On the evening of Friday 16 July 1869 some men were drinking at the Castle Inn at Conisborough. Two of them were called Mark Barker, aged 48 and Charles Staton aged 54. They were both sickle makers and had been bragging about the numbers of sickles they could make at any one time. At first the conversation was amicable enough, but soon it had turned into an argument as each tried to outdo the other with their boasting. Annoyed at something his compatriot had said, Staton arose and struck Barker twice in the face. Angrily the blows were returned and as a result they both fell on the ground together.
The landlord of the Castle Inn told them to take the fight outside and so the two men went outside into the Inn yard, before stripping off to their waists. Other men gathered round to watch as the two protagonists proceeded to punch at each other. They had been punching steadily for about ten minutes when Staton admitted defeat and wanted to stop the fight. Barker wouldn’t however and continued lashing out at the older man. Suddenly Staton fell heavily onto the ground and did not get up. His friends rushed towards the prone body, but they found he was already unconscious. Efforts were made to try to revive him and he was carried into one of the Castle Inn bedrooms, but it was all in vain. Within a matter of minutes of lying him on the bed Charles Staton was dead.
The local police officer, Constable Ashton of Conisbrough was called to the scene, and after hearing from some of the assembled men he told Mark Barker that he was taking him into custody.
On the journey into Rotherham, Barker asked PC Ashton what he was going to charge him with. That officer replied that he was going to be charged with being concerned in the death of Charles Staton. The Rotherham Coroner, Edward Nicholson Esq., was notified of the man’s death and an inquest was arranged for the following evening, Saturday 17 July. The prisoner was present in the custody of two constables at the inquest, which was watched on his behalf by solicitor Mr C E Palmer of Doncaster.
The first witness was a man who had been present at the Inn when the altercation took place. He was called Joseph Lewis who also worked in the sickle industry as a grinder. He told the inquest that he had known both men for the past ten or eleven years and that he had identified the body of the deceased man. Lewis said that he had been sitting outside the door of the tap room, when he heard the two men arguing inside. The witness stated that both men had been drinking for most of the evening and that as a result, neither of them were particularly sober. He had gone into the tap room to try to prevent the row escalating, just in time to see Staton grab Barker around the throat.
He then struck him twice on the face and body in quick succession. Lewis said that both men fell to the ground and that was when the landlord told the men to ‘take it outside.’ It didn’t take long for a group of men to gather in a circle in the yard, as they watched the two men start to fight. After just a few moments, the witness said that he heard Barker admit defeat as he said ‘Give over Charles, I am done’ but his elderly opponent refused to give in. He told him ‘I can beat thee’ as he punched him once again. However, soon after that, it was Staton who fell to the floor and did not get up again.
Lewis said that a man who he did not know had unsuccessfully tried to revive the injured man. He told the crowd that Staton was in a bad way and he thought that he was dying. The witness said that the landlady told the men to carry him into one of the bedrooms at the Castle Inn, and he had helped to carry the now dying man. The solicitor Mr C Palmer asked Lewis if the two men had been friendly towards each other previous to this altercation. The witness replied that that he had not known them argue before, although there had been some friendly rivalry as they both worked at the same trade. Another witness to the fight was a man called George Heywood who also corroborated Lewis’s evidence.
Then it was the turn of the surgeon Mr R Hills to give evidence of undertaking the post mortem on the deceased man’s body earlier that same morning. He said that externally there were few marks on Charles Staton’s body, head or face. In fact the only bruise had been on his right elbow. However internally he had found a considerable effusion of blood between the scalp and the skull. When the coroner asked him what this meant, the surgeon told him that in his experience, such an effusion of blood usually happened as as a direct result of violence. However he clarified that it might have been the result of a heavy fall to the ground or a kick from an opponent.
His account of the findings of the post mortem was corroborated by another surgeon Dr Maclagen of Mexborough, who had also been present at the post mortem. After hearing from all the witnesses, the jury conversed together for just a short while before the foreman, Mr T H Simpson gave the verdict of manslaughter against Mark Barker. On Tuesday 20 July 1869 the prisoner was taken before the West Riding Magistrates Court at Doncaster. Once again the same witnesses gave their evidence, although the surgeon, Mr Hills now stated categorically that in his opinion the man’s death was probably caused by a fall. Police Constable Ashton gave evidence of the arrest of the prisoner in the yard of the Castle Inn at Conisbrough.
As a result, the magistrate, Captain Bower committed Mark Barker to take his trial at the next Assizes. His solicitor, Mr Palmer asked for bail which was allowed, with the prisoner giving one personal surety of £50 and two others of £25 each. Naturally the case had caused a large sensation in Rotherham, as the character of the two men were openly discussed. Newspapers reported that Mark Barker was known to be a very passionate man, who got excited very easily. It was therefore suggested that because of the argument, he might have been in such a state of passion when he attacked Charles Staton, that he did not quite know what he was doing.
Mark Barker was due to appear before judge Mr Baron Cleasby at the Leeds Assizes on Thursday 5 August 1869. Before the trial started however, it was the custom for the judge to go over the cases which were due to be heard with the members of the Grand Jury. Mr Baron Cleasby told them that at those particular Assizes there were five cases of manslaughter from the Yorkshire area. He particularly referred to the case of Mark Barker who had been charged with the death of Charles Staton.
He told the Grand Jury:
‘This was one of those deplorable cases in which men, not criminal in other respects, by going to places where drink was sold, got embroiled in quarrels. As a result, this case ended in a charge of manslaughter. It seems that, according to the evidence, the prisoner was compelled by the other man to fight over and over again. The only question was whether the man died from a fall or from a blow delivered by the prisoner. In other words, did death result from the direct act of the prisoner.’
His words seemed to have some effect as after discussing the other cases, the Grand Jury threw out the case against Mark Barker. As a result of this he was discharged and set free. There is little doubt that he would have been vastly relieved as he returned back to Conisbrough, a much wiser man.