‘Murder’ in the Red Lion

Alleged Murder at Norton. On Saturday, the inquest on the body of Miss Hannah Rowntree was held before J Settle, Esq., in the newsroom of the Grey Rooms, Stockton.

It is July 1985 and the 31 pupils of Chopgate Church of England School have won the county-wide Captain Cook Road Safety Trophy for the fourth time. Councillor John Dennis is pictured presenting the trophy to teacher Sarah Henderson. How many of the pictured children still live in the Bilsdale/ Chopgate area?

The Coroner, in opening the inquest, inquired of PC Walls if the man who was supposed to have caused Miss Rowntree’s death was in custody.

The officer replied in the affirmative, but said he was not present. The Coroner: Then don’t you know it is fair to the prisoner that he should be present to hear the evidence against him, and that the witnesses might identify him? The Coroner then made further remarks as to interference having been used in preventing the prisoner being brought, but he said he did not blame the officer.

Mrs Rowntree, deceased’s mother, gave evidence confirmed what has already appeared, as to the conduct of the prisoner in her house. Mrs Chapman, of the Swan Inn, deposed to the prisoner being in her house on Wednesday afternoon, and having a glass of ale. He had not been in the house more than ten minutes, when PC Cooper came in, and he told the constable he was not the man he wanted, and set the policeman in pursuit of another man.

Witness noticed blood upon the right hand of the man who had the glass of ale, and drew the attention of PC Cooper to it. The policeman went out to seek the other man, and then the man who had the glass of ale wanted to be off by the back door, but witness bolted it. The man then sat down again. Mr Wilson, painter, of Stockton, who was in the house, insisted that the man should be taken into custody, and, just before being taken in charge the man wished to claim acquaintance with Mrs Chapman, and stated that Hannah Rowntree was formerly a sweetheart of his, and said, in allusion to what occurred in the Red Lion, that he had taken Miss Rowntree by the throat and shook her.

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The man behaved himself very quietly in my house. Geo. Tinniswood, MD of Norton, deposed to seeing the body of deceased on Wednesday in the Red Lion. Witness found that she had just died. He observed blood on the floor where she had laid, and a mark forming itself upon the left cheek, also a small cut at the back of the head. There was no evidence of strangulation. With a post mortem examination he could tell the cause of death, and had no doubt but that death was caused or accelerated by the violent treatment she had experienced on Wednesday.

On the same day the prisoner (Thomas Elmer) was brought before Messrs Scurfield, Grey and Trotter, at the Town Hall, Stockton. Mr Dobson, of Middlesbro’ appeared on behalf of the prisoner, and Mr Trotter watched the case for the family of the deceased. After hearing the several witnesses, the Bench committed the prisoner to Durham for trial, but expressed their willingness to admit him to bail, himself in £40, and two sureties of £20 each.

From this newspaper 100 years ago

Motor Speed Limits at Ripon. The dangers of the motor traffic - which at this time of the year is abnormal - have been unpleasantly impressed on the people of Ripon, first by a fatal accident in Kirkgate on Saturday, and then by a prosecution in the City Court on Wednesday, when a motor driver was fined for running a char-a-banc with 15 passengers on a footpath in the Market-place for a distance of 20 yards. The excessive speed at which motor cars are driven through the city has been a cause of complaint for some time; and it is known that one or two persons have been cautioned.

The accident which occurred on Saturday was not due to high speed, as it proved that the car was driven in a careful manner. The jury, however, felt that they ought to make some recommendation on the speed of motor cars, and suggested that the Corporation should fix the speed limit at six miles an hour, and four miles an hour on steep gradients. If a speed limit is fixed it should be one which would be applicable to all kinds of vehicular traffic.

Ten miles an hour is not an excessive speed for a horse to trot through the city, and no motorist would object to slowing down to that speed. Besides, it has been shown that more accidents occur with slow moving traffic than with the high speed cars. Both the cases of fatal accident which have occurred within two years in Kirkgate wee with motors moving at a slow pace. Local authorities dislike imposing restrictions, especially where there are many visitors during the summer months, but the public should be protected against negligent driving, and some caution is necessary in the narrow streets of Ripon.

From this newspaper 50 years ago

This elegant gateway to the stables behind the Cleveland tontine, on the A19 road recalls the days of the coach and the chaise. The words “Licensed to let post horses,” still survive on the two lowest voussiors on the arch. A turnpike act of 1802 provided for the shortening of the road between Yarm and Thirsk, and at a meeting of the trustees of the turnpike, held at Stockton in 1804, it was agreed to raise £2,500 by a “tontine,” and use the money to purchase ground and build an inn to be known as the Cleveland Tontine Inn.

A tontine was an arrangement by which shares were subsidised by each of a number of persons, on either his own or another person’s life; each drew a proportionate share of the rent during life, and when a number of surviving nominees was reduced to three, the property became theirs, in proportion to the number of shares they held. The foundation stone was laid on July 13, 1804, and in 1806 additional shares in the tontine were created to raise money for enlarging the stables. This expansion had become necessary as a mail coach began running in the year from Sunderland, by Castle Eden, Stockton, Yarm, the Tontine, and Thirsk to Boroughbridge, to connect there with the Royal Charlotte coach to London. In 1807, the Trafalgar coach began running from Newcastle to Hull, and was horsed at the Tontine.

Fares were 15s for inside passengers and 10s for outside. The year 1810 brought the Eclipse light post-coach, running from Newcastle to London by Sunderland, Stockton, Thirsk and York. Five years later came the “North Briton,” running between Shields and York. On July 22, 1815, this coach was upset near the Cleveland Tontine, and Mr Braithwaite, of Stockton, a grocer, and a Mr Comie were injured. In the spring of 1823, a daily service between Leeds and Newcastle was provided by the “Expedition” coach, which called at the Tontine and two years later it had a competitor in the “Royal Pilot” between Leeds and Shields, but later these two were merged, the coach being then the “Phoenix.”

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The Royal Mail cased to run in 1835, by which time the mail coaching days were past their best and the Cleveland Tontine became a quieter place until the internal combustion engine brought traffic back to the roads again.