cheers Joe.
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filsgreen
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Difficult case, Joe, I'm not sure about the vandalism of the headstone. I was told that you only own your plot for 100 years and then the headstone is knocked over to indicate this. Here is Manchester's city council's web page.

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/20003 ... 4/graves/1
bernie johno
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what a great thread thanks joe :D :D :wink:
hood st ,norton st, spenser st ,
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fatboyjoe90
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filsgreen wrote:Difficult case, Joe, I'm not sure about the vandalism of the headstone. I was told that you only own your plot for 100 years and then the headstone is knocked over to indicate this. Here is Manchester's city council's web page.

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/20003 ... 4/graves/1
Thank for that info Phil, it won't bother me as I'm getting cremated. :wink: :D :D
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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bernie johno wrote:what a great thread thanks joe :D :D :wink:

Thank you for your comment, Bernie. :wink: :D
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Chinese Sailor Shoots Friend Over Woman
Chinese sailor See Lee Wai was hanged in 1909 after he shot his friend in an apparent rage of jealousy over an English woman.
See Lee Wai and Yang Yap were good friends who used to regularly visit Amy Yap Sing, the English widow of a Chinese sailor who ran a boarding house in at 13 Dickenson Street (situated off Upper Frederick Street, near St Vincent de Paul school).

Mrs Sing was in bed with peritonitis when both men visited her on 3rd December 1908, before enjoying drinks in her kitchen and leaving on apparently good terms. The following evening, however, See Lee Wai saw Amy then left as Yun Yap arrived, only to return with a revolver to shoot his friend in the stomach.


Southern Hospital.Image

Yun Yap was taken to the Southern Hospital hospital in Caryl Street, where he was able to make a statement naming See Lee Wai as the gunman. The following night (a Saturday) at 10 pm, a Chinese man was seen by a railway guard acting suspiciously at Lime Street station, claiming that he was waiting for a train to Glasgow. When the guard saw the name on the sailor's book in the ticket office, he recognised it as that of a man wanted in connection with a shooting and See Lee Wai was arrested by police.


When questioned See Lee said that the gun had gone off during a quarrel and he had been trying to wrestle it from Yun Yap. Three days later Yun Yap died of an infection to the wound and See Lee Wai was charged with murder, appearing before the Liverpool Assizes on 12th March 1909 before Lord Chief Justice Alverstone. Amy Yap Sing told the court that she had not see Yun Yap with a gun and a doctor said that he could not have shot himself.


See Lee Wai, who ironically had been a prosecution witness at the trial of Pong Lun five years previously, was found guilty after the jury retired for only ten minutes. He was sentenced to the same fate as his compatriot and when a petition to the Home Secretary failed to reprieve him he treated the news with total indifference, He was hanged at Walton on 30th March 1909.
Cheers Joe.
Shelagh
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Good reading, Joe;
The Florence Maybrick case, very interesting..this trial was re-enacted at the actual court where the original trial took place, St. George’s Hall - it was well performed
by a group of young actors..the young lady who played Florence was brilliant..
I’d read previous articles about the case, quite a lot of evidence stacked up against her, but she swore her innocence to the very end; so who knows..perhaps it was a case of wrongful imprisonment!

Sad case of two Chinese friends falling out over English women..terrible thing jealousy!

Thanks again for all our murders, Joe!!
lily8
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Some great posts on this thread thanks Joe, the Yap sing story intrigued me after re reading Liverpool Slummy and the tales related to the women who married orientals. Amy Yap Sing nee Carr only married in 1905 in Cardiff and sadly died in Liverpool in 1911 aged 35 years she must have had a hard life.
Lily
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your comments Shelagh and Lily, they are much appreciated. :wink: :)
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Scythed to Death
A row between two gardeners over a payment for beer led to one cutting the other with his scythe and being convicted of manslaughter.

Image
Melville Place

On Saturday 9th September 1864 two jobbing gardeners, Felix O'Hara and Patrick Fleming worked for the morning then went drinking in the afternoon. Things were fine until around 6 pm when they played a card game in Rae's public house in Melville Place, Toxteth. When Fleming won the game a quart of ale was ordered, which he believed should be paid for by O'Hara and another man, Jimmy Vennard, who had joined them.

