Tuesday 16 May 2017

Murder and Suicide - Psalter Lane Sheffield February 1927

The  following cutting is from The Manchester Guardian dated 2nd March 1927. The case itself was quite straightforward. The son Edwin Firth bludgeoned his father George Herbert Firth with a crowbar and then cut his throat with a razor. In the attack the razor was broken and so Edwin went upstairs, got another razor and cut his own throat.  

But what is unusual is that when a doctor was called to the scene, he "declined" to attend. The Coroner said that "probably" the doctor was told they were both dead and that it was "useless to attend." This is just supposition on the Coroners part, but it appears that the doctor is not obliged to respond to any call. A worrying statement!

The other thing of note is that the son Edwin suffered in the past from Brain Fag, a term that I had never heard of until I read this report


The house where the tragedy occurred - 335 Psalter Lane no longer exists. It was demolished many years ago and was replaced by commercial buildings. 



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