Assaulting a Denaby Lad because he refused to sing.

May 1881

Mexborough and Swinton Times, May 21.

Assaulting a Denaby Lad because he refused to sing.


Adam Chambers, Vincent Smith, Richard Rodgers and Edward Edis, all of Denaby, were summoned by Daniel William McGrath for an assault on the 15th inst.

On Sunday afternoon on the day named, the complainant went for a walk, and was overtaken by the defendants, who asked him to sing. He refused to do so and Chambers and Smith unfastened his trousers and pulled out their knives. They afterwards took his handkerchief from his neck and tied his hands to some railing while this was going on. Edis pull out his knife, but was not so determined in the assault, as the other two. Rodgers was present but he did not take part in the assault. The defendant said Smith and Chambers also put a lot of dirt into his trousers.

The complainant’s father said this was the fifth time some of the defendants had assaulted his boy.

The chairman said Chambers and Smith were proved to have taken out knives to terrify the complainant. They would each be fined 10 shillings, including costs. If they were again convicted they will be more severely dealt with, as their persecution of the complainant appeared to be systematic.

Edis would be fined 7s 6d and the summons against Rodgers, who had met with an accident, would be dismissed.

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