Age: 51
Sex: female
Date: 18 May 1909
Place: Bradeley, Staffordshire
Sarah Ann Price was set on fire.
Her husband was charged with having caused her death by pouring paraffin over her clothing and setting her on fire, but no further details are known.
When her husband was charged, he said, 'I did not pour the oil on her. She threw a bottle of oil at me, hit the table leg, and broke the bottle. She struck a match upon the floor and put it on her bosom. She then shouted, 'Put it out'. I ran for an old jacket to put it round her, and she ran out into the yard and screamed, 'Murder''.
A neighbour said that shortly before she had heard Sarah Price say to her husband, ‘You have done it this time', and heard Sarah Price's husband reply, 'It is not me, it's your bad deeds'.
Another neighbour said that he saw Sarah Price's husband rush out of the house with a coat that he then threw over Sarah Price who was enveloped in flames.
An open verdict was returned at Sarah Price's inquest, stating that she had died from shock following burns, but that there was not sufficient evidence to show how they were caused.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Tuesday 18 May 1909, p5
see Bicester Herald - Friday 21 May 1909
see Diss Express - Friday 21 May 1909
see Northern Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 18 May 1909
see Beverley and East Riding Recorder - Saturday 22 May 1909
see Illustrated Police News - Saturday 22 May 1909
see Unsolved 1909