Lodging houses in Sunderland were often full and crowded, arguments and
assaults were an everyday occurrence and treated as normal behaviour in
the late 1800’s.In February, 1878, in one such crowded lodging house run
by Mr. Burns, a typical argument turned to murder.
The heat and group of
people in the kitchen, trying to cook and eat brought tempers to the
boiling point. At which time a woman shouted at a man to leave the
kitchen, being obviously hungry the man was reluctant to leave, and the
woman shouting at him brought his blood to the boil. He picked up the
poker and fatally stabbed the woman though the neck. That is as far as the
story goes. Even after being featured in the Illustrated Police News
no-one was named charged or punished for this crime.
