Indeed the only incident which had been reported at Highfields Police Station on Boxing Day of 1885 was when a request came in for a drunken man to be removed from the premises of a respectable house. It was rented by an elderly couple Mr and Mrs Stevenson in Holland Place, Highfield Road. It seems that an abusive man was creating a disturbance outside the premises, after possibly celebrating the season too well. Two constables, PC’s Richards and Collins, were dispatched, but they soon returned back to the station to report that by the time they arrived, the man had gone. Thankfully by this time PC Prosser’s shift had ended, and he was soon joined by his son, also called Charles, as the pair began to walk home together.
Suddenly as they got to St Barnabas’s Road they heard a shout of ‘watch, watch’ coming from the direction of Atkin Place. Wondering who would be calling out for a watchman at that time of night, the two men headed there as quickly as they could. PC Prosser arrived first and as he reached the corner, he saw a woman running towards Highfield Place screaming out ‘murder’ as loud as she could. Behind her, on the ground was the body of a fifty four year old man who was struggling in a pool of blood! Prosser ran towards the woman and stopped her in her tracks, whilst his son approached the man on the ground.
Pulling her to a standstill, the officer saw that she had a dreadful gash in her throat, although thankfully she was still able to talk. She told him that her name was Mrs Emma Hives and her husband was the injured man on the floor. She claimed that he had tried to kill her that night by stabbing her in the throat. Just then, Prosser’s son shouted out to his father to come and help as he was struggling with the man on the ground. Approaching the pair the constable saw John Hives was desperately trying to pull open up the wound in his throat. Taking charge, Prosser directed his son to take the badly injured woman to the nearby surgery of Dr O Meara.
However when the younger man and the injured woman reached the surgery, they found the doctor was away from home. Prosser junior instantly called a cab and had the injured Mrs Hives taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, his father continued to desperately struggle with John Hives, trying to hold down both his hands in order to prevent him from injuring himself further. Finally in desperation, the officer gave several blasts on his police whistle, which was heard by Police Sergeant Walsh who was nearby on London Road, Sheffield. He rushed to the scene, and once there gathered several clean towels from neighbours who by now had gathered. These were held to the injured man’s throat and eventually stemmed the bleeding.
The sergeant and Constable Prosser were soon joined by Police Constable Richards, who had also had a busy night. He told them that he had firstly been sent to the fracas at Holland Road to remove the ‘drunk’ but when he arrived was told that the man and his wife had since left the scene. That officer had then gone back to Highfield’s Police Station to report the incident, before resuming his shift. Upon hearing the police whistle, he had rushed to the scene at Atkin Place and helped to transport the injured man to the station. Only at that point did he realise that John Hives had been the drunken man creating the scene in Holland Road. The Sergeant in charge had ordered him to be taken to the hospital, and he too was taken there in a cab. Another constable was stationed by his bedside, until he regained consciousness.
PC Prosser meanwhile was dispatched back to Atkins Place which he searched with the aid of a lantern. There he quickly found the knife which had caused the two peoples injuries. The weapon was described as being a moderately sized pocket knife which when opened, still held bloodstains on the blade. Although the blade itself was not very sharp, it was noted that it came to a sharp point at the end, making a dagger like effect. Both Mr and Mrs Hives were kept in hospital and it was not until 2 January that they were both considered to be out of danger and allowed to be discharged. Police enquiries soon established that up to a year previously, John Hives had been a respectable married man with good employment as a labourer.
He and his wife had lived at Sharrow, however, since that time, Hives had taken to drinking more than was good for him. Eventually, he and his wife Emma separated, she moving in with a married daughter, whilst he found lodgings where he could. Mrs Hives immediately sought to find herself respectable employment and she soon obtain a post of nurse to an aged couple Mr and Mrs Stevenson of Holland Road, Sheffield. Occasionally her husband would come to the house of her employers and she would give him money to get rid of him.
However she had recently told him that she would no longer supply him with any more money and that he needed to get a job, which infuriated him. That was the reason Hives threatened to kill her and himself. On the night in question he had gone to his wife’s place of employment and demanded to see her. He was allowed inside, whereupon Hives insisted that she leave with him, claiming that Emma was ‘his property.’ When the elderly Mr Stevenson ejected him, Hives stayed in the yard shouting abuse and that was when a call was put in to Highfield’s Police Station to remove the drunken man and PC Richards was dispatched.
However, that officer found that after the call to the police station had been made, Emma had gone outside to speak to her husband and beg him to leave. The only way she could get him to go was by agreeing to accompany him. Consequently, as the couple were walking along Atkin Place, Hives stabbed her and tried to cut his own throat. Once at the hospital, daily reports were issued on the couple, as both lives were thought to be in imminent danger. Finally, Emma Hives started to recover although on Thursday 7 January 1886, John Hives died from his wounds. Subsequently an inquest was held on the body on Saturday 9 January at the hospital by Coroner Mr D Wightman.
He told the jury that at the time of his death, the deceased had been living rough in Sheffield and had no fixed abode. Emma Hives was the first witness and she explained that she did not live with her husband, due to his dissolute habits. She said that on the night in question, John had told her that he had been ‘walking the streets since Christmas Eve’ and begged her to come and live with him again. However she once again refused. Suddenly, and without any warning, he put his arm around her, as Emma thought to give her a kiss. That was when she felt the knife slice into her throat. The witness described how they both fell to the floor and when she looked at him again she saw the pool of blood.
The witness told the coroner that she had often thought that her husband was not exactly sane, particularly when he had been drinking. However that night she was convinced that he was ‘off his head’ completely. Police Constable Prosser was the next to give evidence and he described the terrible events of the evening. Emma’s employer. Mr Stevenson told the inquest that Emma Hives had been employed as nurse at his house for the past six weeks. He too described the deceased man as being ‘dangerous and wild’ on the night in question.
Mr Wightman, after hearing all the evidence, told the jury:
‘I do not think you will have much difficulty in coming to a decision on the evidence you have just heard. It is almost a miracle that we are not holding two inquests today instead of one, for the deceased had seemed determined to cut his wife’s throat as well as his own. There is no doubt in my mind that either through drink or trouble, or a combination of causes, the deceased man’s mind had been affected. In considering your verdict you must take that into account.’
The jury retired for a short while, before returning a verdict of ‘suicide during a state of temporary insanity’ was returned. As people filed out from the inquest at its conclusion, I have little doubt that Police Constable Charles Prosser amongst others, would remember the dreadful events which they had witnessed that night, for the rest of their lives.