===The Nottinghamshire Free Press===
===April 3rd 1891===
Transcribed from original document by Helen Wilson / ©Copyright 2001
Original document supplied by Howard STENDALL
==Shocking death through drink at Sutton-in-Ashfield==
An inquest was held at the Denman’s Head Hotel, Sutton-in-Ashfield on Tuesday morning before Mr D. Whittingham, district coroner, respecting the death of a young man named Joseph Stendall; who was found dead on the cellar steps of his Mother’s house on Sunday morning. Mr J. G. Allsop was foreman of the jury.
The coroner said he was afraid the jury would find it to be a case that was almost solely owing to indulgence in drinking habits, and the man seemed to have been continually getting drunk for some days before he was killed. As he had been found in this way without any proper explanation he thought it best to have a medical examination of the body, and the doctor was of opinion that he was suffocated rather than his neck was dislocated.
Ellen Stendall said she was the wife of Charles Stendall, a collier, but was not living with him. Deceased who, was her son and, lived with her, was a collier, 25 years of age. John Elson and a daughter, Mary, eleven years old, also lived with her. On going down the cellar to fetch some coals about eight on Sunday morning, she found deceased with his head against the wall at the bottom of the steps, one foot on the steps higher up, and the other hanging over the side. He was dead. She last saw him alive about 8:30 on the previous Saturday night, when he was in the house, talking to another sister & her young man. She left him there and did not return till about twelve, Elson and her daughter Mary being with her. No one was in the house and all went to bed at the same time, but she put a chair against the house door so as to hear deceased come in, though she thought he had gone to his brother’s where he had slept since Wednesday night. He had been drinking since he received his wages on the Thursday and often had drink. She thought he might have been going to the pantry at the top of the cellar to get some supper, as he did so sometimes, but there would be nothing in the cellar that he would require. The cellar door was open when she came home, but there was no occasion to go to the cellar. There was no mark on his face when she last saw him, but he could not have been sober because he was muddled with three days’ drinking. There had been a quarrel between deceased and Elson about five o’clock. He came in drunk and began using all sorts of aggravation and when Elson told him to be quiet he picked up a dish and threw it at Elson, striking him on the head and then threw a half pint bottle which went through the window. They became friends however and Elson did not ill-use him at all. There was no quarrel about 8 o’clock.
John Elson, collier, said he was lodging at Mrs. Stendall’s and corroborated her evidence as to what was done on getting home at twelve on Saturday night. He last saw deceased about eight, when he was getting soberer than he had been, and he left him in the house with his mother and sisters. He did not see deceased when he returned nor hear any noise in the night. Next morning he heard Mrs. Stendall calling and then found deceased as previously described. He would drink every week as long as he had any money. In reply to Mr. Coombe: The quarrel referred to by Mrs. Stendall took place at one, and not at five.
Herbert Ashton, collier, of Sutton-in-Ashfield, said he knew deceased and saw him in Sutton Market Place about a quarter-past eight on Saturday. He was then a bit fresh, and they went to the Durham Ox. He (witness) was sober, and Samuel Brown went into the snug with them. They stayed until 9:30 or 9:45 and then went up to the Newcastle Arms, and went upstairs where there was some singing. Deceased could walk steadily upstairs and he did not know that anyone saw him except the waiter. They stayed there till eleven and had about four pints between them.
At the Durham Ox they had two bottles of ginger beer and a pint of ale with four pennyworth of rum in it. Deceased seemed sober enough till they were coming downstairs when he made a bit of a stumble and Brown picked him up. He did not hurt himself and witness and Brown took him home, as he turned drunk as soon as he got in the street. They had to help him along, one on each side. They got him home about 11:30 and struck a match to look for a candle. There was no fire and they could find no candle, so they sat him in a chair and left him. No one refused to supply him with drink on Saturday evening. Deceased was helpless when they got him home. He was singing with the other upstairs but they had to arm him right out of the house. Any one could have seen he was drunk at the Newcastle Arms by looking at him, but he was not quarrelsome nor making any noise.
Samuel Brown. Collier, of Sutton-in-Ashfield, corroborated as to meeting deceased in the Market Place and he asked them to go onto the Durham Ox. Ashton & deceased had two bottles of ginger beer and witness had a pint after which deceased would have a pint with four-pennyworth of rum in, though they tried to persuade him not. They had two or three pints more, and then went to the Newcastle Arms. Deceased walked as right as they did, and they had four pints there, among the three. Coming down deceased stumbled all the way downstairs, and next began to show signs of drunkenness then; not in the room. He helped Ashton to take him home, and found the door unlocked. He began to get helpless when he left. He (witness) had not been with deceased earlier in the day as he and Ashton had been to the pigeon shooting at the Map. They helped deceased down the passage as he was too helpless to leave the house.
Dr. Nesbitt said he was called to deceased about nine on Sunday morning, when he had been removed to a bedroom upstairs. He had been dead for at least five or six hours. There was an abrasion on the left jaw from the chin to nearly the ear and a small one on the right chin, but no other marks of injury. From the position he was said to have been found in he believed he died of suffocation and the neck was not dislocated. He had seen the cellar steps, which were steep, and the injuries were such as might have been caused by a fall down them.
The coroner though the evidence was clear that no one had interfered with deceased and the inference was that he was left in the house about eleven, and no doubt tried to either get upstairs or went towards the pantry for some purpose when he fell down. It was extremely unfortunate in a case of this sort too, and that the man had been an habitual drinker. He thought it a terrible calamity to know that people getting good wages as this man was should go on drinking and living in the misery they often did. The chief motive of people keeping these tied houses was to sell as much beer as they could, as they were merely agents for the brewers. He wondered how long it was to last and the public tolerate it. Society was being injured by it and something should be done. Whether the innkeeper in this particular case was acquainted with the fact that the man was drunk he did not know, but he must have known that the man was a habitual drinker and they should therefore have been on their guard.
There was no evidence directly showing that the servants noticed his condition, but all would agree that the man must have been drunk before eleven o’clock that night, and if a sharp look out had been kept he ought not to have been supplied with drink. It was for the police to say whether they thought such a case was made out as would justify them in making a further investigation before the magistrate.
The jury unanimously returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”.
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