100 YEARS AGO: THEFT OF A DEAD MAN'S SHOES IN SALFORD

I came across the following story from the pages of The Salford City Reporter, April 1922 and I have to admit that I was shocked when I read it, however having re-read it several times I felt a twinge of sympathy for the accused man in this story and for the sake of decency i chosen not to name the families concerned.

The accused man appeared at Salford Magistrates Court before the Chairman, Mr. F.P. Nathan, Mrs Shutt and Mr Cannon charged with stealing from a dead body, a pair of boots valued at 15 shillings.

Inspector Mitchell told the Court that the deceased lived in Whit Lane, Salford and had fell into the River Irwell some, seven weeks earlier and that the body had been recovered close to the Princes Bridge, Salford by the accused man and others.

After it had been placed on the towpath the accused man, was seen to take the boots of the dead man and tie his old boots to the body,

When the deceased man's father came to the mortuary to identify the body he had misgivings about the body being that of his son, no doubt being in the River Irwell for that length of time would cause the body to decompose and worse, the keys in the pockets confirmed that the body was that of his son but was concerned about the shabby boots tied to the body, he stated that his son was wearing new boots when he vanished.

Inspector Mitchell said that the accused man's actions could have caused the body to have been buried unidentified.

Police investigations were made by the police concerning the missing footwear and on the Sunday past, Detective Sergeant Blakeley saw the prisoner in Edmund Street, Salford wearing what appeared to match the description of those alleged to have been stolen, when questioned he denied all knowledge but later admitted the offence.

When asked in Court what he had to say he replied, 

"I have not been in work for a long time and I was in need of a pair of boots,and I didn't think there was any harm in taking them from a dead man"

Detective Sergeant Blakeley told the Bench that the accused man was married with two children, they rented rooms in a house, and his wife was clean and hard working.

The accused man had served in the !5th Lancashire Fusiliers throughout the war and was demobbed in February 1920, he received 38 shillings a week from the Guardians and unemployment donation.

The Chairman told the accused man that the theft was, "particularly disgusting" and sentenced him to three weeks hard labour in Strangeways Gaol.

Yes it is a shocking crime and hard to forgive but the accused man must have been in dire straits to swap his shabby boots with a man's whose body had been in the filthy polluted water of the River Irwell for nearly two months.

He had served his country in the Great War, had no criminal record and had come back to the proverbial, "Homes fit for Heroes" as promised by the Prime Minister David Lloyd George , to find no regular employment, a shared house and a bleak future.

I do have sympathies for both families and this cautionary tale speaks volumes about the lives and conditions of the working class in Salford at this time.