Boy died after stick throwing

The Yorkshire Summer Assizes were held in York before the Honourable Sir Colin Blackburn, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. First up was Henry Wise, 14, who was charged with the manslaughter of Ralph Lazenby, at Gilling West.

“In March last,” said the report, “snow was on the ground and the prisoner amused himself by snowballing the deceased, a boy about the same age as himself, and others. Wise, in the course other proceedings, threw at the boy Lazenby a stick, which hit him at the back of the head and caused a wound. The blood flowed freely from the cut, but the wound having been dressed, eventually healed.”

However, on May 15 – some two months after the snowballing – Lazenby complained of severe headache and sought medical assistance. To no avail, because he died on May 17.

“A post mortem examination was made by Mr Carter, surgeon, of Richmond,” said the D&ST. “It was considered that death had resulted from softening of the brain, which might have been caused by a blow.

“In defence, it was alleged that there was no intention on the part of the prisoner to do any harm, and that the blow was accidental.

“The jury returned a verdict of guilty, but strongly recommended the prisoner to mercy on account of his youth.

“His lordship said the act of the prisoner was such that under ordinary circumstances might have been met by the castigation of the schoolmaster.

“He should sentence him to one day’s imprisonment which would virtually amount to his discharge. Loud cheers followed this announcement.”

From this newspaper 100 years ago
(August 7, 1915)

SERGEANT JG Teasdale, a Darlington assistant headmaster in an elementary school, wrote a vivid account of his time with the 8th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in the second battle of Ypres three months earlier. Since the fighting, Sgt Teasdale had been hospitalised with a head injury, but had now made it home.

Of his approach to the trenches, he wrote: “Dead bodies of horses and men were frequently seen. At one place, we passed a ditch filled with the dead bodies of some highlanders.”

Almost immediately that the Durhams arrived at the front, the battle began. “The man next to me was the first to be hit. A piece of shrapnel about the size and shape of a pound weight, as used in a shop, struck him in the thigh and bounced over me.

“It must have been almost spent as it did not break his leg but inflicted a nasty cut. We tore his trousers open and I bound it with the first aid dressing. Earth and bits of shrapnel were flying all around us, but none of them harmed us. We gave him a cigarette and I covered him up. Later, we had to leave him as it would have meant certain death if any attempt had been made to take him back.

“Until a day or two ago, I worried more over him than of those that were killed; but now I see he has written to say he is receiving excellent treatment in Germany.”

Eventually, the DLI were ordered to retreat – “our trench was simply being blown to pieces” – and every man should make his own way to safety. Sgt Teasdale tells of his desperate crawl under heavy fire through mud and water until, hopelessly lost, he found a trench he thought was safe.

“To my sorrow, I discovered it was leading me back to the Germans. I lay there for about two hours. Once I heard, or rather felt, the Germans approaching, and have matters up almost as a bad egg. I thought of home, and of school...”

Somehow, he made it back. This appears to have been the notorious action at Gravenstafel Ridge, where the 8th DLI – which contained a lot of teachers – was literally decimated. Sgt Teasdale did a head count: of more than 1,000 who had been in the trenches that morning, only 61 had made it back.

“Of course,” he wrote, “there will be hundreds elsewhere...” Many were still finding their bearings; many had been captured. But an awful lot were dead.

From this newspaper 50 years ago
(August 7, 1965)

THE debate in Northallerton, mentioned in this column last week, about the future of the Town Hall in the High Street was growing hotter.

Spectator in his D&S Times column noted: “Any move to demolish the Town Hall would obviously bring protests from a large body of ratepayers who regard it as an old friend and feature of Northallerton.

“Equally there will be a protest if the town is not going to be provided with a modern civic assembly hall where stage plays, concerts and high class social functions are held.”

In Ripon, "a very glowing tribute to the new Conservative leader, Mr Edward Heath”, was paid by the local MP, Sir Malcolm Stoddart-Scott. “Mr Heath’s brilliance had been showing in many spheres, he said... He paid particular credit to Mr Heath for his handling of the Common Market negotiations.”

And then there was this strange note: "A visit by a fox on Sunday morning resulted in Mrs C Allen, Hilary hall, Burtersett, near Hawes, losing ten hens out of 11. Most of them were hardly marked, so there was fresh chicken for dinner."