Newspaper Extracts
Manslaughter of John Burns
3rd November, 1870A man named Michael Burns is in custody at Rotherham, charged with having caused the death of a labourer named John Burns (no relation to the prisoner), by striking him on the head with a poker, or some other blunt instrument.
It appears that the deceased went to the house of the prisoner on Saturday night last for the purpose of seeing the latter's daughter.
The girl, however, did not want anything to do with the man, and they began to quarrel. The girl alleges that the deceased struck her and knocked her down twice, and that the prisoner then interfered and attacked the deceased.
In the struggle that ensued a quantity of crockery ware was broken and strewn about the floor, and the prisoner asserts that the deceased received the injuries which caused his death by falling upon the jagged edge of a broken jug.
The deceased, however, prior to his death, which occurred yesterday morning, stated that he was struck on the head with a poker by the prisoner.
A post mortem examination of the body was made yesterday afternoon by Dr. Walker, and the inquest will be held this evening. The wound is quite at the top of the head, and has evidently been caused by some blunt instrument, and not by a fall.
