Charles Edward Hold

Charles Edward Hold was found lying injured in Dun Cow Street, Sunderland on 2 October 1904, having received a blow to the head.

At first it was thought that he was drunk but he was found to have head injuries and later died.

A 25-year-old man was charged and tried for his manslaughter but no evidence was offered and he was acquitted. The man had claimed that he had done nothing more than defend himself and that Charles Hold had been the aggressor.

It was said that they were drunk and had had a quarrel and that the man had hit Charles Hold, causing him to fall and fracture his skull.

Charles Hold was a screenman at Monkwearmouth Colliery and lived with his step brother on Marshall Street in Fulwell.

He was seen in the Caxton House pub by his niece who lived there, who said that he was there on the Saturday night at about 8pm and was quite sober and alone and had had a glass of bitter beer after which he had left. She said that he was quite sober and alone and didn't get into any disputes while he was there.

Later that night at 11.25pm a policeman was at the corner of Crowtree Road and High Street when a woman told him that there was a fight going on in Dun Cow Street. When the policeman got there he said he saw a crowd of people at the back of the Burton Inn. He said that as he approached some of the people ran away. He then saw Charles Hold lying on his back against some wooden palings on the opposite side of the road to the inn. He said that two men were supporting his head and trying to bring him round. The policeman said he looked at Charles Hold's head looking for wounds and saw that he had a cut upper lip. He said that he also smelt strongly of drink and showed no signs of coming around.

The policeman then obtained a barrow and conveyed Charles Hold to the police station in it. However, they thought he was just in a state of collapse through excessive drinking. Later he noticed Charles Hold had a scalp wound at the back of his head and a doctor was sent for at 12.30am.

The doctor said that when he arrived at the police station he found Charles Hold lying in front of the fire in the charge room helplessly drunk and bleeding from a cut at the back of his head. He said that Charles Hold vomited and that he then told the police to leave him lying in front of the fire but not on his back. The doctor came back at 4.50pm on the Sunday and found that Charles Hold had signs of compression of the brain and was in a serious condition and had him immediately removed to the infirmary where he died.

A doctor carried out an autopsy and found a clot of venous blood on his brain and a fracture of the skull and compression of the brain following a fracture at the base of the skull. He said that the wounds on the back of the head were superficial and were not caused by the skull fracture.

The man tried had appeared that the Durham Assizes on 23 November 1904 but was acquitted after no evidence was offered.