The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-30 00:00:00

SHOCKING AFFAIR AT KIRKHAM.

A dreadful affair occurred at Kirkham, near Preston, on
Sunday night. It appears that a party of Irish harvest
men went to the Swan Inn, where they had something
to drink. About 11 o'clock they became very noisy, and
the landlord, Mr. Henry Rawcliffe, expressed his desire
to clear the house. He asked the men to go, but they
refused. He then seized one of them, named Garrety,
who seemed to be the worst, and got him into the lobby,
but was unable to eject him. Subsequently he went to
the door, and gave an alarm with a dog whistle. This
brought a policeman named Fletcher to his assistance,
who tried to get the men away, but he could not do so.
The officer then went out and whistled, and Sergeant
Lofthouse came up, and Garrety was apprehended.
The other Irishmen then turned out of the house. A man
named James Cain, his wife, and Patrick Cain, their
nephew, tried, but ineffectually, to rescue Garrety, who
was taken to the lock-up. The three Cains then ran away,
but was pursued by the police. Whilst the officers were
thus engaged, they were informed that Rawcliffe, the land-
lord, had been killed. They then went to the Swan, where
they found Rawcliffe almost dead, and attended by two
surgeons. It appears that after the officers had left, the
door of the Swan Inn was immediately closed, and Raw-
cliffe and his eldest daughter, a girl 15 years of age, went
into an upper room, with a view to see what was
going on in the street. At that time the crowd in front of
the door had gone away, and Rawcliffe was about leaving
the window. His daughter had gone just before; but she
had not proceeded very far before she heard a great
crash, and, on looking round, observed her father
with his head near the window. She went up to him,
when, to her horror, she found that a poker had been
liven into his eye. It had been hurled at him from
the street. She did her utmost to extract the poker, but
her efforts were ineffectual. She immediately raised an
alarm, and several neighbours came in. Rawcliffe was found
lying on a chair near the window bleeding profusely, and
with the poker still protruding from his right eye. A man
named Smith tried to pull out the poker, but for some time
his efforts proved vain. At length he placed the unfortu-
nate man's head between his knees, and then it required all
his force to extract the poker. Of course Rawcliffe was quite
insensible. Two medical men were sent for; but Rawcliffe
died an hour afterwards. The poker had entered under the
lower lid of the eye, and had thence passed into the brain.
Yesterday Garrety and the three Cains were brought be-
fore the Kirkham magistrates. Garrety was committed for
two months for assaulting the police, and the others were
remanded until Thursday. _ _

Yesterday the inquest was opened, and after some formal
evidence had been given, the inquiry was adjourned until
Monday next. At present nothing definite is known as to
who threw the poker at deceased.

A correspondent writes that after the hearing of the case
at the Police-court, the landlady of the Caine volunteered
a statement to the effect that on Sunday night James Cain
ran into her house and seized a poker, swearing that he
would have somebody's life, or some one should have his,
that night; that he took the poker out with him a few
minutes before the landlord was struck.