O'Hara threatened to poke both eyes out of Fleming's head if he didn't pay for the ale and without even giving him a chance to respond punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed. Fleming then went into the yard to clean himself up but was followed by O'Hara who picked up the scythe and threatened to cut him in two if he didn't pay. He then swung it at Fleming's led, severely wounding the thigh.

Fleming, who was 58 years old, walked to the Infirmary helped by another man who saw him struggling. By 7th October Fleming's condition had deteriorated considerably and a note was sent by Dr Nash to Superintendent Kehoe at the police. He dispatched Detective Cousens to speak with Fleming, who described what had happened, leading to O'Hara being arrested at 3 am the following morning in a lodging house in Elm Grove off Paddington. The 30-year-old denied what had happened, saying that Fleming fell against the scythe.

When O'Hara appeared at the police-court charged with wounding with intent to kill his case was adjourned pending magistrates taking formal depositions from Fleming, who was now said to be in a very dangerous state with little hope of recovery. After describing the circumstances of the incident he told Mr Mills and Mr Stubbs that he had known O'Hara for a few years and they had never had a falling out. On the day in question, they were not drunk and knew what they were about, and the only reason O'Hara had for striking him was his refusal to pay for the ale.

After Fleming died two days later an inquest before the Coroner Mr P. F. Curry heard that he had developed erysipelas about a week after entering the hospital and that this had been as a direct result of the wound. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder and O'Hara was committed for trial at the next Liverpool assizes. Image


On 16th December O'Hara appeared before Justice Mellor at St George's Hall. Other people who had been in the public-house said that both men were in a state of intoxication and nobody had seen the blow get struck. A surgeon from the infirmary, however, said that the wound was the result of considerable force, being five inches in length and cut to the bone. The policeman who arrested O'Hara said that the first words spoken were 'is he dead'. The defence counsel said that the evidence was unreliable due to the level of drink involved and maintained that the wound could still have been caused by a fall, despite the medical evidence.

The jury deliberated for just a short time and found O'Hara guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Justice Mellor then told O'Hara 'Happily for you they have taken a lenient view of this case and saved you from public execution' before sentencing him to ten years penal servitude.
Last edited by fatboyjoe90 on Thu Mar 08, 2018 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers Joe.
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filsgreen
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Once again, alcohol plays its part. :(
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fatboyjoe90
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And it's not much different today Phil. :(
Cheers Joe.
lynne99
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And again Joe, Thanks for the story. Always a good read. :D
Shelagh
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Felix O’Hara and Patrick Fleming - Irish sounding names, probably Irish Immigrants!
As Phil said; alcohol usually to blame :(

Thanks Joe!
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your comments Lynne and Shelagh. :wink: :)
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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The tragedy of Walton Doctor And His Son!!

In 1895 the son of a Walton doctor was killed by a member of his staff, a death which was followed a few months later by that of the doctor himself.

Dr Richard Ireland, who was a visiting practitioner to the Liverpool Workhouse in Brownlow Hill, lived at 2 Harlech Street off County Road along with his wife and two sons. His assistant Patrick O'Callaghan also lived with them.

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Liverpool Workhouse in Brownlow Hill.

Image
Harlech Street

On 3rd August Dr Ireland went away for a week, meaning not much work got done by O'Callaghan who often spent the days drinking, sometimes with Mrs Ireland. On Thursday 8th August, Mrs Ireland didn't even get dressed and had a friend, Mrs Sayers around and drank for most of the day, whilst O'Callaghan drank alone. In the evening William was sent to bed and a row took place between O'Callaghan and Mrs Ireland, who refused to share her drink with him.

O'Callaghan was so overcome with rage that around 1 am he went to the bedroom and dragged her 11-year-old son William out of bed, beat him with his fists and then threw him with such force against a chair that his stomach was ripped open. William managed to get under the bed for safety and Annie Washington, a 13-year-old servant girl who sometimes stayed at the house, ran outside to get help after being woken by the screams.

When Police Constable Deacon went into the bedroom, he asked William to come out but he said his intestines were hanging out and after a doctor was called he was taken by horse ambulance to Bootle Hospital where he remained in a critical condition. O'Callaghan was arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm. He appeared at Islington Magistrates on the morning of Saturday 10th August and remanded in custody for a week, with a police inspector stating that it was doubtful that William would make a recovery.

