by Keith Retallick
This was the heading in the West Briton of February 5th 1864. The following article went on to describe the unsavoury scene.
“We had some words, and the defendant struck me. I caught hold of him to hold him fast, so that he should not strike me, when he bit off my ear. I had my arms around him. The ear now produced in the piece of paper is the ear that was bit off by the defendant. This was the whole of the evidence adduced by the complainant, in consequence of the witnesses having all returned to their homes, thinking the matter settled . . . . . Inspector Sherstone produced the ear in a piece of paper, which Cock said was his ear. Prisoner then said Cock assaulted me first; he potched me with his stick, and struck me. I got up and he clenched me; I said, if you do not let me go we shall have a scuffle. He again clenched me, and for the third time. I took off a portion of my clothes, and he took off his jacket, and we both winded up to each other; he at last caught me round the neck, and tried to get my forefinger in his mouth . . . . “
West Briton, 5 February 1864
[The unlucky man was William Cock, shoemaker, of Luxulyan, his assailant a twenty year old man named Edgar Retallick]
Anyone want to claim acquaintance?
From “Life in Cornwall” edited by R.M. Barton, with acknowledgments