Pepper Throwing

An inquest was held into the death of a six months old child , which occurred suddenly on Wednesday. The child's mother, Mrs Florence Clayton said her child was born healthy but her house was not very healthy and got little sun. On the evening of 17th March Mrs Clayton had words with her neighbour a Mrs Connolly and locked her door at about 10pm. Mrs Connolly kicked at the door which was then opened. Mrs Clayton had the child in her arms and as soon as the door was opened Mrs Connolly threw two handfuls of pepper at her, most of which went on the child's face and head. Shortly after, the child had a fit and her mother took the child to Dr Aveling's. Since that day the child suffered seventeen or eighteen fits. Dr Aveling said that when the child arrived it was suffering from badly inflamed eyesa and there had been no mention of the child having had a fit. In his opinion the cause of death had been due to bronchial pneumonia, and there was no connection between the death and the effects of the pepper. The coroner remarked it a very silly thing for Mrs Connolly to throw pepper about in this fashion. 9th April 1910 Rochdale Times