Roger McGuire

Roger McGuire died after being hit on the head with a stick in a fight.

A man was tried for his manslaughter but acquitted.

The man tried had been the son-in-law of the licensee of the Woolpack Inn which stood in Market Street and had a side entrance in Snow Hill.

The man tried had lived at the Woolpack Inn with his family and the licensee and had also kept a small shop opposite the Woolpack Inn and was described as a man of good character.

Roger McGuire was described by the police as violent and dangerous when under the influence of drink and to have had been convicted and imprisoned on many occasions for assault, although nothing since 1906.

The court heard that on the afternoon of 20 March 1911 that Roger McGuire had been committing a nuisance in the passage of the man's shop in Snow Hill and that he had gone out to rebuke him but that Roger McGuire, who was under the influence of drink had resented that and attacked him with his feet and fists and that they had then both fought in the street until they were separated by the licensee.

The licensee and the man then went into the Woolpack Inn, the licensee going in by the front door and vestibule door and the man going in by the Snow Hill entrance.

Roger McGuire then tried to get into the Woolpack Inn, first by the Snow Hill entrance and afterwards by the vestibule doors but the licensee had her back to the vestibule doors and kept him out.

Roger McGuire was said to have then gone back out into the street, apparently giving up and tried to light his pipe but then changed his mind and went back to the Woolpack Inn and tried to get in again, struggling violently to force the door.

It was said that at some point during that struggle that the man had asked for a stick, which was described by the prosecution as a somewhat formidable instrument, having a round handle and sharp square sides and weighing about 14 ounces. A hand was seen soon after through the folding door with the stick in it that struck Roger McGuire who then left the house bleeding from the face.

However, he returned again and the man was seen to strike Roger McGuire once, twice or thrice with the stick on the head and Roger McGuire became dazed and reeled back and fell into the street, either from the blows or from a punch by the licensee.

The court heard that the man made no effort to help Roger McGuire, but instead watched the developments from the parlour window.

Some young men then carried Roger McGuire across the road and laid him on the pavement near Parr's shop, bleeding from the head and when the police arrived they found him in a dying condition and removed him to the infirmary where he later died.

When the police told the man that he had better go to the police station the man said, 'I am obliged to protect myself and the house'. When he was charged with manslaughter, the man said, 'Oh dear! He is not dead, is he? I am very sorry. That piece of wood (pointing to the stick) was made for a bit of fun by a man who is now dead'.

At the trial it was heard that the chief questions for consideration by the jury were:

1. Was the blow the cause of Roger McGuire's death?
2. Was what the prisoner did more than was reasonable and necessary in the circumstances for the purposes of self-defence?

The doctor that carried out the post mortem said that he found a two inch long wound on the top of Roger McGuire's head a little above the forehead and to the right which didn't quite penetrate the scalp, noting that Roger McGuire was a bull-necked, heavily-built, powerful man who had a very thick scalp and a heavy crop of hair. He said that beneath the skull that he found a large quantity of extravasated blood spread over the membranes of the brain. He noted that Roger McGuire had not been a healthy man and had too much fat all over his body and also had a fatty heart. He said that in his opinion his death had been due to haemorrhage of the brain due to a ruptured blood vessel, probably an artery, on the brain.

He said that the injury might have been produced by the blow described and by the instrument produced, the stick, upon one edge of which it was noted there still remained a smear or stain of blood.

When the prosecution addressed the jury they said that the jury would probably be satisfied that Roger McGuire came by his death by reason of the blow, but that what they would have to consider was whether, if the man had struck the blow, he had done more than was reasonable and necessary for self-defence. They noted that it was not an attempt to enter the house at midnight, but in broad daylight and that the house was only a short distance from the police station and that there were other persons about as well as the fact that there were two ways into and out of the vaults.

The prosecution asked whether the man had retreated as far as was possible from Roger McGuire and whether when the man had asked for the stick might he not have asked for someone to go for the police or for other assistance in restraining Roger McGuire?

The prosecution stated that what he appeared to have done was ask for and get the stick and to have used it, and asked the jury whether they thought that that was reasonable and necessary for the purpose of self-defence.

A number of other witnesses gave evidence who stated that Roger McGuire was a very violent man, with one of them stating that Roger McGuire had bene 'fit to murder either the man or the licensee'.

However, whilst some of the witnesses said that the man had been in the vaults at the time the blows were struck, with the licensee between him and Roger McGuire, other witnesses said that the man had come out of the vaults and into the vestibule and struck Roger McGuire.

When the licensee gave evidence, she said that she didn't see the man strike Roger McGuire, but said that she did hear him call out, 'Give me a stick. This man is going to best me', and that the stick was brought to him by his wife.

Another doctor that examined Roger McGuire's body said that he found three wounds to his head, one a little over two inches long and just above the forehead to the right, noting that there was no injury to the back of his head and said that his cause of death was cerebral haemorrhage. He said that he found evidence of previous disease of the brain, of the lungs and of the heart and that the wound to the top of his head had probably caused the cerebral haemorrhage although he added that any severe shock might have brought that about including a heavy blow or a severe blow.

When the doctor was asked whether he was able to express a definite opinion as to whether a blow or fall was a more probable cause he said that it was difficult to say, stating that a fall might have caused the rupture, adding that any heavy fall with no attempt to save himself might have caused the haemorrhage, even if he did not fall on his head.

The doctor further added that with a perfectly healthy man he would not have expected to have found a rupture of the blood vessel as the skull was not fractured and that drink and excitement plus disease were quite adequate to produce a rupture of the blood vessel.

A police sergeant gave evidence stating that Roger McGuire was of a violent and ungovernable temper when in drink and that he was known as one of the dangerous men of Preston, noting that he had been convicted fourteen times for violent assaults and had been sentenced to various terms from one month to three months, the last occasion being in July 1906.

After the case for the prosecution was heard the defence asked the judge whether, as the case stood, there was any evidence on which the jury could properly find the prisoner guilty of the charge and the judge said that it was a question for the jury and asked them whether they wanted to continue or whether they had formed an opinion and the jury, after a very brief deliberation, said that they thought that the prisoner was not guilty and that he had acted in self-defence and the man was found not guilty and discharged.