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.