William failed to pull through, dying the following Wednesday after peritonitis had set in. At his inquest, held at Bootle police station on Friday 16th August, a verdict of wilful murder was returned and O'Callaghan was committed for trial at the next Assizes. William was buried at Anfield Cemetery on the Sunday, the funeral cortege being followed by a large crowd, some of whom expressed hostility to Mrs Ireland for being in a drunken state when her son was killed.

At O'Callaghan's trial in on 28th November, he maintained that he had not intended to cause any harm to William, but instead to simply to frighten Mrs Ireland. A surgeon from the Bootle Hospital said that death hadn't resulted directly from the injuries, but instead from the peritonitis and exhaustion which had been brought on by them. The day after the outrage, William had been able to give a statement to the police and this was read out in court, describing how he had been 'hammered' by O'Callaghan who kept catching up with him as he tried to get away.

O'Callaghan managed to avoid a conviction for murder on the basis he was so drunk at the time and hadn't used any implements when hitting William. He was instead found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years penal servitude. In a sad postscript to the tragedy, Dr Ireland died of typhoid at the age of 58 the following month.
Cheers Joe.
scotty
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Joe, Thank you for taking the time to find all of these stories.I find them both fascinating and interesting.Please keep them coming.
All gave some
Some gave all
Shelagh
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Very upsetting, such a horrible brutal murder!
What a death, poor William, battered by a drunken Doctor..the drunken mother, no better, no wonder the crowd expressed hostility towards her during the funeral..
Williams father died of typhoid a month later; what a sad case!!

Thanks for another interesting case,, Joe!
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your comments, Scotty and Shelagh they are much appreciated. :wink: :)
Cheers Joe.
lynne99
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As usual Joe, you have provided us with a glimpse into the past. Alcohol playing its part as it often did, sad to say. Thanks again Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Mother Guilty of Tuberculosis Death.

When a woman died in 1937 after suffering from tuberculosis for two years there was no initial cause for suspicion, but events took a macabre twist and her mother was found guilty of manslaughter.

Image
Suffolk Street 1937.

On 22nd October that year Florence Smith, who had been suffering from the disease for two years, died at her home in Suffolk Street, off Duke Street in the city centre. She was buried four days later in Allerton cemetery but when her mother Esther Davies failed to return the keys to her flat, the owners made a horrific discovery whilst clearing it out.

In the corner of a room was a pram containing the mummified body of a baby, which was an estimate to have been dead for nine months. A post-mortem was carried out by Dr Lynch from the University of Liverpool, who was unable to determine whether or not the child had been born dead or alive.

Esther was traced to her home in Elmham Crescent, Fazakerley and initially remanded in custody charged with Endeavouring to Conceal The Birth of a Child. 49-year-old Esther was in a distressed state when she appeared at the magistrate's court and was allowed to remain seated.

Image
Elmham Crescent.


Due to the concerns raised by neighbours about Florence's condition in the days leading to her death, the Coroner ordered the exhumation of her body. Tests showed that the body was thin and wasted, with the cause of death being phthisis of the left lung. However, the fact Esther had not sought medical assistance prior to death meant that prosecutors charged her with manslaughter, saying that death had been accelerated by her criminal neglect.

Esther was back before magistrates on 6th December and was committed for trial at the assizes but allowed bail. This was opposed by the prosecution, who said she should remain in custody for her own safety. As she was freed from the dock she stated 'I am not guilty of both charges'.

Image
Suffolk Street as it is today.

On 8th April 1938, the jury at St George's Hall heard that post-mortem results showed no evidence of Florence having eaten for several days before her death. A neighbour also testified that when Esther realised her daughter was dying, she found a terrible state of affairs, with the bedsheets being saturated in blood and her hands riddled with maggots.

The defence said that Florence had refused to go to the hospital and wouldn't eat any food. To them it was not a case of willful neglect, rather Esther simply misunderstanding how serious the situation was. However, she was found guilty and sentencing adjourned to the Manchester assizes so probation reports could be prepared.
Cheers Joe.
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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks for your comments Lynne. :wink:
Cheers Joe.
lynne99
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I don't think she would be found guilty today. You can't force an adult to go to the doctors , I hope she didn't spend too long in jail.
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