Helen Gray 1916

[nelmit]

Hello all,

Helen Gray, age 22 was assaulted and died at 103 Dale St, Glasgow in January 1916. I have her death entry which says she died of a heart attack after the assault. I have also found newspaper reports of the people referred to the sheriff but no names.

I cannot find anything to tell me who, if anybody, was charged with her murder. Hoping somebody can find more info.......Alan?

Kind regards,
Annette

[AndrewP]

Hi Annette,

If she died of a heart attack after the assault, would there have been a charge of murder? If the person who made the assault was convicted, there could have been an argument that the victim died of a heart attack, therefore no murder took place. It may be that if there was a conviction that it was for assault and thus not as newsworthy as a murder. It could also be that the victim was the sole witness of the attack, so the unfortunate death of the victim meant that there were no witnesses to call to the court.

Playing the part of the devil's advocate,

AndrewP

[nelmit]

Hi Andrew,

I wondered the same.

Although the death entry mentions the assault the post mortem doesn't and gives the cause of death as sudden heart failure. I was hoping for the names of the people mentioned in the newspaper.

Regards,
Annette

[WilmaM]

Interesting.
I found the snippet you refer to in the Dundee Evening Telegraph on 7th Jan 1916:

... Sheriff soldier, an elderly man, and young woman, who are charged with having caused the death of n Gray, 22 years of age, in a house at 103 Dale Street, Tradcston. 'Late on Monday night when the police were called to the house, which is on the ground ...

but can't find any further reference to the case.

Hopefully Currie may be able to uncover some more for you.

[AndrewP]

Hi Annette,

The following article appeared in The Scotsman of 05 January 1916.

At a late hour on Monday night a young woman, Helen Gray (22), who resided at 103 Dale Street, Tradeston, was found dead on the floor of her house. Marks of violence were discovered on the face and back of the head. At the Southern Police Court yesterday four persons - a young soldier, an elderly man, and two women - who had been taken into custody in connection with the affair were remanded for two days to allow further enquiries to be made.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Currie]

Sorry I’m late responding.

These are the Glasgow Herald entries, but there’s nothing new.

The Glasgow Herald, January 5, 1916
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5 ... 4%2C377230

The Glasgow Herald, January 7, 1916
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5 ... 0%2C621713

I checked a few days after that but no luck. The Glasgow Herald in that time period is a very difficult one to trawl through.

If nothing much came of it perhaps anything further wasn’t reported. Maybe not enough space because of all the War news.

All the best,
Alan

[nelmit]

Thanks everybody.

Alan, I did look at The Herald but found nothing and it is the only report to say 3 people were actually charged. What a pity they didn't give the names!

Helen had an illegitimate child to a Thomas Erskine, a tube worker in 1912. Allegedly Thomas died in the war and I wondered if he was the soldier.

Thanks again,
Annette